i've been on atkins "strictly" since 18 aug n haf been on induction 3 weeks or so with 2 pounds weight loss which i gained but at the end of that three weeks. Deciding that i was metabolically resistant, i tried the fat fast some days ago and i've been on the fat fast five days oredi and still no weight loss.. not the TOM, no inch loss, clothes feel juz as tight, in fact i feel quite big ard my tummy!

so demoralised and discouraged. i've juz started working the beginning of sept and during training and orientation, they provided snacks, tarts, brownies, cakes, muffins, u name it.. everything i loved but i never touched them. i was thinking how unfair life was as i tried so hard to control myself while i saw my slim and petite colleagues gouging themselves with all those sinful food and still have such good figures.

but i thought to myself all this is worth it if i slim down. but i haven seen any results yet and this is so discouraging. i dun experience the appetite suppressing feeling pp say they do while on atkins. i get hungry soon after a meal and keep thinking abt wat i can eat in a few hours time. its so tough to stick to the lifestyle when there're temptations all ard me (asian/chinese food) and the worst of all, no results!!

i feel so demoralised that im thinking of going off the plan n go follow a doctor's diet plan i previously followed and lost weight on (i went from 60 kg to 48 kg and hovered ard 48-50 after going off the plan. then slowly, i ended up at 52kg) or the slimming center's (with which i signed up a slimming course before i began atkins) diet program which has 1 calcium slimming drink every day with planned menus for the rest of the day.

i did alot of reading on atkins and even tried very hard to get the book (not the newest version though) and with so much difficulty keeping on the WOE and yet no results, i really duno whether to carry on or not. esp since i've been on fat fast 5 days and still no results!! Help....

i drink at least 80 oz water a day, take L-carnitine, chromium, cal-mag tablets and flax seed oil. the only thing i've not been doing is exercise. even so, i walk ard alot due to the nature of my work (auditing) and i feel that at a calorie intake of 1000 a day, im below my BMR of 1332 and exercise shld not cause me to have such "stall"... i really duno if i shld continue atkins or switch to 1 or the 2 choices i mentioned above.... i have a d&d on 19 oct and i really want to lose 4-5 kg by then.... pls advise... here's my link to fitday..

http://www.fitday.com/WebFit/Public...ml?Owner=BabyJJ

Hi there.

Yes, you do sound very discouraged. But my advice to you would to be to stick with it. Either that or take some time off to think about which plan you want to do and then stick to it. It's not a good idea to keep switching plans because you body becomes more and more resistant to losing the weight.

In addition, adding exercise to your weight reduction plan can only be a plus because it helps you feel better about yourself as well as helping rev up the engine, so to speak to get the weight moving down.

One last thought: When I checked your profile, it seems to me you are about 5 feet tall, right? So you really are not too far off your ideal weight if you are a medium bone frame. When you are close to your ideal weight it is notoriously harder to get those last few lbs off.

Hope that helps!

Oh and one more thing, it's not a good idea to give yourself a deadline (i.e. losing so many lbs by such and such a date) because it's really not in your control. My advice would be to just go to your event and enjoy yourself.

Hi babyJJ,
I'm not a "professional", but I'm going to go by my experience with Atkins. First of all, Dr. Atkins strongly stresses excercise, its important too keep your heart rate up for about 1/2 hour a day. It will also help you get into ketosis if your not in it already. Second, eating less calories and carbs than your supposed to is not good. If your body isn't getting the amount of food that it needs, it will go into starvation mode and store everything that you eat. If you are in induction, you should be eating 20 grams of carbs and no less. Third, you don't seem to be that overwieght, just a few pounds to loose right? On your first two weeks of induction they say that you will probably loose 10% of the weight you need to loose. This isn't going by how much weight you want to loose, this is going by what your body feels its ideal weight is.

As far as the girls eating the "sinful foods" that have perfect figures, I'm sure they regreted it when they were done, they probably didn't feel half as good as you do eating the LC way.

Are you drinking anything with caffeine in it? Because caffeine will stall some people. What about Artificial sweeteners? Those can also stall some people. Both caffeine and artifical sweetners can also trigger cravings.

Don't get discouraged, if you are doing Atkins the right way, you should feel alot better than when you were eating carbs, right? That should be what is most important, the pounds will come off sooner or later.

I hope this information help and I hope that you feel better. I wish you the best of luck!!

Cya,
Shelly

Are the stats in your profile in lbs or kgs? If it's pounds, you are at a healthy weight, even if it's not the weight that you want. And when you're not far from where you want to be, it does take longer (believe me, I know, having lost only 1 pound in the past 7 weeks!)

