Low carb diet has come to a stand still?

Well, I beleive that weight loss happens 90% in the kitchen. So while it is good to exercise, it is not a requirement. And I understand your situation, my father in law has a related condition. I think exercise is vital, if you don't use it you will lose it.

But you are very hard on yourself about the whole weight thing. You are not obese, and only 15lbs over the normal BMI.

It sounds like you followed a really strict diet. And while you may have very dilligent, it may have just been too much. If your body went into starvation mode, it would have slowed down and basically hung onto every last morsel of nutrition. When I calculate your BMR (at your current weight/height), it is 1600 calories. Even at the lowest activity level (sedentary, little or no exercise), you need 1950 calories. And you aren't even eating half that. Yes, you are not even eating half that.

Our life cannot be all wrapped up in a little number on the scale. I would not be surprised if you have not felt well in the last months. And you may have become sick more. I would encourage you to redirect your thinking. Try to get your eating in line to support your overall health. Your metablism may have dramatically slowed in order to sustain you through this period. I really would encourage you to try to get your diet back to a more normal level and restore your metabolism before trying to go on a concerted effort to lose weight.

I go through some gain and loss every year, winter +10 -15 lbs and then I lose it over the spring and summer months. I'm into cycling and as soon as the weather breaks and I can get on the road my weight drops back in my comfort range in about 30 days. It is to hard for me to adjust my diet for the winter months and the gym does not have the same impact on my weight (I do go to the gym but it sucks). My calorie intake is 900 to 1500 plus I add carbs when active but never count them, The 600 cal swing is caused by me skipping a meal on the weekend...I gain weight during the winter on a 1500 cal diet...it's about 20% carbs and the rest is fat and protein. I'm 58 so it does not take much food for me to sustain my weight. I'm sure about my food intake I always weigh any new food at home and I'm very good at estamating how much food is on my plate...I started on insulin using food exchanges long before we switched to counting carbs using food labels.

I'm not worried about my small winter weight gain because I'm confident that I will lose it during the spring and summer months.

You need to adjust your life style and get off the diet, I think you will be happier...JMHO

Thanks BSC. When I reread my comments this a.m. I thought, "Boy, that sounds really neurotic." And it's probably close to the truth, I've driven myself nuts this fall and winter fighting the weight issue. Andrea's post struck a raw nerve because I knew exactly how she feels. I'm not giving up on low carb, it works so well for my blood sugar, but I could eat more. FYI, I've felt fine and haven't been physically sick. I do need to untwist my mental knickers, though.

This discussion has helped me as well. BSC is really good at explanations that are easy to understand and put in perspective.

Jan..."untwisting mental knickers"...*mental image*
Thank you for that! :)

To Consumne Jan, this would concern me too. I did gain weight in 5 months and found it was due to peanuts in the shell, so I stopped that and have lost half of it already.
If you are only taking metformin, what are the supplements you are taking because you may be stimulating more insulin to be created as you are guessing. What I found out about the nuts was that the extra insulin to cover the carb portion of the nuts also put the fat from the nuts into the fat cells.

Dear Andrea and Jan,

Weight issues and balance can be so frustrating!

Just a thought, but have you had your thyroid levels checked recently? There's a lot of information about this in the Hypothyroid Diabetics group.

Best wishes,

Marty1492

It is healthy if it works for you. I recently switched to the same diet and haven't had numbers like this in over 7 years. My dexcom is showing flatlines with the increased fat and true lessening of carbs. Your body derives energy from the protein and fat when the carbs are gone, so shouldn't make any difference in energy level. I'm not sure exactly why your plateuing,but I will say that nuts have a lot more carbs than you think, especially almonds, that you probably aren't covering enough for. Best of luck and good numbers for all!

that would depend on body type too.

I think lantus makes you gain weight. It could be because you've changed around the timing of your dose. Try cutting out a little bit from your diet... like 1 egg from breakfast, measure out your almond snack to just a serving size, change your bedtime snack to celery or something with fewer calories than cheese or PB.

Also, I tend to gain weight over the winter, even with no change in habits/food and more exercise. Try to at least make a few changes to stop gaining weight and if you keep doing what you're doing you might just drop some weight naturally come spring.

I wouldn't think fresh veggies were the cause.I often allow myself "unlimited" veggies, especially salad. Since you're not using dressing, I wouldn't guess that is the culprit. If you are adding cheese/nuts to your salad, that might be the cause too. Also, are you using any different sauces/marinades/oils in your cooking? Those can stealthily add some calories, sugar, and salt to your dishes. Salt might affect weight gain too by making you retain water.

