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Having trouble understanding my body...

by maddykiedis Jul 12th 2012

Hey all!

I've been strictly adhering to the SCD for close to 5 weeks. So far I have seen good results, loss of 11 lbs in this time, although 6 lbs of those were in my first week. I track measurements (which have gone down slightly), although I ordered an Omron bf scale and it hasn't come yet.

My weight loss trend has been decreasing each week, with last week barely 1 lb lost! What I don't understand is (I think) I eat perfectly. I don't cheat, ever! I damage control on cheat days and gain approximately 3-4lbs, but it usually takes me until Wednesday to lose it. I am 5'6", 178lbs and female.. looking to be 135-140lbs goal weight, and I do not exercise.

An example of a typical day for me:

Breakfast:

3 Whole eggs, 2 egg whites

1/2 cup lentils (with olive oil/salt and pepper)

Steamed veggies

Lunch:

Piece of protein (steak, chicken, fish, etc) measured to approximately 25 grams

1/2 cup lentils (with olive oil/salt and pepper)

Steamed or grilled veggies (Broccoli, cauliflower, green beans)

Dinner:

Piece of protein (steak, chicken, fish, etc) measured to approximately 25 grams

Some kind of veggies

Throughout the entire day, I average 3-4L of water... lots of bathroom breaks. I also have minimum of 3 cups of black coffee per day at work.

Maybe if someone sees a problem, they could help me out? I've recently began tracking on daily burn, to see that I only consume around 1200-1400 calories a day, when they recommend somewhere closer to 1700-1800. Could that be a problem? I am eating well over 100 grams of protein per day, never hungry for a snack in between meals, and I always feel like i am eating enough.

Now, here is the big question I have. Eating times.... I have found in the past my body is very sensitive to when I eat late. I can have a perfect day of eating, and eat a healthy dinner around 9pm, go to bed at 11, wake up at 7am and gain weight. Sometimes I don't think my weight loss is a factor of this diet, and more a result of having self control and not eating past 7-7:30pm.I see a lot of people post their meal plans with snacks at 10pm or dinner at 9pm, and I just don't get how they are losing weight! I thought about maybe introuducing small snacks between breakfast and lunch, or lunch and dinner to help keep my metabolism going, but i'm literally not hungry. I am even at the point when I am so scared to put anything in my body past 7:30pm, that I haven't been drinking water late purely for the reason of avoiding weight gain.

Yesterday, I had one of those "perfect" days when I felt great about my eating choices. I had dinner later than hoped (9-9:30), which was a small dinner of sashimi and steamed veggies. I barely felt full, woke up this morning for my usual after-pee weigh in... UP 2 LBS!

I don't understand this at all. Am I eating wrong or is lateness of my eating really the problem? I really feel like dinner can make or break a day of eating. I also feel like on cheat days, I can go crazy but have a small portioned dinner early in the night, and not gain after cheat day! My boyfriend pointed out that I drank way more water than usual yesterday, and maybe I was retaining some? Should I not be drinking so much water??? (I drink around 3-4L per day) (Although i didn't go near anything excessively rich in sodium). If I am forced into a position where I can't eat until 9, should I just not eat dinner? Its not like I would be that hungry since my daily meals keep me quite satisfied.

I'd like to figure out whats stopping my weight loss on days like today, and figure out a plan that will help me stay away from a stall, which looks to be where I am headed!

For anyone who read this gigantic post all the way until here THANK YOU! and I truly appreciate any help that can be given!

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xtian posted the best answer

I think Akane or the other female members can confirm this, but I thought I read somewhere that if you are close to being on your time of the month, you will probably gain weight through bloating? If you are about to have your monthly friend come for a visit, then that could be it? Just throwing it out there, sorry if that wasn't much help!

However, when I first started SCD, the first two weeks I lost about 5-6lbs/week. Now about a month and a half in, I'm noticing that I am losing about 2lbs/week. Two cheats ago, I gained 7lbs and it took 4 days for me to get those off, but that's because I really went all out and finished my cheat day with the last intake of chocolate goodness around 9:30pm. For that week I only lost .8lbs. GRRR!

As far as eating late, that use to be a normal habit for me. I've disciplined myself to break it and have dinner at or before 6pm, then have a snack between 7-8 if I need it. I noticed that when I get home from work(4:30pm), I am pretty much the same weight as my wake up weight. After dinner I will have gained anywhere from 1-2lbs, and before going to sleep (10-ish PM) I will have lost half of what I gained from dinner. When I see those patterns repeating itself for me, I know I will have lost weight the next day....

