TC...

Sorry that you're feeling frustrated...I've been there. Here's what I found (especially in the beginning) - now this is for me...all of our bodies are different. The LC shakes, bars and canned whipped cream (now I make my own with splenda and a little vanilla) made me stall. I've also heard/read that coffee and diet cokes can make people stall and eating over 3 ounces of cheese a day can cause stalls.

So, I had to go back to the very basic foods in order to lose weight. In fact, my very first stall (for almost 3 months) was caused because I heard whipped cream was OK and I was using the canned type. Unfortunately, some of us have such food sensitivities that the slightest amount of sugar (like 1 gram in canned whipped cream) can affect our weight loss efforts.

So, I would encourage you to check for any hidden sugars in your foods. This WOE is a good one and I can't tell you how satisfied I feel on a daily basis. There are so many wonderful food recipes that you can try. You probably are like me and just need to be more careful than some.

Wishing you the best!

Slow weight loss
 

Hi everyone! This is my first message! I've been on the Atkins for about 6wks. I lost 5 lbs. in the first 2 wks. since then I haven't lost a pound! I've been really discouraged, but I've been reading and there are a lot of people with the same probem so I guess I'll stick it out!

My question is about taking fiber. I bought the stuff you mix with water. It is sugar free but still has 5grams of carbs per Tbsp. Is this ok? I thought maybe they were fiber carbs then they would be ok????

Hi Pdevil -

Are you still on induction? Not that I really know all there is to know about Atkins diet, but I think you are supposed to take that p-husks sort of fiber... or if you are out of induction, you are supposed to eat things like almonds for fiber - and VEGGIES! I may be way off, but if you read around this forum you will find your answer. This forum is absolutely wonderful for support and information!

KarenS

Thanx Kemess
 

Thanx Karen, I've been looking all over this site, still getting used to how things work! Thanx for the info!


Monika

I am having the same problem. I've been on Atkins for 5 weeks, and I lost 7 pounds in the first two weeks. Which was fantastic. But since then I lose a little, gain a little, gain a little, lose a little ... my weight today is only 1/2 pound less than it was 3 weeks ago.

I'm trying not to be discouraged, but it's hard not to be. I've been careful about staying under 20 carbs, I don't eat bars or shakes, no aspartame, hardly any caffeine, drink lots of water, exercise, take vitamins, etc etc.

Nothing much has changed in my eating habits, except that I started eating Atkins muffins for breakfast. Has anyone known the muffins to be a problem? It has been really nice to have them for breakfast, especially since I don't care for eggs so I was kind of out of breakfast ideas. But I will stop eating them if they're stalling me out.

Also, how important is the rule to eat 10 times your weight in calories? I find that I naturally eat around 1500 calories, which is slightly less than 10x. Is that a problem?

Thanks for any advice or just encouragement. I could really use it today :(

first off take a deep breath . . .
 

=Always= good advice!



This is =excellant= advice, Agony. I've often thought about this -- I moved from the food industry (I was a professional chef) where I did not gain any weight to the academic world, where I sit in libraries all day and gained about the same amount you did, and in about the same time. How can I expect to lose that weight in one tenth the time, which is the pace I have set for myself? Sounds silly, right?

When someone starts meditating the individual cannot cultivate a calm mind in a week, a month, a year, even though almost everyone expects to. In fact our minds have been lost to chaos all of our lives, how could be possibly expect to reverse a lifetime of mental habits in one fell swoop?

The expectation arises from the consumer mentatlity we have in this country; I plop my five bucks on the counter and I expect my McD burger and fries in front of me tout suite. Or at least I did when I was still eating that crap! But we all expect things right off -- students email me at 7 on a Saturday evening and then again the next Sunday morning, wondering why I haven't responded yet!! So it's no wonder we expect the weight to fall off in the same way --

Re: first off take a deep breath . . .
 

Thanks for pointing this out... I know I need patience and to stick to it, but it is hard when I am not seeing any results... and the fact that I think I am GAINING!

