Ok guys heres the deal.
Im a male/18/217lbs/26%bf/40inch waist
I started at 225lbs.
I went down to 217lbs during the first 14 days.

Then in the next 2 weeks I went up to 220lbs in the first week and then back to 216, and now, at end of week 4, im at 217lbs again.

I havent lost in two weeks. I AM ANGERED BY THIS FACT.
My measurements have gone down, and I have read that I have to shock the body and really I shouldn't follow induction for long even though atkins says you can follow for as long as you want to.

You see, Ive followed it for as long as Ive been on the program.
Please help me break this plateau.

Facts:
- Ive been following induction for 4 weeks
- However I find it hard to eat vegetables (does it affect weight loss?)
- I drink 1 tbsp - 2tbsp of psyllium husk a day.
- I try as many times as possible to include healthy fats such as walnut oil (omega 6)
- I weight train 5x a week
- I gain muscle too easily! But still, with all the exercise and cardio ill list below i still should be losing! And I havent been gaining muscle ive measured!
- I cardio every day for 30 mins (jogging), once a week I have a soccer game
- In an effort to shock my body, Ive performed cardio twice a day, 30mins bouts of jogging low/moderate intensity, along with weight training at high reps to define and avoid muscle gain.
- It hasnt done anything for me.
THE PAST TWO WEEKS
- Ive tried higher calories (of course below maintenance)
- Ive tried lower calories (near fat fast)
- All of these coupled with exercise and weight training.


MY SOLUTION? Today I decided to give the body a break and eat a few chunks of canteloupe, a little pot of papaya yogurt, some French Vanilla Oatmeal for Lunch and Ill introduce some carbs at dinner, although no desserts of course, I just want the actual glucose to kind of shock the body.

I really see no other way out. WHat wait more? The ketones strips say Im burning fat! The scale doesnt go down! I have a bodyfat calipers but you guys know how those can give you innacurate readings each time.

Please help out. WHat can i do based on my problem, TO GET OUT OF MY PLATEAU??

I'd say congratulations to your weight loss, first of all.

Secondly, why do you stare yourself blind at a stupid scale. Isn't it much more valuable to lose inches and become a smaller, fitter size?

Thirdly, you have to be patient and stick with the plan as it is intended. You will not see results if you jump back and forth with lowcal/highcal Lowfat/highfat /lowcarb/highcarb like this in such a short time. You will only confuse your metabolism completely.

Veggies are very important during Atkins. The micronutrients and the fiber provided both play a big part in the weightloss.

If you lose inches you are not on a "plateau".
A real stall/plateau is "4-6 WEEKS of no loss of EITHER lbs or inches". You have lost inches, it seems. Also, it's perfectly natural for the body to take a pause from weight loss after the initial two weeks of Induction. Patience is the key to success on this regimen.

Please try to stick to the plan as it was intended (reread the book or atkins.com), drink lots of water, stay away from LC junk food and you'll probably see good results.

cheers,
gil

Another thing I thought of. If you are on such a hard exercise regimen, cutting down your calories will have the opposite effect - you'll fling your body into "starvation mode" where your metabolism switches off, thinking it's a famin going on, in order to rescue you from "going under". Doing that, you won't lose a thing.

Rule of thumb, to get the adequate count for how many kcals you should consume: eat your weight x 10-12, the higher figure if you're exercising. Never go under 10x your weight.

You don't need to repeatedly "chock" your body once tuned into lowcarbing. You have only been on this for 4 weeks and during this time your blood sugar has probably run havoc due to all these changes you've done with your WOE. Please try to be more gentle to your system, consequently following Induction to the t will make it happy.

You're not going to like my answer.

Most people find that after an initial weight loss in the first few weeks, they don't drop any weight for 2-6 weeks after that. Then things start moving again on their own. I personally lost 15 pounds in two weeks, then NOTHING for six weeks. Then things started moving, without my changing anything.

