Help, I can't eat enough and am losing weight too fast

[Ikane1]

Hi, I'm new here, but been lurking for a while.

Anyways. I have a problem with the LE diet (pink sway). I can't seem to eat enough, and is therefore dropping in weight waaay more than I intended. Everyday I eat 3 meals, starting of at 9 am and then at 1 pm and at 5 pm. I make sure to drink minimum amount of water when I eat (to not get too full on water, and drink water inbetween meals) and everytime I eat, i eat until I simply can't eat another bite. But I simply can't get more than 1400-1500 a day. Everyday I have to eat an excess of candy to get extra calories... I must be doing something wrong! Help! I've already lost almost 8 lbs on 4 weeks with no exercise! (I'm quite short, and I weigh 139 lbs and have 18 lbs I can loose before i reach bmi 21, but if I'm losing this much without any exercise I will be under 21 just when we will start TTC and that is WITHOUT exercise, and if it'll take me 3-6 months to get pregnant, I will have wasted away to nothing before that...and not be fit to be pregnant...if I still have any O at all!)

Average day:
9 am- A very small amount of low fat cottaged cheese and lots of fruit. Toast. Coffee.
1 pm- White rice risotto, with veggies. A fruit or some berries. Coffee.
5 pm- Pasta sallad with lots of veggies and with vegetarian meatballs. Candy to get enough calories for the day.

I reach 45-50 g proteins and 35-45 g fat daily. Without candy I reach somewhere between 1000-1200 kcal a day, and with 1400-1500 kcal... What I understand, candy should just be eaten in smaller amounts, but should I eat more? What else can/should I change in my diet?

Also: we were planning on TTC in early Oct, but now my DH is going away for work and we won't be able to try in Oct. And we might miss O in Sep too so might not be able to start TTC a bit early either. Should I stop diet and postpone TTC? How can I make my diet better, no matter if postponing or not? Help, please! Any input will be appreciated!

[atomic sagebrush]

The main thing jumping out to me is that you need more fat. First change to make is to switch to full fat cottage cheese, I don't know if you are having butter or margarine with toast but if you aren't, please do. Put cream in your coffee. You could add margarine, butter, oil, or cheese to your risotto. Adding fat is the best way when you're feeling stuffed, to get more calories without really eating anything.

You can also add in a 4th meal if you need to or adjust portion sizes where you can - adjust the amounts of vegetables so you can eat more calorie dense foods.

Instead of candy you could also have some sort of beverage that has calories in it to drink with your meal.

All this having been said, your metabolism will very likely adjust to some extent over the course of time so the rate of weight loss may slow down or even stop. 8 pounds in 4 weeks is not a rapid weight loss given your starting weight and I would not be panicking just yet since you do have some wiggle room. It will probably slow down pretty quickly, but do still up that fat intake for now and see how it goes from here. You can always cut back again in the future.

If you are sure you're not going to try in Sept. and Oct then yes you can relax. I'd still try to keep some elements of diet but if there are a few things you can change to make things easier for you to slow down the weight loss, by all means if you're still 12+ weeks out you may want to ease off of those things for a bit.

[Ikane1]

Ok, fat it is. Thank you. Acually I do have butter on my toast already, but can probably put a little extra butter on from now on. And can make my risotto with full fat cream etc. And maybe drink milk for one meal. Make potato hotchpotch maybe.

True, I have some weight to shedd, but I rather want to cut back later than realise I'm getting to thin before my BFP shows up...

And I'm still not sure if we won't be able to TTC in Sep, it all depends on if my O will be on the same day as before dieting or later (which I read wasn't unusual with LE diet). I guess I will just have to decide if we're postponing or not.

[atomic sagebrush]

I agree it's better to cut back sooner rather than later but I also see a fair number of people panic over weight loss/nutrient intake unneccesarily too so i just want you to be aware of the pitfall. Sometimes dieting messes with our heads and tries to mentally trick us into stopping dieting LOL by making us have paranoia that we're losing too much too fast or are depleted in nutrients when everything is going according to plan. (this happens even without doing LE Diet, whenever we lose weight it is a pitfall that can undermine us.)

