I need some encouragement here. This is my forth week on Atkins and my weight loss is sooooooo slow. I lost like 7 lbs during induction then on the third week i gained a lb then lost it in the same week. Last saturday I had a dinner party to go to. The food was lasagna and garlic bread. This has been planned for 2 months so I ate the food. (bad girl that i am!) so i get on the scale today and I gained 2 lbs?? I certainly did not eat that much lasagna. I work out at the gym 3 times a week for at least an hour each time. I have kept my carbs to apx. 20-25g per day. What the hell is going on? I am going to florida in 4 weeks and wanted to look at least decent in a bathing suit. At this rate i will end up bigger then what i started at. Can anyone offer some suggestions?

smartlynx,

You are not alone. I suggest starting a fitday account and track what you are eating for a while (you dont have to do it forever, just until you figure out why you are stalling).

It is totally likely that you are eating some hidden carbs you are not aware of somewhere.

I do use fitday. Well I have not entered anything this week but for the first 3 weeks i put everything in there. I keep the fat between 60-70% protein 25% and carbs around 5%. I know sometimes i do not eat enough calories or sometimes too much. Its "that" time next week for me so I am having major cravings this week. Last night i had something quite salty. could this be the weight gain of 2 lbs?

A lot of people find that salty foods hold water and this could be the reason

Are there any new foods you introduced that you could try taking off your menu?

The lasagna and bread have carbs and the carbs are known to hold water - that may have been the 2 lbs you gained - just water weight.
I take L-glutamine several times a day when I get cravings. Have faith now too because as you approach and go through you TOM you will either lose no weight or gain a few pounds of normal water weight due to hormones. Those pounds should come off you pretty quick after your TOM though. I've been back on Atkin's for about 2 weeks and only lost a pound. However, I have been eating 25 carbs one day and 40 the next, so I know it is my own lousy fault.
I think I need to finally get myself over to fitday.com

here is the link to my fitday. can someone take a look and let me know what they think.
thanks
http://www.fitday.com/WebFit/Public...l?Owner=hollydm

OK I know this will kinda suck but I was in your shoes for a long time. In fact I lost a good 10lbs fast and then nothing for a good month if not 2. I mean I was the strictest I ever was in that period and lost maybe 3 lbs in 45 days. I was shocked. But then the next month I lost 17 lbs and the rest as they say is history. For some reason, especially if you tend to hit a day where you do consume "old style" high carb foods, it will be harder to get back into the zone. I found that if I ended up cheating as long as it was one meal and did not happen again for a while, then I was good. I've talked to many people that agree that once they hit that dinner party and make the conscious decision to go off the diet for that one meal... they really have to watch what they eat for the next 2 or so. The cravings come right back and if you cheat 2 or 3 meals in a row (kinda like taking the approach of... well I messed up at lunch and might as well go out with a bang), the comeback will be much slower.

I have to admit that now I am well past induction and close to my goal. However I have NOT LOST any weight bur rather have just maintained my current weight. My diet has not considerably changed except maybe less fat and probably less fat. Anyhow for the sake of sounding like a parent or a teacher... stick with it.

Take care,
Claudius

how true about the cravings. When i got home from the party I was cravings chocolate like you would not believe. so i caved and had some! the reasoning was well since i already cheated... On sunday i was back on track except i was still craving chocolate so I made myself a little with unsweetened chocolate, sugar twin and cream. I guess it hit the spot. I am a very impatient person so its very frustrating waiting for that damn scale to move in the right direction!!!

You are having alot of processed foods. The bacon, meat sticks, sausage and so on all have high levels of sodium, as well as sugars. Try cutting down on those. Also low fat cottage cheese is not allowed. On OWL you can add back in full fat cottage cheese in controlled amounts.

The sweet foods you are having, while low carb, can trigger cravings in some people and insulin responses. You might want to cut back on those. Also you are having over the recomended amount of cream which can stall some people or slow weight loss down.


One thing is you only have 20 pounds left to lose to lose. Typical weight loss for a low carb diet is 10% of what you nee dto during induction then 5% each month after that. Because you only have a small amount left to lose (I know it feels like alot to you) weight loss will be slow. Don't look it as having only lose 7-16 pounds, look at it as having lost 44% of what you need to already. That is a ton more then the average weight loss and you are doing great.