Also, I'm not sure if you drink, but alcoholic beverages have a lot of extra calories and sugars too. Good luck!

that is an excellent point.

When I turned 50 I made the decision I needed to lose weight. I would lose 10-20 pounds and then plateau or even gain weight. I think your metablolism may be fighting back a little. So in 11 years I have lost over 80 pounds. When I hit those plateaus I try to switch somethin around. I may add a few miles to my daily walk or add a weight workout in the evening. I try not to cut too many calories but sometimes I do lower carbs to 20 a day for a few weeks. I also find cutting back on the nuts does help. I care more about my bgs than the pounds. But stick to your LC diet, increase the intensity of exercise or add intervals. I am about 5'3.5" and I now weigh 121. I would love to be 115-118 but I am happy in the 120 range. I think the important thing is how your clothes fit.

I agree that nuts can make a person gain weight and if you are using some type of oil dressing on the greens that would contribute. I do sympathize with the feeling miserable about gaining as I had gained over the winter from 135 to 142 lbs on May 2nd and was really fed up about it, so decided to try 4 different Raspberry Ketones brands and found Nuvocare was far too little and useless even at the three per day as Dr Oz recommended.

The next two I tried, Best Naturals which also had Green Tea in it as well worked well and I lost 4 lbs in thee weeks. Then tried Waist Away brand also a green tea and raspberry ketones product of 90 capsules per container. I used three per day and as it cost me $30.50 including tax I found that was worth it as I lost 8 lbs in one month using all 90 capsules which is more than I ever have been able to achieve on my own. I was not even walking, as I was indeed eating very little as it does cut back on appetite. I took more other supplements too to make up for the small amount of eating and I was on a super low carb approach and ate 1-2 meals a day of beef with tomato sauce on it. Then the fourth brand is totally useless called SUNN Herbal of 500 mg per capsule. Seems like a good thing BUT it was not at all like the two that did work in terms of colour, taste and smell. Since it is an aromatic component of raspberries, for it to be just a white crystalline substance made it totally suspect as well as it not even working, so avoid that last brand.
I am 5' 6" and 128 lbs now. Above all, realize that RKs work by intensifying an already fat burning mode so it will not work if you switch to eating carbs because that turns off the fat burning. But for my 4 experiments, I was eating and doing the same each day.
I have ordered 2 more containers of the Waist Away (WaistAway) brand so I hope I remember to tell you what happens in the next two months as I only want to reach 115 lbs which I was 20 years ago. I expect it might be harder to lose the closer to a low one gets. I am not in favour of being anorexic, so I am certain I will stop at 114 at the lowest.
A person who switches from low carb to high carb will experience a water retention as the liver retains about 2 lbs of water for a 1 lb amount of glycogen but only to a certain extent. When the glycogen is used up, the water has been released too, so it will come back even if one has a big carb meal. It can be discouraging to gain 3 lbs in one day, but it can happen due to refilling of the liver glycogen stores. But it does not go on forever as there is only so much it can hold. If anyone gets the idea that they have blown it so they better go all out, is crazy because that would just mean more back tracking is required. So even if no one is watching, be assured that your body is watching. There are ways to overcome things and I am grateful for Dr Oz mentioning the RKs as they sure work for me if the brand is not a scam.

Thank you for this comment. It has been a few months now and my weight is continuing to fluctuate. I go between 140 and 145 but am still eager to reach 120 or 130 like I used to be. I still eat extremely healthy but have incorporated more vegetables into my diet which has raised my carb intake a bit. I have tomatoes and peppers and zucchini where as I used to stick to mostly eggs meat and greens. Lowering the meat intake has actually helped me to drop some weight so I have kept nuts in my diet in order to keep me full and satisfied. I don’t consider my diet high carb. I avoid grains, beans fruit (except for when low) and all junk food. Do you think I should give RK a try?

Andrea, the brand I liked most appears not available at amazon.com. It is made in Canada. But the second best one, of the 4 brands I tried, by Best Naturals with raspberry ketones and green tea is just $9.99 for 60 capsules which if you even took 4 per day, would make it $5 for a week, or $10 for the two weeks I suggest you try it, by even going as high as double the dose. I was taking three per day. I have not seen any mention of negatives and I did not experience any except that I didn't feel like eating and that is a bonus that even my boyfriend said was true as he is also experimenting with them. But he goes off them when he travels and just regains almost as much, but he likes to eat and he eats carbs and even candy.