This isn't a sprint, it's a marathon. Don't be in such a hurry! No one is going to force you on a scale over Spring Break to see if you've hit a certain number.

How is your water intake? Dark strips show you could use more water than anything else... With all that exercise, you need more than the "recommended" 64oz. Much more.

--nw

Muscle weighs more than fat. You could be shrinking in all of the right places. I know it's so aggravating, but if you are doing everything right, give it a few weeks and the scale will move.




Drinking tons of water is important.

EXCUSE ME? 6 WEEKS? IMPOSSIBLE, AS IM UNDER A LOW CARB DIET AND WITH ALL THE EXERCISE, HOW IS THIS EVEN CONSIDERABLE?
How was your exercise regimen?

Also, does anyone know how to get accurate results each time from body fat calipers? (DIGITAL, ACCUFITNESS)

Thanks for the great help and support!

Listen pal, don't SHOUT at us because you waited until three months before spring break to start your weightloss program! No one on this board promised you it would be possible to lose fifty pounds in twelve weeks, did they?

If you are getting a color change on the ketosis strips, you are burning fat. Unless you're eating more fat calories than you're using for exercise, you are losing body fat.

When you start any weight loss diet, some of the first pounds you lose are water weight. The fact that your scale hasn't changed while your ketosis strips are turning pink means you are probably catching up with actual loss of body fat.

Some people are metabolically resistant by nature. A stall of 4-6 weeks isn't too uncommon even amongst those unfortunate Lowcarbers doing it completely by the book.

In your case, it seems you haven't been doing this WOE switch as it's supposed to be done (by experimenting with higher and lower calories - but I suspect you actually mean carbs, not calories?), not eating your ration of vegetables etc.

Just stick with the plan and realise this isn't a "quick fix", this is a way of life. You will get to your goal eventually if you're patient. If you surf around the board a bit and check old-timers here who've reached their goal weight (and stayed there), you'll notice that patience, being consequent and eating healthy really is the key to success.

Natrushka is an old-timer for instance. I don't know how much she visits the board nowadays, but her own site is here: http://www.geocities.com/gnattygrl/bflex.htm
She's very much into exercise.

Can't help you with the caliper thing, I'm afraid. I only use http://mybodycomp.com to track my progress.

Best of luck!

Hey, don't shoot the messanger, my dear. I'm only telling you what seems to be quite common among people on this board. You didn't put the weight on in three months, so why expect it to come off that quickly?

In reponse to your exercise question, I do aerobic exercise (mainly my Gazelle glider) for 30 minutes, 5 times a week. No weight training at this point.

Maybe you should try upping your carbs instead of playing around with calories. This definitely won't work if you are making it a low fat diet as well. So, if you are following Atkins induction to a T, what are you eating??

You are 4 weeks in to the plan you should be at about 30 carbs and since you exercise so intensely, IMO you shouldn't still be on induction. Obviously, if you aren't eating veggies, you aren't doing Atkins correctly, which in turn could be why you aren't losing. Good luck

Hey , thanks for your Question. I' ve been wondering the same thing myself. I started atkins in nov and had great succsess ,and then have yet to shead an oz for three weeks now . Everyone gave great advice and I will take it as it come and just keep going . It does get hard to stick to it when things seem to be going nowhere! Take it easy and keep up the hard work.

Eat your veggies mate. Also remember that it's not about weight at all. If you're gaining muscle, be thankful! Alot of guys have to work their arses off trying to pack on bulk. You're just taking the shortcut by replacing all that fat with muscle it sounds like! I'd trade lost-inches for gained-pounds any day! But if you really want to maximize your success, I would suggest picking up that book and following the induction chapter religiously. Don't take shortcuts: take your supliments, eat your veggies, stick to under 20g of carbs per day, don't eat fruit or yogourt, etc etc. I did the lengthened induction too mate, and it does work. You just need to stick to it .

Best of luck,
-drew