These are questions to ask yourself if you feel you have been in a stall for too long.  Remember that plateaus are NORMAL. Review the post on Stalls and Plateaus to understand why.

1.  Are you getting any oils other than mineral oil or MCT Oil (2-3 Tab. max per day)? I have had people stall because of liquid makeup, suntan oil, Neosporen, Preparation H, and using lotion to name a few.

2.  Are you weighing your protein? Very few people can get away with more than 3.5 oz or 100 grams without it affecting their weight loss.

3.  What protein are you eating? Make sure you have a different protein for both meals.  Beef can cause the most issues.  Make sure you are eating a lean cut and cutting off the extra fat.  Hamburger needs to be a minimum of 93% lean.  It is even better to buy a lean cut of beef and have the butcher trim off the fat and grind it into hamburger.

4.  Are you cooking with oil or butter? Stop.  The only oil you can cook with is the daily allowed amount of MCT Oil.  I have occasionally used  1 quick spray of Pam for fish, but if you are doing that and in a stall give it up.

5.  Are you only eating the foods on the allowed list? The advanced research allows for combining of vegetables.  In a stall you might want to limit your combining.

6.  How much salt are you getting? An excessive amount can cause you to retain water.

7.  Are you reading labels? People forget that most Seasonings in Grocery Stores have sugar in them.  Also Ketchup, tomato paste, tomato sauce, dressings, . . .  READ YOUR LABELS!

8.  Have you started taking OTC supplements? Many supplements have sugar or starch in them.  Have you added anything when your weight loss stalled? Vitamin E, flaxseed oil is still an oil.

9.  Are you skipping meals? Your meals need to be at least 4 hours apart.  You can’t go all day and eat a double portion for dinner.  You will feel the effects the next day.

10.  What time of the day are you eating? Space your food out and try to not eat to late at night.

11.  What fruit are you eating? Make sure you only eat the allowed fruits at different times of the day.  Remember Dr. Simeons says 2 small apples are not allowed as a substitute for 1 regular apple.  Also a tangerine is not an orange.

12.  Do you drink coffee? What are you putting in it?

13.  Are you drinking a lot of diet soda or Crystal Light? Try to cut down and drink more water throughout the day. To hydrate you need to space your water out.   You want to drink 1/2 your weight in ounces of water each day.

14.  How long have you been dieting? People who lose a lot of weight the first week usually stall sometime in the 2nd week.  People who lose less the 1st week usually don’t hit a stall as quickly.

15.  Have you been on the 500 calorie diet for more than 30 days? Even though Dr. Simeons had most people stay on the 500 calorie diet for up to 40 days I find you need to pay attention to your body.  My experience says that if you have been on VLCD for 30 days and you are only losing 1-2 pounds a week you are better off to move on to Phase 3 and do another round after your maintenance phases.  I find that people who stay on the VLCD too long do worse on Phase 3 & 4 which is critical to maintaining your loss long term.

16. Are you getting enough sleep? Experience shows that people who are not sleeping very much lose less.

17.  For women, is your period about to start? All women usually retain water before or during their period.  Be aware that if you are retaining water you are still losing fat.

If you don’t know it already,  you will learn that this is a very sensitive diet.  Small variations can stop your weight loss or give you less than desirable results.  Follow it exactly and you will not be disappointed.  If you are doing all the above keep at it.  You will all the sudden notice inches gone and your weight will stop to drop again although usually in smaller increments toward the end of Phase 2.