update: Another low-card question. - Diet & Nutrition Message Board

Piranna65 · 08-31-2005, 08:32 PM

Hello all that were giving me some great advice on my first (hopefully only) attempt at the low card diet.

I am just shy of a month of doing this now and I have lost about 12lbs or so. Im sure I'd be loosing more if I were working out, but I just cant make the time for that right now.

I have gone down a pant size and I have been getting comments from people who have noticed, so that is pleasing. It is satisfying to see that when I step on the scale now, no matter what time of day I am under 160. I weighed 165 when i started this, the last time I weighed myself offically was a few days ago and Im just under 155, that is in the AM on an empty stomach. I try not to make it a "habit'' to step on every time i enter the bathroom, but its exciting.

I stopped taking my vitamins out of lazyness and have since caught back up on taking them since my "functions'' kinda of holted on me! So I will try to refrain from doing that!

Also I found these neat snack packs so to speak at walmart. They are for the south beach diet which is similar to low carb. They are 9 or 10 for one pack, but you get two low carb tortillas with chicken, cheese and dressing with a small cup of sugar free jello! It's a nice little meal for 9 or 10carbs i'll take it.

I guess Im just wondering, do/can you hit a plateau on the low carb diet? I'd assume you can since it's like any other diet or somethiing you go on, since a lot of the weight you lose first is water weight...so is there a plateau or if i keep it at 20 will i keep going down?

Pandora_0729 · 09-04-2005, 01:31 PM

The answer to your question is "yes", you will hit a plateau on a low carb diet. No matter what we do, our bodies will adjust to it. I recently had jaw surgery and wasn't allowed to chew for 2 months and I had to go on a liquid diet. All I ate was soups and shakes and had absolutely no carbs. I lost 13lbs in 2 weeks and after that it just stopped. I plateaued and my metabolism slowed down. When I was fully recovered it was time to start eating normal again. I would only eat carbs for breakfast or lunch ( 1-2 slices of bread/day) and since I hadn't eaten carbs in so long, all the fat went to my stomach. I ended up having to immediately start working out again to stop it from happening. Just be careful what you do with the whole low-carb thing. Our bodies will natuarlly plateau and the only way to stop that from happening is t add change.

girlygirl11 · 09-04-2005, 01:53 PM

""I would only eat carbs for breakfast or lunch ( 1-2 slices of bread/day) and since I hadn't eaten carbs in so long, all the fat went to my stomach. I ended up having to immediately start working out again to stop it from happening""

Actually when you gain weight, it usually goes to your stomach first, then redistributes to other parts of your body naturally. Some people, of course, gain it on their thighs/hips first. It all depends on your body shape...but it as nothing to do with eating carbs to gain weight or anything like that.

anitak1982 · 09-04-2005, 06:32 PM

I have been on a low carb way of eating for over a year. Yes you can stall if you eat too many carbs. Did you buy the Atkins book? Or if your doing South Beach get that one. You can get them at your local library too. Read them! It will this way of eating make sense. Another good one is Protein Power that isn't really a "diet" book as explaining why this works.

Reading will make you informed. My husband was stalled and realized he was eating too many peanuts. He stopped and started losing again.

Ok I am gonna yell at you like your Mama! DO NOT STOP TAKING YOUR VITAMINS! Ok yelling over! Seriously they are so vital in doing low carb. Especially the potassium one.You need to take more than what is in a multivitamin. Cause if you do not take potassium one night you are going to get a leg cramp and you will remember Mama Anita fussin at you.

The magnesium keeps you happy in the potty department too.

Lenin · 09-05-2005, 06:23 AM

Oh yes,

When I tried Atkins for a 18 months, after the first 25 pounds, I plateaued SOOO bad. I lost NOTHING for 5 months. I jettisoned Atkins in favor of calorie counting and I resumed a very slow weight loss.
There's a LOT of weight tied up in glycogen and the water that is tied to it. Any super-low carb diet willtake that off quickly but only total food restriction will pare off any serious amount of bodyfat.

That's why the Atkins diet runs in fad-cycles, people catch on to the fact that food restiction IS needed ...no free lunch...and then most people abandons the diet for 15 more years. Atkins, after outrageous popularity, has been going into it's down cycle for the last couple years...since the death of Robert Atkins. (Atkins Nutritionals filed for bankrupcy protection last month.)

Piranna,
Cut your calories and your weight loss will resume...adding more carbs into the mix will help too.