I started off wearing a size 36 in pants, with very little room to spare, and now I'm wearing a size 32 with ample room for a couple shirts to tuck in... That size is what I use to be when I graduated high school, but I look nothing like I did back then. What that told me is that I shouldn't dwell so much on what my scale is telling me but more so on what my tape measure is showing.

Hopefully some of the females who are getting good results can chime in and help you more in-depth. Good luck and stick with it, it will work itself out for you!

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  • maddykiedis commented Jul 12th 2012:

    Congratulations on your progress! I defintely think that eating late is a no-no, especially for me. I will try and get before 7pm... i'm not a big snacker and haven't felt hungry between meals in forever. Nice to know that other people think its important to eat earlier dinners, and its not just my whacked out body! I am going to stick with it for sure because i feel great, I just hope i can make an alteration, or something to help keep the weight loss going.

  • xtian commented Jul 12th 2012:

    Awesome, I hope you find the change that makes it all happen for you! I've always thought that eating late was a bad thing, but if you have read the book, you'll notice that Tim is a night person. I think a lot of it is just not eating close to bed time. That was my problem before I like to be asleep at or before 10:00-10:15ish, and having dinner at 9:00 was just too close and made me feel like my body hasn't had enough time to fully digest what I ate. Good luck and keep it up! As long as you are feeling great, then that is all that really matters right? BTW, how was the cake boss-esque cake? I bet it was delicious!

  • maddykiedis commented Jul 12th 2012:

    Ya, as long as no one is blatantly seeing a problem like not enough protein, not enough cals, too much of something, I just won't change anything. Im gonna try IF after dinner tonight and see if that works for me. I also haven't done any ice packs/baths, i might start out with an ice pack too and see if that helps. You have no idea how yummy the cake was!!! I'm an icing person, so it was perfect for me!! Also going to NY beginning of August, and I'm going to be going to "Crumbs Bakery. Literally best.cupcakes.ever. You can order online and I think you ought to order one online (they pack them frozen so they don't go bad) for your next cheat day. Mmmmm

  • xtian commented Jul 12th 2012:

    Crumbs Bakery, I've heard about them! I'll try it out! Since we're on the topic of cheats, I'm going to be baking a mocha chiffon cake with an espresso/amaretto icing this coming weekend for my cheat day desserts! I'm stoked. Regarding the cold water baths... brrrr! I couldn't do it. I've tried the cold water showers and I HATE HATE HATE IT! G'Luck!

    :)

  • maddykiedis commented Jul 12th 2012:

    Ya cold water showers do suck. I've taken an ice bath one before. Once you in it for more than a minute you get this neat numbing sensation... So it really isn't a bother. I took one for 20 mins, and felt all buzzy when i got out... Next time i wont do it before bed!

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jessisamess answered:

Hi :)

Sorry that you're having a rough time at the moment.

I have a couple of suggestions for you to play around with:

1) Please don't be frightened to eat later than you currently are. Your body actually needs protein overnight - your body is repairing while you sleep. My point is: don't go to bed hungry!

2) If you're worried about your metabolism, try switching to 4 meals a day, instead of 3. Since you mentioned that you aren't hungry, don't snack - snacking seems counterproductive and isn't a great habit to begin with.

3) If you're expecting your monthly visitor to arrive soon, this could explain any strange/unexpected water retention.

Don't stress, keep drinking water and keep up your amazing compliance!

-Jess

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  • maddykiedis commented Jul 12th 2012:

    I actually just finished my period... not sure if that affects it. I don't ever go to bed hungry, but I always notice that when I eat anywhere near bed time i gain at night no matter how compliant I was during the day. Its frustrating, because I'm actually starting to feel like ill gain weight no matter what I eat if I eat late enough. Also starting to entertain the possibility that this diet is not making me lose weight, and eating at an early hour is....

    Gah, so frustrating! But thank you for your suggestions!

  • jessisamess commented Jul 12th 2012:

    Yeah, that's super frustrating.

    Are you keeping any measurements besides with a scale? Photos? a tape measure? the way your clothes fit? If you look around this forum you'll quickly find that scales can be deceiving and maybe you would do better with focusing on a different type of progress measurement??

  • maddykiedis commented Jul 12th 2012:

    I've been taking measurements, and waiting for my bf measuring thing.. Measurements are good, down a few inched here and there, clothes are fitting better. Mostly im feeling awesome. I'm discouraged, but im gonna stick with it obviously. I would just love to see some more numbers drop.

