Hello,

I know that this is going to sound like a whine but I want to tell a little of my story. I started low carbing as an experiment on May 4th and think that I have been rigirously following induction for the past three weeks. I work out reguarly, and often intensely......climbing Alaska mountains in the afternoon for 5 or more hours.
Its been interesting, and one thing that I will say I deffinetly don't feel any cravings, I actually kind of like the diet and its almost killed my craving for pizza.....which I'm totally addicted to. Pretty great really.
On the other hand, I've only lost 5 pounds. As a somewhat in shape and fairly active person in my mid twenties who likes to have a good time I thought that if I gave up my drinking (which I did often) and my crappy fast food diet (also often endulging) and got rigirous and organized about my exercizing and eating I would see big results. We'll, the lifestyle changes have been big but the weight loss hasn't. I find that strange. No doubt some of the fat is going to muscle.....but really I think it should be better than this. According to the Keto Sticks I have at least a moderate amount of Ketones in my urine at all times.
Sorry this is so long. Well, my goal all along has been to do this until Memorial Day weekend anyway and then celebrate as my family traditionally does at that time. So I am going to take a break......I was planning on just switching over to a more healthy diet but now I don't know if after the weekend maybe I need to go bak to atkins to see some real results finally. Any opinions. Sorry this is so long winded. Congrats to all of you on your dedication and results.

AK Brett

~Ak Brett~

You should post what you are eating cause that could be the cause, and if you aren't getting enough water. Also, the fact that your doing such an intense workout and not "enough" carbs could be putting your body in starvation mode. Good job on what you have lost and I know it will get better!!!

We would need to see a menu sample to make a comparison, but www.fitday.com is a great source of tracking, you may be either consuming way too much or too little, affecting metabolism. Did you do Induction for two weeks? That should definitely help with cravings, and contrary to what you may have heard about Atkins, whole healthy meat, chicken, eggs, vegetables in form of non-starcy kinds and salad greens are preferred over low-carb bars, shakes and other 'frankenfoods'

Atkins is very healthy, and once you are into Ongoing Weight Loss part of it, you'll find yourself eating better and more healthy than you ever did on pizza.

LL

Losing weight is hard! Even for those of us who like the food appropriate to Atkins and rarely cheat, the weight loss can be at a frustratingly slow pace. But it's rare to find someone on Atkins who is gaining weight....every half pound lost is a victory.

I see your stats say you started with 9 pounds to lose. If that's all you need to lose, then you are actually doing quite well. Sure, those of us who're quite heavy take off losing very quickly, usually. But as time goes on our weight loss slows.

And as for healthy--well, if you follow the plan on through OWL you're not going to find any healthier diet. I've never actually got 100% of my daily required amount of vitamins in my lifetime without supplements before following Atkins--now I get almost 100% of everything almost every day.

Couldn't have been put better lila. Most people would dream about losing that fast when they get to the last 10/15 lbs!!


Jenn

5/9 pounds 56% of goal?
Not bad!
jag

Thanks for the input and encouragment.

In fact after looking at some pictures I think I see that this diet really is working. Some of the weight deffinetly is being gained as muscle. I should have taken measurments before now.
Just for clarification I have been under 20g of carbs and eating 86% of my BMR (I have been doing FitDay). I do tend to drink alot of the shakes (sometimes 2 a day) and often eat Subway Atkins Wraps (but never more than 1 a day) I also haven't completely kicked the fast food bit and every other day or so find myself in a drive in eating bunless, ketchupless cheeseburgers.
Again, thanks for all your input. I really expected someone to get all over me for being a bit of a naysayer but you guys showed the maturity on this board. One more thing, my goals and weight numbers were wrong. 205 was my short term goal to be reached by today which I'm a couple of pounds short of but long term I'd like to get down to 190, or at least under 200. Based on my frame I should be like 180 or something (I forget exactly) according to the dr's. So I've lost 5 pounds and am about 22% of the way to my goal. Again you are all right, this is results. I'm just learning how much commintment this all takes.

All the best,

Brett

If you go to Dr. Atkins books, you'll read about an early experiment by the Arctic explorer Stefansson. He and a colleague ate ONLY MEAT and FAT for one whole year. NO carbs. And this very fit athletic man lost only 6 pounds and was perfectly healthy.

What does this tell us?
1. LC will not make a person lose down below a good weight for their body. Choosing a particular number on the scale is one of the worst ways to set a goal.

2. Carbs are not an essential nutrient for energy or bodily health. However, Dr. Atkins found that going below 20 grams per day or failing to increase the carbs to find the ECCL DID NOT promote faster or more consistent weight loss.

3. Only Induction is fast weight loss and then usually only to about 10% of the way to goal. After that, the losing may be inconsistent and only about 5% per month.

4. The last pounds come off slowly & people with only a small amount to lose, only lose a small amount.

You are exceedingly lucky in your losing because you're already 25% of the way to your goal of losing 24 pounds. And that's in only 3 weeks - far more weight loss than could have been predicted.

How much fat and calories are you eating? If you're working out intensely for five hours a day, then you might need more food than you're getting. Is it possible that you're in starvation mode?

I've never completely kicked the fast food thing and as long as there are fast food joints standing and I have a car and a few bucks in my pocket never will. The only problem I have with some fast food is the amount of salt they use in things. Otherwise, a good old-fashioned hamburger patty with fresh veggies and wrapped in lettuce is a pretty good choice food-wise.



I know it's really tempting to keep the numbers down, but you might find that upping your carbs a bit (following the 5 carbs per week) and increasing your caloric intake to 10-12 times your body weight might do you better than keeping the numbers lower. Many of us have found we actually lose better by keeping our calories that high and fat around 65-70% of our caloric intake.

Still, you are doing great! (And I'm glad you had pictures to see--it can be pretty amazing how much can disappear without a lot of weight being shed which, by the way, pretty well renders those weight charts useless. )

If you're in ketosis, your body is in fat-burning mode. So I don't think there's a problem with that. I'd listen to everyone else's advice.

It looks to me like you are using Atkins as a crash diet, but you said you feel better, and enjoy the cravings being gone. Why not stick to it? You HAVE lost weight. Not everyone is going to lose 2 or 3 lbs a week. That's not really the "norm" anyway.