Stall, Plateau, or what????

[SunnySmile501]

Re: Stall, Plateau, or what????

Quote:
Originally Posted by Evermind
You just don't need that much protein. Really. So cut out meat except for once a day.

Meat only once a day? Or, are you not considering poultry meat??? I don't understand.

Sunny!

No, I meant any form of meat. He can have fish. He can have an omelette. He can have all kinds of veggies, particularly when he moves to Rung 1 of OWL.

Here's a typical lunch or dinner for me: 1-2 zuchinis, sliced. 1 slice of onion, diced. 1 cup of cauliflower (uncooked), grated.

Fry them up until golden brown in a tablespoon of olive oil. Top with 2 tablespoons of parmesan cheese. Cover until melted.

It's got fat, protein, and carbs. And no meat.

I eat meat about 3x a week. I'm not saying everyone should, but certainly meat 3x a day is a bit much. 2 is even a lot every single day of the week.

That lunch has very little protein and not that much fat. Atkins allows you to eat meat three times a day, every day. You can eat too much meat, but that's just portion size.

Anyway, the OP is a young man and weighs close to 400 pounds. His needs do not in any way equate to yours or even mine. We are women and weigh much less. I've seen small women that can handle 2,000 calories per day if they do Atkins right. There is no way that he could keep his protein to fat to carbs ratio in the correct proportions only eating meat once a day. Eating meat only once a day is not Atkins.

Sunny!

[Elizellen]

Re: Stall, Plateau, or what????

Thanks for the input. Over the next week or 2 I will try to cut those calories in half, to around 2000 and ive already planned on 6 days of exercise. Nothing extreme, just some exercise bike and treadmill, alternating days with resistance training (bowflex).

I should see some good results. I will post here how it turns out.

Thanks again.

Dee

Dee - can you add some info to your signature to help people understand your situation better?

If you were a 5 foot eight inch female and weighed 200 pounds you would need to be eating less than a 6 foot male weighing 400 pounds, and from your sig at present we cant tell which you are

If you can list your gender, height, age and start/current/goal weights then it will be easier for people to give better advice.

[deec73]

Re: Stall, Plateau, or what????

Dee - can you add some info to your signature to help people understand your situation better?

Done deal.

[time2doit]

Re: Stall, Plateau, or what????

I am have a theory about weight loss and plateaus that may or may not be true, but here goes:

I think some/lots of the early loss IS water and glycogen stores and that a stall is your body actually regaining the water while burning the fat. So you look like zero weight loss, but really you are actually finally really losing the fat.

If you calculate your weight loss OVER TIME you will see a different picture, I think, than the "stalled for a month" one. You have been doing this for just over 7 weeks and have lost 25 lbs. That's 3+ lbs/week, which is great for most diets! And the common wisdom is that 2 lbs/week is the most one can/should lose (not sure if I believe in common wisdom, but maybe it is true).

[purplecat]

Re: Stall, Plateau, or what????

Hey Dee,

I checked your stats. At 5'9", 347 lbs., age 34, and no activity .. you should consume 2400 calories per day to lose weight; with moderate activity (exercising 3 or more times per week for more than 20 minute each session) you should consume 2990 calories per day to lose weight. I got your stats off of www.caloriescount.com. I hope this helps!!

[kiobe]

Re: Stall, Plateau, or what????

That's a lot of meat..... and food.

If I may make a sugestion:

Breakfast- 2 eggs, 2 strips bacon

Lunch- 3 cups lettuce, 1 med. tomato, 1/3rd avocado, 2 oz. diced ham, homemade blue cheese dressing

Dinner- 4 oz hamburger patty, covered with 5 sliced mushrooms and 1/2 a zuchinni, sliced and sauted.



Part of doing any diet is making an attempt to stay away from fast food places. Even if you remove the bun fast food meat is pure junk and should be avoided at all costs. Also watch your onion intake, the carbs add up quickly. Later when you reach your goal, and you will, you can add more of your favorite low impact vegies and fruit. good luck.

[Brook]

Re: Stall, Plateau, or what????

