Diary Time!

[Leanne1]

Ok. This does seem to happen in the early weeks. The stallers seem set in. The best thing to do seems to be to go totally clean and green for a few days. Only your chosen protein and green leafy veg. This will kick start you and then slowly add back the things you were eating in small amounts. My staller is dairy foods, cheese, cream etc. Some people stall on mims or other things.
Keep going. It will sort out in the end.

 

[lucy4loop]

How frustrating! Leanne's advice sounds good - how can you not lose that way? Plan ahead for every day, make sure you're having fat with every meal/snack and drink plenty of water. I hope you stay and give it another go, though I know after a month you must be feeling really despondent. Whatever you decide, keep us posted, and good luck Em, you will find your stride and get there in the end xxx

 

[Jim]

Morning Em

Why don't you post your daily eating in your diary, then we can look at crit? Some things that stall people are

Cheese
mayo
Citrix
S/F & L/C products.

I know avacado is now legal to a max of half of one daily, but back in the '72 version they were not allowed until pre-maint Em

 

[Alpaca]

Oh Em... must be so frustrating and depressing... but this is the right place to get your menu sorted out... as Jim said, post your daily foods on here and try not to miss anything out - sometimes I forget to list things! lol

And Leanne is right, some foods stall so you need to do a bit of trial and error ...

 

[littlemisspiggy16]

Aw, thanks so much for your help and kind comments guys. I've been feeling really rubbish about it today (which led to bad cheating.....), but am now feeling more positive again.

So, my food since Saturday:

Saturday
B: 25g smoked salmon (was in a rush so didn't get time to cook my usual eggs)
L: 250g lean minced steak, made into burgers with 1 egg (0.5g), 1/4 red chilli, and 100g mushrooms (0.5g)

I ended up eating lunch at about 4pm, as was out and there wasn't any 'allowed' food available at the time. So wasn't hungry in the evening and went to bed early.

Total: 813kcal, 1g carbs

Sunday
B: 3 scrambled eggs cooked in 20g butter (1.5g)
L: Was out again and too much hassle to get something proper so had a Kraft cheesestring (0.5g)
D: 250g burgers from yesterday (0.5g), 100g mushrooms (0.5g), 1 courgette (2g)
Also had a black coffee with 15ml double cream (1g)

Total: 1,201 kcal, 6g carbs

Monday
B: MiM made with 1 tbsp coconut oil instead of oil, 20g butter, 40g smoked salmon (2.5g)
L: Prawn salad made with 100g prawns, 1/2 cucumber (5g), 1/2 advocado (2g), 70g mixed salad leaves (2g), 30g mozzerella (1g), 1 tbsp olive oil
D: Salmon fillet with 100g mushrooms (0.5g), 1 cup broccoli (2g)

Total: 1,516 kcal, 15g carbs

Tuesday
B: 2 scrambled eggs cooked in 1 tbsp coconut oil, with 40g smoked salmon (1g)
L: Chicken salad made with 200g chicken breast (fried in coconut oil), 1/2 cucumber (5g), 1/2 advocado (2g), 70g mixed salad leaves (2g), 1/4 red chilli, corriander, 30g mozzerella (1g), 1 tbsp olive oil
D: 250g roast pork belly, 1 cup broccoli (2g), 1 courgette (2g)

Total: 1,998 kcal , 15g carbs

This week, I have had more cheese and advocado than usual - bad planning, bought them on offer and they were about to go off and needed eating.

Today: I was feeling very fed up and frustrated so when I was out ended up having a latte and a large cream cake. I don't know why I always do this! Didn't really enjoy it, and felt even worse, so of course went and did the sensible thing and followed it by 3 biscuits. Sometimes I am such an idiot :sigh: Spent the rest of the day feeling tired and lethargic once as the sugar had worn off, still not hungry so think I will skip dinner - I know that's bad, but at least it will limit the calories.

