HELP

HELP - started with 6 days of attack and on July 25 and have been following cruise strictly since and have only lost 6 pounds total!!! What is going on? What am I doing wrong? I am logging everything and working out every day(as I always have) and drinking gallons of water!

Not for sure what attack is, but sounds frustraiting to be trying that hard and only showing a 6 pound loss. I was hitting the treadmill for 3 weeks before noticing the difference. It took that long to build up my legs to be able to push harder. Since I have been able to do that I have lost 11 pounds this week. I know I am going to hit a wall sometime but am enjoying seeing any possitive results. 6 lbs loss is a good thing.

Don't get dicouraged take it one pound at a time.

Wait -- 6 pounds from July 25 to August 12 is 6 pounds in 18 days. You were expecting to lose more than this? If so, maybe the problem is your expectation, not the diet. It sounds like you're doing a great job and you should be proud of your achievement.

P.S. I just looked over your diet calendar, and part of the problem could be that you are not eating nearly enough most days. If you eat below 1200 calories per day, your body really can shut down, believing you are starving it to death, so your metabolism grinds to a halt to protect all those little fat cells, instead of burning them for fuel. Some days you seem to be eating exclusively protein and fat, while other days you eat fruits and vegetables -- maybe if you're in this for the long haul, you might want to come up with a plan that's more balanced on a day-to-day basis. Good luck.

I think 1-2 pounds a week is a healthy way to lose weight. Crash diets do not work..well they work but when you stop dieting the weight usually comes back...take it slow...you're doing great!!!Patience Grasshopper

I think the OP is on the Dukan diet- seems like critical info to include in their post, but it also explains the expectation that weight should be falling off! No matter what diet you're on, though, working out daily on that few cals is not a good idea. Nutritionists also seem to agree that this isn't a great diet because it is so restrictive of whole grains, fruits and veggies. Basically, you lose weight because you're EATING LESS- not because of some miracle formula with eating pure protein. But you can eat less in a much more balanced way and still be successful Honestly, fad diets aren't going to get you very far. Stick to the basics- a healthy balanced diet of mostly whole, unprocessed foods. Eat fewer calories than you burn and keep up the exercise and water intake and you'll do fine. You won't drop 5 lbs a week or whatever expectations you have, but when you lose weight that quickly, you are VERY likely to put it back on- you're talking about water and muscle loss, not the fat you want to lose.

I apologize - I was under the impression that this was a Dukan Diet forum. I know that it sounds crazy and normally I am not one for fad diets but.. I do have extenuating medical circumstances. I have celiac - there for no whole grains, no wheat , rye, barley, or oats. and I am glucose intolerant. I always have to monitor my carbs or my insulin spikes - I even have insulin spikes with artificial sweetener. I may also be lacking a variety of digestive enzymes. I can no longer have alcohol - in fact it may be fatal! For the first part of the year - from September to July I ate sensibly - all the food groups, reasonable amounts 1200-1600 calories per day and exercised 5 times per week - and gained 5 pounds. So here I am - trying something that seems to be working even if slower than promised while I wait to see my specialist in late September. Dukan has alternating days of protein and protein with vegetables and claims great success rates with those who have metabolic syndrome It is just not as successful with me as it has been with other members! I was hoping that someone else doing dukan may have some advice.

I'm not on the diet, nor do I have your nutritional challenges.

I will comment though that part of the reasons for dramatic weight drops at the beginning of low carb diets is said to be water weight from the drop in glucose levels. So if you were already dieting, and relatively low carb already to boot, it makes sense that you don't get the initial drop.

So, I'm going to say 6 pounds in 18 days is really progress, as Hemionesmon pointed out. 1 lb a week is really a reasonable target.

If you haven't already, I would talk to other celiac sufferers to see what works best for them, but perhaps that is what lead you here.

But you can eat quinoa, flaxseed, and several other low glycemic grains, as well as lentils and beans, while avoiding gluten AND avoiding the high glycemic rice flour and other substances often used to avoid gluten.

Also -- just for the record, the term "low carb" is most often used to describe diets such as Atkins, which are really almost no carb at the outset. But in reality, it's quite possible to structure a low net carb diet without the radical reductions called for by Atkins. Getting rid of white bread, potatoes, white pasta, flour-thickened sauces, high sugar fruits and baked goods and substituting veggies and whole grains (if necessary, gluten free) and legumes, makes a huge nutritional and weight loss difference.

Celiacs face a special challenge because so many grains are off limits and so many substitutes are high glycemic -- but it is possible to do this without going "radical."

Is Spam ok on the Dukan Diet? Should be...it's low carb...

technically spam would not be allowed because it is high in fats and sodium. The aim is for low fat and high protein which is a difficult task. Real foods - fruits are added back in as are limited whole grains. In fact most people start with oat bran, but celiacs are advised not to. If yoy want to check my previous entries starting last september you will see that i ate very well, and exercised and drank plenty of water and still gained 5 pounds from september to july!

krys - I was doing some reading this past weekend on The Dukan Diet, and found almost no one on this site actually doing it! At least I couldn't find any active ones. Without having read the book, the best I could tell was from some 'guy' who journaled about his experiences. He used a wide variety of proteins, fish, lean meats, etc.. and ate to his heart's content on the protein only days... then used asparagus along w/ other veggies on the protein/veggie days. Apparently asparagus is a diuretic in some people. Who knew?

Let us know how this continues to go???? What your struggles are, or what you like about it, etc.

Perhaps reviewing the book to be sure you aren't missing something or aren't eating the wrong 'something' would be helpful??? Not sure.

Good luck to you. Hope your September check up goes well.

Thanks for looking I really appreciate it! I do have the Dunkan Diet book - and have read it from cover to cover. The big thing with eating meat to your hearts content is that you don't feel like eating. I had a chicken breast for breakfast, and will have fish for lunch, then beef tenderloin for dinner. I have pork loin out for dinner tomorrow. I also have greek yogurt and fat free cottage cheese but I am starting to have problems with dairy too! (common for celiacs - they feed cows wheat!!) I exercise regularly - at least 5 days per week and am a very active person in general (play with my kids, paint, do house work, yard work, walk the dog, yoga, swimming, biking - in fact I used to be a competitive athlete when I was younger in skating, and wind surfing! Have had two major problems with weight - each after my two sets of pregnancies. Desperate to be the real me again.

Fascinating posts, ladies. Thanks for sharing.

Krystynecar -- my suggestion is stick with your current plan for at least 8-12 weeks, and if you are still unhappy with the results, then consider another option. There are many different approaches you can take that will work, even if you need to be gluten free. When I started on low glycemic eating, I eliminated wheat altogether because I didn't know about sprouted grain bread then, and all the "whole grain" breads I found were too high carb for my eating plan. And of course, rice and potatoes are not on the plan. So I stuck with hulled barley (which you can't eat) and quinoa (which you can), and I found gluten free crackers made entirely of flax seed (Flackers) instead of bread. So it is possible to go gluten free AND low glycemic, you just have to give up a lot of carb dishes because so many gluten free products are high glycemic because of the rice flour that is so often used in them. You are facing a real challenge and I admire you for putting your mind to losing weight. Good luck.

That is the "trick" to all named diets. They "trick" people into ingesting less calories than they did before simply by restricting what they can eat.

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=121703981
http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=133634471

If you would simply read the first post of each of those links you would be on a lifestyle diet that is easily maintainable and that creates results, instead of being frustrated trying to stick to some strict diet that is simply a cash in for these "experts".

If you have any questions, message me.