Help! On LE diet and unable to lose weight

First of all I want to thank for this awesome site. I'm posting for the first time, but I've been doing a lot of research here and I'm really impressed. I get this feeling when reading that it all makes sense.

Anyway, we are ttc girl and I've been on a diet for 6 weeks now. First three weeks I was on IG diet (without meat) and then I foud LE and switched to it by adding a little veggies and cutting a bit milk and eggs. But basically I've been on a same type of low cal, low fat diet for last six weeks. I eat max 1500 calories daily which is way less than I used to eat (around 2000 cal normally). I also take cranberry, drink Sprite Zero (we don't have CL in Scandinavia) and calsium and magnesium supps. My ph is around 4-5 so it's pretty good.

My problem is that although I eat a little, I'm unable to lose any weight. Actually I've gained a pound or two. I feel like that skipping breakfast and eating only 3 times a day with low protein and empty carbs makes it impossible for me to lose weight. Normally I eat quite often and my dinner would be something like chicken breast and a huge salad (now: white pasta and peeled zucchini). I have constipation (sorry TMI) and feel hungry and cranky all the time. I've been following the diet though and I'm supposed to be ovulating in a week now.

I'm unsure what to do. Can we still DTD (my husband has already started abstaining and we're doing 0+12) even though I cannot lose weight which I feel like would be crucial when trying for girl.. I'm not fat, my BMI is around 23 now, but I'm definitely heavier than ever before and much heavier than when I had my son. I really wouldn't want to go on with this diet forever since it's not really ideal for my body - that's why I wouldn't want to miss this cycle..

All help and comments much appreciated!!

I would add a lot more veggies in like iceberg lettuce salads with cucumber, white mushrooms, radishes, you can do caulifower too, spaghetti squash. Also, strawberries, white grapes, peeled apples and pears. Cut back on the pasta and rice and eat more veg and fruit. Also, you can eat 1-2 lite yogurts a day with fiber mixed in to make them more filling and air popped popcorn is filling, and doesn't have many nutrients or ca;ories. GL, hope this helps!

Allegra, when I first went on the LE diet, I ate around 1600 calories a day. I weighed myself a week after starting and hadn't lost *anything*. I found I had to eat about 1300 a day to get the weight to come off, and more like 1200 to make it come off faster. (I'm small, though -- my starting BMI was 19.3 and I'm now at the high 17s -- so that level of calories will be too low for many people. Take into account your own height and metabolism.)

I agree with Amari -- vegetables like iceburg, mushrooms, zucchinis, bell peppers, cauliflower and green beans are good at filling up space in your stomach without bringing a lot of calories to the table.

Are you staying under the maximum limits of the LE diet? No more than 40g protein, 1000mg sodium, 20-60g fat? If you're eating too much protein through dairy, eggs, pasta, etc., even if your calories are low, it may be helping you to preserve muscle mass. Just two egg whites, which is a scant 30 calories and very little physical space, is 12g of protein alone.

Unfortunately, only you can decide if attempting this cycle is right for you. You say that you've been on *a* diet for six weeks, but if the first three of those were the IG-style diet, they wouldn't be a match for the LE diet. So you've been on the LE diet for three weeks, with (generally) a minimum of six weeks being the recommendation. If you were to get pg this cycle and end up with an opposite, would you be mad at yourself for not waiting a month? If you would be at peace with that, then proceeding this month would be okay -- and a lot of ladies don't get pg the first month anyway (I didn't).

Whatever you choose, best of luck! And don't hesitate to post if you have more questions ... we all do!!

Thank you ladies for your comments. I actually am eating some peeled cucumber and a bit iceberg lettuce with every meal and 1-2 peeled apples a day. It's just that still the change to my previous diet is pretty big. I used to eat a lot of protein (chicken, fish), nutritious fruits and vegetables, whole grain, muesli with nuts etc. No wonder I had a boy lol. The thing is still that I eat 500 calories less than I used to and still am not losing weight but rather gaining it. And I'm hungry as hell all the time for not getting that much protein.. (I eat the amount that is allowed in LE).

I guess I just wanted some insight how important losing weight was when you're still following the diet.. I just have to make up my mind whether we skip this month or not. I think when we do abstaining, hot showers, 0+12 etc I'm not likely to fall pregnant from the first shot anyway.

It took me a while to start loosing weight on this diet. Probably 4 weeks. At first I found it not as filling as my normal high protein diet. What helped me was drinking warm liquids and Seltzer water or diet soda. I also wrote down all the food I was eating and it came out to a lot more calories than I thought.

