Not loosing weight on LE diet, is this a bad thing ?

I am wondering if it is a "bad" thing if I am not loosing weight on the LE diet, I haven't gained weight, and do feel a little slimmer, but nothing really lost on the scales. My skin is breaking out, and I feel run down and tired (also don't get much sleep with a toddler).

Example of what I eat :

Intermittent fasting until midday, if not later. Only having coffee (2-4 a day/over the day) with oat milk, and aspartame, sometimes full cream milk if we have run out of oat milk.

Lunch: low cal rye mountain bread wrap with spinach, alfalfa sprouts, cucumber, swiss cheese, a bit of mayo and dill. I'll have 1 or 2 of these. Once a week prawn rice paper salad wraps. I'll sometimes have rice with some chicken or roast veggies, or some plain pasta with light tasty cheese. Or pasta with jar pesto sauce.

Dinner: Rice with veggies, or pesto pasta (plain pasta with pesto) or mountain bread wrap. Admittedly, I have a lot of rice and pasta when I do eat it.

I also have diet coke with meals, and will have a rum and coke a night. Sometimes I'll have yoghurt with blueberries or a low fat skinny cow ice cream. This maybe three times a week.


Perhaps I am eating too much rice and pasta ? Or too much dairy ?

It's very wet weather at the moment so I am not getting much cardio in, only twice a week 60 minute fast walking. I am thinking of doing a cardio session on youtube each day once I get over this current cold.

Going to have first attempt in June. I have been doing the LE for two months. I was a bit sloppy at first with a few take aways as we were moving house, but since felt like I had been doing alright, and then haven't seen the scales change.

My sway focus is:
LE diet
Diet Coke
Cardio as much as possible (this has been effected with low energy, low sleep, moving house. But hopefully will now up my game)
Coffee
Alchohol
Abstain and one attempt.

But feel like I must not be doing the LE diet properly.

What is your BMI (or height and weight and I can calculate it for you)

How many grams protein and fat (not counting protein and fat in fruit and veg)

How many calories are you eating?

Thank-you for your reply! My BMI is 24.99 160cm 64kg I fluctuate between 61kg-64kg often.

On the days I eat rice paper rolls and mountain bread wraps - the lighter meals. I am at 31g of fat and 31g of protein sometimes hitting 40g

But most days I am eating pasta and rice and the pesto sauce or some chicken I’ll hit between 60g of protein - 80g plus of fat. I didn’t realise until I read how much is in the pasta sauce and how much of that I eat in a serving. Or I’ll have plain pasta with light tasty cheese but quite a lot.

I am not eating any fruit other than blueberries (I didn’t realise until looking back over my fitness pal)

And the only veggies I am eating are the ones you don’t really count, in salads and wraps. Occasionally will have pumpkin in a veggie lasagna with spinach and ricotta.

My calories are 1,200 from the two heavy meals usually. If I need to reach the 1200 calories I have a skinny cow ice cream or yoghurt or raisin toast.

Let's have you switch to the alternate PCOS-type diet then. Same cal intake, but eat whole grains only, no white grains. Full fat dairy only, NO SKIM DAIRY (the light tasty cheese will need to be swapped) and limit sugar or cut it out entirely as much as you can.

I would also up the exercise if you can.

Ok, thank you so much.

Will do this and report back how I go over the next six weeks or so.

Hi Atomic,

I’m checking in a bit earlier because I’m going to TTC in June, so I’m just under six weeks out until our one attempt. Which we plan to abstain 7+ days and then BD on peak solid smile clear blue test.

I’m still having trouble with my weight though. I read through a lot of your PCOS LE posts and been following your points systems.

I have lost 1 kg since my last reply to you and changing my diet. I haven’t been able to do cardio daily (twice a week or at least once a week) as I injured myself/wet weather/toddler/motivation. So I really am aiming for the next 6 weeks to do a cardio YouTube thing or something daily now that my injury has semi healed. So hopefully that will lose weight.

Is 6 weeks out daily cardio going to help sway ?

I am now 63kg in the morning when I weighed myself. I feel slimmer though, my jeans are falling off, I notice in the mirror how much slimmer I am (and I have the harshest eye) my husband and my sister have noticed. But the scales sit strong.

Is it the scales that need to drop drastically? I’m so not toned from not doing any muscle building, but I am active, I don’t sit down at all, i am constantly moving, lifting my toddler up and down (and other toddlers) through work, boxes from moving and unpacking, I don’t sit down until 9pm and only for lunch do I sit down. So perhaps I am building muscle and that’s what is keeping the scales strong?

I feel like I have lost fat. But I am disheartened because the scales and over all amount of weight is not much at all, since March when I started.

I have been on the LE diet since March, cut out red meat and intermittent fasting, was able to do more cardio then but clearly I have some insulin issues or something hence me posting originally.

