I am on day 14 of induction and dont think I have cheated. I lost about 8 pounds in my first 4 days and nothing since then. What am I doing wrong. I finally lashed out and bought some keto sticks yesterday which came up purple (moderate) so I must be in ketosis.

Has this happened to anyone else? How many carbs a day do I go up to, do I add the five more or do I wait and see if I am going to loose. How do I know this program will work for me? Should I stick with it? Is this normal?

I think if I didnt have this forum I would have thought the diet wasnt working, because in the book Atkins makes out like people should lose weight really easily. ARRRRGGGGGGGGGG!!!!

Thanks
Tracie

Hi Tracie

As far as I know, Fat Cells are notoriously difficult to get rid of. They have a habit of hanging on for dear life. When you start losing weight, they lose their fat, get scared and fill up with water. They will hold that water for a while, until they find out, that it is not quite the same and then they die and you start losing weight again. This can take quite a while ( forgot how long). Don't give up ! Stick to the diet (you are in Ketosis, so you are burning fat) and drink your water, your fat cells will give up before you. Don't forget, they are fighting for their lifes

Like you I lost a lot during the first week of Induction and then nothing for a few weeks. But I lost size, check your measurements. I am now the same weight I was last year, and my clothes are fitting better now than they did then. Don't worry it seems to be normal. If you are still worried try upping your calories and cutting down on sweeteners, they can stall your loss. I found that out the hard way.

Cheryl

I feel like sometimes I eat too much.

I have only been having the occasional diet coke. Does it matter if you eat at weird times or inbetween meals. I dont tend to have breakie until 11am and then I dont have lunch till 2pm or something. Because I am eating at weird times I feel like i am eating inbetween meals.

Where abouts in Sydney are you? We moved down here from Sydney 2 years ago.

Tracie

Hang in there, Toots! 8lbs is GREAT! It is quite common to experience this kind of stall after induction. Your body needs time to recover from the wieght loss and to decide that it likes what you're doing to it. The loss will resume. In the meantime, take some measurements if you haven't already. Remember, you're losing body fat and replacing it with lean muscle (more so if you've been working out). One lbs of lean muscle takes up 1/3 the space of one lb of fat. You may weight the same, but i'll bet you dont take up the same amount of space . For those weeks that I dont lose, I double check my measurements, and sure enough I've lost inches. Its very motivating.

A Journal would be a good idea, too. If we can see what you've been eating and drinking (you have been drinking your water right?) we can offer suggestions and point out possible pitfalls.

Hang in there and remember, the goal of this WOE is permanent weight loss, not rapid weight loss!

Nat

It happens to almost everyone. Sometimes it's steady, sometimes nothing happens and then weight seems to disappear in chunks. This is a way of life and it does take time for your body and mind to adjust to what is happening.

For me a stall is six weeks and a plateau is three months!!

Karen

I have found the article, hope it helps !

Why we work so hard, but nothing seems to change...
A biologist at Berkeley shared something very revealing on the low-carb BBS system
about 4 years ago that helps us all through the erratic weight fluctuations you invariably
encounter:

Fat cells are resilient, stubborn little creatures that do not want to give up their actual
cell volume. Over a period of weeks, maybe months of "proper dieting", each of your fat
cells may have actually lost a good percentage of the actual fat contained in those cells.

But the fat cells themselves, stubborn little guys, replace that lost fat with water to
retain their size. That is, instead of shrinking to match the reduced amount of fat in the
cell, they stay the same size! Result - you weigh the same, look the same, maybe even
gained some scale weight, even though you have actually lost some serious fat.

The good news is that this water replacement is temporary. It's a defensive measure to
keep your body from changing too rapidly. It allows the fat cell to counter the rapid
change in cell composition, allowing for a slow, gradual reduction in cell size. The problem
is, most people are frustrated with their apparent lack of success, assume they have
lost nothing, and stop dieting.

However, if you give those fat cells some time, like 4-6 months, and ignore the scale
weight fluctuations, your real weight/shape will slowly begin to show. The moral of the
story - BE PATIENT! Have faith! YOUR APPEARANCE AND SCALE WEIGHT MAY
FLUCTUATE, EVEN BACK-TRACK, BUT YOUR RESOLVE, COMMITMENT AND FAITH
SHOULD NOT!

You dont actually lose fat cells. They shrink. You'll have the same number of fat cells 3 months from now as you had 3 months ago. The size of them is what changes. The only way to get rid of fat is to have it removed. ouch.

Nat

MadPiano!

Thanks so much for posting that information! I was feeling a bit discouraged too after an initial 13 lb loss on induction and nothing since. Guess I'll have to teach those stubborn fat cells a thing or two!!

Yep, and when the water disappears folks, we have what 'ya call a whoosh!

Karen

Tracie,
What I meant by upping your calories, is that you should check the amount of calories you are eating. Recently I discovered http://www.fitday.com/WebFit/Index.html and put in what I had eaten for the day in the journal and was shocked over how little calories I had that day. I made sure I had more high calorie foods after that and did start losing again.
I eat at weird times too. I have a glass of water with my supplements when I get up and usually don't get around to breakfast for an hour because I am busy. If I am really hungry I just have a boiled egg out of the fridge.
I hope this helps you.

Cheryl