You may want to read more about calcium, magnesium, and cranberry. None of them are recommended on the low everything diet.
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Drinking water helps weight loss, and are you adding any cardio to your routine? Even walking for 30mins each day will help.

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Originally Posted by Cinss

... are you adding any cardio to your routine? Even walking for 30mins each day will help.

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Do note, however, that that would be considered moderate exercise, which sways blue. For pink, the recommendation is that you either do pretty intense cardio for at least 60 minutes straight, 6-7 days a week ... or go the couch potato route and not exercise at all.

Thanks everyone. I'm pretty sure I' m tracking everything I eat. I have a scale and also I write everything down and check calories. It's been 1300-1500 cal daily for six weeks now. BUT I think I may be forgetting how little I ate before. Maybe I actually ate less than 1500 cal when I wasn't so coscious about my eating. Hmm... Also I did a lot of exercise before the diet.

I tried to do 6 days a week 60 min of running but I didn't have time or energy to go on. So I'm a couch potato lol. Of course having a toddler home makes me walk quite a bit, going for walks, park, lifting him etc. But I'm not doing any additional excercise.

Is it ok to drink coffee between meals or before lunch in the morning?

Try dropping to 1200-1500 temporarily and see if that helps. I also agree with amari, try to shift focus more to vegetables and cut back on the rice. You may just be a little insulin resistant and switching from grains to fruit/veg will help you overcome that. Fruits and vegetables are allowed in the LE Diet, most low carb, low protein veg are free foods, you can have as much as you want, and fruits are free for protein and fat (do count fruit cals tho)

The complete LE Diet is in the Dream Members section or I can message you a short version of it. The "diet suggestions for pink" thread are NOT the LE Diet, that was an attempt to blend the IGD and FGD recommendations with LE Diet because I didn't think people wanted another diet. People can eat fruits and vegetables in larger amounts on LE Diet.

Are you taking a fiber supplement? That will help with the constipation. Stop peeling the zucchini, it's not neccesary (very little nutrients in a zucchini peel) and the fiber will also help.

How much protein are you eating?? If you think it would help, try bumping up slightly to 50-60 g, it's not ideal but as long as it's less than you were eating before, if it helps with the weight loss, it may be worth it.

Skipping breakfast is just a recommendation, if it's not working for you, then don't skip breakfast. There's nothing magical about skipping breakfast, it's just one way we send a signal to our body.

Personally, I would have you postpone this month but if you are doing abstain and O+12, you prob. won't get pg from that combo anyway and it can be almost like a practice month.

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Originally Posted by Allegra

Thanks everyone. I'm pretty sure I' m tracking everything I eat. I have a scale and also I write everything down and check calories. It's been 1300-1500 cal daily for six weeks now. BUT I think I may be forgetting how little I ate before. Maybe I actually ate less than 1500 cal when I wasn't so coscious about my eating. Hmm... Also I did a lot of exercise before the diet.

I tried to do 6 days a week 60 min of running but I didn't have time or energy to go on. So I'm a couch potato lol. Of course having a toddler home makes me walk quite a bit, going for walks, park, lifting him etc. But I'm not doing any additional excercise.

Is it ok to drink coffee between meals or before lunch in the morning?

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Coffee between meals is fine (use artificial sweetener tho.)

I agree there may be a little disconnect between what you were eating before and what you're eating now.

If you feel like you need the exercise, go ahead with it even if it's in moderation. Obviously it's not ideal but it's better than gaining weight is!!!

How much pasta are you eating? When I first started I was eating about 1 1/2 servings and didn't loose much. The last mth I got my bfp I was only eating 2 serv fruits, 2-3cps veggies, egg, salt-free toast, and about 3-4oz of protein at night. Breads and pastas can slow down digestion in some people but in others in can increase it.

Thanks for your comments again. I guess I have been eating way too much white rice and pasta (I just calculated and most of my calories come from those), so even if I've managed to stay within cal limits I guess my body is just refusing to function. Even though I'm hungry all the time I have this feeling that a big bowl of pasta is sitting in my stomach all the time and not moving..

So I guess I have to add much more vegetables. Carrots are good for stomach at least. Atomic: I'm very interested in LE diet, I am not a Dream Member yet but definitely considering. This info here is super useful.

You should def become a dream member to help you with diet and then you can also track on mtfutnesspal if you want once you understand it. also I add a loose fiber supplement to my yogurt to make it more filling.

Oops, my fitness pal