Not loosing weight.........why?

[mysscryss]

What would cause me not to loose weight?
????: South Beach Diet Forums http://www.southbeachdietbulletinboard.com/south-beach-diet-forums-phase-2/4641-not-loosing-weight-why.html

I've been doing very little carbs......occasionally a fruit a day.
If I do carbs it's FiberOne cereal, oatmeal, or wheat pita bread....
occasionally I have an all-bran cracker or two.

For meals I've been eating eggs, chicken, salads, steak,
green beans, squash, zucchini, turkey chili.... nothing a lot
out of the realms of phase 1 it seems.

Could NOT eating enough be a problem? I work odd hours
and sometimes I sleep in til noon (when I say odd, sometimes it's after
2am before I get in from work) so I just have lunch...

I still try to get in three meals and a snack, but it
doesn't always work.......any advice? I've been trying
to get off 4 pounds for two weeks, nothing.

As far as exercise, I've done some workouts at home and
started walking....in my job, I'm always on my feet and moving --
I'm a server...

what could be the culprit?

[paintedbliss]

First of all welcome to our little corner of the beach. What could be the culprit
??? It might help if you start posting your meals over the next couple of days to let us get a better insight on what is going on. It is reallly important for you to exercise in some regular form. I know you say you are on your feet, but being a nurse so am I and until I started getting serious about exercise instead of sporadic workouts the weight really was not budging.

[RedRox]

and yes, not eating enough can definitely stall weight loss. Agree with the idea of posting what you are eating and drinking with rough quantities if possible and see if anyone can see and possible improvements.

Also if you only have 4 lbs to lose in total, that is a very slow process. It just takes time when you get down under those "last 10". this is a lifestyle change program, not a quick weight loss or temporary "diet".

[mysscryss]

I'll try to remember to jot down what I have so I can share it....
today I had

Oatmeal
Apple
small steak w/ a ceaser salad, minus croutons...light dressing
pecans
and a chicken concoction I came up with that had
chicken, broccoli, lima beans in cream of mushroom
(it was kind of like chicken pot pie, without the pie)

It's so hard for me to eat like I should.
My work schedule is usually like 6-1am or later...
so I try to eat "lunch" about 4, and sometimes dinner
about 10'ish or whenever business allows.

RedRox, 4 pounds is not all I want to loose I'd set small goals.
I started this Feb 2nd and had lost 10 pounds at the end of Phase 1,
seems like I'm STILL hovering over that 10 pound loss after another
two weeks at phase 2.... to loose 4 more pounds would put me
at my first small goal mark - under 230lbs...

I can't do it and for the first time during this I've been SO frustrated and discouraged.

Why is it slower now than before even though I haven't
made a drastic increase in the breads/fruits that I'm eating?
????: South Beach Diet Forums http://www.southbeachdietbulletinboard.com/showthread.php?t=4641
Some days, I go all day without a carb and/or fruit.

[mysscryss]

Today's food:

Fiber One Cereal
Pepper Jack Cheese stick
Salad with egg, cucumber, chicken and ranch
Chicken/broccoli/lima been concoction
and strawberries w/ half a pack of splenda

[RedRox]

It's not uncommon to plateau for the first 2-3 weeks of P2.
????: South Beach Diet Forums http://www.southbeachdietbulletinboard.com/showthread.php?t=4641

Breakfast should still include some protein, vegetables and good fats.

Snack is light but OK if the cheese is 6 gms of fat or less per ounces.

Lunch is OK if the veggies total 2 cups or more.

No afternoon snack. Although snacks are optional in P2, I kept them in and still try to eat them.

Again dinner should include minimum of 2 cups of veggies and both the broccoli and the beans would count towards that.

Don't see any dairy.

What are you doing for exercise or activity? Are you getting enough sleep?

You could try including some additional calorie dense items like more cheese, beans, nuts, etc. and see if that might help. But really this is a slow weight loss plan. If you put the right process in place, it will come off slowly. But it isn't typically a linear process. You won't lose weight every week. At some point we have to learn to eat for our health simply because we know it is a better way to eat than the way we ate before and don't worry about when the scale will catch up to our new eating habits. I wish you the best!

[mysscryss]

for dairy, I had some 1% milk in the cereal,
probably a half of cup of cheese on the salad....and
the cheese stick as a snack

I did eat another snack later, I stay up way too late
????: South Beach Diet Forums http://www.southbeachdietbulletinboard.com/showthread.php?t=4641
so I had some sugar free pudding...

Today I didn't do an exercise, I'm having a hard time getting into that habit.
I DO have a job where I'm on my feet and moving, sometimes very quickly...
but on my days off I'm SO slack.

I've been walking....I started with 30 mins and did a mile...
going to do that a time or two before adding another lap

I even feel like I've gained a pound or two since I started P2,
the scales I'm using are digital and can give me 3-4 different
numbers within seconds so I never know what's right.