I'm sorry you didn't find exactly what you were looking for when you popped in chat and I was sad to see you go. I hope you'll give me and the others that were in chat another chance. All we want - collectively- is to see you succeed.

Deec- I really think if you take the time to track exactly what you're eating and run it through Fitday you'll see a couple of things. First off that you're eating more than you likely think you are calorie wise and secondly that your Atkins is "upside down" meaning you're consuming considerably more protein than you should be and not enough fat. Ideally you'll want to shoot for 65%/30%/5%.

You're a sizable man, so if you're eating between 3500-4000 calories a day and STILL losing weight, I wouldn't suggest cutting back as drastically as some here have suggested. It's just not necessary at this point for you. If you make sure your percentages are right- or as close to right as you can (if you're eating 3000 calories a day, 20 grams of carb is only going to equal about 2% - but that's okay!) you'll find that the weight starts moving at a more reliable pace and you're more satisfied.

Suggestions like eating meat once a day for a man your size are..well...with all due respect, ridiculous. It's highly unlikely it'll be something you can or will do for any length of time. It's also not Atkins. If you're looking to be a vegetarian, there are ways to do that, but I don't get that impression by any stretch of the imagination from the menus you provided.

If you're anything like a lot of us, WHAT you're eating is only part of the equation. You're going to need to learn what normal, healthy portions are - but there's no need to cannon ball into that. I couldn't have handled that when I started. Heck, I still struggle with that at times now. It will come, but doing drastic cut backs isn't the way to do it, and now's not the time either. Make sure you're eating a high fat diet and not a high protein one and you'll see more success.

Remember also that "Exercise is Non-Negotiable". You've gotta make sure you're moving regularly. It doesn't matter if you start out with 5 minutes if that's all you can manage. If you can do more, fantastic! Build up slowly, but move!

Remember to be taking your supplements as well. Everyone should be taking them no matter how they eat, but it's important.

Overall, I think your menus look great. I think you should add more fat but cut down on the protein, and I think if you track it closely in Fitday it'll show you what you need to see.

Be sure to be taking your measurements too. This is really important. You will lose inches even when the scale doesn't move, and really, it's the inches that count. I always say I've never bought a pair of pants with a weight requirement in them, but they darn sure have a waist size requirement. Inches count! And scales lie. There's a great article that explains exactly what I mean by that and it's really a must-read! http://primusweb.com/fitnesspartner/...ight/scale.htm

Your losses up to this point are impressive by anyone's standards! Remember that weight loss is not a linear process. There will be ups/downs/plateaus and all sorts of different versions of the roller coaster ride, but the general trend will be down. You've thrown your body for a pretty huge loop over the last couple of months and it's going to take time here and there to adjust. I know patience are hard to come by in this game, but try to exercise them. We're here to encourage you and kick ya in the butt any time you need it.



I wish you success.
~Brook

[deec73]

Re: Stall, Plateau, or what????

Thanks for the advice folks. I dont feel that I "over eat", and with the added exercise I should start seeing some better results.

Someone mentioned supplements. I take a suppliment from GNC called Mega Mens. Ive been taking them for a couple of years.

I think what discourages me is im a big fan of the show "The Biggest Loser" and when I see them people get on there and lose 12, 15, even 20lbs in 1 week, and I lose 2lbs, im like, good lord. I know they exercise their butts off 4-5 hours a day, and thats what the difference is. There was one guy last year that lost like 50 lbs in a month on there, it was crazy. Ya, there are still some of them that exercise like crazy, then get on there and lose nothing or 2lbs like me. I guess everyones body's react differently.

[Evermind]

Re: Stall, Plateau, or what????

Understood, deec.

But remind yourself that absolutely NOBODY on the Biggest Loser is consuming the amount of calories you are.

[purplecat]

Re: Stall, Plateau, or what????

Dee, I think in Atkins it says not to worry about calories (but about carbs) when you are starting out and it will all level out. With me (my own personal experience, which may not be for you), I've found that the longer I'm on the program the less calories I consume (naturally) because I'm not near as hungry as I was when I first started the program. Let your body ease into the program and I'm sure it will all level out. On the for-real-tip, I like this program because it doesn't make me obsess about calories (like I used to).

