I need help
I have been 4 weeks on this diet. Other than not craving anything , i have not registered any weight loss. I kept the same exercise level of 5 hours a week all done o tbe weekend. I dont know why i am not losing weight like everybody else. I have to mention that i have a stoma. I make sure to drink a liter of water a day and a liter of pepsi max and 3 cups if espresso.
What can i do to kick start the weight loss other than adhering religiously to the 800/50 diet.
Pls help
Maurice
Viewing 32 posts - 1 through 32 (of 32 total)
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Cut out the Pepsi Max, having something sweet stops the body from moving into fat burning phase. Not knowing what else you are having to eat or drink I cannot make a guess, that is my simple answer. What exactly are you eating, are you measuring your food, have you measured your body, you could be losing inches if visceral fat is going. Although after 4 weeks there should be some loss so something is going wrong.
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Hi sunshine – interested in the fact that anything sweet stops you losing weight. I am keen to read up on this and should be grateful if you could tell me where this information came from. Many thanks
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Iwanttobeslim, can’t remember, I read a lot of David Mendosa and I think it was on there. I didn’t say it stops you from losing weight but in terms of this low carb diet it is something to do with your body still expecting to find carbs (which is the first thing it uses for fuel) so does not seek out the 2nd line of fuel burning which is fat. It also makes the body expect carbs which means it takes longer to get over the cravings, all carbs turn to sugar in the body and the body does not know the difference between real . If I find my source I will post a link.
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HI Sunshine-girl,
I saw this on the Mendosa website (can’t find the link now, I wonder if it’s still there) and, whilst I find a lot of the stuff there very interesting, this was one which I felt lacked evidence and sounded more like an abstract theory than being based on any real foundation. Whilst initially appealing, I can’t help thinking that if the body is in serious calorie deficiency and can’t find carbs, because they’re not there, surely the body’s metabolic process would automatically look for the next best, either fat or muscle burning. The presence of a sweet tasting but zero calorie substance sounds unlikely to disable that process. The examples might suggest some degree of correlation, but certainly did not, IMHO, show direct causation.
Your point about cravings on the other hand sounds very likely. Having the mind expect sugars/carbs is just prolonging the withdrawal process and risking falling into the temptation of real sugars for comfort.
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Hi Iwanttobeslim, if you type into google Artificial sweeteners can slow down weight loss, it comes up with more than a dozen articles on this. One reason is stated that the body increases its insulin secretion in anticipation that sugar will appear in the blood. When it doesn’t blood glucose drops creating hunger. Another articles states that it induces a whole raft of hormonal responses including the body anticipating sugar as fuel. Some bedtime reading for you.
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Yes – I have seen something somewhere – that when your insulin secretes it impairs ketosis and for some hours after.
If you are drinking a litre of Pepsi max throughout the day that is a lot of artificial sweetener to drink and it is possible you could be impairing ketosis for many hours. I think I wouldn’t personally risk it. I am only speculating here – but if you impair ketosis and are not eating carbs your body might possibly use the pathway of burning lean muscle mass to fuel itself.
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What I meant to add was if you burn lean muscle mass you slow down fat burning further.
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Thank you all for the discussion about artificial sweetener and it effects or not!!
I will try to stop it, and see what happens.Dear Sunshine-Girl,
I am registering all i eat on MyFitnessPal, and check every type of food before putting in my mouth. Most of what i eat for lunch is green salad, cooked vegetables and proteins in the form of chicken or fish. My breakfast consists of a cup of yogurt, and espresso. Dinner is salad and tune, or egg, or cheese. i have to admit that i am eating much more cheese than before the diet, which has small carbs but big fats. i have just reviewed that i am averaging 40 gm of fat, daily, 50 gm of carbs, and total 700 calories.
so according to you, there is something wrong. Now here is some background. In 2010, i went thru major treatment for cancer, where i lost 15 kg (as i like to say 15kg ago), but gained them back. two years ago i went thru a complicated intestine surgery, where i lost 5 kg, and then gained them back and more. my problem is the 5 kg more. every now and then i have issues with the intestines whose treatment is to fast for 2-3 days (and get food intravenously). so it could be that my body, having gone thru periods of starvation has learned to hoard energy, and does not let go of the fat.
i would very much like to lose the extra kg, and mainly the waist cm, since i can hardly get into my pants, and the shape of my waist is not so comfortable with the stoma.
so if this does not work, i will have to wait for another session of fasting in hospital, which i can induce simply by eating 100gm of peanuts, but now i chose not to….while this is true, i am only joking.
so if anybody can shine more light on the workings of our bodies, i would certainly love to hear.
(currently Mr Blimp) Maurice -
Hi Maurice
At least your still here with us – it sound like your body won’t be digesting and treating food the same way as many of us,I used to drink LOTS of diet coke pre BSD, probably not a litre a day, but I could easily open and drink a large bottle, or with cans, rarely only stuck at drinking just one, and had it several times a week.