If I've learned anything, I've learned that I'm eating SO much healthier....and I LOVE it! No fast food in almost a month, no real sugar (as in sweets and junk), water instead of soda....I just want to make sure I'm doing things right.


I mentioned it in another reply, but why is it so much slower when you get off of P1? Why in the first phase does it go quickly?

[RedRox]

Originally Posted by mysscryss

for dairy, I had some 1% milk in the cereal,
probably a half of cup of cheese on the salad....and
the cheese stick as a snack

Only milk and yogurt count as dairy on this program. Cheese is considered a protein. So you are allowed more allowed types of milk and/or yogurt than that if you want. If you are low on energy or getting headaches, it might hlep with that.

Originally Posted by mysscryss

I did eat another snack later, I stay up way too late so I had some sugar free pudding...

I only mentioned it because adequate sleep does help weight loss. goofy but true.

Originally Posted by mysscryss

Today I didn't do an exercise, I'm having a hard time getting into that habit.
I DO have a job where I'm on my feet and moving, sometimes very quickly...
but on my days off I'm SO slack.

I've been walking....I started with 30 mins and did a mile...
going to do that a time or two before adding another lap

Again I mentioned it because you need to create a net caloric deficit between in and out of approx. 500 to 100 calories per day. Too little and you don't lose and above that you send signals to your body that it isn't getting enough food and it slows down your metabolism and prevents fat loss as well. So keep up what you are doing!

Originally Posted by mysscryss

I even feel like I've gained a pound or two since I started P2, the scales I'm using are digital and can give me 3-4 different
numbers within seconds so I never know what's right.

take an average? ; numbers aren't that important in the short term anyway. Scales weigh everything and in the short term, it's just a highly variable number. Long term trends are what count, like weeks and months. That's when you actually begin to see changes and trends that are meaningful.

Originally Posted by mysscryss

If I've learned anything, I've learned that I'm eating SO much healthier....and I LOVE it! No fast food in almost a month, no real sugar (as in sweets and junk), water instead of soda....I just want to make sure I'm doing things right.

I'd hold onto all those positives in that statement. Those are the things that help carry people through when the scale is not moving the way they want it to, and we all go through plateaus and ups and downs and sideways. It's just part of the process. But the eating healthier, BEING healthier and gaining control of your food choices are HUGE and will take you far!

Originally Posted by mysscryss

I mentioned it in another reply, but why is it so much slower when you get off of P1? Why in the first phase does it go quickly?

Because it's mostly water weight at first. Once that's over, then you get into actual fat loss and that goes much more slowly. ON AVERAGE you might get to 1-2 lbs a week, but that means some weeks might be a bit more and some will be less. Weight loss is neither linear, predictable nor comparable!

Here is the water weight explanation. In P1, we overly restrict our carbohydrate intake beyond what is healthy and necessary for our bodies to function properly. So we start to use up our first set of energy reserves in the body called glycogen. When our bodies stored the glycogen in the first place it also stores water along with it (just part of our biochemical systems) in a ratio of 4 parts water to 1 part glycogen. When we use up the glycogen we release all that water as well and water is a pretty heavy substance, so we "lose" a lot of weight quickly, but we aren't really losing more "fat" in P1 than we would any other time. Again, scales measure everything, water, bone, muscle, fat, food still being processed and so forth. It's a VERY imprecise way of measuring progress, it just happens to be the easiest for most people.

Conversely when we enter P2 and start reintroducing more good carb sources, we start to replenish some of those glycogen stores and also start storing water along with it, so that is part of the reason it is so common to plateau as we start P2, even though we are likely not adding any "fat", just weight. Also our bodies just need to adjust to get used to these new changes again and figure out what to do with it.

The thing that people think then is they should just stay in P1 and they will continue to lose rapidly and that is the worst thing they can do. First of all, once you lose all the glycogen related water weight, the weight loss in P1 will slow down or stop altogether as well. You don't get enough nutrition in P1 for it to be a healthy way of eating. It isn't even designed to be the weight loss phase, but simply to PREPARE you for the weight loss phase which is P2. If you have any significant amount of weight to lose, you will lose far more in P2 than in P1, it just takes longer and takes more patience.

Remember this was never designed to be a quick weight loss program or a "diet" in the sense most use the word. It's a healthy eating program that helps you learn how to develop a lifestyle that will allow you to lose weight safely over time and continue to maintain it as long as you continue to stay on plan for the rest of your life. There really isn't any hurry. It's more about getting the process right and learning what works for you and your body along the way. There is a lot of trial and error along the way. Try to create less attachment to the immediate results. Results happen over time if the process is right for you. Just keep moving forward!!

[mysscryss]

Wow Red, thanks for that explanation!! It really helps in understanding what my body is going through

[RedRox]

So how is it going?