I know...patience... patience... patience.... (although, you know what they say about praying for pateince... you'll get the trials that will teach you patience!!) ;)

I am working on breaking a stall too. I dropped a few pounds by accident just by shaking things up a bit.

One thing that I think may be stalling me is fast food. Almost every day I was getting a fast food burger, no bun or condiments. I'm sticking with deli meats for lunch these days.

Gosh, I was afraid to eat fast food b/s I thought they might have some cereal in the burger to stretch the meat! Besides, my favorite fast food was Bojangles -- Southern fried chicken and biscuits, which is totally off-limits. There's one really close to my house and I used to go there whenever I had worked too late to cook. I sure do miss Bo's, but I know I'm a lot better off without it :)

--Sarah

Sarah, your 10x question........ 1500 cals should be good for you...if you're doing only moderate exercise like walking 3x week. If you're doing much more than that, you probably need to increase them.

This is just some food for thought, Sarah....but I've seen a few of your posts and what I "hear" is that you are trying really, really hard to stay on plan, or rather to keep your carbs as low as possible. I think you said you were shying away from blue cheese and ranch because of the sugar (?) and I hear you saying here that you're afraid of fast food because of fillers. I want to propose to you that you not worry so much, for a couple of reasons:

1) Stressing out will cause your weight loss to slow down.... The body perceives all stress equally as a sign of pending disaster. It prepares for disaster by conserving fat!! :eek: Well, that's the theory anyway.
2) Counting every fraction of a carb that goes into your mouth makes the plan burdensome and unappealing. I don't think that consuming 22 carbs in a day, rather than 19, will mean the difference between success and failure.... do you? I've approached this WOE in this relaxed way and it has served me well. Blue cheese dressing is usually very low in carbs.... eat it if you want to!
3) Not to lure you off Atkins as a plan, but keep in mind that Atkins induction levels are the most strict of all low-carb plans. For instance, Protein Power allows 30 net carbs/day and up to 55 net carbs a day if you're within 20# of goal. Many folks have lost weight just fine on such plans.... so a few added carbs here and there will not cause you to fail. But I do recommend that you keep an eye on them with www.fitday.com.

I hope that helps!

Teri, I really appreciate your thoughtful advice. When something is bothering me, I do tend to worry every little detail of it. And I've never been on a diet before, never thought about what I ate before. So this is all new to me, and I've been trying to learn as much as I can, so I can do it exactly right. I want to feel like I've done everything I possibly could to make this work, you know? So when I stopped losing, my reaction was like, "ack! what am I doing wrong? I have to fix this right now!"

This board has been a godsend, but it's also too much information for me at times. Reading everyone's experiences and opinions about how much of this and that to eat, which nutrients, how many carbs, how many calories, etc etc .. it's a little overwhelming.

I do use Fitday & it has been really helpful. I will try to take your advice to heart about not trying so hard to minimize my carbs. I have been trying for 15 net carbs a day, figuring that if I mis-measured anything I would still be under 20. But maybe that's too low.

I have heard that theory about conserving fat during times of stress before. A friend of mine described it as our bodies thinking "oh no, we might have to migrate across Alaska while pregnant! Better get ready by fattening up!"

One last question: It's okay to eat things like salad dressing that have sugar as an ingredient? I thought on Atkins we weren't supposed to eat any sugar at all.

Let me answer you this way: If you're okay with not eating those things and can find suitable substitutes that make you happy, then GREAT! Do that! You're right, Atkins does say that....no sugar at all. But for me, I LOVE blue cheese dressing, and I often eat out, so I can't always control the ingredients in the dressings I eat. I know that in general, blue cheese has very low carbs....so I eat it without worrying about it too much. I know it's better than 1000 Island or Honey Mustard and it makes me happy. It makes the diet more work-able for me. So I allow it, even if I know there's a tiny bit of sugar in it. I'm almost to goal, so I must be doing something right....even if I do a few things wrong.

You do what is right for you. It's most important to find an approach that you can live with for life, and that's the bottom line.