I made a deliberate effort not to have any the first few weeks of BSD – then found it sooo sweet, and kind of yucky.
I occasionally still have one, but that’s probably a couple of cans over a month, rather than regular consumption. Try switching to fizzy water, with lemon or lime slices for added flavour.My pre shop for BSD included a couple of bottles of diet tonic, on the assumption, that being a more tart taste . I opted for diet tonic early on in BSD for diet tonic in a restaurant – YUK, tasted vile.The bottles I bought earlier in the year remain unopened!
I have used up a couple of single serve bottles of Fever Tree “naturally light” tonics that were in the fridge – they have some fructose, but OK as an occasional treat.In the summer, when I was trying to get started with drinking the huge volumes of water, I started using “no sugar added” squash. They do have artificial sweeteners, but I deliberately choose the more tart flavours – grapefruit, lemon, lime, and make them up far more diluted than is recommended on the bottle.
Also, it has artificial sweeteners, but I will restrict myself to an occasional glass, no sugar added “winter spice ribena” – discovered it yesterday, and a really nice caffeine free hot drink.
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Maurice, I think you have answered your own question. Your body has been through a lot and the intestine problems, and possible metabolic problems. It also sound as though you don’t have a great deal to lose. When people say they have stalled or not lost or BG has gone up, I always say to tell us more about themselves. We can only make suggestions and best guesses but if we don’t know the facts then we are feeling around in the dark. Obviously it would be good to find a solution to your dilemma and you don’t have to take advice given. I will try again, looking at your diet the only fat fat you have is cheese as there is very little in chicken or yoghurt. Are you using olive oil to dress your salad, what about avocados, what about nuts. You say you had 700 calories but less is not always better and you have enough calories left over (from the 800 allowance) to add some good oils in there. You can bite my head off again if you like, I am only trying to help. I have thick skin so can deal with it.
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Dear Sunshine, thanks for the analysis, but i do have a lot to lose.i need those 5kg away. i dont usually like any dressing in my salad, but avocados are good when available. Nuts are a complete no-no since they lead to obstruction which sends me straight to ER. so what is the verdict? up the calories and fat was long as carbs are low? i can do that. i will also stop the pepsi, and we will see.
i do appreciate all your comments. thanks. merci. maurice -
I agree that more fat is probably helpful if you can do it, perhaps try butter or cream or creme fraiche with the cooked vegetables, if you don’t like dressings. Definitely try avocado as well.
Out of interest I was reading a copy of the New Atkins diet and it suggested a program of getting up to 90% of your calories from fat for a limited period, a week, if your metabolism stopped you losing weight any other way. In between you would then do a maintenance diet such as low carb med style, before having another go, a few weeks later. I suggest if you believe your metabolism is damaged it may be worth looking into this or other similar strategies. -
The discussion on artificial sweeteners is very interesting, Sunshine-girl. I’d been losing weight fairly steadily as long as I stick to the 800 calories and lower carbs . Over this last weekend I’d been very strict with my calorie counting and had expected the scales to have dropped at least a little. As it was the weekend and I didn’t have anything social planned, I had allowed myself a bit of an indulgence with diet Coke for both days.
I weigh myself daily because I find it helps keep me on track whether they go up or down. Even though I’d stuck to my calorie and carb limit, I found that my weight had unexpectedly gone up by 200 grams on Sunday, then down 100 grams this morning, leaving me still 100 grams up for the weekend. I know it’s insignificant, but it was interesting to think about the possibility that it was the diet Coke messing me around. I’ve also been adding sweetener to my Greek yoghurt. I’m going to cut out all sweeteners and see if that starts my weightloss again.
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Hi mauricem,
I understand from your posts here that you and your body have been through a lot over the past years. I have the deepest respect for you and think it is highly commendable of you to enter into a calorie restricted diet such as the 8 week blood sugar 800cal diet. The issue you raise is why you do not loose weight and it is really difficult to answer. The easy answer is that by eating less, you really should loose weight – at least after 4 weeks on 700 calories – and if you do not, something is wrong… but maybe it isn’t!
First, the one obvious source of error you need to exclude is to log the food intake correctly, weighing all food and drink, making sure everything is entered correctly in a properly function App. Double check the cheese! If everything is logged right, here is my take on your question:
1. Looking into your normal diet, what is effectively the difference in your calorie intake prior to and during the diet? You will only loose a substantial amount of weight if your intake on the diet is substantial below the intake before the diet. The 800 calories have been set up as a easy target, but remember that the thought process behind the fast diet is to reduce your calorie intake to about 1/4 of what you have been eating. If your normal calorie intake is 1600 calories, you may need to substantially need to reduce your calories to 400/day.
2. The difficulties your body has been through the last few years, has most probably affected your metabolism. This means when intake of calories is restricted, your body saves on all processes that requires energy. My belief is that this is probably not healthy over time and that you need to be in touch with your doctor if continuing on the diet and not seeing weight loss.
