Please review my menu

[MoreStylish]

I am a 20 year old college student, so my hours of waking up are very different. Some days I wake up at 10am and other days I wake up at 2pm. I don't know if that matters, but I figured I would let you know in the name of full disclosure.

I eat something every 4 hours or so.

Within 2 hours of waking up (breakfast): 2 mozzarella sticks

3-4 hours after: a little chicken and cauliflower in an alfredo sauce (made my melting sour cream, parmesan cheese, and butter together).

3-4 hours after: 2 cups lettuce with a little French dressing made with splenda (0 cals, 0 carbs)

3-4 hours after: 5 or 6 chicken wings in a 0 carb mild sauce and a little bleu(blue?) cheese for dipping

3-4 hours after: maybe a hotdog or maybe a can of tuna with mayo

And that's my day. Carbs intake is pretty much NEVER over 20 net carbs. I recently cut out sunflower seeds ... and my weight loss has slowed.

[Georgiana]

Re: Please review my menu

I guess you're on Induction, right? If that's correct, then your menu looks great.

Carbs intake is pretty much NEVER over 20 net carbs.

Yeah, during Induction it's hard to reach 20 net carbs -- I was not able to do it since I am not eating a lot of processed stuff and I rarely use sweeteners. As long as you are eating 3 cups of vegetables and get over half of your carbs from veggies, you're doing fine.

Check for hidden sugars in the hot dogs. The ones I find around here usually have some sugar.

Is the mild sauce prepared by you? If not, check the ingredients. If the carbs are really low, they are allowed to list them as 0... although it can be 1 or 2 if you eat more than a serving.

Your weight loss didn't slow down because you took out the sunflower seeds. During the first days, we are losing a lot of water as our body burns through its glycogen stores. After this water weight is gone, most of the weight you're losing is fat... and fat comes off a little slower. So the higher weight loss rate you've seen in the beginning is a result of water weight loss rather than "fat weight" and has nothing to do with the sunflower seeds.

Are you exercising? That will speed up things and it's good for your general health too.

Are you drinking enough water? Taking any supplements?

[MoreStylish]

Re: Please review my menu

I guess you're on Induction, right? If that's correct, then your menu looks great.

Yeah, during Induction it's hard to reach 20 net carbs -- I was not able to do it since I am not eating a lot of processed stuff and I rarely use sweeteners. As long as you are eating 3 cups of vegetables and get over half of your carbs from veggies, you're doing fine.

Check for hidden sugars in the hot dogs. The ones I find around here usually have some sugar.

Is the mild sauce prepared by you? If not, check the ingredients. If the carbs are really low, they are allowed to list them as 0... although it can be 1 or 2 if you eat more than a serving.

Your weight loss didn't slow down because you took out the sunflower seeds. During the first days, we are losing a lot of water as our body burns through its glycogen stores. After this water weight is gone, most of the weight you're losing is fat... and fat comes off a little slower. So the higher weight loss rate you've seen in the beginning is a result of water weight loss rather than "fat weight" and has nothing to do with the sunflower seeds.

Are you exercising? That will speed up things and it's good for your general health too.

Are you drinking enough water? Taking any supplements?

Thanks for the info. I drink about 100oz a day of water and I take a B-complex vitamin and a Calcium vitamin.

[Georgiana]

Re: Please review my menu

Thanks for the info. I drink about 100oz a day of water and I take a B-complex vitamin and a Calcium vitamin.

That sounds good. You might want to take a multivitamin too, without iron. I doubt you get all the vitamins/minerals you need from food... but to figure this out you'll have to enter your foods in something FitDay.

[liv]

Re: Please review my menu

I am a 20 year old college student, so my hours of waking up are very different. Some days I wake up at 10am and other days I wake up at 2pm. I don't know if that matters, but I figured I would let you know in the name of full disclosure.

I eat something every 4 hours or so.

Within 2 hours of waking up (breakfast): 2 mozzarella sticks

3-4 hours after: a little chicken and cauliflower in an alfredo sauce (made my melting sour cream, parmesan cheese, and butter together).

