What to do when low/no carb doesn't help?

BawdyWench · What to do when low/no carb doesn't help?

According to lots of experts (and those who think they're experts), low or zero carbs will always result in fat loss. But what if it doesn't? I seem to be getting puffier and puffier. Other than some ground almost I have every couple days (1/4 cup), I'm getting no carbs from non-animal sources.

As for calories, I suppose I'm getting around 1600 a day.

More calories? Fewer calories?

I've been doing a weight-training regimen twice a week, with a very low dose of cardio thrown in maybe once a week. The cardio really doesn't count -- maybe 15 minutes once a week.

More exercise? Different exercise?

Maybe I should try channeling Kate Moss.

Kim

Have you weighed yourself and are you gaining. When you say you are getting puffier, could it be water weight? Are you eating cheese or salt or any spices that could make you retain water? Are you dehydrated at all? When you are dehydrated, your body holds onto all the water it can. Just some thoughts as I am perplexed.

Kim

Kristelle

How much carbs (in grams) do you consume daily, on average? Do you consume any dairy products like butter, cheese?

Salt could also cause some problems and cheese may contain alot of it.

BawdyWench

I'm going to do FitDay for a while again so I can see what's going on.

I eat some cheese almost every day, mostly Philly or Mozzarella (a couple ounces). Only a tad bit of salt (not even 1/8 teaspoon) on my evening steak.

Basically, I eat meat, protein shakes, eggs, some heavy cream, and a little cheese. Sometimes a small handful of berries in a protein shake (like twice last week), or a few almonds a couple times a week.

I thought about the dehydration possibility, so today I had started drinking more water.

The past couple days have been out of the ordinary, too, because I made "Bawdy's Cheesecake," which means I've had a slice or two each day. It has Philly cheese and sour cream, both of which have carbs. Twice in the past 4 days I also had an almond porridge (1/4 cup almond meal, 1 Tbsp cream, 1 egg, 2 Tbsp butter) for breakfast. I've also eaten an abnormal amount of Splenda (in the cheesecake and morning coffee).

On "normal" days I don't have Splenda very much. I have 3 packages of Splenda in my large coffee 3 days a week on the way to work. When I'm at home I drink it black. Also, I rarely have desserts, which would contain Splenda. I don't drink diet sodas.

I plugged everything into FitDay today and came up with this:

Calories: 1897
Protein: 109 grams (24%)
Fat: 145 grams (68%)
ECC: 16 grams (3%)

So, I need to cut the Splenda and drink more water.

I haven't weighed myself, but my pants are a bit tighter this week than last week.

Manaloa

My 2 cents (and I don't think it's worth that much) is that your fat percentage is kinda low. I didn't start losing weight until I brought my fat percentage to around 85% or more. I've been losing about a lb a day and keeping my protein low and my carbs lower.

BawdyWench

Can you give me grams and calories and percentages? Thanks.

Heather

Dairy is evil for me, but it does take a few days before I feel the effects. My suggestion is backing away from cheese especially. Sometimes protein shakes are made with whey that is a dairy product as well.

BawdyWench

What's the general rule of thumb? My heavy cream says there are 0 carbs in a tablespoon. Does that mean it has 0.5 or fewer carbs?

BawdyWench

Heather, how do you know that dairy is "evil" for you? Bloating? I've never had a problem with digesting dairy before, and I've always (up until now) been able to lose weight including dairy on a daily basis.

I suppose it's a possibility.

I just plugged in another typical day on FitDay, this time with my typical steak and butter for dinner. Here are the numbers:

Calories: 1733
Fat: 135 grams (70%)
Protein: 99 grams (24%)
ECC: 8 grams (2%)

How the heck did I get my fat grams up in the past? I know I've done 80% before, but how?

Kim

Red

Cheese also has a lot of free glutamates in it and for me, that's weight gain city. Plus bloat city. Those are two bad cities, I tell ya. Like Sodom and Gomorrah.

I'd say cut the splenda, the protein shakes, the cheese (not the cream, just yet) and the almonds. So focus on meat, butter, cream, eggs - the unadulterated unvegetated stuff.

Dean

I agree with Red and Heather. Cuz the same thing is happening to me! Bloat city, can't lose inches or pounds or fat. I blame it on the dairy! I've even cut calories and am doing long IFing, and I'm totally stalled. Sad

Bawdy, I'd say join the March Kitchen Clean Contest! Wink

BawdyWench

Thanks, everyone. I'll be watching things much more closely for a bit. The cheesecake will be gone today, so that's the end of the Splenda. Don't know about dropping dairy yet. Cheese, I can do without since I don't have much of it. Cream would be a problem. But, we'll see.

I'll do FitDay for a while again and see where things are falling. That will tell me a lot.

Manaloa

Erasmus

A note about nutritional labels...

There is no acceptable margin of error defined in the law (USA). As long as it is not an out in out lie (fraud) the sky is the limit.

Your cream could be 0g +/- 3g for all we know. Roll Eyes

-E

Vesna

What gets me is when they sell a spray can of fat and call it fat-free. The serving size is defined as 1/4 second spray, which delivers only 1/4 gram. Less then 1g, hence 0g, hence the whole damn can of fat is fat-free.

And people are gullible enough to fall for it!

We've been conditioned to take authoritative statements at face value. That's the problem.

Vesna

Manaloa

I don't use fitday, I use sparkpeople. I don't know how to let you see it. I was just emailing Bawdy, I eat a lot of coconut oil bark and use about a tbsp of butter per egg and 1-2 tbsp butter per oz of beef. I don't eat chicken and rarely pork. I can tell when my ratios are low if I'm still hungry at the end of the meal.

BawdyWench

I found my long thread on another board regarding high-fat eating. Here's the link if anyone is interested:

http://forum.lowcarber.org/archive/index.php/t-288448.html

I also found my recipe for coconut oil "bark" or "fudge" or something:

jem51

vesna, you may remember that i had trouble keeping my fat %'s that high. 70's is pretty normal for me. also the more animal fat i eat the more heartburn i have. coconut oil is the thing i have used to increase fat. i make bark, or what i call pemican (nuts, seed, coconut). i also put it in tea and cocoa....and smoothies if i remember. i'm sure i could eat organic valley's cultured butter right out of the package if i was desparate enough.

BawdyWench