Irritated....

[eliruthy]

I've been in the same pound range for SEVEN days now.  I was down, then i went up, going down again...but SEVEN DAYS?  What can I do to speed up my weight loss?  I'm well under 20 carbs almost every day.

[mouseissue]

Hi eliruthy!

A week is too short a time to judge if you're losing slowly or not.
In Doug's book, he talks about 3 weeks as a time frame to reevaluate your progress.

I usually have to wait 2 to 3 weeks before I see a loss.
Despite all attempts to change it, this is what's normal for me. And I've come to accept it.
Also, my doc has told me that losing slower is not only healthier, but that I'm far more likely to stay thin when I get there.

While we're living the FTS lifestyle, many changes are going on inside us besides weight change.
We often are losing inches when the scale stands still.
And our metabolisms go through periods of "biochemical readjustment" during plateaus as we lose weight.

So give yourself a couple more weeks before deciding on making any changes.
You may find as I did that your body naturally loses weight slowly.

[eliruthy]

All that sounds about right.  I guess I am struggling with the fact that I have made a MAJOR MAJOR change by eating ZERO sugar and barely any carbs and I haven't melted away yet LOL.  Is melting instantaneously too much to ask!?!?!?  Plus I've really been trying to exercise a little on top of all the running I do.  This diet is EASY to stick to---i barely have a temptation...I just want to lose at least 10-15 more pounds before the wedding in September!  I'm not quitting.  Just hoping!

[mouseissue]

... Plus I've really been trying to exercise a little on top of all the running I do.  This diet is EASY to stick to---i barely have a temptation...I just want to lose at least 10-15 more pounds before the wedding in September!  I'm not quitting.  Just hoping!

Hi eliruthy!

Exercise is a good thing... Among it's many benefits, it helps keep our metabolisms humming.

By the way, FTS is NOT a diet!... It's a lifestyle.
If you lose that 10-15 by September but leave FTS, I can virtually guarantee that you'll regain that weight PLUS some!
This has happened to me EVERY time I've tried dieting.

Hope is a good thing.
But a big part of this lifestyle is learning how your body responds to changes in how you eat.
By September, you should know much more about this than you do right now.
This knowledge will equip you to stay normally thin for the rest of your life!

[gpod97]

I'm in the same boat. I was just commenting about this in another post. I too eiliruthy have done a MAJOR change in my eating. My husband and I have completely cut out sugars, and all white flours. This means no french fries or potatoes of ANY kind, no bread, no pastas, no more snickers or hershey's candy bars or mint chocolate chip ice cream which is my favorite. Also no pinto beans, black beans, butter beans or Kentucky Fried Chicken! It has been 6 weeks that both my husband and I have really committed to this. Oh, and I almost forgot (NO FRUIT)! This has been been harder for him than me cause he loves fruit, especially apples. We haven't lost any weight or inches yet but are maintaining. I had even started walking 4 miles a day (before it got SO hot outside) and did it consistently for about 4 weeks around 4 to 5 times per week. Still nothing. I know it works because I see others here that are definitely losing both weight and inches. I honestly don't know why it hasn't happened for us yet, but my husband says if we just keep on keepin on then surely something will happen sooner or later.

[shawn116]

Hi gpod97 and eliruthy.... I understand how frustrating it can be to be stuck.... I wonder if you posted a sample of your meal plan for a couple of days someone here might see something that you aren't seeing.  It sounds like carbs might be sneaking in somewhere.  I have a friend that bought the diabetic cereal telling me that it was safe for us to eat.... she was so excited saying it was only 1 or 2 carbs..... come to find out what she was seeing on the label was the diabetic counts ( a serving counted as on carb choice....very different story) when in fact they are just as high in carbs as regular cereal....    she is going to be sad when I see her this weekend and tell her.  It's that easy to make a mistake on the labels.  Items that you think are 0 or low carb might not be or even the portions are making the difference.      I know the portions are what gets me every time......

