I have been following Atkins Induction now for 8 weeks, and have only lost a total of 8 pounds, and 6 of that has been water.

I'm curious if I'm doing something wrong. In addition to exercise, I keep my carb count at or below 10 grams per day. Is this too low? Is that why I'm not dropping more weight? Is it possible that I need more carbs?

Can my progress be slowed by too much Fat or Salt consumption?

Any advice is welcome. I'm getting really frustrated. I feel pretty good, but I'm just not seeing the results that I expected, or the results that my co-dieters are experiencing.

I just keep telling myself, "Don't give up - It's a life-style change, not just a diet..."

First, are you drinking adequate water? I find that when I skimp on my water consumption I get all sorts of problems including no loss, bloating, consitipation, etc..

64 oz a day PLUS 8 oz for every 20 lbs you need to lose.

Also, keeping carbs that low may be the problem - your body may do better if you keep carbs 15-20 by adding more salads/veggies. I find my best loss is in that range combined with the water.

Salt/sodium can aid in your body holding on to water thus a slower weight loss. I cut back my sodium and started to feel much "slimmer" and looked slimmer (face especially).

Fat from olive oil, avocados, macademia nuts as well as animal fats are needed for your body to burn the fat you have in your body. What is too much? My ratio is 65% or more a day with protein at 80 grams average. Too much protein can cause your body in a slower loss as well. I found that when I cut back on protein I started loosing more consistently.

So add more veggies, drink more water, cut back on protein and perhaps you will see a faster loss. Oh, and exercise also speeds this process up - for me anyway.

Good luck.

Yvonne has given you some sage advice!!

I would just like to reiterate that yes, you need to increase your carbs so that you're getting 2-3 servings of vegetables a day. You won't lose any faster (as you can see) by keeping your carbs below 20. If you're exercising rather vigorously, you may even consider raising them to the 30-40 range.

Your calorie level should be about 10x your body weight right now. Do you have any idea how many calories you're consuming lately?

Hello, I have been looking around this forum for advice on how many calories I should be eating. I have been keeping track (fitday) of what I've been eating for a few days now and the highest I've been up to 2100. Today I've eaten the following;

Total: 1241
Fat: 97 869 71%
Sat: 34 309 25%
Poly: 20 181 15%
Mono: 34 303 25%
Carbs: 12 29 2% <-----three cups of salad with assorted veg.
Fiber: 5 0 0%
Protein: 80 320 26%
Alcohol: 0 0 0%

Today for dinner I had a lamb shoulder chop w/mixed green salad blue cheese dressing plus a piece of cheddar. I am not hungry but I read in this thread that you should be eating 10X your body weight in calories. Should I try to do this? I am not a snacker and find on this diet that with the carb restrictions it's difficult to get that much food in me. Do I need to eat more meat? cheese? Do I need to start to snack? Thnx...

No....eat more vegetables with melted butter or creamy sauces. Then if you need more calories, carry some macadamia nuts around with you! At 200 cals/ounce it's REAL easy to pop 400 cals in your mouth without blinking an eye!!

If I were you, I'd stay in a range of 1900-2000 calories for a while and see how it goes.

My caloric intake on an average day is between 1000 - 1500. This plan has me so confused. I know we're not supposed to be "worried" about too many calories, but doesn't it stand to reason that we still should take in fewer calories than our bodies can burn, and that the fewer we take in, the more loss we should see?

I have no problem getting more calories in, but how does MORE calories help me loose this damn weight? And how does consuming MORE carbs help burn more of this damn fat? I am so tired of being fat, but can't seem to get the gist of this freakin' program.

Sorry to be getting a little vulgar, but I'm so frustrated I can't stand it...

If someone (maybe you - you seem to be doing very well) could just lay out the boundaries of how much is too little and too much of every consumable, i.e., fat, calories, carbs, sodium, protein, etc., things would be sooooo much easier.

I'm at work and don't have time to type all the info you're asking for right now. Can I make a suggestion in the meantime? Go to this Hot Links thread and do some reading up on the topics about which you're curious. Many there who have much greater knowledge than me have covered these topics very well.

The bottom line is that Atkins guidelines are a great starting point...and from there (if you encounter problems) you can start 'tweaking' with more/fewer carbs, more/fewer calories, etc.

I'll be back to check this thread later on to see if you still need help. You're always welcome to visit my journal!