My weight loss is at a standstill
 

Hi,

I've been doing the induction phase of Atkins for around five weeks, and although it the first two weeks I lost 15 pounds, my weight loss has leveled off. My clothes seem noticibly looser, though. Here are some particulars:

1) My Lipolysis testing strips range from light pink to almost-purple most of the time.

2) I've been extremely careful to limit my carb intake.

3) I've definitely been drinking at least 8 glasses of water per day.

4) My exercise routine has been on and off. Usually it consists of an hour-long brisk dog-walk through a nearby park. I've increased the frequency of those walks over the last week.

5) I use Paxil to control anxiety disorder, and discontinuing it is not an option.

My typical daily menu is quite repetitious, but that doesn't bother me at all:

Breakfast
------------
Three egg omelette, containing half a teaspoon of onion, 1 oz of cheddar cheese, and 1 mushroom. Coffee with cream and sucralose.

Lunch
-------
A tin of salmon.

Snack
------
A lo-carb cookie from Pleasantville, and coffee.

Dinner
--------
7 oz. boneless, skinnless salmon filet prepared in the blackened style. 2 oz Brie, 3 cups of salad with 2 tablespoons of Ranch dressing (carbohydrate 1.2 g; sugars 0.8 g; dietary fibre 0.2 g per 1 tbsp serving).

Snack
-------
Decaf tea with cream and a Pleasantville cookie.

Any ideas what's going wrong? I'm going to give L-Carnitine a try when it's in stock; hopefully tomorrow - anyone have luck with that?

Anyhow, I appreciate any suggestions you can offer me!

Rob Yale :wave:

The low carb cookies and such things can give some people problems and the Paxil may be slowing you down, but a post induction stall is very normal. The clothes are getting loose because your body is readjusting itself to get ready for the next loss. A lot of vets do not weigh themselves often, but use measurements or the fit of clothes to track losses. After all what would you rather, look smaller or show less on the scales? It is normal for the loss on this program to go in fits and starts, everyone will have stalls and the trick is to outlast them.

Hi Rob,

You're going to think this is crazy, but a strong possibility for your slow down is that you aren't eating enough fat and your calories are too low.

I entered your menu into Fitday (using estimates for some items) and the totals came to 60% fat, 38% protein, 2% carbs, and total calories under 1500. %'s should be approx. 70% fat, 25% protein and 5% carbs. And as a guideline, your calories should be 10 or 12 x your current weight.

There are several threads in "Hot Links" under Eating Fat that will explain much better than I can.

http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthre...&threadid=28939

I had the same problem as you, great results at first, then nothing for three weeks. I increased my calories for a week and lost 2 lbs.

judy

Hi Judy,

Thanks for the useful information! I'm wondering if you have any suggestions as to how I can increase my fat intake, while keeping in mind the kind of selections I outlined above. The problem is that I'm a 'pescatarian' (one who doesn't eat chicken or red meat, but eats fish); a fact that limits my options during induction somewhat. Luckily, I thrive on routine so day after day of a similar menu of good foods doesn't faze me.

BTW, while I thought the fitday site is a very useful tool, I did notice some discrepancies in their carb counts. They suggest that an extra large egg prepared as an omelette contains 1.49 g of carb, while Corinne T. Netzer and Atkins both list it as 0.6 g.

Of course, given my small number of selections, I could simply customize a bunch of foods for myself.

Thanks,

Rob Yale

Rob,

Fitday "assumes" an omelette is made with milk or cream therefore the higher carb count ;)

Adding milk or cream to eggs before cooking "fluffs" them up so many people assume that is how they are made. Low carbers of course leave this ingredient out which is probably why Netzer and Atkin's counts are lower. They count just the eggs.

Hope that helped.

Yes, thanks! I'm glad to know that there isn't a major glitch in fitday - it looks like it could focus me on 'precision measurement' of my intake.

Rob

Rob: Some days I have trouble having enough fat and calories - and sure enough, my weight loss slows down. Now I add a cup of whipping cream with 2T. of sugar free chocolate syrup and I drink that. It tastes good and brings me back up to where I need to be. Are you eating any vegetables at all? You really do need some. Not for the carbs, but for the vitamins, minerals, and anti-oxidants. Good Luck! Cindi

Yes, I'm eating more than enough vegetables! Unfortunately, I'm beginning to gather that that's part of my problem. I've been reading some of the posts from people trying to sort out the correct quantities of veg, and I'm convinced I've been eating 2.5 times as much as I should!

Starting tonight, I'm having 2 cups loosely packed leafy veg, with Olive Oil and vinegar dressing (instead of ranch dressing). In addition, my wife made a coleslaw-like substance that contains no sugar- just oil and vinegar and garlic. I'll have 1 cup of that.

That will give me 2 cups of salad, plus one cup of cabbage.

Cheers!

Rob

Hi Rob,

Looks like you're getting lots of help. That's what's so great about this site. None of us are doing this alone.

Cooking with butter, olive oil and whipping cream, (to make sauces), and adding more cheese, nuts, mayo and salad dressings to your menu will help.

Whipping cream is an excellent way to increase calories, but be careful--too much of it has been known to slow some people down. You may be fine with it, but I just wanted to give you a "heads up" just in case. Having said that, here's another drink you might enjoy if you have a sweet tooth: Pour a glass of Crystal Light about 1/3 full, add several ice cubes, top it up with whipping cream, and stir.

Or, how about a sweet omelette? 1 or 2 eggs, splenda to taste (usually 1 tsp per egg), add whipping cream, beat and pour into pan. While it is cooking, dab some cream cheese on one half and sprinkle on some slivered almonds, fold over as usual. Add some berries or canteloupe on the side.

One more thing you can do is download the Carbohydrate Counter (to the right of this screen), so that you can see for yourself what has the most calories with the least carbs.

You can also check out the recipe section here for some great ideas.

judy