Help! I'm stalled. Going off induction doesn't seem to help, what next?

[Porcelain]

Re: Help! I'm stalled. Going off induction doesn't seem to help, what next?

If you like, I could go talk to the head of my physiology department where I went to nursing school, he is very knowledgable about this and also into anthropology and the history of the human body throughout time. We have spoken on this before but it was a while ago. I could get references for you.

Poreclain, I would love to see the references.

They are out on spring break right now, it will have to be next week at the earliest! He also talks about low carbing too and about how bad sugar is for our society and what it does to our body and about how fat doesn't make you fat but the carbs combined with the fat and the insulin response makes you fat. (Sorry to thread jack!)

[Porcelain]

Re: Help! I'm stalled. Going off induction doesn't seem to help, what next?

But here is one main article. The larger muscle groups I was talking about earlier is mainly like the buttocks and the legs. Lower extremity muscle size and strength and aerobic capacity decrease with caloric restriction but not with exercise-induced weight loss (I hope I did that link right)

That is the link to the PDF so it will take a moment to open, you will see it saying "Automatic download" then it will appear. You will need Adobe reader (which is free to download if you don't have).

[WiseChoices]

Re: Help! I'm stalled. Going off induction doesn't seem to help, what next?

Porcelain, I only meant that I keep hearing (not necessarily from you) that we use heart muscle. I agree about the large mass muscle which is why weight lifting is recommended.

However, I don't believe we use muscle for energy except as a last resort when the body can't find fat reserves to use. Which is why the low carb diet works so well. Yes, I'd like to hear what your professor says. It seems to me with humans and their history of a food supply not being constant, we've adapted to meet the fact that we go into starvation mode, then feast. Thus our vital organs have great protective mechanisms.

That said, I do believe we can't eat 700-900 calories for a long period of time (I tried that for a couple of weeks since I wasn't hungry) and that we need to keep our calories up. However, cutting carbs and eating high 'good' fats seems the way to go. Even lean meat for the protein isn't a good idea as we need the fat. I remember a study of some guy who only ate meat with an Inuit tribe and when they asked him to eat only lean meat he became ill, and was better after returning to fatty meat.

I plan to add weight lifting to my routine, up my calories while keeping my carbs low and eating higher fat than protein. You can check with your professor what I said about getting energy from fat rather than muscles, which we attack as a last resort, I'd like to know what he says.

I think we mostly use fat (not protein) for energy which our muscles need and produce glucose which our brains etc. need. I'm also thinking that some of us have a lower tolerance for carbs than others. Like diabetics. I seem to be one of those.

[Porcelain]

Re: Help! I'm stalled. Going off induction doesn't seem to help, what next?

Oh! I forgot, before I speak to him, may I have your BMR? He might ask me that as, I think, there are percentage criteria concerning BMR and caloric intake to be considered "starvation."

[WiseChoices]

Re: Help! I'm stalled. Going off induction doesn't seem to help, what next?

My BMR = 1353.45 and my calorie intake to stay the same is 1861. So to lose, I am supposed to eat around 1500 calories.

BUT.......
eating over 1500 calories is how I got fat in the first place! I've never been big on carbs and always use fitday to monitor what I eat, so I know I gained on CALORIES, period.

I watched my weight go up and thought I was stuck with it because of my age, 58. When it got almost 200 I panicked.

Then, I decided I wouldn't accept that and started to lose weight.

It just seems you can't seem to lump people together.

[Porcelain]

Re: Help! I'm stalled. Going off induction doesn't seem to help, what next?

It takes a while to get into starvation mode, some people do cyclic dieting where they go up and down on their calories so to trick the body. I just didn't want you to get yourself in an unhealthy situation. I can't eat very many calories either or I gain but I try to keep it above 1200.

Stick around here, I am sure you will get a lot of good advice and will eventually figure out what is causing this problem.

[Elizellen]

Re: Help! I'm stalled. Going off induction doesn't seem to help, what next?

wisechoices - I see you have about 20 pounds to lose now, so wonder if you might be better off moving to OWL instead of staying on induction for longer. dr Atkins told us to be in premaintenance when we had about 5-10 pounds left to lose, so you havent much time to move up the OWL ladder and find your CCLL and learn which foods affect you badly (if any)!

As others have said, with eating for such a long time at such low calories you might have been in 'starvation mode' so I would expect that your body will first add weight when you feed it with more food as it will assume that this is only a short respite and that you will soon be punishing it again by depriving it of food again.

Once it realises that the famine it has been striving to survive by conserving your body weight is over it might allow you to lose weight again.

BTw you havent given your height/age in your posts as far as I have seen. how tall/old are you if you dont mind me asking?

[WiseChoices]

Re: Help! I'm stalled. Going off induction doesn't seem to help, what next?

