I have a question which you probably answered a million times, but it’s something which is worrying me…A year ago a successfully lost 15 kilos with the Atkins diet, and had no problems, apart from a little “plateau” a couple of months into the diet. After a winter of naughtiness, here I am, back again, having to lose 10 kilos. Problem is, I reach the infamous plateau every 8/10 days and stop losing weight completely. I eat carbs for one meal and start again, but I feel it’s wrong.

I follow the diet scrupulously, I exercise every day, I am in ketosis and still NOT losing weight. The only thing I’m doing differently, this time, is that I actually eat less than a year ago. I do not have breakfast (which has always been hard to eat for me) and my portions are smaller, as I am actually not hungry. Should I eat MORE?

I hope someone out there will be able to solve this puzzle for me: in Italy there are no support groups and I really have no clue…Thank you for your help.

Hello Lorena.
Being in Italy, must be hard to avoid the pasta!
But I totally understand being without support as I am in Luxmebourg and have the same problem.

I do know though if you are NOT eating enough that your body will go in to "starvation mode" and you will not lose. I think you would be wise to check that your actual calorie amount is well over 1500 MINIMUM. You can check that out using any online calorie counter.

Also, I see your stats are within 20 lbs of your goal and I know that there is some threads saying that some changes need to be made in order to lose the last bit of weight. I beleive that is called Pre-Maitenence, and you need to take those off VERY very slowly. There are threads for that, and advise for fat fasts and clean inducitons, more water and more excerise.

One last thing is that a "plateau" is only considered that if you have stalled for a minimun of 4 weeks. I am sure 8-10 days is not a plateau.

Hope this helps.
Melissa

Oh yes, portion size matter. Have you read the book DANDR (or do you have the book handy ?) Atkins recommend 10-12 times your body weight in calories pr day, with supplement for activity. I find using both www.fitday.com to track my food intake + www.mybodycomp.com with weight/measure is a good help in establishing my levels. Unfortunately I have thyriod problem and I'm an extremely slow loser, - needing all the help I can get/find !!

Have you started OWL (ongoing Weight Loss) and adding carbs ?? (This comes BEFORE pre-maintenance) There is a list in the book where they suggest how to start adding carbs. For some people it helps to add more carbs..... It's either way very imporant to eat enough to prevent the dreaded "starvation mode" !

If you don't have a new version of the book, I recommend you get one, it's NOT a good idea to start Atkins without the book or with an old version. If you need other info, there is A LOT on the Atkins page. If you want to know more about the different levels, check out www.atkins.com and write for example OWL in the search engine.

Good luck !!

I did not control my meal size, and ate as much as I wanted, including days of eating two pounds of roast beef (with veggies) in one sitting!

My biggest problem was that I was not eating Fat. I started again on the fish and chicken with veggies, and my body had nothing to burn. Make sure you are not slipping into that habit (if it is as much of a habit in Italia as it is in North America!)

Good luck!


M

yes you definitely need to make sure you are eating enough calories a day, otherwise your body will think you are starving and go into starvation mode where it stores everything you eat as fat.

Thanks to all of you for your advice. I will surely look into my regime more accurately. You've been a great help!

Where does Atkins recommend 10-12 times body weight in calories??? I got confused becaue i kept seeing this on this forum, and i don't believe its good for heavier people. I emailed Atkins and they edged around the issue, but stated 2000 calories.

If there is evidence that I should be eating 2700 calories a day I would LOVE to see it

Here's the link to the page at www.atkins.com homepage where they recommend 10-12 times your present body weight in calories CLICK HERE

"Research has shown that on a controlled carbohydrate program, more calories are burned than on a low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet, so there is a certain metabolic advantage to the controlled carb approach. But understand that this does not give you a license to gorge.

If you are used to counting calories and are more comfortable with such an approach, the general rule of thumb is to multiply your present weight by 10 to 12 to get the daily caloric range at which you would lose weight. For example a 150-pound woman who consumes 1,500 to 1,800 calories daily should continue to lose weight."


For me this fits in with the great info at www.mybodycomp.com, where I've filled in my measurements (once a week). The programme calculates my resting metabolic rate (based on measure, weight, age and gender) to be 1317 calories a day. That's if I'm doing NOTHING. With moderate activity level I'm burning 2041 calories. I should consume more than 1317 but not more than 2041. To lose I do the math - My weight is 153 lbs - 10-12 times my body weight is 1530 - 1836 calories. That sound right - right ??

If you need evidence - open an account with www.mybodycomp.com (it's free) take your measurements, fill in the form - and *pdiinnnng* you know how much you can have !! Great tool !

Good luck !!

Notice this says IF YOU ARE USED to counting calories and ARE MORE COMFORTABLE with such an approach.

To me this sounds like a concession to those people who can't get past the idea of counting calories....doesn't necessarily sound like it's a rule of the diet. I wondered about everyone on the boards saying 10-12 x your body weight in calories, too. When I saw this on the Atkins website I felt it just wasn't that important. With that said, though, I was getting about that many calories anyway on this woe without trying or keeping track of it.

I have continued to watch the calories because I'm afraid if I don't I will drop to low. I'm having to work at staying above 1300.

Yes, freckle, I agree with you there, this is NOT a "count calorie" WOE. But for some of us unfortunate enough to have a very high metabolic resistance, - for those us who are turtles/stallers or whatever, it's not necessarily enough to count just carbs. We might need to look at the whole picture. There's where this recommendation comes from. I also have an e-mail from atkins support stating the recommandation of 10-12 x bodyweigh in carbs if you are metabolicly challenged.

I wish we all could be the same. I wish I could be like my friend in here who loses 3-4 lbs a week without doing anything "extra". I would be a happy cucumber !!

I'm having problems keeping my carbs AND cals high enough, - but I'm learning !