Weight loss plateau

[LilithWiser1979]

:worry:

I've been on LE since the last week of December, and slowly tightening up/becoming stricter. I've lost 9 lbs total, and I've got the weight to lose, so I thought I would be able to drop a bunch before my March 20ish attempt, but I've been at a 9 lb loss for about 2 weeks now. I'm 5'1" and 146 lbs, and I've been working out for an hour a day everyday since January 31st. I'm on the lower end of LE calorie intake, (never below 1200 calories, though) and I'm skipping breakfast ad taking chitosan before lunch and metamucil before dinner. Also, I have 1-3 alcoholic drink per night and 2-3 cups of coffee in the mornings.

I have almost completely quit sugar, not because it's not allowed or bad for my sway (I know it's fine) but because I'm filling up on the things I need/am craving and there just isn't caloric room for sweets. It also means that I'm avoiding what I have dubbed "the slam" or mega-sugar crash that SUCKS after eating sweets.

I have been eating vegan bacon and vegetarian chicken nuggets to satisfy my cravings for meats, and adding in more avocado and bananas because I was often low on protein and potassium. I'm not cutting back on salt because I have issues with fainting and low blood pressure.

Am I just being impatient with my weight loss, or is there something I should be tweaking to start it back up again? I'm just getting frustrated :mad:

[dreamingofwin]

I keep finding this and then it comes off again. I am 5ft 2 and 128lbs. I was doing the hour of exercise but have had to drop it as I have injured my back :(

I have found my weight loss has really slowed down since then. I have even gained this weekend as I have been comfort eating due to my back.

I think if you stick at it, it will start to drop off again. I honestly found that the odd cheat kick started my weight loss again. I was being v v strict all week then treating myself to some sweets at the weekend then id find that mon id lost weight again. Strange but true!

I am naughty though and often dont reach the LE limits x

[atomic sagebrush]

Clarify something for me - is this 1200 calories including 1-3 alcoholic drinks a day??

[atomic sagebrush]

I keep finding this and then it comes off again. I am 5ft 2 and 128lbs. I was doing the hour of exercise but have had to drop it as I have injured my back :(

I have found my weight loss has really slowed down since then. I have even gained this weekend as I have been comfort eating due to my back.

I think if you stick at it, it will start to drop off again. I honestly found that the odd cheat kick started my weight loss again. I was being v v strict all week then treating myself to some sweets at the weekend then id find that mon id lost weight again. Strange but true!

I am naughty though and often dont reach the LE limits x

You MUST reach the lower limits. If you go over on the upper limits, no big thing, but the lower limist are there for your safety and that of your unborn child. If you don't hit the lower limits, it is not LE Diet, it is a starvation diet and that is not allowed.

[carmella_marie]

If you're only hitting 1200 calories your body may go into "starvation mode" and do everything I'm it's power not to lose weight. Bump up to 1500 cals and you might start losing again. Crazy I know but that's what happened to me.

[Rosie85]

Okay I have to confess something here. I have noticed now only because of my fitness pal. There is no way that I was ever eating over 1200 calories prior to my dieting except on days where we ate out or grabbed food to go. I feel like I am stuffing my face right now honestly and it is gross and I have a HARD time getting to 1000 calories some days and it is all normal meals that I always ate and just didn't know. So what now?! I really really struggle to get more calories without having the fat go way way too high because those calories if I got them before it was from snacking...on junk full of fat. I have no clue how to get enough calories and eat only two meals and not want to barf all over the place.

[LilithWiser1979]

I am doing 1200-1500 calories including alcohol. If it's 1200 calories, I had one drink. Three is on the weekend when I binge and hit closer to 1500. Yeah, I had a hard time hitting minimums for protein and potassium before, but now I have it under control.

[ThinkPink2014]

Question about vegan supplementary foods (might be useful to others hopefully):

Atomic, what are your thoughts on vegan protein powder shakes? Turns out my nursing baby is also allergic to avocado and coconut so I need to eliminate that too (I'm also gluten, dairy, egg free). I found this one online: Sunwarrior - Warrior Blend Vanilla - 35.2 oz (2.2lbs) 1kg (http://www.sunwarrior.com/store/warrior-blend-vanilla-1kg.html)

Wasn't sure what to make of its nutritional profile.

Thanks!

[Rosie85]

I have a friend that was drinking tons of nutritional shakes and eating super healthy and such but she was also losing weight and exercising. She just found out she is having a girl today. So even with all the supplements and super nutritious eating, for her the exercise and weight loss may have swayed enough anyway. hard to tell for sure.