Also, you should never eat less calories or carbs than you need. It doesn't seem to make sense that you may need to eat more to lose weight, but many, many people who visit this forum will tell you that it's true.

hi shelly, im not taking any artificial sweeteners, coffee or tea.. and i dun feel much of a difference in the way i feel (hunger pangs, cravings) even though i've been on atkins for abt 1 month.. really duno wat's wrong.. coz i've been sticking to the foods allowed for induction, staying off even those that may cause cravings or stalls.

n slimmin, the numbers are in kg... which is the unit of measure more oftenly used here where i stay..

thanx for all the advice.. tink i'll maybe go off atkins for awhile but stay on some other kind of plan. coz im worried that i may not haf the discipline to stick to it for now, with the discouraged feeling and so on. if i eat the high fat foods atkins allows and cheat on carbs or even binge, it might be worse...

If your weight is in kilograms, then you do have a lot to lose as you weigh over 250 pounds at 5 feet tall. Is this correct?
1 kilogram = 2.2 pounds
100 kilograms = 220 pounds
110 kilograms = 242 pounds
114 kilograms = 250.8 pounds

The numbers on my stats are in pounds, the numbers mentioned in the post i placed on this thread is in kg. im abt 52 kg, 114 pounds..

A few observations:

First - Whether you decide to stay with it or abandon it is a personal decision that only YOU can make. Some people seem to be looking for permission to quit when they get discouraged as a way of ducking their responsibility for their own well-being. I don't get the feeling that you fall into this group, though.

Second - You only have a few pounds to lose - namely thirteen. And this is assuming that your stated goal weight is a reasonable one. How sure are you that it IS reasonable? Why do you know that you need to lose weight at all? I'm not saying you don't - I don't know. But many people, especially girls (and especially in America - I don't know about Singapore) have unrealistic goal weights and think they are fat even when they are where they should be. It's an unhealthy cultural bias shared by many cultures around the globe. So I would recommend giving that some real thought but, for now, let's assume that 101 is a reasonable target weight.

Third - You are doing about par for LC. In the first two to four weeks most people lose about 10% of the weight they need to lose which, for you, would be just a bit over one pound.

Fourth - It sounds as though you haven't been able to find a copy of the book. You may or may not be sticking to Atkins properly. I highly recommend starting a journal here and putting your meals, exercise, thoughts and concerns in it. We cna much better lend encouragement and support then.

Fifth - It is very common for people to "stall" sometime between the second and sixth week for at least a couple of weeks. The body has a lot of adjusting to do and it needs to be given the time to do it.

Sixth - You do not want to eat below your BMR. If you do, your body senses this and goes into a starvation mode by slowing down your metabolism. This slowdown can become very long term and take quite a while to reverse - it's very possible that you body was in this mode for quite a while before you even started LC if your prior efforts relied on calorie restriction.

Seventh - You shouldn't be doing the Fat Fast at ALL given how long you've been trying LC. Doing so this quickly just confused your body even more and can hamper your efforts.

Eighth - As Atkins says, if you are not exercising then you are not doing Atkins. It is an important part of the plan which some people simply can't succeed without.


So, my suggestion is that you:

1) Start that journal.
2) Develop and start some type of exercise program.
3) Try to find the book or ask lots of questions in your journal if you can't.
4) Stick to the Induction program to the letter.
5) Commit to sticking to Atkins for at least six weeks (on either Induction or the first stage of OWL - forget the Fat Fast).


Good luck and Keep the Faith!

Hi Baby JJ. This is only my second day on Atkins but I have been doing a lot of research. It has been brought to my attention that some people need much more in water consumption - plain water. One site recommended half your body weight daily. Example: 200 lbs. = 100 ounces (this is a correction from my original post)I started out day one with just about that amount and 3 pounds came off the first day. Give it a shot. Maybe your system is waiting for more fluid to flush itself.

Half your body weight? Are you sure? If you are 240 pounds then half of your body weight would be 120 pounds of water which is over 14 gallons of water! Are you sure it wasn't an oz for every two pounds of body weight (which would be 120 oz of water in your case)? I believe that this is a recommendation made by either Atkins or the Eades in their book.

The other common rule of thumb is 64 oz plus an addition 8 oz for every 25 pounds of weight you want ot lose.

You've already received a lot of excellent suggestions, but I'd like to second the motion for exercise.

If it's the only thing that you feel that you haven't been doing, why not do it? It IS a viable option. There are so many benefits that you'll derive from it. I speak from experience here:

You'll be burning more calories.

You'll be stimulating the flow of good brain chemicals.

You'll be increasing LBM (Lean Body Mass).

You'll boost your self confidence and self esteem.

I only wish that I'd accepted the recommendations I was given years ago; to get doing a regular exercise program. I feel that I would have lived a happier life in general.

When I mention LBM, that is a very impressive reality that has now been proven to me. I can wear clothes that I used to have to be 20 pounds lighter to get into. It's because more of my weight now is muscle, rather than fat. Muscle is 4X as heavy as fat, by volume. If you think about it by picturing a one pound brick's size compared to the size of a pound of feathers, you'll get the idea.

So what does this mean to you? If you start exercising regularly, you will likely find, down the road, that even without losing much or even any weight, you are smaller.

Marlaine

Sorry folks, that's half your body weight as in ounces. Example: if you weigh 200 lbs. you need 100 OUNCES daily. Sorry about that.