Okay, Guys. It's been about 3 weeks. The first week, I lost 8 lbs, and I was so happy. Then the second week I gained back around 4, and I haven't moved since then. I even increased my water intake and workout schedule. What could be going wrong?? I am so ready to quit and just binge on ice cream and stuff. Maybe it's the sweetener that i take in my herbal tea and the sugar-free stuff? But I was eating all that stuff in the first week, too. Also, I have never really gotten into ketosis. I have a small trace, but that's it. It never really turned pink or purple. That just pisses me off, cause my bf's on the diet and doing really well so far.
Something my mom suggested is it could be my medication. I was on Prozac for about 7 years, and recently switched to Paxil. Do any of you have any info on that? Thanks, and I hope that everyone elses' diet is at least working for you.

Toni

Hi there,

First of all I can't really answer the technical questions, but I just wanted to offer you some support and to say stick with it! I think nuts, aspartame and hidden carbs can sometimes cause a stall and I've read in some journals where some people say a meat and water fast can help jolt them out of a rut.

I hope that helps and good luck.

Aine

Toni, I bet it didnt take you 3 weeks to gain the weight, did it? Have some patience with yourself.

If this were a quick fix we'd all have reached out goal by now - and gained back every pound we lost. You have to take the time to learn to eat this way for the rest of your life.

You seem to have great support from your boyfriend and mother - be a little less hard on yourself and let your body adjust to this WOL.

Just FYI - the most fat a woman can safely lose in a week is 2 lbs. Anything more is water weight - or worse, lean muscle .

Nat

oboegal try starting a journal so the experienced folks can go over your diet and help with hidden carbs etc.. You see what works for your mom and boy friend may well not work for you.

I've found that this diet works for me but I can't eat a lot of things other folks can eat. In other words everyone's metabolism varies a great deal and we need to take the time to figure our personal variations out.

Patience is incredibly important as is learning how to delay gratification. One side effect of this diet is to learn both of these terrific skills. It's not uncommon to feel down when you don't lose as easily as almost everyone else however that's another benefit of the journal you can write down how awful you feel and how unfair it feels then you pick up and continue on.

In other words our metabolisms aren't fair. Some of us have to approach this in a much more severe manner than others. Stick with it make slow changes and you will find out what works for you.
Jo

Sure, sweeteners could be slowing you down--besides, they keep the addiction to sweet taste in place, which will only lead eventually to gaining our weight back. Why not eliminate them or save them for very rare occasions?

Yes, Paxil can slow loss too.

Never ever compare yourself to a man in weight loss. You will lose every single time! (yeah, it makes me want to tear my hair, too, sometimes) For a variety of reasons--hormones, a quicker reponse of the "fat conservation response" (so that we can always make it through a pregnancy even if food supplies are low--it's why humans didn't go extinct long ago!), a higher level of LPL (that helps store fat), where we store the fat, and on and on....we will just lose more slowly. But we live longer, tolerate pain better, and all our pairs of chromosomes match, if that makes you feel any better.

You absolutely can go off the plan--if you're looking for permission, I'll give you mine! But then...what next? No weight loss method will make you lose 50 pounds in two months. Drugs provide only short-term relief and at great health risk. We really have only three choices--gain weight, stay the same, or lose weight slowly. Yeah, I know it's one of those horrible realizations of the way the physical world really works, but there you have it.

I am really new to this whole thing and constantly asking questions but i do have to suggest one thing. Maybe try the protein power diet. i am doing it and i really love it. i don't feel deprived. sure i would love an apple or banana but i really am not having cravings.

also, my weight loss isn't coming off like it did the first week either but you know what i say to myself " i feel so much better, i am not always thinking about food, i am not always hungry, and i am not craving things all the time." i used to live to eat and the last few weeks i now eat to live.


i hope this helps. good luck.

Any serotonin re uptake inhibitors (Prozac etc) will slow the weight loss.

Hello there

I think the first thing is DONT GIVE UP. Stopping looking at the scales will immediately clear this problem up! Can you bear to do that?

I was in the same position - I like to see quick results. The scales didn't show big weight loss. But other things were happening. For the first time in ages I could fasten my coat up! I could pull on my jeans - and ok, just for you I am going to get graphic, I could REACH my butt more easily to wipe it. (I hope you realise what a sacrifice it was to tell you that!!!!!)

The point is, I am losing inches. Inches and inches and inches. Take a million measurements and you will see that you are losing inches from all over your body. The diet is doing what it should at first - convert the fat into muscle.

Good luck!

Jilly

Three weeks is simply not enough time for most people to fully shift gears and settle down into a longtern metabolic pattern.

Do you still have your copy of Atkins? If not, get one. Read the sections on drug interactions and also about stalls and plateaus - and how to recognize a real one from a scale-induced illusion.

Most of the weight you lost in the first week was water. An LC diet is a powerful diuretic as you shift gears.

For the moment, forget about your weight. Ask yourself if you are, overall, feeling a bit better. Do you sleep better? Do you awaken quicker and ready to start your day? Are you generally satisfied with your menues? Do you at least have as much energy as you did before?

Do you really WANT that ice cream? Are you craving it? Or is it just your old reaction to stress and frustration asserting itself. I'll wager it's the latter because, if you have been following the LC plan for three weeks, you have probably broken your sugar addictions.

Ask yourself just what you are really sacrificing and giving up with the LC WOL - and then ask yourself why it is so important to have those things back. You will probably find that staying LC, at the very least for a few months, is not as big a burden as your very natural and reasonable frustrations are painting it.

Keep up the effort and always turn here and to your family for support - it WILL be worth it.

For what it's worth, I'm having to ask myself those exact same questions right now - and the answers lead me to stick with it.