Thank you for starting this thread. I am having a bit of a tough time with this lately. Post Christmas, I gained just a few (two or three I think) pounds, which is totally normal after having a few too many mini-splurges. This isn't usually a problem, as I can usually get this right off within a week or so.
Didn't happen this time, and I gained even more weight, even when I got back on track, food-wise. So I'm past my "emergency" weight ...and pretty upset about it.
Three or four times in the past six weeks I have been able to get the 'extra' weight gain off, only to have it come right back on for no real reason. The thing is - I'm extremely gluten intolerant, and I suspect that I am dealing with a low-level of gluten somewhere, but cannot figure out quite where. I have all the usual symptoms that I'd get when I accidentally eat something that contains gluten, but cannot find the culprit!
So what I'm dealing with is the extra three pounds that came on after the Christmas holidays, which normally I can get right back off within a week or so, PLUS an additional six or seven pounds that came out of nowhere, without going off plan or anything. To explain a bit further, when I do accidentally get glutened, it is usual for me to gain five to eight pounds and experience a lot of stomach upset - this can take up to two weeks to resolve. Like I said, I thought I'd dealt with these extra suspected gluten pounds three times already, only to have them come back.
At this point, the only thing I can do is go on an elimination diet that once worked for me. It's tough, but I'm pretty much at my wit's end here. I generally follow a low-carb, Paleo style diet, and that's how I lost a lot of weight. I also have to maintain a 100% gluten-free diet at all times, even if I'm going to splurge and have a treat or a dessert or something.
This time, I'll be combining my usual lower-carb, Paleo-style diet with a 'no sensitive seven' foods plan. Very tough, but it worked for me once before. According to Dr. Elson M. Haas, author of "The False Fat Diet", the sensitive seven most commonly reactive foods are: dairy products, wheat, corn, eggs, soy, peanuts, sugar.
Normally I don't eat wheat ever anyway, and I don't eat sugar much at all due to my lower-carb, Paleo-style diet. I also never eat corn or peanuts. The change would be to eliminate soy and eggs. This means I would not have eggs at breakfast, would not use mayonnaise (the jarred kind I use has eggs and soy I think). I also wouldn't use my gluten-free tamari (gluten free soy sauce). I'd forget about the occasional dab of organic ketchup that I'd use once in a rare while (in a meatloaf recipe) etc. I'd also forget the occasional dab of butter or tiny bit of parmesan in a recipe.
At the same time, I'll lower my carb intake to be a 'diet' level, rather than a maintenance level. This means no fruit. I'd been able to have a bit of fruit (low-carb berries) here and there with no problem, but now that I'm battling too many of these extra pounds, it's out. No nuts either (sometimes I'll put toasted almonds in salad or use almond flour in a recipe).
It sounds hard-core, but I don't know what else to do. In the meantime, it's still a healthy plan (for me). I'm looking at very lean meats, fish, olive oil, lower carb vegetables, salsa, mustard etc. I did this a few years ago when battling unexplained stomach aches, with the encouragement and support of a wonderful PA at the gastro's office. We knew back then that wheat was a problem for me, but I was having a tough time rooting it out...so I tried this 'no sensitive seven' idea as a way of eliminating pretty much ALL processed food, and it totally worked. I was then able to add things back in, one at a time, and very carefully. That worked too. The only thing I couldn't really add back was wheat and most dairy foods. After awhile, I could handle a bit of butter here and there and a teensy bit of grated parmesan in a recipe didn't seem to bother me.
Wish me luck? I have some mystery pounds and those same pains. Meanwhile, I *didn't* go off plan and I managed to get them off at least three times, only to have it happen again and again.
The only food I will eat that has a bar code on it will be olive oil, salsa, plain mustard, unblended spices. Oh, and I'll keep my morning coffee, thank you! I also like Lipton Pure Leaf Unsweetened Real Brewed Iced tea occasionally (how else was I going to ditch Diet Coke?). Oh, and I'll likely still put kalamata olives in my salad or maybe some capers on my salmon.
I guess it'll be the No Bar-Code Plan ...
Thanks for the chance to get this out, I now feel like I have some hope here
