Struggling to Stay Motivated

[rweeks]

Re: Struggling to Stay Motivated

The DAILY commitment to exercise will get you back on track. I am always too tired to go to the gym, but after I force myself to workout, I feel great. I also feel proud of myself. THis may sound weird but I tell myself that every drop of sweat is a drop of fat falling off (like a turkey in the oven!). It works for me. Good luck!

[bsquare12]

Re: Struggling to Stay Motivated

Hi

I only weigh in the mornings first thing. But, sometimes I weigh every other day, which I am going to try to stop.

Yes, ketostix are pink.. in fact, a couple of notches up the rung (and yes, I am drinking plenty of water) so they are not dark due to dehydration.

I did cock up OWL in the beginning because I introduced nuts/berries but went back to taking them out and it made not difference.

This is now my 5th week on the diet - so, OWL (3) if I'm right... so, nuts/seeds allowed - so, put them back in - but, in light of stalling, I am still only now having 25g of carbs. I think maybe I should be on more carbs...?? But... it's so hard to tell myself to add them when I am not losing :-(

Typical day:

Tomatoes 50g
Halloumi Cheese 100g
De-caff coffee & single cream (15ml) & 1 splenda tablet

Salad (leaves, cucumber, celery, peppers) totalling around 8g carbs
Tuna & Mayo or Chicken, bacon & mayo

Steak
Mushrooms 100g
Asparagus 50g
Tomatoes 50g

All totalling around 24g of carbs.

Most days pretty much the same really, but dinner will be chops, chicken etc.. and sometimes stuffed with cream cheese.

Beverley x

[Georgiana]

Re: Struggling to Stay Motivated

But, sometimes I weigh every other day, which I am going to try to stop.

You have to, as what is shown by the scale obviously doesn't do you any good. Weigh only once a week or so.

I did cock up OWL in the beginning because I introduced nuts/berries but went back to taking them out and it made not difference.

Well, my point was... you said you are going to introduce nuts just four days ago. Changes don't happen overnight. So if you take out some food you are intolerant to today, you won't necessarily see a happy scale the next morning. Sometimes it can take around a week!

This is now my 5th week on the diet - so, OWL (3) if I'm right... so, nuts/seeds allowed - so, put them back in - but, in light of stalling, I am still only now having 25g of carbs.

You *could* have been in OWL Rung 3 if you did induction for 2 weeks and then climbed a rung each week. But your climb has been a little hectic... with strawberries and nuts. Besides, no one says you *must* climb a rung every week. You can stay on a rung as long as you wish. Remember that only one food can be added every week, so the more new foods you introduce (e.g. for Rung 2, if you want to introduce cottage cheese and yogurt, you'll need two weeks, not one), the more you stay on each rung.

So... if on the 27th you were planning to introduce nuts, how many days without nuts, berries, etc. did you have since then?

I think maybe I should be on more carbs...?? But... it's so hard to tell myself to add them when I am not losing :-(

What is your level of metabolic resistance?

About your menu... if you are on Rung 1 (which, in my opinion, is where you should be) and eat 100 g of halloumi, then you cannot stuff your chicken or anything else with cream cheese unless you use less than 12 g for the stuffing.

I suppose you are using Fitday, so what were your calories / fat-carbs-protein ratios / sodium intake for the past week? Could you post them here?

[7Miriam]

Re: Struggling to Stay Motivated

Congratulations on sticking with this and trying to figure out how to make it work for you - sounds like its been frustrating but that you are working hard to find out how to make this WOE work and will get there!

A couple thoughts I had after reading all your posts. First, you might want to try cutting out the bacon, decaf coffee and splenda. I've found bacon to stall my weight loss - when I eat it I stop losing, and then lose again when I cut it out. Don't know why this happens - maybe the salt or the calories, but it definately decreases my weight loss temporarily. And this happens even when I eat bacon without any added sugar, which is hard to find - there are many forms of sugar (ex. dextrose) and often the juice bacon is packed in contain them. De-caf coffee also throws my body out of whack, affects my blood sugar problems - brings back the hypoglycemia headaches which are otherwise pretty much gone. And I think I may have read somewhere that splenda can affect some people's metabolism like sugar does - but not sure about this.

Also, there have been a couple times when I've been very tired, cold, feeling worn out, and I moved up to the next rung. Eating the extra 5 carbs had me feeling much better - no longer tired, cold, worn-out feeling. So maybe you should think about increasing your carbs. It sounds like you were having 18 carbs a day on Induction, so perhaps move up to OWL RUng 1, with ad additional 5 net carbs and more veggies (no nuts or berries) and try that for a couple weeks and see how it works before moving further up the rungs to nuts and berries.

[ceemarie]

Re: Struggling to Stay Motivated

Try a few days without cheese. Some people are not able to lose while eating cheese. You may need to experiment. Also, are you on any medications? Certain medications can prohibit weight lose. And, as stated before, water, water, water and exercise. Walking 20 minutes a day can make a big difference.

[Georgiana]

Re: Struggling to Stay Motivated

Oops, ignore my metabolic resistance question... You are average since you lost 11 lbs in induction and started with over 50 lbs to lose.

You definitely started strong on this, so it must be working. What I think it happened, is that you got a bit more relaxed after the first two weeks, drove through higher rungs and overanalyzed every pound. As 7Miriam said, do Rung 1 for a week or two, don't weigh, and see how your weight changes.

[bsquare12]

Re: Struggling to Stay Motivated

I'll post a breakdown tomorrow of some other days of eating.

I am confused though, my understanding was 2 weeks induction, then OWL1 (25g), OWL2 (30g) and so on. So my fifth week which I am in now should be 35g.. if I am getting this right and OWL3.... although, I understand I don't need to do a new rung each week.

I don't want to weigh for another week... but, really don't know what do do. Backtrack to OWL1 and not have the nuts??

And, I'll try cut down the cheese. I don't have it every day... but, last Thursday was a pretty 'cheesy'.. but still not over 3-4oz. When I stuff chicken with it it really is only about 10g.

Well.. I'll give it a go back on OWL1... and stick to 25g of carbs.

I just want to see those scales move.

Bx

[7Miriam]

Re: Struggling to Stay Motivated

I think it is somewhat individualized how you move up the rungs. My understanding is that you do not have to move up one each week. The way I have been doing it is to either add 5 net carbs and/or a new food rung every few weeks or months. So if you stayed on induction for four weeks, you would next increase by 5 net carbs and have more veggies (rung 1) - just b/c it was week five you would not jump all the way up to adding 15 net carbs and up to berries.

[Elizellen]

Re: Struggling to Stay Motivated

Miriam is right climbing the OWL rungs/levels can be at your own pace and is not an automatic thing, so to follow DANDR, you need to add the different foods gradually rather than just jump to the rung you prefer before having added the lower rung foods.

So the first thing to add after however long you follow induction is to add 5 net carbs of the induction veg to however many net carbs you had on induction.

So for someone who averaged around 12 net carbs on induction their OWL rung one level would be 17 net carbs and for the next rung they would be aiming at 22 net carbs and so on.

Only if they were achieving 20 net carbs on induction (with most of them from veggies ) would their rung one carb level be 25 net carbs.

On OWL you will be trying to see if adding 5 net carbs affects your losses (as well as if any foods affect you adversely - blood sugar symptoms etc as well as loss being affected) so need to add only 5 net carbs at a time.

[lisau39]

Re: Struggling to Stay Motivated

I know this can get pretty confusing but you sound like you understand all you have to do. I wish you the best. Keep going strong girl!!

(((lisa)))