Troubles Maintaining...

[Jace]

Hi everyone,

In recent months I seem to be having a problem with the amount of food I've been eating as I am completely unable to maintain my weight for longer than a few months. My problem isn't with gaining, but with continual losing! As of this morning I have dropped down to 153 and have no idea how to stop it...

I'm sure I'm not eating enough, but my problem is I have no idea how many calories I need. This stems from getting different answers from each source I consult. For a 24 yr old male, 155 lbs. and 6'3" who is moderately active, FitDay recommends 2900/day, my doctor estimated 3000/day, a nutritionist said 2500/day, the on-line calculators have numbers ranging from 1800-2200 (including the ones commonly posted on this board). With the huge range of different numbers it's increasingly difficult to find where I stand. I tried experimentation with different numbers, but it seems the more I eat the faster I lose.

I'm hoping someone here will be able to recommend the most reliable source from their experience, because I seriously cannot keep losing and medical professionals are getting exceedingly useless as none of them can agree on a number for me!

~Far la bella figura!

[Desertthorn]

I think I would tell you what we tell folks trying to lose. Use fitday, exercise, and keep your fats up.

[Kansas Deb]

Post some daily menus. How active are you? Sports? Running? Did you go up the carbohydrate ladder? Have you added back any whole grains or starchy veggies?

[PinkBikini]

Jace,

I wish we all that had that problem near the end. My husband has had problems gaining and maintaining weight. What works for him (6'2, 170-180 lbs) is a combination of eating well and eating regularly. The complex carbs you've grown accustomed to on Atkins will serve you well-- he has needed to be weaned off whites like white pasta, white bread, etc to switch over to the more nutritious brown rice, brown pasta, brown bread etc. You'll need to pack away food to gain weight (either more meals or larger meals) and then you will only need to eat the higher carb version of Atkins diet to maintain once you get back up there. From my husband's experience, 20 lbs. will take awhile to add on lean muscle and not fat.

Sample meal ideas:
Breakfast- whole wheat bagel or two (the large kind, not the wimpy frozen ones) smothered in peanut butter and fruit jam, wash it down with a protein shake or a couple glasses of milk, and fit in a banana too

Snack- mid morning fruit

Lunch- whole wheat bread or pita with deli meat and full fat cheese as well as some veggies like tomatoes and lettuce, natural chips or crackers with a dip, usually he packs something sweet in there too

Snack- nuts or meat and cheese rollups or small omelette

Dinner- whole wheat pasta with sauce, mushrooms and higher carb veggies, and hamburger/sausage meat and a salad on the side

We also encourage him to snack whenever he can. His preferences are not for the good fats- avocadoes, oil and mayo to everything, rich nuts like macadamia... but perhaps you'll be able to make room for the "good fats" and supplement you regular meals and snacks with them to add bulk! Pick higher carb fruits and veggies and stick with whole grains and you should fill up and out without needing to add back illegal stuff.

Working at McDonald's for awhile helped my husband put on 10 lbs in a matter of months though I don't recommend that solution

HTH,
Pink

[sadie147]

I'm thinking your CCLM is possiblly quite higher than you might think it is...How many carbs a day are you taking in..and have you considered raising that? You might want to take the fat % down, to say 50% and up the carbs to 20%.

My husband, like Pinkbikinis has issues keeping his weight up , how he has kept his bulk up has been to lift weights, when he stops lifting I can actually see a noticible difference in him (he doesn't do cardio only weights). Might sound counteractive, exercising for weight gain..but it seems to work for him.

I'm the opposite of you struglling to keep the weight down in maintenance, so other than that I can't offer much advice, I will say though I feel for you as I do know how difficult it is in maintenance trying to find that perfect balance with the %'s and numbers. It seems to be a neverending challenge!

[sallyseachange]

I agree... maybe you need to review your CCLM.

[Jace]

I went to see my doctor for a follow up to abdominal X-Rays she me get last week. And after analyzing my diet/exercise/X-Rays she said she was able to connect the dots and find my problem. Before I continue, this is not for the sensitive stomachs but there is a very important lesson to be learned from my folly...



The findings were:

1) The reason the scale number keeps dropping is because I actually weigh less than I think. My X-Ray shows that I'm extremely constipated and when I actually expel some of the excess...um..."matter"...I notice it on the scale. She said I could be holding in 5lbs or more.

2) The reason for this is not a lack of fiber...I take in copious amounts of fiber each day. What I'm missing is WATER. Not taking in enough water to deal with the fiber. I might as well be dumping quick dry cement into my digestive tract.


So the lesson here for those that avoid water is...DRINK IT! I was taking in 64 oz a day and clearly that's simply not enough so my doc wants me to double that amount and then add another glass ontop of that each time I take the medication to deal with my problems. This is the kind of thing that happens when you avoid drinking that magic little beverage. Don't let it happen to you!

At least I feel better that one of my problems is solved...one I'm done with this medication I can see where my weight actually levels off and go from there to see if I need to start working on gaining some.

~Far la bella figura!

[mitzimarie]

Hi, Jace

I'm glad that you found your problem. It makes since... lots of fiber, but not enough water. Both times that I have become constipated, I could directly attribute the cause to not enough water. Taking in an excess of 50g of fiber with not enough water surely did clog me up!

Thanks for the reminder!