[eliruthy]

Here's what I've eaten since last thursday. Forgive my adding as I go thru out the day.  The yogurt is carbmaster and i haven't cheated at ALL so anything listed is low carb and calculated.
THURSDAY:  two boiled eggs, turkey baconx2, almonds 2 total, cheesecake 8 total, steak and broccoli 2, 10----gg/cheese 12. yogurt 16 whopper

FRIDAY:  2 boiled eggs, protein bar 2, almond 4. Cheesecake raspberries whip 11. Pork chop, carbsmart icecream 15, pickle 16, piece of cheese

SATURDAY:  eggs/bacon flax almonds 2 hot dog 4 yogurt 8, burger w/cheese,pickle,ketchup,mustard salad ranch 12, icecream 16 diet coke cheesecake

SUNDAY:  protein bar, eggs/bacon/flax, 2, yogurt 6, salad w ranch 8, chicken with bertoli 11, almonds 14, bit of jello

MONDAY:  Egg mayo wrap 5, almoinds 2, pickle 1, 8, burger no bun

TUESDAY:  yogurt 4 eggs bacon. Treadmill 20min arms gg cracker with chicken/cheese/mustard/olive oil 6, protein bar, 8, chicken, pickle 9, coffee/splenda mcdonalds. jello/whip

WEDNESDAY:  two eggs/bacon/flax, protein bar 2, almonds 3, 5 steak/brocolli, 7

THURSDAY: Eggs bacon flax, treadmill and weights, yogurt and pickle 5, ribs salad 12, protein bar 14 (home-made bbq sauce with low carb ketchup, i gave myself 5 for the ribs, probably too many but don't want to mess up!

[shawn116]

Hey eliruthy....  all of that sure sounds good to me.  What kinda stands out to me though as something that might stall you are the sweets.  The cheese cake, yogurt, protein bar and the ice cream could be a problem....  especially if you are like me and want to have something sweet everyday    or every meal....LOL  I have a hard time with that.  You might want to back off of the sweets and only have them once in a while and see if that makes the scale move?  Other than that you might break each item down with the carb counts.... for instance what is in your salad... how much and what are you using for dressing?  Could they be a little higher than you are giving them?  I found that if I don't weigh mine the serving size grows on me...    You might just need a few tweaks here and there that's all     The sugar substatutes should be the first to go though...  scary thought for me...LOL

[eliruthy]

Probably true.

[Doug Varrieur]

Toosweet you beat me too it....suggesting that Gpod Nad Ruthy post what they eat. Well done, good advice. Ruthy, in the book I talk about plateaus. When you plateau the very first thing to cut out are sugar alcohols and all artificial sweeteners.

Immediately cut out the Ice Cream, Cheese Cake, Yogurt and  Protein Bars. Now I know you need a bit of sweet in your mouth so buy a package of hard sugar free candy and suck on up to 3 a day, sugar free gum will help as well. Switch the Splenda in your coffee to Stevia

You didn't cover the portion sizes of some meals, are you keeping the portion sizes in check?  The 15 minute rule is really the only way to double check yourself. Make a plate, then cut all the portions in half. Eat the first half and wait 15 minutes....see if you are truly still hungry. If you are eat, if not you've just discovered that your eating twice the food you need. As we shrink our bodies need less and less food so adjustments need to be made.

Finally, realize that our bodies will indeed go through an adjustment period every "X" pounds or so and it's different from person to person.

GPOD, you need to post your foods and beverages for us to look at. Please be accurate. A food journal for a week will help allot.  

[eliruthy]

Thanks Doug.  I think the sugar alcohols got me again.  I made some nasty atkins utube cheesecake recipe b/f i downloaded your cookbook...it wasn't even good!  I got some hard candies yesterday.  The thing I'm going to have the most trouble with is the carbmaster yogurt.  It seems to calm my sweet tooth, fill me up, etc....keepin on!

[Doug Varrieur]

Watch this vid and give Gary's replacement a try;

http://fattoskinny.net/index.php?topic=573.msg4272#msg4272

[eliruthy]

I saw this and want to! I'm still trying to find Walden farms products around here.  Going to check another store tomorrow!!! Meijers basically stopped carrying it   Checked Kroger, walmart even tho their store finder didn't have them listed.

[Doug Varrieur]

Here you go- http://www26.netrition.com/waldenfarms_fruit_spreads_page.html

[Rena]

If your Kroger is like my Smiths (owned by the same company), then they might not keep the WFs stuff where you'd expect it, like by the jams & jellies. All of the WF stuff at Smith's is in a section by itself. Not sure if that's the case for Kroger, but thought I'd throw it out there.

I've ordered WF from Netrition before. They're prices are actually better than what I find locally and they have a lot more flavors. The orange marmalade is good and so is the apple butter. They have the consistency of jelly though, so don't expect a true marmalade or apple butter texture. The flavor is good though, especially on muffins.