Don't want to lose weight

[Riverj]

Originally Posted by Georgiana

Great. Let me see if I get this right. Two weeks ago you were on OWL Rung 7. For the past two weeks you've gone through OWL Rung 8 and Rung 9, testing 13 (if I counted right) foods from these levels. Is this correct?

To be honest I just forgot about rungs and tested the foods, so it is correct but I didn't make it precisely and gradually. I just threw the baby with the bath water and experimented. I was just angry and frustrated.

Okay. Let's take brown rice, for example. So you've eaten it on its own first (e.g. 1/3 cup brown rice with nothing else for that meal) and then with some food (e.g. 1/3 cup brown rice and 5 oz steak with some green veggies). Do I understand this correctly? Also, did you do both tests in one day or in separate days?

Exactly and I tested in separate days.

Do you know how many net carbs are in 1/3 cup of brown rice or in 5 tablespoons of quinoa? Are you counting carbs at all?

Yes, I do count carbs. 1/3 cup of brown rice has 15 grams of carb, a GL of 7 and a GI is 80. 5 tablespoons of quinoa have 22 grams of carbs and a GL of 10.

[Georgiana]

Originally Posted by Riverj

To be honest I just forgot about rungs and tested the foods, so it is correct but I didn't make it precisely and gradually. I just threw the baby with the bath water and experimented.

... but the baby drowned.

Alright. So, what you're doing right now is kicking your own and complaining that it hurts. Keep reading...

Exactly and I tested in separate days.

Of course you'll get blood sugar symptoms if you eat 1/3 cup of rice or whatever without anything else! That's why our meals should be balanced and carbohydrates, even when coming from vegetables, should be consumed together with fat and protein.

Yes, I do count carbs. 1/3 cup of brown rice has 15 grams of carb, a GL of 7 and a GI is 80. 5 tablespoons of quinoa have 22 grams of carbs and a GL of 10.

If you add 22 g net carbs from quinoa and 15 g net carbs from brown rice, you shouldn't be surprised that your blood sugar goes awry. These foods should be tested in OWL in 5 g net carbs amounts, not 15-25. Even in Pre-Maintenance you should only add them in 10 g net carb amounts.

I'm sorry, but while the diet you're following is indeed low carb, it is not Atkins. You would do yourself a huge favor by re-reading the book, because you clearly forgot a lot of what you've read there and this has caused you a lot of trouble. In the meantime, eat whatever foods you can tolerate, but increase your calories---as long as your caloric intake is higher than your total energy expenditure, you will stop losing weight and if you go up high enough with the calories, you will even gain a few pounds.

[Riverj]

Originally Posted by Georgiana

I'm sorry, but while the diet you're following is indeed low carb, it is not Atkins. You would do yourself a huge favor by re-reading the book, because you clearly forgot a lot of what you've read there and this has caused you a lot of trouble. In the meantime, eat whatever foods you can tolerate, but increase your calories---as long as your caloric intake is higher than your total energy expenditure, you will stop losing weight and if you go up high enough with the calories, you will even gain a few pounds.

After reading the book, where do you think I should start again from?
Maintenance or OWL? How do I know what carbohydrates source I can tolerate and what I can't?

[mitzimarie]

Originally Posted by Georgiana

In the meantime, eat whatever foods you can tolerate, but increase your calories---as long as your caloric intake is higher than your total energy expenditure, you will stop losing weight and if you go up high enough with the calories, you will even gain a few pounds.

Perfect advice, Georgiana. Even in Maintenance, I have to eat mostly at Rung 1... I occasionally have berries, but that's about all I can get away with. I don't have the kind of blood sugar symptoms that Riverj describes when I eat from the other rungs, so much as I have portion control issues. So I am living, breathing proof that you can eat from Rung 1 and not lose (and maybe even gain a few pounds!) when calories are increased enough.

And, no, I don't believe "a calorie is a calorie"... meaning, I don't believe that it is a straight up case of calories in, calories out. HOWEVER, just because Atkins said that you don't count calories, that doesn't mean that calories don't count. If you eat enough of them, you can halt your weight loss.

[mitzimarie]

Originally Posted by Riverj

How do I know what carbohydrates source I can tolerate and what I can't?

No one can tell you that, as we are all quite unique. That is the purpose of following OWL in a carefully controlled, precise manner. As Georgiana pointed out, you are only to test new foods in 5g increments... and you are supposed to test them 1 food at a time, and always balance them with protein/fat (never alone!). Yes, this takes a lot of time and patience, but how else will you learn exactly which foods are tripping you up, if you don't?

