I started doing Atkins October 27, 2003. I'm 5'4' & I weighed 172 pounds. I lost 24 pounds up until February 4th and have been stuck between 147 -150 ever since. I joined e-Diets to get some answers - Found out it might be the diabetic chocolate I was eating. I have stopped eating that. I have been sticking to Induction since then - I have not been able to get into ketosis since February. I even tried the fat fast for 3 days. I'm very discouraged, but stuck with it because I feel so much better - but I still have 20 - 30 pounds to lose. I joined a gym 2 weeks ago, and have been working out consistently. Still no ketosis - still no weight loss. Every now and then (maybe twice a month) I eat something I shouldn't (no big binge). It's hard to be perfect when you're not seeing any results. Does anyone have any idea what's wrong? I'm taking lots of Atkins vitamins - drink 125 ounces of water/day. HELP- I want to start losing 1-2 pounds/week again. I want to be in ketosis. I'm losing hope.

Nadine

how many calories are you eating a day. may not be enough and if you arent you need to really change what your doing. it has been suggested on here that working out your muscles first is better and then cardio. You dont want your body eating itself just to survive. It may be your body has gone into starvation mode.

http://www.lowcarbexercise.com/low-carb-plateau.html

It's entirely possible that you are doing NOTHING wrong. If you are maintaining you impressive loss, then you aren't gaining, even with lots of exercise which can gain you muscle.

This may just be a necessary and unavoidable 'resting phase' that your body is going through. If you can keep on the plan mostly, continue the exercise, you may begin to lose again for no apparent reason.

Some people have gone through stalls of 3 or 6 months and even a year before starting to lose again. But they didn't regain and they still had all the health benefits of eating the LC way.

The one thing I can say for sure is: if you get discouraged and begin to think "O what the H**l, it isn't working", you WILL start to eat carbage and then you will undo some or all of your good work to date.

So you have a choice: keep agonizing about the fact that you aren't losing right now & trying to "fix" it, or just accept that you aren't losing right now but you might tomorrow.

Check out this thread in Hot Links in the Newbies sticky. It's calledDo you really expect your progress to be all losing?

Tomorrow could be the day.

Thank you sweet 100, Galatia & Barb.
Galatia - I read your link. It was just what I needed to hear. I'll continue at the gym - try not to be so consumed by the scale (I've hidden it!)
Barb - I don't want to go back to where I was - besides, I gave away all that clothes! I don't look bad right now, I just know I could look & feel a lot better. thanks for the reminder.

I know exactly what you are talking about! I too have hit a slump in weight loss after 4 months I started Atkins 1/8/04 and have lost between 35 to 40 lbs. I need to lose about 30 more, but the scale won't budge. I had started exercising too a few weeks ago and wondered if that had anything to do with it.
I thought the treadmill and resistance training would be a good thing. Maybe my body is just taking a break. I started induction again a few days ago. I'm going to hang in there though and focus on my progress.

Bizzy_Mom

Bizzy-
I'm going to start all over tomorrow - like it was my 1st day. I'm going to do Induction for 2 weeks, then I'm going to start adding 5 carbs/week & see how that goes. I know the key for me is working out. Not just getting on the treadmill, but getting my soon to be smaller bottom into the gym. I've tried doing Induction for months on end - and it just doesn't work - I really need to increase the carbs. I was staying between 10-15/day. I don't think I was eating enough - I just wasn't hungry and was so excited not to have all the cravings. I feel like I've been doing a sugar binge all day & I feel like I'm losing my mind! Sugar makes me crazy - I never noticed before because I ate so much of it. I've never had this long of a break from sugar & carbs. I now have a reminder of why I want to cut these out of my life. Thanks for all the encouragement. I'm so relieved to have found this website. I know it will be so helpful. Good night. Tomorrow is a NEW day!!
Nadine

Hi Nadine. I can sympathize with what you're going through. I lost 19-20 pounds within a short time (October-December) and was so happy! Then after the holidays I came down with the flu and had a nasty side effect which left me pretty inactive. For the next almost 5 months I never lost any weight, saw the scales go up and down within about a 5 pound range to the point it was completely frustrating. To this day I'm not sure what was causing it--maybe it was my inactivity, maybe it was the fact I didn't have the wherewithal to even care if I kept track of what I was eating, maybe I wasn't eating enough, maybe I was eating too much.

Even though there were days when I felt like 'I just don't even care!' I knew deep down I did. I didn't want to re-gain everything I had lost, and I knew better than going back to my old way of eating. (To my mind there's not much incentive to eat high carb foods because they just make me sick anyway, and LC tastes so much better.)

It took me almost five months, but by George, the scales are finally moving again with a 1-pound loss (1/2 pound of that was while on vacation) and I lost a complete half-size in clothing from loose 18s to 16s!

So just hang in there, and when your body's ready it will cooperate with you.

http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=182859
http://www.ecybex.com/education/cal...s/bmr_calc.html
http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthre...91&page=1&pp=15
Here are a few articles that may help.
Jag

Don't worry...give it time..your body will catch up!!! Your doing such a great job so far!!!!

Jagbender - Thanks for the links. Lots of great info - I especially liked the one on net carbs.

Erinleigh - You're doing great! Thanks for the encouragement. I just got home from the gym and I feel better already.

Nadine

Lilacotton - Thanks for sharing. I'm so glad to know someone else has gone through the same thing - and is a loser again! I'm not going to lose sight of my goal - to be in great physical condition - not just a number on a scale.

Nadine :-)

Bizzy Mom - We'll get through this! Sooner or later our bodies have to cooperate. I'm going to try to get on Fitday to track my carbs & calories. I usually hate keeping track and journaling - but I figure it's worth breaking through this plateau. I'm definitely going to watch those hidden net-carbs!

Good luck - let me know how you're doing

Nadine :-)

Nadine,
I wanted to update you.........I went back on induction Monday and now on the fifth day I weighed and I've lost 3 lbs!! I think Built was right that it was water retention from sore muscles, because I eased up on the exercise this week. So now, I have a weight loss of 38 lbs since January 04. I am going to stay on induction for about a month and then try adding carbs a little at a time. I think that is the hard part for me. It's so much easier to just be told what not to eat for me (induction). I will stick to the treadmill, but no more incline for a while and strengthening and toning with light weights.
Tomorrow is always a new day! You can do it!

Bizzy_Mom

Bizzy Mom,
Congrats on the 3 pounds. That's AMAZING. 38 pounds since January is fantastic. Isn't it so much fun to succeed at losing?! I'm trying to drink protein shakes in between meals. I think I was going too long between meals. I just haven't been hungry. I'm not use to forcing myself to eat every 2-3 hours. I've been spending the last 20 years trying to go as long as I could between meals. We know where that got me - 50 pounds overweight!. We'll I'm off to the gym. Thanks for the update.

Nadine :-)