Nothing more frustrating than 1-2 weeks of no weight loss, yet you are sticking to the 800cal’s!!!

I use an app. and count the cal’s but luckily it also counts the carbs/fat and protein as well. After 2 weeks of no weight loss I decided action was needed – far too depressing to keep going without results being rewarded. When I analysed the food I had been eating I realised the carb’s had creeped up in relation to protein and fat – so although yes I was OK on cal’s, where the calories were coming from was becoming more carb orientated. i don’t mean bread and cake and pasta etc, i mean carrots, kumara, pumpkin, beetroot & fruit. Lot’s of recipes from the book – like beetroot and carrot salad, a favourite of mine, were seemingly curbing my weight loss.

So I reined in the carb’s – only allowing one plum per day, going back to eating mainly green veggie’s and lot’s of raw salads with protein. I have a little carrot or beetroot for colour and taste, but it is a sprinkling, not the whole salad. The scales have started to reward me again :).

So my advice is don’t give up, try the following:

Firstly – are you using an app to count the calories? Highly recommend you do. Use one to count not only calories but your carbs, protein and fat as well. Using an app and adding EVERYTHING you drink and eat means you can’t fool yourself. Then you know you are around 800. Even cucumber has calories! I weighed everything in the last 3 days, even lettuce and cucumber!

Secondly – have a look at where the 800 calories are coming from! Maybe you store carbs as fat as well as I do! I now aim to keep my carb’s below 30g each day – the nearer to 20g the better for me. Creep up to 50g and I don’t lose any weight. I weigh myself nearly every day so I can really see what is happening.

Anyone else got out of a plateau? – any tips for someone struggling?

Great post thanks

This is good to know as my carbs tend to be around the 60g/day mark! I will try to have some days of much lower carbs. Great post – thank you.

I had the same problem. I read some posts on the forum and made adjustments to my diet menu and routine. I applied them and the next day both my BMI and weight finally dropped.

Somebody suggested a keto calculator and I found that even though my calories were ok, my carbs exceeded my daily calculated allowance for my height, weight, lifestyle and weight loss goal.

Here is the link to the Keto calculator: http://keto-calculator.ankerl.com/

I also added daily exercise.

10 minutes of High Intensity Training [HIIT] on my Elliptical Cross Trainer in the morning before breakfast.

And 25 minutes of activity, either dancing or the Elliptical Cross Trainer to make up the 10,000 steps in the evening.

Here is a chart to help you calculate a variety of activities into steps: https://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/upload/Documents/Table_of_activities-conversion_to_steps.pdf

I am definitely going to look for the app.

Thank you for the links to the apps. I’m on week 4 and actually gained weight 🙁 this last week. Only 1 lb but on under 850 cals, 16 to 18 hour fasting and under 50g carbs its sad to say the least! It’s going to be hard to get my carbs down to 20 g as I love my veg… I’ll give 30 g a go initially and see how that goes but whats worrying me the most is what will happen when we stop this diet and eat say 1200 cals??? I’m not T2 or pre diabetic to my knowledge so I started this for a quick fix as I need to see results. Feeling disillusioned at the mo Jac

Don’t worry Jacshadow, there could be a myriad of reasons for a small increase of one pound, but the most likely is simple fluid retention. It is frustrating to see the scales moving the wrong way when you are doing everything right, but just hang in there and it will come right. Be sure to keep well hydrated, as this is hugely important for the body working at optimum and especially in weight loss. If sub 50g daily carb intake has been working, I’d suggest sticking with it for now and not stressing about pushing them lower right now.

It is important to understand that this is not a magic diet, which will allow return to ‘normal’ eating later, as for sure the weight will creep up again. And yes, this means getting to know now, the level of carbs you can eat without the scales going the wrong way, but don’t panic about that now. Focus on today and this week and try not to allow one pound increase to derail you – it happens and it’s frustrating, but for sure, we have all been there and you – like us – can push through and get to the end goal.

Hi Jac
I remember hitting my first plateau on week 3 or 4. As SunnyB says, keep going and the weight will start dropping again. Please don’t be disillusioned, and try not to worry right now about what happens when you’re at the point where you need to start to increase your calories again (although won’t that be a brilliant day!)
From what I understand, when you do get to that stage I think the trick is to increase the calories gradually. I’m not there yet, but there are a lot of people on here who are now maintainers who will offer you (and me) help when we get to that stage.
All the best
Marie x

Hi Sunny B thank you for your support as always. I had hoped when I got close to my target weight I could go on a low calorie maintenance diet and keep the weight off that way…Time will tell I guess. I was tempted to lower my carbs further and planned today’s meals to 30 g but I’ll try it a bit longer at under 50g as you advised. Thank you too for taking the time to write a reply. Fingers crossed it starts moving again. I’m drinking 2.5 litres of water each day and several herbal teas so I think I’m getting plenty of fluids Jac x

Hi Marie
Thank you for your words of encouragement. It always helps to know someone else has had a similar experience and things improved. I’d lost 7lbs prior to starting this diet just by calorie counting but then I stopped losing so tried this and lost a further 9lbs but now I’m going up rather than down… How many weeks into it are you if you don’t mind me asking please? Again, thank you for taking the time to reply . It’s very much appreciated as I don’t get much support at home and the girls in work keep telling me I’ve lost enough; but I’m still about 2 stone over weight but would be happy to lose just another 10 to 12 lbs. Jac x

