I don't think I'm eating enough. Could not eating 3 times a day cause me not to lose? I'm exercising every morning at 5:00 am. I'm only eating 3 times a day. I have trouble chosing snacks. I would like to eat deviled egss as a snack at some point during the day or pepperoni slices and cheese cubes but I'm concerned about eating too many eggs because that's the main staple of my breakfast. I think I remember hearing somewhere that you shouldn't eat more than 3 eggs a day or something...? Please help! I've actually been doing well AND excersing this time around. Except this past weekend I ate a bit off plan. I haven't felt any changes in the way my clothes fit either! Suggestions?

Oh yeah and I'm at 185 now. :(

__________________
Proactive not reactive!!
222/176/165

Hi,
I don't eat on any kind of schedule at all. Maybe that isn't good, but that is how I have always eaen. I eat when I am hungry. These days I am eating less too.... but I do eat lots of eggs, always have with no ill effedts. BUT.... you must remember, I am a novice at this low carb stuff, so you might ought to listen to some of the more seasoned members here.
My weight is dropping off in small increments nearly daily. I feel better every day and my appetite is supressed naturally, and not by some silly diet pills. I have about 30 to go, and I feel confident that I will reach my goal.

Don't know if I helped or not, but anyway, my name is Carolyn and it is nice to meetcha...

Carolyn

__________________

Restart 06/01/08 = 192
06/09/08 = 190.4
06/16/08 = 188.6
06/23/08 = 187.6
06/30/08 + 188.6
First Mini Goal 07/01/08 = 187


"I'm gonna "Make it After All" (Terry Joe Terrell)

Hi Tia!
Good to see you here again!

Yes...not eating enough can put your body into *starvation* mode...you know...not enough calories, the body naturally wants to hang on to the fat instead of burning it.
It hardly seems fair though, huh?
You might try increasing your carbs by 5g or so on the days you exercise.
Also, if you would post a few days worth of your menus, perhaps we could see if something was askew there as well.

HTH
S.

__________________
~~~~
Shelley
~~~~

Visit Kassie's Korner



Life deserves a treat now and again, but life also deserves being healthy[with required disipline] to make it worth living!

Hi there Shelly! Nice to meet ya Carolyn! I'd tried to post a while ago but I think there was something wrong with the website and it always froze and I hadn't tried in a while! It's nice to be back TRYING DESPERATELY to get back on track! But it's been discouraging when I've been exercising and eating right and NOTHING is goings on! BUT I will prevail!


Typical day
2 scrambled eggs 3 slices of bacon

L: Usually a salad mixed w/ lettuce and spinach, red onions, cheese, oil and vinegar, w/ 1 TBS ranch dressing

D: 2-3 Chicken wings 1 cup broccoli and 1 yellow squash.

Posting this I just remembered that I often feel I'm not getting ENOUGH carbs and I'm not quite sure how to up them with just veggies and salad!

Also, Is it OK to drink Red Bull? Sugarfree of course! I had one a couple of times in the afternoon to make it through to my 8:00 bed time in order to wake up at 4:30 the next morning!

__________________
Proactive not reactive!!
222/176/165

Tia,
Right off the bat I see no protein source for lunch. You might want to add some cheese, chicken or fish perhaps to your lunch. Also more protein, I would say at least 4-6oz steak, fish or chicken or pork, and LC veggies for dinner, cauli, zuchinni, eggplant, asparagus, peppers, etc and add a salad in to the evening meal as well. To help add some more carbs in the mix, try adding some fresh berries; strawberries, blueberries are the best bang for the carb buck.
On the RedBull...I've never had it, but if it has a large amount of caffiene, you might want to re-think that. Dr Atkins felt that caffeine contributed to unstable blood sugars, thus leading to out of control eating. Try a small handful of nuts like almonds or macs for some good fat and protein, to carry you through the afternoon before dinner.
I never totally gave up my caffeine, as in my morning coffee, but I did do away with the afternoon fix and went with green tea or a CF cola instead.
Adequate water intake as well as exercise as you know makes everything click.
I think you've got it all together, just perhaps need a little tweak to get you in the losing column again

hth
S.

__________________
~~~~
Shelley
~~~~

Visit Kassie's Korner



Life deserves a treat now and again, but life also deserves being healthy[with required disipline] to make it worth living!

Tia, it looks like you're not getting nearly enough protein. According to your menu, the only protein you had was the eggs and bacon, and chicken wings. Instead of upping your carbs, try upping your protein and see if that helps.

A study out of London shows that eating protein produces a hormone called peptide YY or PYY that acts as an appetite suppressant, causing satiety with less food. Cool, eh? Add some tuna or chicken or a hamburger patty to your salad, maybe a little cheese, and have more chicken for supper. Don't be afraid to eat enough. That's my opinion, anyway, for what it's worth.

Never had Red Bull, can't give any opinion on that.

It's good to see you back.

__________________
Nita

Shelley, we posted at the same time, and looks like we were on the same track.

__________________
Nita

Absolutely. More protein, more calories, more water. How do you expect to lose weight if you don't eat more? You want your metabolism in high gear, not slowed down to starvation levels.

I would recommend adding tuna salad to your lunch - I do one can tunafish, two hb eggs, 1T Mustard, 1T Mayo. It's cheap and easy. That or you could step up to Cobb or Fajita salads.

