I think I maybe just wasting my money...I stopped smoking 6 months ago, gained 13 lbs. and no matter what I do or eat, the weight will not budge. All of my clothes are too tight. I have been doing Atkins for 3 years and have had no problems maintaining my weight at 123-125, until now. So I have been working out at Curves for Women 3-5 times a week. I have been taking Xenadrine (4 per day) CLA, L-carnitine (3 Gms a day) B complex to name just a few. I'm eating about 1000 to 1300 calories a day and always under 20 Gms of carbs. Any thoughts as to what I'm doing wrong?? Thanks

Were you working out before you quit smoking or did you just start after you quit?

Smoking increases your metabolism by 10% they say, so by quitting, you slowed your metabolism, which would account for the weight gain, but working out should help you speed it back up. If you were working out before you quit, however, that would make weight loss slower. I'm a slow loser because I've worked out for years and it's just plain hard for my body to drop the weight.

Also, with your weight at 135, you should be getting between 1350 and 1620 calories per day(10-12x your weight), so you may want to try increasing to keep your body from thinking it's being starved.

What is your typical day like foodwise and do you have several small meals or 3 larger meals? Maybe if you post that, we can figure something out that will help.

A 'typical' food day for me is for breakfast maybe a hard boiled or deviled egg, lunch is a small salad with lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes and olives with about 2 tablespoons of salad dressing,(usually ranch) and maybe a piece of chicken and dinner is another small salad, chicken, beef or fish with either green beans or broccoli. I use only butter or olive oil (no diet or 'light' foods).
for a snack maybe a handful of dry roasted peanuts or a couple of pieces of hard cheese. I drink dry white wine with ice in it, so it is pretty watered down. During the day I drink water and I'm down to 1 diet coke a day.
Even when I first did the Atkins plan a few years ago I never exersized and I went from a size 10-12 to a 4 in a relatively short period of time. This is the first time I have done any 'structured' kind of exersizing plan. Have I put my body into somekind of starvation mode?? Are all these diet supplements doing more harm than good?? Thanks

My opinion is that most of these supplements are a waste of money. I bought Xenadrine a few years ago to try to lose some weight - it did nothing in my opinion.

Everyone of these supplements show an amazing transformation of a fat woman in a bikini to a slender and fit woman.... in that same bikini... Hmmmm..

Also, you will ALWAYS find a disclaimer at the bottom saying "results not typical".

I think when people buy these supplements, after spending 40 or so bucks on a supply they also make changes in their lifestyle (eating, exercising) and it is THOSE changes that create good results, not the supplements. I would say if anything the supplements contribute to about 1% of the total result.
They work in a similar way that caffeine does and in many cases are dangerous to you. E-phederine has been disguised under many names as one of the ingredients in many of these supplements and it is NOT a good substance for you.

My advice is avoid the supplements, don't starve yourself and concentrate on your exercising and living healthily. The weight may come off slowly than you want, but hey, at least you won't be putting on more weight instead! Don't stress about it and consult the scale constantly - just live your healthy life-style and enjoy your days and before you know it you will be a very healthy individual and you will feel GREAT - that's a guarantee.

Nike , I respect your opinion and appreciate your point of view, but not ALL supplements are a waste of money ... there is some hard science on most of the ones that are attracting alot of attention on this forum ...

Ephedrine/caffeine ... for studies on that, see the THERMOGENICS thread ...

Creatine, Glutamine, CLA, and BCAA's (just to name a few) all have solid scientific studies to back them up.

Supplements don't work when people don't use them as directed, or if they don't have their nutrition and/or exercising programs tailored to their specific needs.

Molley ... I think you need more protein. Based on that sample menu, you have about 72g of protein IF you ate chicken on your salad at lunch and had chicken/beef at dinner AND the peanuts for a snack.

Your breakfast is too low calorie after sleeping all night (no food for 6+ hours).

That's at first look. I like your exericse and supplement program though. Bring up the protein intake and I think you will enjoy the results. Right now, you are not giving it enouggh protein for base-level metabolic repair, much less building muscle/increasing metabolism.

I guess I did not come accross right. What I meant to say in terms of supplements being a waste of money is if you buy them to achieve the results they promise in many advertisements (lose 90 pounds in 3 weeks and the like)

Many women out there (and men I'm sure) want a quick weight loss fix, and many supplements are advertised as the "magic pill" that will solve all their problems. I have yet to see someone in real life who bought some supplements, did not change their lifestyle and lost all their excess weight in a couple of weeks and toned up to boot. Yet many of these supplements are advertised with people giving testemonials that they did exactly that.

Sorry if I wasn't clear on what I meant exactly

OK ... LOL ... Now that I see what you intended to say, I am right there with you.

There is no "magic pill". It's always nutrition/exercise/rest and then supplements.