You're lucky, the Best Naturals brand for 60 capsules is half the price I paid in Canada...so lucky for you. It is definitely worth trying. If you get only one container, then find something else you know you need and trust and get the invoice to $25 to get free shipping. I do not know if they mix books with supplements in the same shipment as books are packaged differently if sold 1-2 at a time. So just try to find $15 worth of other supplements and that will work to get free shipping. You get to read all the user reviews too. OR...find three friends and each agree to pay for a third of the invoice and all try together, like I am doing with my boyfriend.

The Best Naturals 120 caps is almost $22, so it pays to try the 60 capsules container at $9.99. So if you don't like it, then $10 has been spent on your first order.

This will NOT make you burn fat if you are not already in that mode....and that is the absolute reason why some people say it doesn't work. They might think they can eat lots of healthy, no fat fruit and fail to realize that insulin is what causes weight gain and carbs are turned into human fat very quickly. All the people who are not diabetic know so much LESS than we do...which is because they spend less time thinking about health, likely.

Hey Jenni, as I wasted money on two useless brands, that is why I suggest the one that is available that I can attest worked even without my walking. I just walk around my apartment and out across the street maybe once a week.

By the way about other supplements, some may not show noticeable differences, but they are likely working to some exttent. I have made an in depth study of this for so many years. And I need so little insulin because of it.

Jenni because you are in BC, one of the stores I used is there in Victoria BC and the brand I like best is $2 more expensive there, but they have a great site. Shipping is free if the invoice is $70 or more, so the Waist Away product is the brand I REALLY like that made me lose 8 lbs in one month under the same conditions. You could get other things and try just one container and see what it does remembering to be eating very low carb like Dr Atkins suggested and take three capsules per day on an empty stomach.
I'm getting two more of that brand to finish off my last 12 lbs to lose, which should be harder to lose, so I am planning it will work at 6 lbs a month rather than 8, so I bought 2 containers to last me 2 months as I am that certain it works. I have never lost so much weight in a single month in my life.
Be careful and DO NOT buy the SUNN Herbal as that is the one I am currently using that is useless. That store sells three brands. The other one I have not tried, so can not make any judgement.
The other store I use is in Ontario and I should get the shipment any day.
It ships for free if the invoice is over $50 to places in Canada and requires over $100 for shipments done free to the USA.
Notice I am not saying anyone should buy two of something until they know it works for themselves. The Waist Away product is costing me about $30 per month and I am taking a larger than suggested dose which likely makes it work better and at a cost of $1 a day it sure is worth it. Notice they might say it is a three month supply, but I disagree. It takes more than that to force the intense fat burning, and you MUST be in fat burning mode on a low enough carb diet that fat burning is happening. You can NOT intensify a process that is not even taking place. That is the biggest problem with these. They just don't explain it. You can't eat anything under the sun and take a pill and lose weight. I'm not saying that you think that way, but I am astounded at the complaints some people write in their reviews. The complainers said next to nothing, but the happy people wrote more. I'm referring to the Amazon reviews.

Thanks so much! I will order them today. I recently bought collagen supplements from Costco, they are supposed to help thickn hair and ease joint pain. Hope it is ok to take both at the same time without minimizing effect of RKs

Notice this is about the same instructions as the RKs about taking them on their own for best utilization. My educated guess from years of reading on this topic is that if you want to be sure, then take them each separately by 1/2 an hour. But if I was in your shoes and wanted to save the time and trouble, I would take them at the same time, but ensure NO fat is ever eaten at the same time as that stimulates digestion and the release of bile which starts the digestion process, whch this reference said makes the collagen as useless as toast.
I have learned years ago that herbs are best taken on an empty stomach and vitamins and minerals are best taken with food for better assimilation....that is worth memorizing. But always check for each different substance to be sure.
Nowadays, to be sure about anything, I check the Internet choosing the appropriate words to get straight to the answer.
To be on the safe side, I would take them slightly apart as you don't want to waste the collagen. Besides which if you are dieting, you do want to eat as little as possible, but drink enough water with it to ensure the capsule gets dissolved.

To Jennifer, who sent me a message 22 hours ago which I saw 11 hours ago and had written two replies but had been so tired that I went to sleep. Then I wrote a third message and as I was composing it, you just cancelled your whole membership which erases all your messages and the ability for me to reply. You were in a good mood 22 yours ago.
What is ironic about TuDiabetes is that just when my computer is turned on, it appears that I am on TuDiabetes, but I may be doing other things including sleeping whereas that may not be the case for people who log on with a notebook computer. I am also not always concentrating on Tudiabetes as I do a lot of different research projects as a multitasker. So, I hope you come back and take a look at this discussion area as I can not now send the three messages. This is the fourth one in the last 12 hours, but three have not been sent as your account was cancelled.