How 'bout a nice spaghetti sauce for dinner. Make it thick, with lots of mushrooms, onions, peppers, sausage, hamburger and pepperoni. It's very much a pizza/Italian fix.

The occasional handful of mixed nuts or low-carb beef jerkey won't hurt you either on the snack front.

__________________
Sven
305/218/200
Start Date: 1/1/06

Welcome to low-carb eating.
The food's not bad here.

Now that's hilarious! That's what made me post this because I was thinking that now that I'm exercising I KNOW I should be eating more SOMETHING. And then I thought about the fact that I might not had been eating enough BEFORE I started exercising! That sounds like such a ridiculous statement to eat more to lose weight but you do have to feed that furnace!

I DEFINITELY don't need anymore water I might drown. I did forget to add that on there. I drink 128 oz a day. I refill my 32oz container AT LEAST 4 times.

I usually do add tuna to my salads and cheese is a most definite MUST. Will consistently adding tuna to my salads be enough protien? I don't think I can do the nuts yet though...I didn't think they were OK yet. I'm reinducing myself and finding it a tad difficult. I COULD buy a one serving bag I think it's 4 carbs for that bag. IS that OK on induction when trying to up carbs? Especially with the exercising in the AM?

Also, with adding a salad at dinner...I usually make a salad w/ 3 cups of Spinach or lettuce mix or a spinach cabbage mix. Should I still add an extra salad at dinner?

I still have NO idea how I did this the first time around!! LOL

Thanks SOOOOO much for your advice and support!

__________________
Proactive not reactive!!
222/176/165

Ok. I just went on Fitday to try and plan my meals. Does this plan look ok? 1464 calories and 26 carbs. It seems that 1464 is too much.

Breakfast 2 eggs, 3 slices of bacon

Lunch: 1 large salad w/ cheese, 2 cups spinach, 1 cup cabbage, ranch dressing and tuna made w/ mayo & sugar free relish.

Dinner: Chicken breast 6 strips, 1 cup of cauliflower.

Snack: 1 cup of broccoli w/ ranch dressing.

Snack #2: 1 2 oz bag of pork rinds

I found if I use less mayo in the tuna it drops to 1365 and 25 carbs.

Thanks again everyone!

__________________
Proactive not reactive!!
222/176/165

Tia....
That's more like it on the protein and carbs. I wouldn't worry to much about the calories as long at they are under 1500-1600 and you are exercising regularly.
I might not have pork rinds every day due to the sodium content/water retention factor...but YMMV(your mileage may vary).
Try you new plan for a week or 2, then *tweak* as needed

hth
S.

__________________
~~~~
Shelley
~~~~

Visit Kassie's Korner



Life deserves a treat now and again, but life also deserves being healthy[with required disipline] to make it worth living!

Tia, here is a link to a calorie calculator that tells you approximately how many calories you need to maintain your current weight. http://www.weightlossforgood.co.uk/c...calculator.htm
You could use it as a guide for determining a lesser amount of calories that should result in a weight loss, as long as you consume enough calories to keep your body from going into starvation mode. Not knowing your height or age, I ran a couple of simulations which showed that at something over 2200 calories per day, with moderate exercise, you could maintain your current weight. With the assumptions I used, if you reduced your calories to 1700 a day, you should be a able to lose weight without going into starvation mode. Remember though, that one of the benefits of a low-carb WOE is that there is a decided calorie advantage in the amount of calories you can consume and still lose weight. Bottom line is that everyone is different, and you must tweak what works for you and as you get closer to your goal, the importance of calorie control increases. Good luck.

__________________
Henry

Thanks! Now I have a solid plan to work with! I'll nix the pork rinds that would just be easier and replace w/ deviled eggs, 1 cup of cucumber, zucchini or squash slices, raw cauliflower or broccoli w/ ranch dressing. Would carrots be ok? I see them on the acceptable foods list on the Atkins website but I don't remember them being OK when I read the book. Is this new? Or did I just miss that?

I never thought about my calories before but I wanted to make sure that I wasn't going WAY overboard or anything that would impede my weight loss significantly. I've read here sometimes how some people are eating too many calories and it's adversely affecting them...if I remember correctly. I didn't think twice about it before. Now that you've given me this wonderful calculator link. Calories aren't even going to be an issue! My calorie allowance is 2488! I don't know WHAT I would be eating to consume THAT many calories. Now I feel more than comfortable with the 1500-1700 knowing that! Thanks alot! We'll see where I am in 2 weeks! It's going to be interesting with this trip to Spain coming up. I'll HAVE to have authentic Paella one time or share some with another lady that's going that also does LC.

__________________
Proactive not reactive!!
222/176/165

Tia, here is a link to a website I use to find the carb content of food. http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search/ This site shows that 1 cup of sliced carrots has 8.29 net carbs. The only caution about carrots is that they do have a sugar content that might trigger a craving issue for some people. Carrots are acceptable on Atkins and I use them in moderation.

__________________
Henry

The menu ideas sound great, but if you are in the UK, which I assume from Red Bull that you are, then be very careful about sausage because unlike the US, where you can get 0 carb sausage, most of the sausage in the UK (unfortunately) has bread, filler, sugar and other garbage added to it. I can have caffeine in the mornings only and still lose weight but I am trying to cut back on it just because I am trying to only eat natural food, nothing man-made. It is hard to give up though. I fell into the trap of not eating enough either at first because I just was not hungry.