I am now more determined that tomorrow and friday I will be completely clean and green - cut out all dairy, advocado, olives etc. Unfortunately (in terms of timing), I've got a big party to go to Saturday night. I am also staying at a friends. It will include a meal, which I have no idea what it will be and have no choice about (had the option ages ago to express dietary reqs but was eating everything at the time). Also don't want to draw attention to my diet, want to enjoy the night etc., so although I'm not going to go mad or anything there will def be at least some carbs. Oh, and alcohol of course - have practically been teetotal for a month, and so want to at least have a few drins on special occasions. I am soooo hoping this (and today's stupidity) don't send me right back to square one, else I will be gutted. The one positive thing I keep telling myself is that even though I've not lost anything since week 1, I've kept those 3lbs off!

 

[Jim]

Morning Em

Today: I was feeling very fed up and frustrated so when I was out ended up having a latte and a large cream cake. I don't know why I always do this! Didn't really enjoy it, and felt even worse, so of course went and did the sensible thing and followed it by 3 biscuits.

We've all been there love. You just have to pick yourself up and keep trying love

 

[greendress]

If you'll be eating carbs on Saturday, and you ate them today, it's probably best to eat low fat (ish) and low calorie tomorrow. You won't be on ketosis so you won't be burning the fat, just storing it. Then after the party restart induction clean and green and don't cheat. You can have 'days off' on calorie controlled diets but on Atkins having a day off stops you burning fat for 3-5 days until you're back in ketosis and often leads to a water weight gain.

We all have days off but it's important to restart when you have a clear stretch ahead of you. 2 days on the plan then a day off won't help you.

When you do restart induction, try keeping your calories between 1200 and 1400. 800 cals in a day is too low for Atkins. Also try to plan and make sure you're eating more regularly and not skipping meals as that will make your metabolism sluggish.

Good luck!

 

[Kat1e]

Hi Em,
Must be frustrating but agree with all previous comments
- its best to keep your calories up and fairly constant so eg 1500 per day (or whatever suits you) rather than up and down
- Any cheating however apparently small, will effect the scales short term - that doesn't mean you've wasted the time in between - i sometimes add up all the food i didn't eat and that makes me feel much better
- for a true view of whether this works i suggest clean and greem for 3-4 clear weeks. Atkins invented induction to make sure 95% of people would see a loss - but cheating wrecks it!

I have found that even on special occasions you can make a choice to avoid the obvious pasta, bread, potatos - ok so there might be something in the sauce but there is less carb load to flush out the next day. I think this really helps rather than assume since out of ketosis stock up on all the forbiddens

Good luck and enjoy the partying
Xx

 

[littlemisspiggy16]

Morning Em



We've all been there love. You just have to pick yourself up and keep trying love

Thanks Jim, and good evening! At least I managed to contain it to one afternoon, been good since then

Thanks also greendress and Kat1e for your advice. I have taken it onboard and today and yest have both been low fat, low carb, low cal days.

Menu for today:
B: 2 scrambled eggs (1g), cooked with spray of fry light, and 50g mushrooms (0.2g)
L: Chicken salad, made with 200g chicken breast, 70g mixed salad leaves (2g), 1/2 cucumber (5g), tsp dried chilli flakes, chopped fresh basil, 1 tbsp olive oil
D: Steak with 80g broccoli (2g), both fried with fry slight spray
Cal - 1,121, Carbs - 10g

Yesterday
B: 2 scrambled eggs (1g), cooked with spray of fry light, and 50g mushrooms (0.2g)
L: Steak salad, made with 100g cooked cold steak, 70g mixed salad leaves (2g), 1/2 cucumber (5g), tsp dried chilli flakes, chopped fresh basil, 1 tbsp olive oil
D: Steak with 80g broccoli (2g) and 175g baby corn (5g), both fried with fry slight spray
Cal - 885, Carbs - 15g

So, I now have a plan for the next week! I am going to enjoy tomorrow night, and then go low cal, low fat, low carb during the week as next weekend I am away again and intending not to worry too much about what I eat / drink. Do you think this is the best way to limit the damage? Hope so!

Does anyone have any comments / suggestions about my menus (more last weeks, in my earlier post, than the last couple of days)? I am thinking when I get back after next weekend, I will try and limit my fat and calories and see if this helps. Before, I was purposefully adding fat to meals - eg., cooking with coconut oil, adding olive oil to veg and salad. Looking back over my food diaries, there doesn't seem to be any correlation between weeks when I ate lots dairy and cheese, weeks when I ate none, and weight loss. The only thing I've consistently done is have several days each week where my calories and fat seemed pretty high (pushing 2,000 kcal, and well over 100g fat). Hoping this could be the cause of my mega stall - or is that unlikely??

