Figure this one out (Failing diet 2nd time round)

[SallySmith]

Hi there,



I am new to this forum but not new to Atkins, I am hoping to find some answers and get some support.



I am 30 years old and 10 months ago I had a lovely healthy baby boy. As with all new mothers have been desperately trying to loose my pregnancy weight and am failing on all accounts despite my genuine efforts as well as a pretty good exercise regime where I am at the gym Monday to Friday never fail.



When I was on the Atkins diet 5 years ago I managed to loose 20 kgs (44 lbs) in a little under 5 months. I found the diet easy, effective, I had energy, was happy, in short it was all good. This time however I am not seeing any results and I have been seriously at it for 5 months, the remainder of that time I have been trying other diets that have also failed. I know you must be all thinking, "she just must be eating carbs, she must be cheating", but you have to trust me that I am not, not even any hidden ones that I am not aware of as I never eat anything out of a packet, ever, and very rarely eat out but when I do am very sensible just as I was when I was on the diet last time. I have keto sticks and they show that I am in ketosis. I am just at a total loss as to why I am not loosing my weight this time, so are all my friends and family as they see what effort I put in and how disciplined I am.



I had many problems through my pregnancy, a nightmare birth where I nearly lost my life and to be honest I have not felt healthy since. I have spent loads of money on naturopaths and am constantly at the doctors looking for help and getting blood tests. The blood tests have shown that my blood sugar fasting levels are very high for someone my age which I have been told will resolve itself when I loose my weight. The blood tests also show my thyroid is a little sluggish but apparently not enough to warrant going on medication.



Has anyone else had these problems or could offer some advice. Is there something that I am missing, is my doctor over looking something?



Any advice will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance

[faith*hope*love]

you may want to try fitday its a free way to keep track and add up everything your eating , I am guessing that you may be eating too many calories ,I think most people shoot for about 1000-1500 a day on this diet or your fat/ protien/carb% may be off to keep you from losing weight,% couldent be too off if your in ketosis though, are you breastfeeding? , I know when I was breastfeeding I could not seem to lose weight. also if your thyroid is low it will slow down your weightloss ,have you tryed measuring yourself ?maybe you have lost some fat and gained muscle .muscle weighs more then fat, and it sounds like youve be working overtime at the gym which would cause muscle gain. I am also in my 30's and I remember well ,how fast I was able to lose weight in my younger years the first time I tryed atkins I lost about 10 pounds every week, but this time it is takeing me longer to lose the weight due to my age ,yo-yo dieting,fasting, my body is more sluggish at losing weight. bless you in your weightloss journey.Lisa

[Atkid]

Fitday is a good start to check things out but why not post a day or two of menus of what you have been eating here on the board. It may just be too many diet sodas or sweetners that is causing you to stall. Post your menus under REVIEW MY MENU forum,
help is on the way.

[2big4mysize]

check your thyroid levels with the newer 2002 standards form the endocrine society 3.0 THS is the threshhold for hypothyroid espically when you have symptoms like you do. check your numbers and ask your doc about trying a low level of the thyroid hormones to see if infact you do feel better.

What are you doing for the exercise part of your Atkins. the plan changed in 2002 too and exercise is now a mandatory part of it.

[omnimomma]

Welcome, congratulations on the baby, and your desire to return to this wol. I understand how a health crisis can throw things into a tizzy. I had a serious health crisis about 2 1/2 years ago, and nearly died, as well. In spite of the fact that I have continued to provide Atkins friendly food for my husband (who's continued to lose), it took two years before my body was "out of shock" so to speak. I think that your body might be "afraid" to let anything loose right now. But don't give up. I didn't lose anything for two years, and in fact gained part of my weight back, but in the last week, my body finally cooperated and I lost 9 pounds.


Remain cheat free on induction, and rely on the tape measure, not the scale.

[SallySmith]

Thanks faith*hope*love, Atkid, 2big4mysize and Omnimomma for your all replies,



In answer to your posts:



To faith*hope*love,

I have now joined fitday and have started entering details so will keep and eye on my calorie intake there. I am not breastfeeding and have been measuring myself but alas no show of loss of weight there either. Regarding the yo-yo dieting factor, I saw an article which may of interest to you about something called the “golden shot” relating to low carb dieting and the difficulty you find the 2nd time round, give it read, it’s quite interesting, here is the link: http://www.lowcarbluxury.com/goldenshot.html



To Atkid,

I will start typing up my diet in right away and will post it in the next week or so. Thanks for the help.



To 2big4mysize,

I am off to the doctor next week so I will get on their case. I am only .2 from being at 3.0 THS but yet they still will not treat me till I reach 3.0, which is so frustrating. I do believe that I will benefit from being on thyroid treatment, it’s not just my weight that is affecting my life but also the fatigue, memory loss and a host of other debilitating symptoms. As for my exercise regime I am very committed, I attended my gym every weekday. I do a combination of resistance training and cardio, I also have a session with my personal trainer once a week. Working out is not a bother for me I love it and would be at the gym with out without my weight issues.



To Omnimomma,
Thanks for sharing, it’s nice knowing that I am not alone on this one, well done on your weight loss, I admire your strength and persistence. I have reluctantly resigned myself to the fact that my failure to loose weight is largely due to my health problems. During my pregnancy it was complication after complication, then the nearly losing my life during childbirth, it would not be at all surprised if my system is in a state of shock. Now with confirmation back from my blood tests along with the knowledge (without kidding myself) that I tried the best I could, I know that it is not going to be an easy ride. However saying all this I am not going to give up, with my desire to succeed along with support from family, friends and support from this forum I know I can do it.