[luvmykiddies]

Rosie, have you tried drinking some full-sugar fizzy drink or a couple of glasses of wine with your meals to reach your calorie intake? If you're reaching your fat + protein levels and just need the extra calories, I've found that adding a can of coke or a few glasses of wine helps me bump my calories up without other stuff going over.

[Rosie85]

I never drink calories but I guess I am going to have to start. I just hate it, makes me so bloated and icky feeling.

[LilithWiser1979]

The only calories I drink are alcohol and the 15 calories for a tbsp of Coffeemate in my morning coffees, lol!

[carmella_marie]

Rosie-- I'd love to know what you're eating to feel so full at so few calories . I always feel deprived, lol. I have to plan my cals carefully so I feel full enough to function.

[LilithWiser1979]

If she's anything like me, the first week was hard because my stomach was shrinking in size. I read somewhere once that your stomach is actually about the size of your fist, and that we stretch it by overeating. So, once it's down to size, eating just half a sandwich and a small salad is more than enough food.

Now, there's nothing to be done about the hungry feeling after dinner and until noon. That part just sucks! I mostly try to fill my tummy with coffee (with a tablespoon of sugar-free CoffeeMate and cinnamon!) and hit the gym to occupy myself until I can eat :)

[Rosie85]

Yup! my stomach shrunk, I can really tell! I also can't eat grease anymore, after a month of not having any and then trying a french fry I just about barfed!

My lunch will be a piece of toast with jelly and weight watchers waffle along with an apple sauce and string cheese. I will normally eat 2 cookies as well. I am soo full after this.

So dinner rolls around and I will have like 2 cups of pasta or rice with sauce and some veggies and often another side of sorts and some yogurt. Again stuffed.

All of this and often it lands under 1000 calories! I have been having a snack couple hours after dinner to get more calories in and it is often a skinny cow ice cream treat.

I know I need to drink calories but yuck. I bought some soda last night, trying to get the courage to drink it but have to wait til mealtime since it is full sugar soda and don't want to raise my blood sugar anytime other than mealtime.

[Rosie85]

i do have a question...how on earth does one drink coffee without food and not get the runs? lol

[LilithWiser1979]

Have some alcohol! Getting decent results and WAY better than soda :)

[LilithWiser1979]

Also, coffee addicts have our digestive systems trained to deal with all that caffeine. Did I mention that I get horribly constipated and tons of headaches when I quit coffee? Sigh, guess that's the one part of a BFP that'll be negative, LOL!

[Rosie85]

I will be adding in alcohol to our sway but didn't want to do it until a few weeks before. That stuff is so expensive!

[atomic sagebrush]

I am doing 1200-1500 calories including alcohol. If it's 1200 calories, I had one drink. Three is on the weekend when I binge and hit closer to 1500. Yeah, I had a hard time hitting minimums for protein and potassium before, but now I have it under control.

then that is not enough REAL LIVE food and you cannot include the alcohol. That is a starvation diet and not allowed. 1000 cals of food and one/two alcoholic beverages is not a good place to start a pregnancy and it may very well be why your metabolism has slowed down here.

[atomic sagebrush]

16935

[LilithWiser1979]

I will add that I have a couple servings (at least) of low carb veggies that I'm not counting in that number, which I'm sure bumps up the calories by another 100, at least, if I were to count them.

I'm going to cut back on the alcohol (have Valentine's Day and a weekend with my in-laws coming up, and I know I'm going to have some wine at both) and see where that takes me.

I know that sometimes a plateau can happen when you overtrain, and I've been to the gym everyday since January 31st (except for today because of a bomb threat!) Maybe taking today off will help, as well.

Thanks for taking the time to look into this for me, atomic. I really want to start this pregnancy off with the best possible pink chance :)

[LilithWiser1979]

I also have to laugh a little at the idea that I'm on a starvation diet when I'm SO full after mealtimes!

[atomic sagebrush]

One of the easiest ways to increase calories if you're full is by eating more Omega 6 fats like margarine or corn oil. People have some misconception that doing LE Diet means you must only use fat free everythign but it just isn't the case and you have 25-60 g of fat to play around with. 1 T oil/margarine has about 100 cals and 14 g fat and if it's Omega 6, it's only going to help your sway.

So Rosie, this means for you that you need to use margarine on your toast/waffle, along with the jelly. Full fat or part skim yogurt will have more cals.

make sure there is some fat in your pasta/rice/veggies/sauce at dinner time.

And you guys you can eat 3 meals a day! I always did. YOu just want to have that nice long run overnight with no food coming in for 12-16 hours, and then it's fine to still eat 3 meals. So you might eat at noon, 4, and 8 instead. you're not snacking all day and you're not eating in the morning, but still 3 meals. it can be easier to get enough calories that way.

