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I'm in a similar boat. Low carb used to work great for me, and now I have to watch calories too. I have pages and pages of data (I'm a data freak) on weight, calorie intake, calorie expenditure, steps per day, etc. over years.
"Lose the fat" is not the answer, in my opinion. The low fat phenomenon was just that, and based on faulty research.
My thyroid meds have been off for 6 months now, and I finally went back to a previous doctor who changed my medication again. Two days in, my appetite is significantly diminished. I can't speak for getting this weight back off, yet.
I'm not celiac, however, when I eat wheat it sets of my asthma in that I get this chronic lingering cough that doesn't go away unless I stop eating wheat.
I'm supposed to be able to maintain on somewhere between 1800 - 2600 calories a day based on how active I am that day. On ANY day, if I eat over 1500 calories, I gain weight. I'm borderline metabolic syndrome, thanks to the med change and the extra 20 lbs I've put on over the past 5 months. What I feel best on is a ration of 65 - 70% fat, 5% carbs, and 25% protein. It is hard to do that on less than 1400 calories. If I don't maintain at least an 800 calorie deficit, I gain weight. I'm not even talking about losing weight!
Normal day would be 2 eggs and 2 slices of bacon cooked in bacon fat, and 2 cups of coffee with half and half, and artificial sweetener. Snack of string cheese if I need it. Lunch is a huge salad with low carb veggies and an oil and vinegar dressing (I love balsamic) topped with some sort of meat and maybe some help seeds if I have them. Afternoon snack is 2 hardboiled eggs with 1.5 tbsp mayo. Dinner, a serving of 3 - 4 oz. not lean meat Chicken thigh with skin, chicken wings, well marbled meat), 2 veggies and a Tbsp butter.
This in my nutrition tracker is 1415 calories, and the breakdown is 75% fat, 19% protein, and 7% carb. If I want dessert, I usually aim for a fruit that is low in calories and higher in fiber like blueberries, strawberries, or raspberries with some heavy cream. If I know I've been more active that day, I can spare the calories, or, I could forgo one of my snacks to create the calorie deficit I'm looking for.
I use cauliflower as potato or pasta.
My adrenals are also toast, and that accounts for part of my reduced metabolism as well.
Funny, everything I've read states the opposite with great research to back it up.
I agree with you on the fat thing. The problem with low fat products is they often become high in sugar to compensate for the loss of fat. And in my personal experience, fat has never been as big a culprit as sugar.
I feel for your frustration and am sorry you have to deal with so many issues. Losing weight is hard enough without so many cards stacked against you. That said, I believe you can do it. You just need to find the right combination. I agree with the other poster who suggested counting calories. Even if you only do it for a few days, it really helps to get an idea of how much you're consuming. It's also a good way of identifying what foods in yoru diet are doing the most caloric damage.
I'm in a similar boat. Low carb used to work great for me, and now I have to watch calories too. I have pages and pages of data (I'm a data freak) on weight, calorie intake, calorie expenditure, steps per day, etc. over years.
"Lose the fat" is not the answer, in my opinion. The low fat phenomenon was just that, and based on faulty research.
My thyroid meds have been off for 6 months now, and I finally went back to a previous doctor who changed my medication again. Two days in, my appetite is significantly diminished. I can't speak for getting this weight back off, yet.
I'm not celiac, however, when I eat wheat it sets of my asthma in that I get this chronic lingering cough that doesn't go away unless I stop eating wheat.
I'm supposed to be able to maintain on somewhere between 1800 - 2600 calories a day based on how active I am that day. On ANY day, if I eat over 1500 calories, I gain weight. I'm borderline metabolic syndrome, thanks to the med change and the extra 20 lbs I've put on over the past 5 months. What I feel best on is a ration of 65 - 70% fat, 5% carbs, and 25% protein. It is hard to do that on less than 1400 calories. If I don't maintain at least an 800 calorie deficit, I gain weight. I'm not even talking about losing weight!
Normal day would be 2 eggs and 2 slices of bacon cooked in bacon fat, and 2 cups of coffee with half and half, and artificial sweetener. Snack of string cheese if I need it. Lunch is a huge salad with low carb veggies and an oil and vinegar dressing (I love balsamic) topped with some sort of meat and maybe some help seeds if I have them. Afternoon snack is 2 hardboiled eggs with 1.5 tbsp mayo. Dinner, a serving of 3 - 4 oz. not lean meat Chicken thigh with skin, chicken wings, well marbled meat), 2 veggies and a Tbsp butter.