Yes you can wait right up to the last second to decide to postpone! Don't worry about it yet, for all we know you'll have a perfectly timed O!

Good luck and let me know how it's going.

[Ikane1]

Almost 3 months later:

I've eased up on the diet, but still lost quite a bit of weight. I now weigh 126 lbs /57 kg, with a bmi of 21,6 or something like that (Mostly beacuse I got sick and couldn't eat almost anything for almost a week... and lost 4 pounds because of it) My daily routine now includes a bowl of ice cream as dessert and a small bowl of candy... I try to add more fat, but really hate the taste of it, and it works best when cooking something (so I taste it less). I regret that I didn't just stop when I realised we weren't gonna TTC in Oct...well it's easy to know what to do afterwards.

We still haven't gotten around to TTC yet and now I'm starting to really worry about how I should be able to hold any weight on if I start exercising. Is it better to add another meal and exercise or stay with 3 meals and no exercise at all? (I don't get any daily exercise, at most it's picking up my two boys and carrying them to the car etc).

How many months does it take on average for people to get pregnant on the LE diet? We've gotten pregnant first month TTC every time (MC included). But it would be good to know how it's been for other people. I've read somewhere that average people who know when their O is get pregnant in 1-3 months. But LE diet is supposed to lower fertility so I suspect more?

Coffee - I never been a coffee drinker. I love the smell. Absolutely HATE the taste, but the last 4 months I have been drinking 1.7 cups/ 4 dl a day. Is it enough? How much coffee is recommended? It's so vague. Also can I have the coffee between meals even if I drink it with 1/3 of a cup/ 0.7 dl milk or cream (many people seem to)??

Alcohol -What kind and how much? Is cider (4,5 % alcohol) enough or cream liqueur (alcohol 17%)? Or does it need to be stronger stuff ? (and who will take the kids to school if I start drinking ? )

[atomic sagebrush]

Add calories (even if it takes another meal) and exercise. The exercise has been quite effective for us.

Your weight is really ideal, just exactly where I have people stop losing and hold steady. You haven't lost too much weight.

The average time to conception is 3 months. That is actually the norm for people who aren't swaying, either - 3-6 months. If you've always gotten preggo first month out that's very good luck and not something to expect will happen this time, though.

As long as you're drinking more than when you got your boys, that's what counts. That's why the guidelne is vague - some people already drink coffee, others don't, so I cant give a blanket guideline there. Yes you can have coffee with cream between meals or in the morning. But no sugar.

Any kind of alcohol you like is fine. I had cider several times when I was swaying for my daughter. I would be somewhat cautious of the sugary alcohols (be sure to have them with a meal- you should try to always have alcohol with meals but it's even more important when you're drinking the sugary ones like liqueur)

[Ikane1]

Thank you for answering.

Right. Exercise it is. Have actually already added brisk walking 4 + days. And yes, it is a bit late to add it, only 4 weeks til our first TTC, but I figure we're not gonna get pregnant the first cycle. Will do my best to not drop or not drop too much in weight from now on. But I've gotten quite a good rutine on my food intake by now, so will hopefully not be to difficult even with the exercise (I realised brisk walking won't burn that many calories, so will just wait a few weeks and see if I have to consciously add much more food since I might be naturally more hungry by walking).

Really good to know a little bit what to expect with how long to TTC. I had already mentally prepared myself that it would at least take 3 months, but will keep in mind that maybe it will be even longer.

I meant to say "enough to make a difference" but of course you're right, if I didn't drink any coffee with my sons it will sway more to drink any coffee now, no matter the amount. And the same with the alcohol, any alcohol will sway more than last time.

Again. Thank you.

[atomic sagebrush]

The exercise has been so good for so long I want you guys to add it even if it feels a little last-minute.

4 days a week walking is the minimum amount I feel confident in so that's great.

Everything else looking great!!!