Hello and Questions (long)
Hello everyone. I've been looking around this forum for a few days now, and I'm really impressed, with the content, the people. Looking forward to getting to know you all.
A little about me. I'm a 37 y/o computer programmer living in New York. I started Atkins about 18 days ago--the first diet in my entire life. When I moved to NY at age 24 I was a size 10-12 and weighed +/- 145 (I'm 5'8"). I'm now 208 (after losing 8 pounds on induction), and wear a size 16.
The heaviest I had ever been before coming to NY was just pushing a size 14. I lost that weight not by dieting, but by living the "french paradox". I moved to France for a year and simply ate what they ate, much higher amounts of fat and protein, very few sweets or snacks (It may surprise most people but a typical dessert in France is cheese, yogurt or an apple; the pastries are for special occasions), wine with dinner... (sounds very much like a controlled carb "diet" doesn't it? except it was simply the way of life there.) I never ate so much in my life and yet I was so thin...it was amazing given the low-fat dogma that had by then become so deeply ingrained in north americans.
After moving to NYC--to finish college--I went through a period of about a year where I was very stressed out and very lonely. I was too busy to make friends or date and too busy, I thought, to eat well. I ate more junk food during this time than I ever had in my life, and on weekends, sat alone in my appartment and ate my way through a whole pint of haagen dazs and half a bag of chips while watching TV. The result: I ballooned to over 200 pounds in less than two years.
It's now almost 12 years later and I've never yet tried to diet the weight off; I always felt I could lose it just by exercising and just eating well (it's been over a decade since the haagen dazs by the pint days). But I haven't been able to and I'm finally convinced that the ony way I'm going to lose this weight is to drastically change my way of eating. There was no way I was EVER going on a low fat diet; after my experience with the French way of eating, I knew first hand that fat was not the problem. Controlling carbs on the other hand makes a lot of sense. I just wish I'd discovered it sooner!
So now I'm off down this path, and I was off to such a great start. I lost 8 pounds in the first week of Induction and I was encouraged because I really don't mind eating this way at all. But since then, nothing for about 11 days now. I've been very, very true to the plan--not so much as a peanut or even a cranberry, After reading a lot of the past posts here, I see that this is normal, but the idea of figuring out what has stalled me is just plain driving me crazy.
Caffeine, no caffeine; cheese, no cheese, too many calories? to few? too much protein? This is why I've never dieted. I like to enjoy my food, not obsess over it! I started eating artificial sweetener briefly and suspect that may have been the source. I hate fake food anyway, so I dropped it back out about 5 days ago. Still nothing.
I found a thread that suggests I might not be getting enough calories. I started a fitday journal, and discovered to my astonishment I wasn't even getting near 2000/day--amazing to me because I am so full all the time. So I think that's my next step, to step up the fat intake some more. I'd love to hear from anyone who may have had a similar experience early on. I was so sure this would work, I don't want to be wrong!
Cheers,
Dorothy
|
In fact it is extremely common after an excellent initial loss like your for the body to seem to need to have a little break. It's a matter of the fat cells hanging onto fluid for a while until they realise you are not going to starve them. 
Rosebud
My point was that you are not "stalled" because you are doing anything wrong, your body is simply pausing for a bit as it recovers from the initial loss.
..
Hybrid Mode