Elizellen, I'm 5' 5 1/2" and 58 years old.

I admit going on OWL before I reach my goal scares me because I gain on so few carbs. I've tried adding them back one at a time and sure enough, I start gaining. I can lose it again, but it sets me behind in reaching my goal.

At least if I were the weight I want to be and added carbs, then found I gained, a couple of pounds won't look that bad and I can just lose that quick enough.

Right now, I am so close I can taste it, hahaha.

But what you said makes sense to me and I am thinking of trying that. However, if I gain back 10 pounds while my body is deciding if this is a permanent feast or not, then don't lose it again, I'm going to be sick.

And did I mention my 40th High School reunion is in 3 months? A once a lifetime event, as I'll probably never go to another and haven't been to one before. I'd hate showing up like I am or 10 pounds heavier.

[WiseChoices]

Re: Help! I'm stalled. Going off induction doesn't seem to help, what next?

Elizellen.......you look amazing! I'd never know the two pictures were of the same person!

[chunk!]

Re: Help! I'm stalled. Going off induction doesn't seem to help, what next?

This is perhaps a little unconventional but worked with me when I had a similar issue.... eat carbs. Confuse your body for a day. I'm not saying go out and eat 600 carbs and 4000 calories, but... I think you know what I mean. Alter your eating habits for one day (or a couple) and see if that doesn't make a difference.

Er, I'm no doctor, but it's worked for me before.

[WiseChoices]

Re: Help! I'm stalled. Going off induction doesn't seem to help, what next?

One more thing, I've been wondering about.

If my BMR is 1365 and say I am sedentary, waiting until I lose the weight to get with an exercise plan, I'd need about 1638 calories a day to maintain. I'm assuming that is because I use some energy just doing things other than laying around. And if I need to eat about 500 calories less to lose weight.....then wouldn't that put me at around 1138 calories a day?

That is close to what I was eating when I lost weight before. And why I gained weight trying to eat 1500 + a day. And I was exercising which probably helped with the weight loss.

I haven't been exercising as much (but haven't stopped completely) because it is winter and my treadmill is in the garage where it is cold enough to freeze laundry detergent. Walking outside is not fun in several feet of snow. But even though it is snowing again this week and next, I'm looking forward to Spring!

[WiseChoices]

Re: Help! I'm stalled. Going off induction doesn't seem to help, what next?

Chunk, as a last resort, I'd try it!

[WiseChoices]

Re: Help! I'm stalled. Going off induction doesn't seem to help, what next?

Well, everyone, I was DOWN a pound this morning! The last time, years ago when I lost a lot of weight, I got down to 152. That is where I am now. Maybe my body thinks this is as far as it goes, haha. But, since I have spent most of my life at 125-30 lbs. I need to remind my body that this isn't it!

What I tried yesterday was something I remembered in the original Atkins book. An old ratio of 65% fat, 30% protein, and 5% carbs. So using fitday I made sure what I ate was very close to this without going over (except the fat which was 70%.)

Whether this is the answer we'll see from now on if I start losing again. I'm cautiosly encouraged.

[APanthesilia]

Re: Help! I'm stalled. Going off induction doesn't seem to help, what next?

This is perhaps a little unconventional but worked with me when I had a similar issue.... eat carbs. Confuse your body for a day. I'm not saying go out and eat 600 carbs and 4000 calories, but... I think you know what I mean. Alter your eating habits for one day (or a couple) and see if that doesn't make a difference.

Er, I'm no doctor, but it's worked for me before.

I don't think I would try this. It just seems counter productive because the goal (for me at least) on this WOL is to learn the best eating habits- not just to lose weight. I have heard of people purposefully cheating for a day and then going back on plan to try to kick start loss and I'm not sure how it has worked out for them. For me though I prefer to just stick with the DANDR plan and do things people here have suggested to get through a stall like upping water or fat. I had a period of many weeks where I didn't lose an ounce but I was still feeling so great that I didn't care. Now the pounds are dropping off but I had to get through that period first and I'm glad I did it by the book. Now I know better what really works for my body instead of trying to trick it into losing. Of course it is up to you and I'm sure this has worked for people, I just know that my body feels terrible when I cheat and great when I don't- even when I'm not losing as quickly as I would like!

I'm really glad you are down a pound! The ratio is helpful to me, too and I think 70% fat is just fine! Upping my fat and lowering my protein intake is what helped me start losing again. Way to go!

[Porcelain]

Re: Help! I'm stalled. Going off induction doesn't seem to help, what next?

Yeah, I keep my fat between 65 and 70%. I think your body hits walls, I know mine did at 200, I didn't think I was ever going to get over that hump but finally I made it. Sometimes it is very frustrating but I know this WOE works and I just have to stick with it. Exercise has definitely been the key for me.