  • jessisamess commented Jul 12th 2012:

    Great to hear!! Think of measurements as numbers, too - don't get discouraged until everything stops. :)

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Senshin answered:

It sounds like you're doing great and all the right stuff. I think checking the scale every day can make us neurotic. You may want to consider only weighing once a week or switching to measurements instead. I also agree that menstrual cycles also impacts weight too.

I'd recommend hanging in there, keep breathing and remind yourself that you're doing well and you'll get there!

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Joel Dennis answered:

Hey,

I'm fairly new to the SCD as well, but I wonder if you would benefit from eating more beans and begetables. It seems like if you are only consuming 1200-1400 calories a day that could be too low, but 100g of protein should be enough, so maybe increasing your calorie intake from other areas is what you need. It's always tough (mentally) to eat more when you are wanting to loose weight though! lol

I would be interested in hearing what the more experienced people on here think but from all I have read it seems like that might be good option for you.

Glad to hear measurements are down and clothes are fitting better though!

Good luck!

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  • maddykiedis commented Jul 12th 2012:

    I guess i'm just worried, because intuitively, not losing weight makes me want to eat less. Im not hungry or anything either.

  • Joel Dennis commented Jul 12th 2012:

    Yeah for sure...that's understandable. Years ago I was doing P90X and they encouraged us to eat more and I had a hard time believing that. But I came across an article, and I can't remember where I read this info, but it was put in a way that made it easier for me to understand it. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong here, but the way that I understood it, is that if you're not eating enough, your body doesn't 'feel' like it can get rid of the fat because it needs to have reserves since the food supply is low calorie-wise. So when you eat more of the good foods, your body/metabolism knows that there is always more than enough, so it can get rid of the fat storage it has built up.

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sufferingoptional answered:

I'm in a similar position. One thing I'm trying, though you should definitely reflect and consult physicians, is intermittent fasting. There's a lot of info on here and other places about IF, but the general gist is to fast from dinner to dinner once or twice a week. So my example is I ate diner at 7pm last night and I'm not eating anything until 7pm this evening. The key, however, is not to "break fast" with a really large meal. Just a normal, SCD meal to wind down your night. I've tried it once after a cheat day to pretty impressive effect (was back to pre-cheat weight after the fast) though this week I'm trying it BEFORE my cheat day since I heard that it was better for the metabolism. IF is just another tool to manage calories/carbs in and generate beneficial hormonal effects in the body.

I also think you should consider that since you're already starting at a pretty low weight, fat loss is going to happen slower. Like most people here, I'd suggest you keep tracking inches and "look and feel" (how do your clothes fit? how's your body look in the mirror?) in addition to your weight. I'm sure our bodies are improving in ways it's hard to measure, but it'll show up eventually.

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  • maddykiedis commented Jul 12th 2012:

    Hmm, maybe i will try this. I've read that it can be effective before a cheat day, and then maybe the fast will help me get down a pound at least this week. Ill give it a shot, after a light dinner today, i will fast until dinner tomorrow night. Not a huge meal either night. I will report back on how it goes, as well as the effects on cheat day.

  • maddykiedis commented Jul 13th 2012:

    Hey, so I'm trying this today, pre-cheat day, like you suggested. I haven't eaten since 7:00pm last night. Down 2lbs this morning which corrects my gain from yesterday morning... So for IF should I be fasting until dinner time (7:00pm) and then having a smal SCD dinner? Or should I fast until lunch time today, and also eat dinner? I have seen a few different methods mentioned on here. Since tomorrow is cheat day, I don't want to slow my metabolism so that I gain more!!! Let me know :)

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Rita Lazarou-Verna answered:

Reading your post was like reading about myself. I also am 5'6" and started at 178lbs. 4 weeks in I've lost almost 10lbs. And the majority of it was the first week as well. I've been stalled for a few weeks now and its very frustrating. I thought since I was losing a pound a day the first week. It would contiune :( but like the other posts of seen here, my monthly visitor is a few days away..so I have to wait that out and see if things change..also due to lack of appetite I haven't pigged out on cheat days. Today is one and I vowed to really increase consumption. I will be following your progress and see how u are doing. Good luck....I don't know about u but I'm a mom of 3 kids under the age of 5..and 10lbs is nothing to sneeze at...the energy levels alone are well worth it.

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