[atomic sagebrush]

I have a friend that was drinking tons of nutritional shakes and eating super healthy and such but she was also losing weight and exercising. She just found out she is having a girl today. So even with all the supplements and super nutritious eating, for her the exercise and weight loss may have swayed enough anyway. hard to tell for sure.

yes, please understand that none of these things are in any way magic bullets and it is possible to get a girl eating fortified food etc. It's just that it doesn't feel as much of a "sure thing" (remembering that none of this is ever a "sure thing") as skipping those things is.

[atomic sagebrush]

Question about vegan supplementary foods (might be useful to others hopefully):

Atomic, what are your thoughts on vegan protein powder shakes? Turns out my nursing baby is also allergic to avocado and coconut so I need to eliminate that too (I'm also gluten, dairy, egg free). I found this one online: Sunwarrior - Warrior Blend Vanilla - 35.2 oz (2.2lbs) 1kg (http://www.sunwarrior.com/store/warrior-blend-vanilla-1kg.html)

Wasn't sure what to make of its nutritional profile.

Thanks!

Honestly that isn't too bad. At least as far as I could tell (their website had super annoying popups that made it tough to view the nutrient data) it's mostly protein in there and it's probably ok as a once in a while thing if you are low in protein in a day.

It did have stevia which is said to be "alkalinizing" by the old-school swayers so if you are a big believer in acid-alkaline diet (I am not) then you may want to avoid it.

[carmella_marie]

Rosie--thanks for some new food ideas, lol. This is very different than how I normally eat so I appreciate hearing what others are doing. Pasta was what was sending me over on cals. One cup dry typically makes me about 2 cups cooked, thats about 450 cal right there plus a yoplait light that I typically have with it is 90 cals and a tab of margarine another 50 cals makes a simple pasta dinner almost 600 calories!! Has anyone found any lower calorie pasta?

[LilithWiser1979]

Rice pasta is lower in protein and calories. Also, you can get shiritaki noodles that have no calories, but they don't taste like regular pasta.

Mostly, I just mix steamed veggies in with a smaller serving of pasta to stretch the serving out. Delicious with lowfat cream cheese and parmesan instead of sauce!

[atomic sagebrush]

I will add that I have a couple servings (at least) of low carb veggies that I'm not counting in that number, which I'm sure bumps up the calories by another 100, at least, if I were to count them.

I'm going to cut back on the alcohol (have Valentine's Day and a weekend with my in-laws coming up, and I know I'm going to have some wine at both) and see where that takes me.

I know that sometimes a plateau can happen when you overtrain, and I've been to the gym everyday since January 31st (except for today because of a bomb threat!) Maybe taking today off will help, as well.

Thanks for taking the time to look into this for me, atomic. I really want to start this pregnancy off with the best possible pink chance :)

Right and I understand you know this already LW but for anyone who doesn't, low carb vegetables are FREE foods and you do not count them at all. So you need to hit your calorie limits WITHOUT including the low carb vegetables. They don't count for anything, not cals, fat, or protein.

[atomic sagebrush]

I also have to laugh a little at the idea that I'm on a starvation diet when I'm SO full after mealtimes!

people starve to death eating an unlimted amount of vegetables, rice, and yes, even meat (google "rabbit starvation")'

Starvation doesn't always have to do with the amount of food in your belly, it also means not getting enough of the amount of nutrients your body needs.

[ThinkPink2014]

Hmm if I buy that powder, I'll get the Natural flavor instead. Less salt and no stevia. Since I have PCOS w IR, I need protein to keep my sugars low and without milk and eggs, I feel like I'd have to eat a bigger quantity of meat and nuts to get it, which I don't want to do for the sway. I'm hoping that since this is vegan, it won't raise T levels!

[atomic sagebrush]

Rosie--thanks for some new food ideas, lol. This is very different than how I normally eat so I appreciate hearing what others are doing. Pasta was what was sending me over on cals. One cup dry typically makes me about 2 cups cooked, thats about 450 cal right there plus a yoplait light that I typically have with it is 90 cals and a tab of margarine another 50 cals makes a simple pasta dinner almost 600 calories!! Has anyone found any lower calorie pasta?

Yes pasta can be a killer on LE Diet. High in both cals and protein and for whatever reason you (or at least ME) can inhale a massive quantity of it...way way way more than the suggested serving size.

What I did was that I cut my pasta with 50-50 cauliflower/broccoli in the boiling water, or had eggplant, mushroom,zucchini saute on top of a small portion.