You've never found your CCLL (Critical Carbohydrate level for Losing), correct? I would start there. Since you fear foods other than Induction foods, go ahead and increase your carbs with those foods each week until you find the threshhold at which you stop losing (primarily from extra veggies). Then, I would start testing new foods (one at a time, in the order of the carbohydrate ladder or rungs) in 5g increments, for a week at a time.

You sound like you've already made up your mind that you can't eat anything other than Induction foods. If it turns out that is the case, you will have to either eat enough of them to reach your CCLM (Critical Carbohydrate Level for Maintaining), or you will have to eat enough calories to halt your weight loss. Personally, I would first try to follow OWL correctly (which you haven't done yet) before giving up on all foods from the other rungs.

[Georgiana]

Originally Posted by Riverj

How do I know what carbohydrates source I can tolerate and what I can't?

While you read the book, you should keep eating the way you ate until May 27, because you said your blood sugar was stable then. So you can have veggies, cheese, nuts, strawberries... plus whatever else you were eating until then that wasn't causing you problems. The only thing you should do is eat more without eating new foods. Eat small meals more often as this will reduce the probability to get blood sugar symptoms. Exercising also helps with this, so make your Atkins complete by doing the exercise (cardio and weight training) part.

You once wrote your doctor told you to eat more. Ask him/her how many calories you should be eating. Then add 200-300 to that number (that's because there are studies that have shown one can eat a couple hundred calories more and still lose weight when carbs are restricted) and see how your weight changes at that calorie level. If you still lose weight, increase your calories by another few hundred. Also keep a food journal that you can show to your doctor, so that he/she sees what and in what amounts you are eating.

After reading the book, where do you think I should start again from?
Maintenance or OWL?

After you read the book, I think you should test new foods properly (in smaller amounts, with fat & protein, etc.) while keeping your calories high. Or if you decide you prefer eating at lower carb levels, then just keep your calories high enough to avoid losing more weight.

If you want to lose no more weight, you won't be able to determine your CCLL, because you'll have to "overeat" or eat enough carbs to keep your weight steady. If I were you, I'd first figure out the calorie and carbohydrate levels at which I'd stop losing weight. Then start experimenting with new foods and increase the carb level by eating small amounts of these new foods. If a new food causes you blood sugar symptoms, you should obviously drop it. Alternatively, you could add more carbs from the foods you were eating before, foods which you know you can tolerate. Whichever strategy you decide to follow, once you reach a certain (personal!) carbohydrate level, you will start gaining weight. This will be your CCLM---above this level you'll gain weight, while below it you'll stay the same or lose (assuming you keep your calories and activity level relatively constant and your sources of carbohydrates more or less the same). Once you reached this point, you can gain some weight by eating more calories, by eating more carbohydrates, by redistributing your sources of carbohydrates, by gaining some muscle, etc. In any case, you will know where you have to be in order to maintain and what you have to eat in order to avoid blood sugar symptoms, which at the moment are the two problems you have.

[Riverj]

Any advice on how to raise calories without stretching the budget?
Eating twice the serving sizes of meat would be too expensive

I will let you know how I'm doing

[Georgiana]

Originally Posted by Riverj

Any advice on how to raise calories without stretching the budget?
Eating twice the serving sizes of meat would be too expensive

I will let you know how I'm doing

Post some of your current menus (include quantities for everything) and then we can make suggestions starting from what you're already eating.

[ziggy]

Riverj some people can be allergic to eggs maybe you should get a test to see what your body is allergic too unless you have ate eggs plain before and had no problems

[Georgiana]

As I understand, Riverj has been eating eggs before without any issues (from his May 27 posts).

Here are more questions for you, Riverj.

Originally Posted by Riverj

I suffer from low energy, fatigue, mood swings, insomnia, anxiety. The typical ailments of modern western life.

Did you seek help from a mental health professional for some of these problems?

My problem with Atkins is that I can't find a middle ground.

As I've said in my previous post, that's because the way you've been adding carbs back is not how you should have done it if you were following Atkins.

Can you open your book on page 89 and check #1 and #2 there? And then open it on page 112 and read the section that starts there? Also, just to make sure we're talking about the same book, could you tell me what you have on this pages in your book? I wouldn't want to give you advice from a different book as your problems are already very serious.

You said you're tracking your carbs. So can you post here a graph showing your carbohydrate intake since you began low carbing? Like, day on the x-axis, carb intake on the y-axis?

When I restrict carbs I lose my appetite to the point I never feel like eating and skip meals all the time.

When I eat more carbs I can't stop being hungry all the time and eating slice after slice of bread.

What does "more" mean? More than what? More by how much? And from what foods?