Support thread for those of us who dont lose weight

Brilliant idea. Thank you @serenity648

I do lose the odd pound, here or there, but they are few and far between. Most of the time I just concentrate on keeping my carbs low enough that I don't gain.

Then I go through phases of trying a new thing (usually adding it to the list of 50 other things I am already doing). At the moment it is 24 hr intermittent fasting, on top of very low carb, lowish protein, etc. etc...

Then I try and think myself into the headset of 'I feel so much better than I used to, losing weight would just be the icing on the cake'. But that doesn't usually last very long.

Then I follow my nose through studies and lectures and books and forum posts, always wondering if the magical solution is just round the next corner...

Over the past few weeks I am having problems losing weight. In fact I am putting weight on.
I do believe it's because of my bipolar flaring up and my antis iconic has been increase, this med is notorious for putting weight on and also making people hungry, hence eating more. So its sods law. My pdoc, feels at the moment, is to get my bipolar more stabalize.

Great thread thank you. I'm very much like the rest of you. I slowly lost over 30 pounds with LCHF but I haven't lost any for a couple of years. I still have 6 or so stones to lose. Right now I don't have the energy to try anything else and am despondent about it.

Something that really annoys me when I say my weight won't shift anymore is that people usually take this to mean I lack willpower or the discipline to stick to a plan. I don't, in fact my willpower has probably worked against me in the past in that when I followed really low calories diets years ago I stuck to the rules rigidly. This meant my body went into starvation mode and learnt to exist on a low cal diet without losing much weight.

I get upset when people say 'If you cut calories you will lose weight - there weren't any fatties in the concentration camps'. What a stupid comment! A lot of people simply didn't survive the camps - is that what the 'cut calories even further' brigade want for us? Are we worth so little? I have known only 2 people who survived the concentration camps of the 2nd World War. One was imprisoned in Germany and the other in Japan. I am told that the first one came back as skin and bone and needed a long period of refeeding before he could eat normally. When I knew him he was morbidly obese because his body had gotten use to surviving on very little, that's how he survived the war. The second one came back very thin too and was doubled over from living in a small cage too low to stand up in. He also carried some excess poundage in later years and would probably be seen as obese today. Extremely low cal diets simply do not work for me in the long term. I wish I had never tried them.

That's todays rant from me, I'm sure there will be more later.

Another rant here. lol.

People always seem to think that what worked for them will work for everyone.
I can't count the number of times that someone has posted along the lines of 'if you cut cals/carbs/fats/sugar/alcohol and up the exercise/mystic prayer chants while balancing on tiptoes then you will lose weight!'

Actually, no. That worked for you. The odds are, that in the last 35 years I have tried that, and it may have worked briefly, and it may have been exciting and thrilling and filled me with Born Again Diet/Exercise Zealotry, but you know what? It didn't work long term, and 90% of the time it led to a slower metabolism, and increased chance of weight regain.

So what works for some does NOT work for everyone - because we all have different genetics, environmental and stress factors, joint and muscle and health issues, hormone weirdnesses and emotional relationships with food.

Rant over.

So much of what has been said to others has been said to me, most often by family members! The last 6 years have been a voyage of discovery for me and I have been retraining myself in all sorts of ways. The biggest thing to get my head around was allowing myself to eat without guilt. I actually took part in a mindfullness course which got me there (though to be honest I tend to think of such courses as a bit airy fairy), although I didn't lose any weight, but stopped damaging myself on a diet and binge roundabout. Then I discover LCHF and realise it's something my body takes to quite well. I feel well on it, I lose a bit of weight and I think I've finally accepted I'm in it for the long term too.

My metabolism adjusts very well to low cal diets. I don't lose weight on them and then pile it on when I eat 'normally'. It took half a century to reach nearly 20st, so getting it off might well take a while. In four years I've lost a stone a year. It's slow, but I'll take that loss as good. It's going down, rather than up and my body doesn't think I'm starving it. I still go off the rails, but I coming to know when I do that I do actually feel rubbish. My skin gets worse and I will get a yeast infection. I'm learning from my body's reactions and that is helping me stay on track.

serenity68 said:

I just think it would be good to have a place where those of us who, despite our best efforts, cant seem to shed the weight.