[atomic sagebrush]

Rosie--thanks for some new food ideas, lol. This is very different than how I normally eat so I appreciate hearing what others are doing. Pasta was what was sending me over on cals. One cup dry typically makes me about 2 cups cooked, thats about 450 cal right there plus a yoplait light that I typically have with it is 90 cals and a tab of margarine another 50 cals makes a simple pasta dinner almost 600 calories!! Has anyone found any lower calorie pasta?

Yes pasta can be a killer on LE Diet. High in both cals and protein and for whatever reason you (or at least ME) can inhale a massive quantity of it...way way way more than the suggested serving size.

What I did was that I cut my pasta with 50-50 cauliflower/broccoli in the boiling water, or had eggplant, mushroom,zucchini saute on top of a small portion.

[Rosie85]

And for me pasta is like the one thing I can get my protein from! I struggle on days I don't eat it.

[atomic sagebrush]

Rosie--thanks for some new food ideas, lol. This is very different than how I normally eat so I appreciate hearing what others are doing. Pasta was what was sending me over on cals. One cup dry typically makes me about 2 cups cooked, thats about 450 cal right there plus a yoplait light that I typically have with it is 90 cals and a tab of margarine another 50 cals makes a simple pasta dinner almost 600 calories!! Has anyone found any lower calorie pasta?

Yes pasta can be a killer on LE Diet. High in both cals and protein and for whatever reason you (or at least ME) can inhale a massive quantity of it...way way way more than the suggested serving size.

What I did was that I cut my pasta with 50-50 cauliflower/broccoli in the boiling water, or had eggplant, mushroom,zucchini saute on top of a small portion.

[atomic sagebrush]

And for me pasta is like the one thing I can get my protein from! I struggle on days I don't eat it.

Remember though, LE Diet is meant to be infinitely flexible to work for YOU and so some people might do just dandy with pasta every day while others it doesn't work as well for. Try not to worry about what she is doing or her or that one - do what works for Rosie! :)

I had pasta at least 2 times a week when doing LE.

[Rosie85]

Thanks Atomic! You are always so reassuring. We are all very grateful for it, I am sure I can say that on behalf of everyone here!

[jennibel]

Yes pasta can be a killer on LE Diet. High in both cals and protein and for whatever reason you (or at least ME) can inhale a massive quantity of it...way way way more than the suggested serving size.

What I did was that I cut my pasta with 50-50 cauliflower/broccoli in the boiling water, or had eggplant, mushroom,zucchini saute on top of a small portion.

I do something similar. If I have pasta I often have about 75g pasta and have it with philly light and parmesan but have a tonne of LE veg with it - leek, courgette and mushroom usually (saute them in a light spray or a tiny bit of unsalted lighter butter). Fills you up without going over on protein!

[atomic sagebrush]

I actually prefer it that way and rarely have meat in my pasta any more.:)

[unwirklich]

One of the easiest ways to increase calories if you're full is by eating more Omega 6 fats like margarine or corn oil. People have some misconception that doing LE Diet means you must only use fat free everythign but it just isn't the case and you have 25-60 g of fat to play around with. 1 T oil/margarine has about 100 cals and 14 g fat and if it's Omega 6, it's only going to help your sway.

So Rosie, this means for you that you need to use margarine on your toast/waffle, along with the jelly. Full fat or part skim yogurt will have more cals.

make sure there is some fat in your pasta/rice/veggies/sauce at dinner time.

And you guys you can eat 3 meals a day! I always did. YOu just want to have that nice long run overnight with no food coming in for 12-16 hours, and then it's fine to still eat 3 meals. So you might eat at noon, 4, and 8 instead. you're not snacking all day and you're not eating in the morning, but still 3 meals. it can be easier to get enough calories that way.

I had this problem when I first started the LE diet, I went out and bought all the diet stuff and found I could eat a full meal and only get like 300 calories, well 3 meals a day that's only like 900 calories and I'd be at max for protein because I haven't cut meat. Just going back to full fat on somethings really helped...like if I have a salad with cauliflower for lunch I add croutons and 2 tbsp. one dressing..you'll get as much calories from that dressing as the entire salad combined. Though I'm totally epic failing the sodium limits as a result...

[ThinkPink2014]

Did some more reading and now I'm like hrmm. So these protein powders contain a lot of branch chain amino acids, which I read can raise testosterone. They aid in protein synthesis and are taken by ppl who want to build muscle. I'm going to steer clear I think. It may be ok, but the prospect of it not being ok will stress me out!

[atomic sagebrush]

Yeah but you need some amino acids - that is what protein is. If you stick within the diet limits it's ok now and then.