Help, not sure what to do!

[VaughnTX]

Ok so i've been doing this for almost 3 months, lost 20visible pounds (scale wise 268to 24 and those pesky little keton sticks whenver I decided to tinkle on one are deep purple.

I drink tons of water

eat sirloin, chicken some shell fish and brocoli and green beans mostly for meals other than breakfast

for snaks I eat summer sausage (says >1g carb per serving) and string cheese 2x a day

Snack sometimes on pork rhinds

and for breakfast almost alwas 2 eggs and 3 pieces of bacon....

Am I getting enough fat? Am I getting enough calories for my weight? I've read so much adn honestly I'm just down right confused.

On top of that I am working out 5 days a week, i do 25 minutes of varried cardio a day and then I work 2 muscle groups each of those days (arms, chest, back stomach, shoulders)

the tanita scale says i've lost 8% body fat but who knows it fluctuates.

And I drink a ton of water, I have a 24oz bottle at my desk at work and I go through 3 of those a day ( I talk all day for a living) and at home I drink several 24oz cups of water too....

Lastly I eliminated all artificial sweetners as they were the cause of my initial stall. I take measurements but they dont show anything EVEN THOUGH my pants fit better and my face looks thinner to all my friends - where am I losing the fat at? am I doing something wrong? I'm usually not very hungry either but I eat at least 3 real meals a day and 2 light snacks.

I may cut out dairy though as I read somewhere that that can stall people

Any advice or critique of my menu would be appreciated.

[imagood1]

you aren't eating enough vegetables -- are you using FitDay or another program to track your fat and protein daily? Are you weighing your meat before you eat it? Watch out for the summer sausage - check the ingredients many of them have hidden sugars and fillers.

You are on OWL Rung 1 so you should be adding 5 additional net carbs daily plus the 2-3 cups of vegetables you should be eating now. You should be eating from these 2 lists already:

Vegetables
You can have two to three cups per day of:

alfalfa sprouts
daikon
mushrooms
arugula
endive
parsley
bok choy
escarole
peppers
celery
fennel
radicchio
chicory
jicama
radishes
chives
lettuce
romaine lettuce
cucumber
moche
sorrel
These salad vegetables are high in phytonutrients and provide a good source of fiber.

Other Vegetables
You can have one cup per day of these veggies if salad does not exceed two cups. The following vegetables are slightly higher in carbohydrate content than the salad vegetables:

artichoke
celery root
pumpkin
artichoke hearts
rhubarb
asparagus
chard
sauerkraut
bamboo shoots
collard greens
scallions
dandelion
snow peas
bean sprouts
dandelion greens
spaghetti squash
beet greens
eggplant
spinach
broccoli
hearts of palm
string or wax beans
broccoli rabe
kale
summer squash
brussels
kohlrabi
tomato
bean sprouts
leeks
turnips
cabbage
okra
water chestnuts
cauliflower
onion
zucchini
If a vegetable, such as spinach or tomato, cooks down significantly, it must be measured raw so as not to underestimate its carb count.

Salad Garnishes

crumbled crisp bacon
grated cheese
minced hard-boiled egg
sauted mushrooms
sour cream

[VaughnTX]

Probably should have mentioned the moment I go over 20g of carbs I gain weight - I tried adding more veggies (from that list) and soon as I did i stalled for almost a month ;/) also I'm gluten allergic so that really limits the type of crops I can eat (veggie wise) I have to be sure that they arent raised on farms within a few miles of wheat/barley/oats/

I also should have added I usually have 1 salad a day with chicken and mixed salad greens (arugala, spinach, red/green cabbage and lettuce) Thank you so much for your advice though, I'll try to vary it up a bit veggie wise

What other meats do you recommend - I mainly use sirloin grilled on our grill, same with chicken and a bit of pork - I work 1-10pm so I always have to make my lunch to take to work and so mailnly get my breakfast going then I eat my lunch after working out ( usually just some chicken or briscuit and like mushrooms or some leaves of some sort:P) then I have chicken or steak for dinner with broccoli since it microwaves well.

Oh and I jsut bought saurkraut gonna have that for a change up - is italian sausage ok? or does it have lots of added carbs?

[JulieB]

Check the packaging on the sausage - they vary widely between brands. I am able to find some that I find acceptable. Can you eat fish? That also adds variety to your protein.

[VaughnTX]

The main thing I'm worried about is I dont think i'm having enough fat - what is the fit thing you were talking about above? Work just makes it really hard to eat a perfect schedule, but I do get 3 full meals (not super big but decent) and 2 snacks in maybe i'm just eating the wrong menu.... any one have easy work friendly menu ideas? I looked in the other forums but thats mainly like recipies lol

[JulieB]

For lunches, I usually bring whatever I had for supper the day before. Do you have access to a fridge/microwave at work?

Fitday.com. Enter the foods you eat (or plan to eat) and it calculates calories, carbs, etc.

[VaughnTX]

ah ok great - ya have a microwave i usually make extra lunch and have that

I'll check out the fit day -

according to a chart i saw at 248lbs I should have 2700calories a day for maintenance so about 2000ish or higher to lose weight? or will that put me in starvatio mode? anyone know?

I was adding up my calories but I dont think i'm even coming close to that - but i'm not hungry really

I'd say 350ish calories for breakfast
300ish for lunch
about 225 for my 2 snacks
and 400 for dinner

thats only 1300ish is that the problem? Should I be eating a lot more? Even though I'm not hungry?

[JulieB]

I was 285 when I started 8 weeks ago. I've been eating 1500-1600 calories per day. I'm down 30 lbs, so that works *for me*. I'd say anything less than 1500 at this point is too low at your weight, but there are other factors, such as how much you work out, etc.

[VaughnTX]

What do you do then to add calories? double up yuour meat? fat, etc? I just duno what else to eat (othe rthan veggies which really dont add a huge amt of calories)

I guess i'll try that fit traker thing and see what happens.

[JulieB]

Add fat - it doesn't add much 'bulk' when you are eating, but adds calories fast! Butter on veggies, dip, oil. You'll see in fitday...it makes it really easy to see what effect small changes have on calories/carbs.