This in my nutrition tracker is 1415 calories, and the breakdown is 75% fat, 19% protein, and 7% carb. If I want dessert, I usually aim for a fruit that is low in calories and higher in fiber like blueberries, strawberries, or raspberries with some heavy cream. If I know I've been more active that day, I can spare the calories, or, I could forgo one of my snacks to create the calorie deficit I'm looking for.
I use cauliflower as potato or pasta.
My adrenals are also toast, and that accounts for part of my reduced metabolism as well.
Where is your vitamin C and fiber coming from, on a diet like this? Low carb veggies usually also mean low-fiber veggies, and potato processed into a macaroni product has negligible vitamin C (a baked potato with the skin on actually has a good amount of it).
My vitamin C usually comes from blueberries, raspberries, or strawberries, and I take a multivitamin as well. For fiber, I get it from whatever veggies I toss in my salads, broccoli, cauliflower, summer squash or zucchini, cabbage, low carb veggies, plus hemp seeds. I don't eat that specific menu every day, it was an example of what I might eat that fits into my nutritional profile. Yams, mustn't forget yams. Red bell peppers, broccoli, and strawberries all have more vitamin C than an orange, I think I'm doing okay.
Where is your vitamin C and fiber coming from, on a diet like this? Low carb veggies usually also mean low-fiber veggies, and potato processed into a macaroni product has negligible vitamin C (a baked potato with the skin on actually has a good amount of it).
Spinach has fiber (and vitamin C)
Kale has fiber (and vitamin C)
Brusselss sprouts have fiber (and vitamin C)
Broccoli has fiber (and vitamin C)
Cauliflower has fiber (and vitamin C)
Squash has fiber (and vitamin C)
Bean sprouts have fiber
Peppers have fiber (and vitamin C)
Where is your vitamin C and fiber coming from, on a diet like this? Low carb veggies usually also mean low-fiber veggies, and potato processed into a macaroni product has negligible vitamin C (a baked potato with the skin on actually has a good amount of it).
You are a heck of a lot better off nutritionally with an avocado than a potato. You can eat a very nutritionally sound diet without touching potatoes or bread (any grain for that matter). I know this hard to grasp because we were all raised being preached the food pyramid with its bread/starch heavy emphasis and then the low-fat propaganda, but you don't need all that starch.
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Yes you'd be better off with an avocado than a potato. But regarding specifically the question about vitamin c and fiber you'd be much better off with a medium sized orange than an avocado. And the orange compares with many of those foods you listed for fiber content, when comparing single serving sizes.
A medium orange has over 100% of your daily recommended amount of vitamin C, for only 62 calories, 15 grams of carbs, and 3.1 grams fiber.
The medium avocado you listed has 232 calories, 11.9 carbs, 9.9 fiber, but only 24% vitamin C.
You'd need to eat four avocados to get the amount of vitamin C as you'd get in an orange. And you'd be consuming around 900 calories, in order to get that vitamin C, and then you'd still need to eat all the foods that provide all your other nutrients.
Conversely, you'd only need to eat 3 oranges to get the amount of fiber you'd get in a medium avocado. And you'd still be consuming fewer calories with the three oranges so you'd have plenty of calories available for foods containing the rest of your nutritional needs.
I checked on several things on your list, and the results are similar with just a couple of exceptions, broccoli being one. You'd only need to eat a little more broccoli than a suggested single serving size, to get the same amount of vitamin C, the amount of fiber would still be lower than the orange, but the calories would be significantly lower, thus allowing for other foods with fiber to be included in the diet.
In those rare instances where scurvy is diagnosed in developed countries, it's typically because the person eats nothing but junk food. The concern over the disease just because someone has chosen to eat vegetables and proteins versus starch and sugar is rather comical, IMO.
Really, your situation is so complicated that I wish you would just get referred to a specialist. I don't know what kind of doctor this is, but I think you really need some help beyond a web chat.
I watch the show Extreme Weight Loss, and they take the client to some medical facility where their metabolism is measured, and all kinds of other things, in order to arrive at the right plan for them. I know you don't need to lose very much, but I know how hard it is to lose after a certain age, even without your special medical issues.
For example, one of the clients on the show was a woman with dwarfism. She was super conscientious with the diet and exercise program, but was not losing. The medical tests revealed that she had an extremely slow metabolism, so they had to adjust her diet to compensate.
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Now you're just pulling stuff out of your behind.
