Hi! I'm 17 years old (Weight: 123 lbs. Height: 5'8") I've been doing the Atkins diet for over a month now and I'm not losing any weight! I'm so frustrated! I only want to loose about 8 pounds. I haven't gone off induction. I don't know what to do! I'm strick and I exercise 5 times a week. Could someone tell me what I'm doing wrong? Help!

Perhaps your body is resisting getting any smaller since it's already at a low weight. A quick check of a BMI calculator puts you at about 18, which is underweight. Any smaller and you'll be getting close to anorexic. Why the need to lose anymore?

Just a thought.

Michelle,

I agree with Catspaw. Try to understand the fact that you are underweight. I know how difficult that can be in your age to look at yourself objectively. Look, you are working out a lot and your body:

- needs more food for energy
- gains muscels, which is great

Ask yourself this question: where is the fat on my body, what parts of it can still get thinner? I doubt you will find them. We women need some procentage of fat, breasts are only one obvious example!

I hope you will think it over!

Love
Alina

Be careful! According to your profile you're 5'8" tall!!!! I can't see where you would have any room to lose anything at all! Please be aware that eating disorders are extremely high in young people your age. All of the advertising on TV and in magazines seem to promote skinny, skinny, skinny and it leaves us all with a feeling of inadequacy and low self-esteem. Celebrate your obviously thin, pretty body and don't let it get to the point where you become sick due to this desire to get "skinny". Thin and healthy is very becoming ---- Skinny is unbecoming and unhealthy. PLEASE shift your intentions from weight-loss to eating healthy for the rest of your life!!

I TOTALLY agree with the others! At your height your body is telling you that where you are is a good weight for you.

Please, please don't get so obsessed about it -- you must be really slim as you are. Your health can really suffer if you starve yourself.

You might check out the "How many of you were thin once" thread. As you read through the thread, you'll see that a lot of people who thought they were heavy in high school now look back and realize they had an inaccurate view of themselves. I know it's hard to believe, but what you see in the mirror and what others see (and usually reality) can be quite different! Your health is your primary concern.

Please take care,

Oh Michelle...

I hated it when my mom said things like, "If I knew then what I know now..." but I have to agree with the rest.

I wore a size 7 in highschool and looked really good. BUT I wanted to be a size 5! I went on every wacky diet and exercised obsessively. Here is what went wrong:

1. I never really learned to eat the right foods. I would eat nothing for days then binge on sweets.

2. I kept gaining weight back and always more than I lost. I did not get up to 250lbs over night. It was a series of dieting that put me at that point.

3. I kept trying to change the outside of me instead of the inside. What I needed was confidence. I kept looking for approval on everything except for what really mattered, like a brain or a good heart.

4. I always felt like "only if I lost a couple of pounds I would get this or that." Oh how bogus! I can get whatever I want at any weight.

Following Atkins is great to rid yourself of sugar and to improve your eating habits and health. However, you are at goal weight (and maybe even below.) The reason why you probably haven't loss is that you have most likely built up some muscle on this plan. Which is great, but please, do not try to lose any. I wish someone would have warned me when I was your age. Would I have listened? Probably not. I am hoping that you do.

Please be good to yourself. You have a wonderful life ahead of you. I am wishing you great health!

Hi! Everybody! Thanks soo much for all of your advice and information, but the reason I want to loose more weight is because I'm a model. At my height, I should weigh about 115 lbs. All of my model friends weigh that much. I do still have some fat on my body, on my thighs and my... "behind"

Do any of you think that I'll loose weight eventually? will my body let me?
I also weight train 3 times a week.

Find another career, it's not worth risking your health!

You are probably already not eating enough and your body is holding on for dear life to all it can ,especially if you are as active as you are ...watch out if you don't eat enough( esp. protein) you will lose your muscle and be a "skinny flabby girl"

My oldest daughter (15) is also a model and at 6'0 can weight almost 150 and still work. I wouldn't worry about what your friends weigh that model, but rather what your agent is telling you. Are they telling you you need to lose weight? Usually, at the weight and height you are at, it would be more likely that they would be telling you to tone up...NOT to lose weight.


Just my two cents


L

Since you are a model, I can understand the importance to look your best. But you have to remember something: no one can see that number when they look at you. It is great that you are eating low carb, it is a healthy way of eating that will protect your lean body mass. Working out is really great too, if you're not overtraining. It seems like the only problem is worrying about "that number."

Have you taken measurements? As a model, those (and the look of your body) are more important than the scale weight. You may find that you can tone and feel better without losing a pound. I, for example, haven't seen a drop in the scale for a few months, but have lost a lot of inches due to exercise and eating right.

Please... try not to worry about your body so much. I know it's hard to do, but appreciate your probably gorgeous body for what it is! Take care of it, nurture it, and learn to love yourself along with it.

P.S. I guarantee you that you're one of the girls at the gym I desperately envy... tall, thin, pretty... so try to see in yourself what I'm sure others see in you. I wish you the best!

My neice is a model, so I understand where you're coming from. She's 5'9", and she weighs 120! She was drop dead gorgeous to begin with, but she started doing the body for life challenge and her body totally changed! Her waist is more defined, her butt is more uplifted, and her silhouette is a lot more leaner and sexier than before she started. When I saw her this past week for the first time in a year and told her that I was on Atkins, she said that she was watching her carbs too and doing the body for life. She gained 2 pounds, but the improvement in her appearance is hard to miss. I just got my weight bench today, so I will be setting it up and starting weight training by this weekend. If I have half the success she has had, I'd be a happy camper!

Michelle...this may be the "ideal" in the modeling world, but it is very, very unhealthy. I am 5' 3" tall and according to the height/weight charts, 115 lbs. is the ideal weight for someone MY height, not someone who is 5 inches taller.
With a BMI already at 18, you definitely do not need to lose more fat. Forcing your BMI even lower than it already is can lead to health problems such as irregular periods or lack of periods as well as a compromised immune system, not to mention what starving yourself does to your metabolism. What you need intstead is to tone and gain more muscle which could actually mean an increase on the scale because with equal amounts of fat and muscle, the muscle will weigh more but take up about half as much space as the fat. To build muscle, you need adequate amounts of protein and calories.
Have a look through the exercise forum; you may find quite a bit of information on how to gain muscle without harming your body in the process.
FWIW, if I had a job that had standards that required me to put my health and wellbeing on the line, I'd be looking for a new job real quick. No amount of fame and fortune is worth ruining your health over.