I am in my third week of low carb. i lost 8 pounds first two weeks, but not one pound this third week. what's going on? i haven't changed anything.

Hey! I lost 8 lbs too, and haven't budged either. Same amount of time, too! I don't know. Sometimes we get lax about measuring food and seeing hidden carbs, sometimes we eat more processed foods than whole foods. Reasses your eating habits. Get one of the "all about low carb" books like "The Secret To Low Carb Success" by Laura Richard. She has lots of tips for stalls. As does "How I gave up my Low Fat Diet.." by Dana Carpender. Good books.

ooh, I just saw you haven't read ANY books? If you are on Atkins you need to read one of the books. "Atkins Essentials" might be a good place to start, only it doesn't have carb counts in it. You can get them off the website though. I don't recommend getting ALL your info from the net though. The books are better.

Hi JJ!

Its perfectly normal. You'll find if you look at most people's stats there is a 3rd week stall. Its not a real stall, its just your body's way of taking a breather from the first 2 weeks. In my case, I lost 15 the first week and the fizzled for the next two.

Don't worry about it, give your body time to adjust to all the changes and stay on plan! Think of it as a little resting period - it doesn't mean a thing!

You're doing great!

Pam

Pam is right. Body is just catching up, give it time it'll start moving again. Just stay on the wagon and try not to fall off.

Make sure your drinking lots of water too. Oh and exercise never hurt anybody.

Welcome to the infamous week 3 stall It is very common so don't worry. You'll be losing again soon. Measuring is a good way to see if you're losing inches while the scale isn't moving. I lost 12 pounds on induction and then nothing for the next 3 weeks, but I lost about 7 inches in those 3 weeks.

Hang in there, stay on track and the scale will start moving again.

Cheers!

It is quite common to stall while doing LC, especially during the third week. Don't let it discourage you. This to shall pass. You gotta stick with for the long haul.

Good luck!

I agree, it is very common. My metabolism and my body are insane, so I didn't have that "stall" until my 6th week. :/

However it did allow my skin to catch up with all the weight I'd lost. I had loose skin all over me. So I think it's a good thing. I'm starting to get that way again now, so maybe in a few weeks I'll have another week like that. My chest is all saggy and it's so embarrassing.. I mean.. I'm 20!

Hi,
I had the same thing happen to me, I didn't lose anything on the 3rd & 4th week, I panicked until I read on here that it happens to a lot of people, which it does, stay on it, and buy a tape measure, your body is readjusting, don't worry about it..hang in there! and good luck.

Whew, that's good to hear. I'm at week 3 and was beginning to go into panic mode. I slipped last night and ate some rice. Bad me.

I'm actually really glad to hear that too...I'm on Bernstein and in my third week now and have lost only 3/4 lb this week and my keytones (fat burning levels) have slowed down to trace amounts. I've been soooo good and it's frustrating this week when I weigh in and NOTHING seems to be moving steadily, if at all...especially when I've had such a good first couple of weeks. *sigh* I am not giving up though...So don't give up either! We can do it! Question: How long can this slow down last??

...when its happen to me...I try to lower my protein portion to smaller size and see if that work...if not... I go more smaller and so on...till I see change...then I know the size of what I can have...and then if its happen again....:-)))...its the same - go smaller...and that is
......... *my* secret... so dont tell anyone !!!

Yeah, I lost good the first two weeks, then nothing for about a month. Things have picked up again now.

Hang in there. Stay on track. Stalls and slowdowns are normal!

Also, for a lot of people, me included, weight loss goes in jumps and starts, two pounds off one week, nothing for the next two weeks, then three in one week, then a four week stall. Go figure. As long as you are on a downward path, you are doing well!

Thanks for the encouragement. I need it.

Same thing happened to me over my last 3 week cutting cycle. After most/all subcutaneous water retention was gone and glycogen levels fell to typical 70mmol/kg or thereabouts, I managed to further lose 1 inch in waist over the first two weeks. Much slower the third week.

From what I can tell this seems to be a true phenomenon across many different nutrition boards that I frequent.

Honestly, when I choose to drop bf again, I will probably run 2 week cutting cycles, with 1 week maintenance and higher cho levels in between. Something like an isocaloric or maybe 40/40/20 plan. Either that or implementing a simple cho load or refeed a la CKD would work as well as anything for me. The cho loads have given me solid real world results in the past. No trouble getting to the 12-14% bf range. I think it might even be easier to just take the week at maintenance.

-Cardinal