I am hitting another weight loss plateau and I am not liking it!

Californiablonde

Well-Known Member
I am still struggling to lose this darned weight, and I am getting impatient. I think I am probably the only person alive who has had a colonoscopy and GAINED weight. Everybody kept telling me how I would drop off a few pounds after starving myself for 24 hours and ingesting that horrid laxative, but it didn't work for me. I was so darned hungry after my procedure, that I over ate later that day to compensate, and I gained a pound and a half. Drats.

So far I have lost only ten pounds in three and a half months. My coworker is also dieting, and she has lost 25 pounds in only three months. You can totally tell she lost weight, and she looks fabulous. Nobody has even noticed my measly little weight loss. I am getting frustrated and discouraged. I am still doing Weight Watchers and religiously counting my calories and exercise on myfitnesspal. I will drop off a pound here or there, but then gain it back again. My goal was to lose an average of 5 pounds a month, which sounds more than doable. I am not making that goal and I am disappointed in myself.

I really wish I likes fresh fruit and raw vegetables more, but I just don't. I crave nothing but carbs and sugar, but I rarely eat them. I feel like I'm really depriving myself but I am not seeing any results. I want to be thin again badly but at this rate it's gonna take me two years to get back to my former 125 pounds. Right now I'm stuck at 159 pounds and I feel huge. If anybody has any weight loss tips or secrets they can give me, I'd gladly take them right now!
 

InsaneCdn

Well-Known Member
Biggest secret? learn to like fresh fruit and raw vegetables.

Serious. They provide not just a huge nutrition boost, but fiber, texture. You can "snack" on this stuff as though it was chips... especially the really finger food like snap peas.

I've hit a plateau twice this year. This time I've gone two months without losing anything... but I'm not gaining either. The weight will come off. Sooner or later, usually when I'm not watching the scale so much.
 

Lil

Well-Known Member
10 lbs in 3 1/2 months is still 10 lbs. You have lost, not gained.

The best advice I can give you is the throw your scale away! It depresses you. You've already said that your clothes are fitting differently...that's huge. The constant worry about how you are doing is counterproductive.

Now...as to eating, unfortunately IC is right. Surely there is SOME raw fruit or vegetable you can stand. People change. Just because you didn't like something 5 years ago doesn't mean you don't like it now. Really, I used to HATE cabbage. I like it now. Same with asparagus. Maybe you'd like them with something else...like dipped in a fat-free dressing or hummus?
 

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
Excersie, exercise, exercise.

It's not for everybody, but I do weigh myself every morning. If I don't, that's when I start telling myself I don't care and start eating too much and gaining weight. Whatever works!
 

InsaneCdn

Well-Known Member
If I'm hungry after supper - I grab raw veggies.
If I'm cooking and drooling and wanting "something" I grab fruit or veggies to nibble while I cook.
Container of raw veggies along on a commute.
Beside my computer when I'm in heads-down mode.
All the times and places where "just a nibble" is a temptation... fresh fruit and raw veggies.
If I feel like chips - I grab raw veggies.
If I feel like candy - I grab fresh fruit.

I'd be totally yo-yoing if it wasn't for those.

I've lost over 25 lbs since Jan 1 - but nothing in the last 2 months. It's OK. It will come off again.
 

runawaybunny

Administrator
Staff member
I've lost 17 lbs since January 1 by avoiding high glycemic foods, which unfortunately include most fruit, wheat products and probably many of the foods that you are craving. :( My weight loss has stalled the last few weeks but I'm sticking to this plan because it doesn't ever leave my stomach feeling empty, like I'm on a diet. Basically I try to eat a lot of fiber, lean protein, and as little sugar as possible.

My go to snack lately is a couple of flax crackers with a tablespoon or 2 of this really yummy Hope brand organic hummus they sell at Costco. If you can get used to chomping on celery hummus is also a great dip to eat with celery.

One or two of these flax crackers with a couple of tablespoons of that humus keeps me surprisingly satisfied between meals.

I've tried a couple of brands and different flavors of flax crackers and those are my current favorite. Some of the other flavors are good too. Be warned that they do get really stuck to your teeth if you don't drink a lot of water while eating them. I think that's why they fill me up so much, fiber and water. Shop around. At one time I found them on sale at a local market but the next time they didn't carry that brand any longer.

There are also some really good pastas made from lentils or beans which have more fiber and less carbs than wheat pasta. They are surprisingly good hot with a sauce or served cold as a pasta salad.

I've tried a few different brands of those pastas and Tolerant is a good one available here in So Cal. Those noodles can be really expensive at Whole Foods, Sprouts, or Amazon but Costco does get their red lentil rotini from time to time at a very good price. Target carries them too and sometimes they put them on sale. When I find them at a good price I stock up. Their black bean noodles are good too and make a really dramatic looking meal since the noodles are a very dark color.