There may be reasons for this that are, as yet, not understood medically.

There may be mental, emotional or physical health issues, or a combination of issues.

But whatever the reason, I wanted a thread for us to support each other, without people coming on telling us we are doing X,Y or Z wrong, and just being there for each other.

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What a brilliant idea! Thank you.

I feel like crying. Out of joy for having some compadres. I've been feeling so isolated and blamming myself for doing something wrong.
Like you say, loads lose on lchf, just not me. I started gaining!

What a good forum that would be. We often hear people saying they are not loosing weight but it is no good making a blanket statement telling them all to go low carb and they will loose the weight because that obviously does not work for everyone for a lot of reasons .For many it could be demoralising making them feel they are failing somewhere when every ones else seems to be loosing weight. A forum to talk to others who are also struggling with weight could be really good

ickihun said:

I feel like crying. Out of joy for having some compadres. I've been feeling so isolated and blamming myself for doing something wrong.
Like you say, loads lose on lchf, just not me. I started gaining!

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Yes I've felt like that too and when I post on this subject on other threads I often feel I have to justify and explain what I say. Sometimes I feel that others don't believe me.

@serenity648 This is the best thread ever! I don't feel like a failure here

I also lost 30 pounds initially but have not lost anything for months. I even did a 4 day fat fast and lost 4 pounds recently. The minute I broke the fast back to LCHF I gained 6 pounds in less than 2 days. I am now right back where I started and not budging. It is very frustrating as I have 80 more pounds to lose.

Pipp said:

Yup, I'm in too. Thank you, @serenity648

The phrase that causes me the most annoyance?

"If I can do it anyone can"

Like heck!

I am now more accepting of being and staying healthy. If that means being fat too, so be it.

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I wish I'd done that. I'm so run down from trying not to eat and stressed. Its making me ill.
I need to build my nutrients back up. I've broken them all down to nearly nothing, for my 20st body. I'm just ill all the time with the added bonus of not losing weight either.
Naproxen has just been stopped which apparently adds weight. Lets see. I add but don't lose. The losing mechanism is missing!

chalup said:

I also lost 30 pounds initially but have not lost anything for months. I even did a 4 day fat fast and lost 4 pounds recently. The minute I broke the fast back to LCHF I gained 6 pounds in less than 2 days. I am now right back where I started and not budging. It is very frustrating as I have 80 more pounds to lose.

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Yup! VLC was marvellous to start with. lost about 20 pounds, effortlessly. Eating more than ever before. Never hungry.
Sooo happy.
Then it stopped dead and didn't shift for 2 years, despite me jumping through some serious hoops.

Just nudged another half stone off (approx) but it has taken 6 months, several tiptoes forward and steps back, and some pretty weird fasting (I mean, a month of 24hr warrior fasting 5x a week, VLCarb, Gluten Free, low protein, usual exercise, masses of water, yada yada) and I lost a total of 2 pounds over the 4 weeks.

I mean, REALLY? Is it even worth it?

Plus, of course, the continued risk that I am lowering my metabolic rate and going into 'starvation mode' by all this fasting, because the final calorie count is lower than I consider advisable = a reduced calorie diet, which is historically disastrous for me.



(isn't it good to vent?!? )

I feel happy that there are other members that are struggling like me
Though I do hate having people saying, if I can do it then so can you

I have reduced all carbs from my diet... no potatoes no pasta no cakes etc. The only carbs I ingest now are from cream, (which has very little) and nuts (I eat very few) etc. Max carbs I reach is 20-30 a day! I have lost 8lbs in 12 weeks. I am not convinced they have gone yet as I managed to lose 6lbs one week only to put them on the next week! Can I join you?