Hi, Jacshadow – It would be very unusual to find one in our maintainer’s community that
has not encountered a plateau. In fact, you need to be in this state for 2 weeks to even
have it qualify as an actual “plateau”. It occurs at different times, but we have all been
there…Mine occurred 2 months in, and lasted for 18 days! I did more research on insulin
resistance, and arrived at the conclusion that my carbs had to be adjusted downward.
After doing so, I continued to lose at a consistent rate for the next 8 months. I do
disagree with your premise that low calories is a good maintenance strategy when you
reach your target, however. Like a great many here, once I reached my goals, I increased
my calories very slowly, and continued to lose weight while doing so. Today I find it
necessary to eat up to my TDEE, 1430-1450 calories a day, to ensure that I don’t lose
anymore. The major caveat it that we must all establish what the maximum carb limit
each day is to protect our losses. It’s not calories, it’s carbs! To try and return to eating
what we did prior to the BSD will most certainly result in weight gain. As Sunny says,
this isn’t a magic bullet for rapid weight loss, but an entire new way of thinking about
food that we need to accept for life. Those of us who have done so have reaped benefits
beyond our wildest dreams. I lost 50% of my body weight in a 10 month period, and
have maintained it for 10 1/2 months. Picking up 1 lb is surely nothing more than
temporary fluid retention, and is nothing to feel defeated by. Take the long view, and
you will succeed!

Allie

I started weighing myself on week 4. Every day I went up and down, sometimes by pounds at a time. I was horrified and perplexed, but the week after that I lost 7 pounds, and again the week after that. This is not a linear process and our bodies cope with the new regimen in a lot of strange ways. Bouncing your weight around is one of those ways.

Try not to obsess about it. Easier said than done, I know, but you have to get your head right or that’s what will break you down, not the figures on the scale. Give yourself a moment to be frustrated and miserable, then pull yourself together and keep your eyes on the prize. Log your food, stick with the principles, count calories and carbs. Ignore the naysayers in your life. It doesn’t matter if they mean well or are secretly hoping for your failure. You alone make the choices for your body and health. What you do is not anybody else’s business.

Buck up, Jackshadow. We’ve all been there a hundred times. Your losses will start again and you will achieve your goals. All you have to do is what you’ve been doing. Not one step backwards.

Hi Jac
I’ve been doing the BSD since last August so I’m well along the way now. Briefly, I’m 5’ 2” and at my heaviest I weighed 14st 4lbs. I lost 17lbs before I started BSD at the beginning of August 2017. I was 13st 1lb when I started BSD and I’m now 9st 8lb so I’m fairly close to the end of my weight loss and will soon be looking to maintain.
I started BSD because I was diagnosed as diabetic and I’ve kept to 800 cals and <20g carbs to get my bgls down. I don’t think everyone needs to go that low on carbs but SunnyB and Allie are right, working out the daily level of carbs that will work for you on this woe is key. I can see you’re already onto this.
I’ve kept a record of what’s happened, my weight, my bgl’s, BMI, my steps, etc throughout, which is why I remember so clearly the first time I stalled and how frustrating it was. People do plateau or stall on this diet, you just have to be prepared for that. But, Allie, Sunny B and Esnecca are right, at this point a lb on is only a lb on. This week I weighed 9st 8lbs on Tuesday, 9st 7lbs Wednesday, 9st 8lbs on Thursday – and so it goes. As everyone has said it’s just not a linear process.
You can lose weight quickly on this way of eating but not everyone does, and the weight loss often slows down at times, too. Like you, I’ve also been on lots of diets over the years. A positive of that is we can bring all that hard-earned knowledge and experience to help manage all this stuff. One of the negatives for me is that I came to believe I could no longer/would never lose the weight. Well, that’s just not true. You can and you will. With the 7lb from the previous diet and the 9lb from BSD, you’ve lost 1 stone 2lb to date. That’s fantastic. It’s a real achievement. Keep celebrating that.
As Esnecca says, the girls at work might be saying things for all sorts of reasons, some from genuine concern, some more to do with themselves than with you. Trust your own instincts about what’s best for you. Keep posting, join in the threads you like – maybe join the 4 week challenges. You’re right, it really helps to have that support.
Lots of luck, Jac
Marie x

my Dear Esnecca , Alliecat, Sunny B and Marie I’m sorry for taking so long to get back to you all. Very busy weekend with work and then minding the grandchildren.
I really do appreciate all the support and advice you guys have given me and the time you take to reply to me.
I think I just needed a kick up the backside to be honest! I was real grumpy and moaned too quickly as I was feeling frustrated. Sorry guys!
I’m back on track now and feeling focused again. And I’ve done some more reading around it all and realise that Carbs are the enemy as much as I love them.
Reading your story Marie I’m really in awe of how long you have kept this going and how much you have lost. You must feel so proud of yourself!
I notice too how many people all you guys reply to on other posts so I’d just like to say I’m so appreciative that there are people out there like you guys so willing to help all us newbies. And I’d like to say a MASSIVE thanks to you all on behalf of myself and all the others.
And if i come on here moaning about 1lb again just tell me where to go ;)) Jac xxx

Sure I speak for all of us, when I say we know how frustrating and disheartening it can be when you know you have done everything right, but your body – for some inexplicable reason – doesn’t do what you expect/hope and the scales tell you something you don’t want them to. I have certainly bleated and vented about such events, so don’t feel bad about doing the same and this is for sure the place to do it, ‘cos we’ll try to give perspective and get you on your merry way again.

Keep going and keep us posted, Jacshadow!