3-4 hours after: 2 cups lettuce with a little French dressing made with splenda (0 cals, 0 carbs)

3-4 hours after: 5 or 6 chicken wings in a 0 carb mild sauce and a little bleu(blue?) cheese for dipping

3-4 hours after: maybe a hotdog or maybe a can of tuna with mayo

And that's my day. Carbs intake is pretty much NEVER over 20 net carbs. I recently cut out sunflower seeds ... and my weight loss has slowed.

I think you may be eating too little. Two mozzarella sticks for breakfast? That is what my left arm has.

I thought there was a lot of dairy in your diet. You may want to think about that. If you are not over 4 oz of cheese that is fine.

And only two cups of lettuce? That is not much for real vegetables there. Lettuce is just solid green water. Do eat other vegetables too. It does not look like most of your carbs are coming from vegetables. And they should.

But I think you are doing pretty well. A slowing is fairly normal. But it is all going in the right direction though.

[MoreStylish]

Re: Please review my menu

I think you may be eating too little. Two mozzarella sticks for breakfast? That is what my left arm has.

I thought there was a lot of dairy in your diet. You may want to think about that. If you are not over 4 oz of cheese that is fine.

And only two cups of lettuce? That is not much for real vegetables there. Lettuce is just solid green water. Do eat other vegetables too. It does not look like most of your carbs are coming from vegetables. And they should.

But I think you are doing pretty well. A slowing is fairly normal. But it is all going in the right direction though.

I appreciate the advise. My main problem is that I have ZERO appetite, and I don't know what to do about it. I could literally eat a plate of chicken wings and water, and not eat anything else the rest of the day and feel completely full.

[EverLosing]

Re: Please review my menu

I appreciate the advise. My main problem is that I have ZERO appetite, and I don't know what to do about it. I could literally eat a plate of chicken wings and water, and not eat anything else the rest of the day and feel completely full.

You're going to have to eat more...even if it's only in the interest of your health and not hunger. Trust me, there will come a day in the journey when hunger will return. Induction is a sweet honeymoon from hunger when done properly. You really have to work to squeeze in the veggies during induction though. They're extremely important for weight loss and for nutrients. Do you like green beans, broccoli, cauliflower? Spinach leaves have way more nutrition than lettuce, they're an excellent source for nutrients. I find most veggies are good when steamed and slathered with butter. Celery sticks with cream cheese or dipped in ranch dressing and cucumber sticks or slices with ranch are great too! I added pumpkin when I knew I needed to increase my carb intake. One half cup is roughly 4 net carbs and it's easy to make it dessert-like. By learning to prepare a variety of foods now, OWL will be much easier for you down the road. There are so many choices to keep you satisfied. You just have to discover them!!

[liv]

Re: Please review my menu

I agree with what EverLosing says (as usual ) I think one of the keys for you will be to work in different vegetables. You need more carbs coming from that sector. Let's see what can you try next. Cauliflower is one of the most versatile things. Have you checked out Linda's cauliflower recipes.
Here is Linda's page
Linda's Low Carb Menus & Recipes - Home

[Elizellen]

Re: Please review my menu

You could always cook your veggies which makes some of them a much smaller quantity. Spinach, sliced red peppers & onions particularly make a good smallish portion after cooking.

[imagood1]

Re: Please review my menu

18 pound loss in 20 days is fantastic -- sunflower seeds aren't allowed until Rung 3 so you shouldn't have been eating them anyway. What type of exercise are you getting on a daily basis? I agree you need more veggies -- make sure you get your carbs in before you eat anything else. Is there are reason why you don't get up until 2 in the afternoon on some days? A night time job or something? You might get up at the same time each day and use the extra time to get a good workout done. Do you cook your own meals or do you eat in a cafeteria or restaurant?

Are you drinking anything other than water? Any caffeine drinks?

I really think other than adding veggies you need to let your body adjust to the new way of eating you are introducing it to. The weight loss will come but you need to just relax!!