This kind of diet does take some getting used to if you aren't used to eating a lot of fiber rich, unprocessed foods. Just mentioning it because that is what has been working for me. Your mileage may vary. ;)
 

Scent of Cedar *

Well-Known Member
I crave nothing but carbs and sugar, but I rarely eat them.

Carbs and sugar set up a circle: Insulin release / sugar or carb craving. I don't know whether you are doing low fat, but if you are, that may be a mistake. My sister was never heavy, but she carried what excess weight she did have on her hips. She never could change that, no matter what she did. So, she began eating only meat. Fat was okay. Occasional salads and eventually, lots of salad of every kind, but no fruit.

And she lost that weight.

Sausage and eggs, roast or fried or broiled or baked fish or poultry or pork or beef: no breading.

No carbs.

After a time, there was no craving for carbs or for sugary things like Snickers.

I have a sweet tooth. And when I eat those things that are so delicious, I want more, and I get so hungry for them. That includes pasta.

I like it that you recognize that this place in your plan of self reclamation and self definition is a plateau.

Stay steady, California. You are doing so well.

You are doing something so hard ~ to go without all those things you once turned to for comfort. Bless yourself for the hardness and for sticking with it.

I will say it again. I think you are doing really, really well.

It must have been awful to go through the colonoscopy and gain a pound and a half.

Grrr....

When you are through this part? That will seem so funny to you, that this could happen. And you will remember how discouraged you were, and how you stuck with it anyway.

And that will make you stronger, for whatever the next challenge turns out to be.

Cedar
 

Californiablonde

Well-Known Member
I do like cherry tomatoes so perhaps I will try having some of those for a snack to help fill me up. As for the no carb diet, I tried the Atkins diet several years ago, was super strict with it, and didn't lose one single ounce. For me calories really do matter. If I eat 2,000 calories a day with nothing but protein, I will still gain weight. I think I am going to stick with Weight Watchers, since it really did help me lose weight last summer (and yes I'm just kicking myself about gaining those 17 pounds back!) but I am really serious this time and I'm not going to let the holidays get in my way this year. My jeans do feel looser, and coworker noticed and said something to me about it yesterday, so I do feel a little better. One person noticing I lost weight is at least something! So I will continue to plug away.
 

pasajes4

Well-Known Member
Fiber One cereal for breakfast...it is slightly sweet with 10 grams of fiber. You will feel full and you will have a bowel movement.
 

Californiablonde

Well-Known Member
Thanks, Pasajes4 I will buy some when I go grocery shopping. When I had my colonoscopy done they diagnosed me with IBS and suggested I eat more fiber. difficult child's gastro also suggested a high fiber diet for her as well.
 

LittleDudesMom

Well-Known Member
Be careful about the suggestion to eat more fiber if you have been diagnosis'd with IBS. There are two type of IBS: IBS-C and IBS-D. If you have the "D" type, you have to be very careful of your fiber intake and very conscious of your intake of soluble vs insoluble fiber. IBS is a very painful, life-long issue that can flair up and calm down. Keeping a food diary right after diagnosis can help keep your flairs down. I don't have IBS but I have had some "gut" issues in the past and am very conscious of my overall "mix" of fiber. I don't eat grains or dairy which has been a huge positive!
 

Californiablonde

Well-Known Member
I have IBC-C plus acid reflux. What is really difficult for me when it come to the diet is feeling incredibly nauseas on an empty stomach. I need to have some sort of food in my system almost at all times otherwise I feel very sick. This medication they gave me two months ago called Pantoprozol for the reflux isn't working. I am still vomiting stomach acid and feel very nauseas throughout the day. It makes dieting very difficult. I have to say, since I have been having the reflux symptoms for the last year I can really empathize with difficult child. No wonder she is claiming to be too sick to go to school most days. I am still working through all of this and I feel like crap. Can't say I blame her for wanting to go anywhere feeling sicker than a dog.
 

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
CG, I did Weightwatchers and lost a lot.

I really think there are only two ways to keep weight down, lose it and don't gain it back. This is the method I use. If I don't do this, I gain again. I don't want to ever gain again.

1/Exercise is a must.

2. I believe in the old fashion counting calories. There is no magic diet. If you eat more calories than you burn off, you gain weight. I've tried South Park, Atkins, probably all of them and did not keep off the weight. Weightwatchers is the only one that has me stabilized on weight. They have a very healthy, excellent plan and don't lie and say you can eat a half a chocolate cake and not gain weight (which I am perfectly capable of eating, by the way).

3. Weigh yourself at least once a week. I do it every day. See what may have happened if you suddenly gain. Remember, weight flucuates because of fluid too. I found cutting down much of diet soda helped...sodium.

4. Drinks lots and lots of water.

5. I don't eat more 100 calaories after 6:00 and add that onto my count.

I started to gain and was up ten pounds from 115. Then I got diligent again and am down again to 120 which is a good weight for me. If I lose more it will be to give me a little leeway. Getting too skinny is NOT pretty. It can be pretty gross actually.
 
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