This is day nine for me in induction. I think I am frozen at only a trace on the Ketosis sticks. I have read the Atkins book over and over and tried to see what I am doing wrong. I gave up caffeine, no alcohol, no carbs except for the veggies and am staying in the allowed zone for cheese. I've used the splenda for decaf tea and that has been limited to only a few cups in 9 days. I drink lots of water. Could the fact that I am 61 cause my metabolism to be slowed down so much that I am stuck? I did lose about 5 lbs but have not seen even an oz difference since last Friday. I am going to start walking 30 mins a day until I get back to the gym on a regular program in February. I had pnuemonia in Oct, so froze my membership for a few months. Any advice would be welcome.

Anngie, give yourself some time - be kinder to you! The aim of LC is permanent, sustained fat loss - it's not an overnight quick fix. It probably took years for you to gain this weight - it could take years to lose all of it. Allow your body the chance to adapt to the fat you've lost already and accept that what you're doing for it is a good thing.

Age, the amount you need to lose, and genetic factors will all come into play. At 5'7" it is possible that 130 lbs isn't a realistic goal for you (Of course it could very well be - it will depend on your lean body mass and % of body fat).

I suggest giving yourself more time and perhaps starting a journal in the Bootcamp section of the forum where you can keep track of your daily food and activities - this way we would be in a better position to offer advice. You might also want to check out www.fitday.com ; its a free online service where you can keep track of your calories and carbs (among other things). You might not be eating enough - undereating is often cause for slower fat loss (you should be eating, as a general rule, 10 - 12 times your body weight a day in calories)

Hang in there,
Nat

Hi there Angie.....

Lots of good advice there from Nat!

I'm a little closer to your age....52, and Atkins is definately working for me. I invite you to read the beginning of my journal, because I had a bit of a tough go of it in the beginning. Just took my body a while to get used to the new way of eating.

As far as the ketosticks go...lots of people lose weight and never record being in ketosis. Don't worry too much about it. If you know that you are following the plan, that's good enough!

Hope to hear from you again soon.

Marlaine

Angie, five pounds lost in nine days is very good! it's much better than average, in fact, for how much you have to lose. (10% of what we have to lose being lost on induction is average)

If you lose just a half pound a week from now on, that'd be pretty typical, too. Remember, that's an average. Especially as you approach goal weight, you may not see the scale budge for weeks at a time, followed by a quick loss. LC is not a miracle overnight cure (oh if there only WERE such a cure for extra pounds! ). It is a way of eating that will eventually slim us down and improve our health in other ways. If the scale frustrates you, stay off it, and measure your loss in how your clothes size is changing instead.
Be patient, kind to your body, and stay the course. If you do, when you're 62, you won't have the extra fat. Isn't that a nice thought?

Exercise is a great idea for more reasons than weight loss--it gives everyone a lower risk of heart attack, stroke, high BP diabetes, etc. A half-hour walk is a great way to begin.

Best of luck to you, and welcome to the board.

Thanks to all of you for the advice. I've dropped a couple more lbs
so am a little more encouraged. I've been reading a post on the member forum and am a little confused about something. I thought it was ok to eat sugar free jello with heavy cream and low fat cream cheese (low fat has l carb per serving, regular has 2). Am I wrong? What about eating sugar free jello by itself? What about the heavy cream? I thought it was one of the safe foods. I have 2 more days of induction left.

there's no hard and fast answer to that question, anngie, sorry! Some people can eat LC treats with artificial sweeteners, and not see their weight loss slow at all. Others will stall for weeks until they eliminate sweeteners, LC shakes and bars, bacon, dairy, eggs, or nuts...the list goes on and on and is different for everyone.

If you truly stall at some point--no pounds OR inches loss at all for a month--then eliminating everything but veggies and pure meats and adding one item off the "likely to stall" list back in every week until weight loss halts again. In this way, you can find out what your own "stall" foods are.

The other issue about artificial sweeteners is that some of us believe that an addiction to the sweet taste, a desire to run to sweets to treat emotional crises is itself a problem. If we don't change the underlying chain of behaviors that got us fat, we'll probably get fat again. So eliminating all sweets or limiting to them to only once a month or five times a year (or whatever), seeing them as "baddies" and not "goodies" is part of the self-healing process for many long-term LCers who are focused on maintenance issues.

HTH