I wish you the best of luck and health.

**Also, remember that the people on The Biggest Loser are competing short-term for money. We're doing this for life for our health (which, to me, is way better than money).

[mothette]

Re: Stall, Plateau, or what????

First of all.. 21 pounds in three weeks!!! WOW! I only lost 11. I am so proud of you!

As for the foods, I can't even consider telling you whats up with that. I'm new to this. Thank you though for posting your stuff because the replied advice from people has helped me as well.

And for Tracey...
Girl that pumpkin idea you listed looks so yummy. I can't wait to try it.

[deec73]

Re: Stall, Plateau, or what????

First of all.. 21 pounds in three weeks!!! WOW! I only lost 11. I am so proud of you!

Thanks. You gotta put it into perspective though. You only have 60lbs to lose, I have 200 to lose. So 11 for you is probably better than the 21 for me, if you look at it in a percentage way.

[deec73]

Re: Stall, Plateau, or what????

That's a lot of meat..... and food.

If I may make a sugestion:

Breakfast- 2 eggs, 2 strips bacon

Lunch- 3 cups lettuce, 1 med. tomato, 1/3rd avocado, 2 oz. diced ham, homemade blue cheese dressing

Dinner- 4 oz hamburger patty, covered with 5 sliced mushrooms and 1/2 a zuchinni, sliced and sauted.



Part of doing any diet is making an attempt to stay away from fast food places. Even if you remove the bun fast food meat is pure junk and should be avoided at all costs. Also watch your onion intake, the carbs add up quickly. Later when you reach your goal, and you will, you can add more of your favorite low impact vegies and fruit. good luck.

Thanks, ill give that a try too.

[mothette]

Re: Stall, Plateau, or what????

Oh no! I just wrote a HUGE long post and it didn't post. I got an error message. Argh. Oh well, it helped me by writing it.

My little ticker symbol is very misleading even though I don't mean it to be. That sixty is only my first goal. I started at 360 and am now down to 349. I weigh two pounds more than you do at this point.

As for what I said in my post...

Like you I want that scale to show lower numbers. The faster the better but after being upset for three weeks over only losing a little over three pounds each week I've come to see changes in me that are far more impressive than that scale moving. I'll give you one as an example of what I mean.

I, Mothette, who normally drinks 3-4 cokes a day, eats at least one candy bar or snack cake a day, who has two pieces of bread and one bun a day, and eats only either rice, pasta, stuffing, or mashed potatoes for dinner side dishes... have not eaten bread, rice, pasta, sugar, or pizza etc for three weeks. THREE!

That is a huge accomplishment for me. HUGE.

I love the biggest loser show. In fact this year is the first year that I've ever watched it and honestly, it is the thing that pushed me out of my stupor and made me think about the danger I've put myself in. It's helped me realize that I needed to do something and helped motivate me into doing it. But I've had to think about how they are in a game which is measured by numbers and the prize money dealt out on account of them and so they are not spending as much time on the show talking and focusing on the other accomplishments that really counts in their lives. So when your scale only shows three and theirs has double digits just remember that you are not in the time crunch that they are in. You don't have so many thousand dollars relying on you to lose doubles this week. You have the advantage of time. You can let your body do what it naturally needs to do to catch up wether that be stall or plateau so that it can work well enough to lose weight, inches, and change better in the weeks to come. You have the advantage of time enough to think about all of the good changes and accomplishments you've made and base your progress on those as well as the scale.

I hope I don't sound like I'm being preachy. I don't mean to at all. I'm just trying to express what I have going around in my mind as I read your posts.

[deec73]

Re: Stall, Plateau, or what????

I hope I don't sound like I'm being preachy. I don't mean to at all. I'm just trying to express what I have going around in my mind as I read your posts.

You dont sound that way at all. Im glad you posted in my thread. It sounds like we have a lot in common, especially the amount of weight we want/need to lose. How old are you? If you have it posted somewhere, excuse me for missing it. Hopefully you and I will stay strong with this diet/change of lifestyle, and meet our goals and get to where we want to be.

This ADBB is an awesome place, with a lot of support, and I enjoy coming here everyday to see whats new.