3. To my knowledge, the most effective way to increase your rate of metabolism is to increase your muscle mass by doing strength training exercises. The single most effective exercise being BODY-WEIGHT SQUAT! Start out by doing 4 sets of 10 squats down to the corner of a low chair once a day (slow controlled down, fast as you can up), and in only a week you will see results. Like Donald Trump says all the time: I will guarantee you that, I will guarantee you that, I will guarantee you that!
Best of luck!! 🙂
If I were you, I would start to
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Thank you MortenOsloNorway.
I like your idea about the squats. i will start right away.
after all, the BSD diet is healthy. limiting grains and sugar is what the doctors recommend to combat cancer, so it looks like i will stick to it for life.
I am squatting already, as we speak.:)
maurice -
Dear Maurice, I do SO feel for you. But remember that it is not easy to cut down your calories and it is even more difficult to keep a really accurate count – you cannot let your guard down for a second. I am seriously considering spending three days on a liquid diet, using the pre mixed drinks (the ones that rhyme with batkins). I figure that if I combine those with drinks like green tea, i.e. not even a single calorie from milk then I can be sure I haven’t accidentally gone over the limit. Not sure if I can last the three days, but I remember in the days of my youth using the Cambridge diet and it not only worked, but after a week of diet drinks I had lost weight, my skin looked great – I suppose all the added vitamins etc in the drink – and there was an added bonus that solid food tasted AMAZING.
Of course, the Cambridge Diet inventors were proponents of an almost fat free diet, so villains of the piece really. I remember they were absolutely obsessed with not letting a smidgeon of fat cross their lips. If there was a business meeting a secretary would phone ahead to make sure only skimmed milk was served, and only the most fat free biscuits such as langue du chat. It was as if they feared a little oil would grab them and force them to expand. On the other hand, I knew the wife of one of them and she had gone from being a fat person to being a thin person on that regime, she enjoyed excellent health, and made lots of money writing cookery books.
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A good memory.
Twenty years ago, i was on a diet that really worked. the theory was something along the terms of the 5:2, by tricking the body. so one day you go for 1200 cals, and the next two days for 800. once the body thinks that it is going to get the carbs, then you limit it. the juices in the body are there to burn, preparing for the 1200, and so it burns fat on the fasting days. it worked for me then, but that was in bc times (in my case, before cancer). This fast800 having a steady income everyday, counterparts that theory.
so there. what do you have to say about that??
maurice -
Do not go down to 400 calories as suggested above – 800 cal is given in the book as the lowest that still gives space for all the nutrients we need to get in.
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Maurice, what is your daily calorie requirement? If 800 calories is less than this, then you should be losing weight.
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Snoop:
and how do i know my daily requirement ?? -
ok. i went to a calculator on the web, and it says that i need 1950 cals..!!!!! i can perfectly live on 800, so i am a very “conservative” person.
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There are all kinds of apps and websites that will calculate this for you. I Googled the following
calculating recommended daily intake calories
and came up with lots of different options.
Good luck.
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OK, so if you need 1950 calories but are only eating 800, then you should be losing weight. If you are not, then you something is wrong.
The NHS Choices page: http://www.nhs.uk/chq/pages/1126.aspx?categoryid=51
has this to say
Calories are a measure of how much energy food or drink contains. The amount of energy you need will depend on:
your age – for example, growing children and teenagers may need more energy
your lifestyle – for example, how active you are
your size – your height and weight can affect how quickly you use energy
Other factors can also affect how much energy you burn. For example:
some hormones (chemicals produced by the body) – such as thyroid hormones
some medications – such as glucocorticoids, a type of steroid used to treat inflammation
being unwellIf any of these other factors apply to you, then that may affect your weight loss. It may be that you need to see your doctor. In light of the fact that you have a stoma and your digestive difficulties, have you discussed going on this diet with your doctor?
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There is a list in the FAQ of people who should not do this diet, serious illness is one of them, other medical treatments is another. I would still cut out the litre of diet coke and see if that helps.
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In addition to the suggestions made by others on ways to increase weight loss when there is a plateau or weight loss just not happening there is another key factor in the BSD. It is primarily designed for reversing diabetes or improving BGLs for those of us suffering from diabetes. It may therefore not be as suitable an eating plan for others.
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There is a school of thought that says caffeine stimulates the release of stress hormones, which can hinder weight loss. The Diet Doctor site has a couple of videos/ articles about the topic: https://www.dietdoctor.com/why-i-quit-coffee
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Hi again mauricem . are you hanging in there? Continuing on the 800 calorie diet? 🙂
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Hurray. 2 kg down…..finally.
thank you all for the ideas and suggestions.
it looks like limiting the pepsi and drinking more water helped the body surrender to the diet.
thanks
maurice -
Cheers, keep it up
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Glad to hear you’ve seen some progress at last. I was worried for your health after four weeks of no result.
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🙂
Viewing 32 posts - 1 through 32 (of 32 total)