Why am I stuck?

You're getting two posts closely together now but this is something I'd like to bring up.
I've realised lately that I'm not losing weight anymore. I've got 5 kilos left and nothing's happening. Apparently there are quite a few reasons as to why this could happen.

Here are a few

You have been on diets before

If you have been on a diet before, and especially one where you drastically reduce calories in order to lose weight. Then your body will do its best to get energy from anything that comes in to make sure it survives. It holds on to al the fat that's in there as fat gives the most energy.
After a diet like this, you will need to reassure your body that you're not going to starve it and it's only after that's been done it will start letting go of the kilos.

You are stressed

When you are stressed or doesn't sleep properly our body has another survival mechanism, releasing cortisol, which gives us more energy in stressful situations. When this happens the blood sugar is raised so insulin is released. When insulin is released the body changes its settings to store fat.

You don't know what you're eating

When being out in town it's hard to know what you eat. Also it's easy to get into the habit of thinking that it's little carbs in this and little carbs and that and all of a sudden those "little carbs" have ended up being a lot of carbs.
There might also be factors you're not aware of are a problem. A lot of people on LCHF are extra sensitive when it comes to milk and nuts and eating too much of that could completely stop your weight loss no matter how little carbs you eat.

You eat too little

Some of us are stuck in the "old" thinking where you believe you lose weight if you eat less calories. Which in it's own way is true but you'll gain it again when you start eating. When your body isn't getting enough calories it puts itself in starvation mode and refuses to let go of any excess fat it has. Also when hungry the body releases a stress hormone and we've already established what that does to your body.
So eat when you're hungry and stop when you're full. Listen to your body and not to the clock telling you it's time to eat

You only have a small overweight

This is where I'm stuck at the moment and it's completely different. It's going to take more time to lose these last few kilos as the body might be quite happy with where it is at the moment. All you can do at this point is just wait.
Alternatively the body already has its perfect weight, the one you're supposed to have, as LCHF isn't a traditional diet, it's to stabilise your weight. So if you're underweight it'll make you gain weight and if you're overweight it'll make you lose it.





For me, it's a mix of the last two. I only have a few kilos left to lose and since I'm struggling with them I fall back into my old thinking of counting calories and reduce my intake even though I know I've lost 10 kilos while eating properly and probably over the recommended calorie intake per day.

But now I've realised I'm still not losing weight by radically cutting out calories so I'm going over to plan B (another take on the original plan A). Force-feeding myself!
Don't worry, it's not as bad as it sounds, but I have a tendency of ignoring hunger feelings (something still hanging around from starvation diets maybe?!) and I don't eat enough. So my fear now is that my body is saving whatever it can get hold of.

Before changing my eating pattern these past days, I had reduced my calorie intake to 1230 calories a day when the common number for the body to put itself in starvation mode in 1200. To avoid that happening I am now "force-feeding" myself so I get 500 more calories a day adding up to around 1700-1800 calories a day which is completely normal for someone wanting to lose weight healthily.









more information at:
http://kolhydrater.ifokus.se/(in Swedish only unfortunately)
http://undergroundwellness.com/