 

[Jim]

Morning Em, good weekend?

 

[goodbyeflab]

Your salads sound v. nice, may try making myself one.

 

[littlemisspiggy16]

Morning Em, good weekend?

Evening Jim! Had an amazing weekend thanks, and have just got back from another few days away. Eating-wise not so good, so much cake, other yummy desserts, and alcohol to tempt me and couldn't resist as was getting mega sweet cravings (totm, haven't worked out how to stop the cravings, if that's possible....)

Your salads sound v. nice, may try making myself one.

Thanks goodbyeflab - i love cooking and experimenting with food, so it's nice if i've given you some ideas

So, I am now back to strict clean and green! I am trying a lower fat, lower calorie approach - I know that it might not be strictly Atkins but my losses before were so slow I think I may have been overeating. In between my two little mini-breaks, I stuck to induction to the letter - though stopped adding fat such as olive oil on salads / for cooking - and think that helped with damage limitation. Have been weighing everyday I've been home and although there was an initial couple of pounds gain it seems to have almost gone over the past couple of days Fingers crossed I will see my first 'proper' (ie not reversing out previous gains ) loss in a while next mon!


So, my last few days menus:

Mon
B/F: 2 scrambled eggs, cooked in fry light
L: Steak with salad
D: Smoked haddock with broccoli and 2 courgettes
938kcal, 18g carbs

Tues
B/F: 2 scrambled eggs, 100g mushrooms in fry light
L: Smoked haddock with salad
D: Steak with mushrooms, courgette, and broccoli
972kcal, 19g carbs

Wed
B/F: 50g smoked salmon
L: 140g prawns cooked with 3 spring onions, 1/3 red chilli, garlic, and fresh coriander, served with salad
D: Stri-fry: 250g chicken breast, 80g mushrooms, 40g baby corn, 70g brocolli, 140g beansprouts, 1/3 red chilli, garlic, fresh coriander
Feeling a bit hungry for the first time in a while, so may cook a couple of eggs or have some smoked salmon as a snack in a bit
So far: 787kcal, 18g carbs

 

[Alpaca]

The menus look really good! Hope they work for you!

 

[Kat1e]

Hi Em, good to "see" you. Be a bit careful on such low cal menus - you might trigger your body into starvation mode (not sure your normal level). Good luck xx

 

[littlemisspiggy16]

Yeah, I am a bit worried about going into starvation mode - but I figured so long as I don't feel really hungry then I must be eating enough? Or doesn't it work like that? I do tend to find some days I'm starving and can't stop eating whereas others I can eat much less, so hopefully balances out. Going to try and not go over 1,500 kcal though, even on my more 'greedy' days, tho if it doesn't seem to be working might up the fat a little.

 

[Alpaca]

Morning Emm

 

[littlemisspiggy16]

Evening guys!

Today has been much higher calorie-wise - for some reason feeling constantly hungry and can't stop eating!

So far today had:

B/F: 2 scrambled eggs, mushrooms
L: eaten quite early due to hunger! Left over stir fry from yest - so approx 2 chicken breasts, 150g beansprouts, couple of mushrooms, 80g broccoli, red chilli, garlic, coriander
Snack: 60g smoked salmon
D: Another 2 chicken breasts, cooked in coconut oil, and served with 100g savoy cabbage, 1 courgette, 2 mushrooms, 40g baby corn, with 30g melted chedder

I am still feeling pretty hungry even though i've just eaten! Any ideas on what would be good to eat?? Don't particuarly want more eggs or meat, and i'm now at my carb limit for the day after quite a lot of veg! Really feel like chocolate, am going to resist as have had a couple of very good days and this morn was the lowest weight i've been yet

 

[Jim]

Morning Emm, do you like pork scratchings?

 

[Alpaca]

I get munchy days and tend to almost eat brekkie and lunch

 

[Alpaca]

Oops!
Close together ... I end up feeling stuffed so it works for me...