Would this all still sway girl ? I mean in three months the scales have barely moved, but I physically look slimmer and my clothes are looser.

Perhaps I am not eating enough, although I really feel I am. In the last three weeks I have added more veggies and fruit, and been following the point system on the LE PCOS support post.

*Since Feb/March I have also cut way back on eggs, salmon, avocado and canned fish, I rarely have these now, but These were staple items in my diet daily, especially when I conceived my boys.

I guess what I’m asking is - if I am following the LE diet but not really losing weight in the scales but been on it for 3 + months will it still have an effect on my sway?

The only other things I feel I have for my sway is the amount of coffee, and our 1 BD attempt. I’m also doing the girl clothes under bed, salt lamp and New Moon BD but that’s not physical changes obviously.

Current BMI: 24.6

The diet still works without weight loss. In fact many people underneath my cutoff are actually just holding steady on weight and not losing anythign at all.

Let's stop using the points system and start actually tracking protein, fat, and calories. The points system is meant for people who just really feel they cannot understand the diet otherwise, but it's less precise and it may be you're getting too many calories or grams of carbs.

Aim at 1500-1800 cals a day, 50-60 g protein and fat (not counting the protein and fat in fruits and veg, and NOTHING in low carb veg, they are free and unlimited, no need to even count calories in them.) Full fat dairy only, no skim or even part skim dairy, and whole grains only, no refined grains (with the possible exception of pasta if you really can't stand whole grain pasta)

6 weeks is enough time for the exercise.

As long as you're not gaining weight you are not adding muscle. It's quite difficult for women to really add muscle - takes a lot of effort and a LOT of calories, and weight gain - so please don't worry about that.

What seems to happen for a lot of people is that their bodies just seem to hang onto the weight and then one day they wake up and a lot of weight has shifted. I suspect you're going to start exercise and the weight will come off quite fast, especially if you drop the points system and start actually tracking your intake.

This was super helpful thank you.

Yes I did find that the points systems helped me understand the diet a bit better, but since posting have read your tracking post and learning track protein and fat etc so going to do that better now, so hopefully I’ll be right on the money.

Will update again in a few weeks time now that I will be tracking better and up-ing the exercise. Your post makes me feel much better! I just need to do some adjustments.

Thank-you again!

The good news is that if you add it up and find you're right in the wheelhouse with your points you can keep using it! I just want to be SURE because some people do end up not getting quite the right combination with the points system depending on what choices they make!

Let me know how I can help!

Hi Atomic!

I thought I would update as AF is due tomorrow and our first month TTC After that in June.

I haven’t been able to do the exercises adding, it’s been one thing after another, and now currently in a week long lockdown. I’m constantly sick with winter here too. The motivation has been so much harder hitting then I anticipated with extra stuff going on.

It makes me nervous as not doing the exercise (I haven’t been on the couch I don’t sit down but don’t do 1 hour workout) and not loosing weight make me nervous. Even though I have read many of your other posts that people still get girls.

What I have been doing for my is:

• coffee and milk on an empty stomach (3 months)
• intermittent fasting Midday-8:00pm (3 months)
• LE diet and recently LE alt PCOS diet (3 months)
• 2 alcoholic drinks night (these last few weeks)
• no red meat and only a bit of chicken occasionally (3 months)
• limited to very rare: avocado, garlic, onion, potatoes, eggs, fish, canned fish, sweets, sugar.
• tracking my cycles and I have a positive ovulation test on cycle day 16 and get AF on cycle day 31 every month the same cycle days. So I plan to have one attempt on cycle day 16 in the evening if I get a solid smile clear blue test that morning.

* I did take cranberry tablets like a fool at the start and had heavy bleeding AF and blood clotting, I found your post about cranberry and weaned off that was two months ago. So thank you for posting that! I have drinking cranberry juice and vodka at nights of Diet Coke and rum.

I’m hoping all this is a good enough sway without the exercise and figuring out the LE diet for my body, the points system has really helped know what to eat and I feel it works for me in terms of understanding protein and fat amount etc

I’m nervous as I am blessed with being very fertile naturally. I fall pregnant easily. I have frat twin boys and a singleton boy. My diet previously is very different too what it was when I had boys. I hope I have done enough in case we do fall pregnant next month, which I really do hope so.

Wanted to update and I guess nervous jitters as we are about to have our first attempt, and I haven’t swayed before.

I do recommend the exercise if at all possible but people do get girls without it.

Great that your cycle is staying regular - that is the upside of not losing scads of weight, it doesn't disrupt the cycle.

That is what originally clued me into the cranberry being such a strong blood thinner - when I was back on InGender, women were starting the supplements and immediately having terrible periods so I knew the two just had to be connected. Glad we figured that out so you didn't have to put up with that!

Everything else is looking great to me! Keep up the good work!