On Jan 21, 2003 I started Summersizing (Low Carb). I gained weight. On Feb 20, I switched to Atkins to further reduce my carbs with the induction phase. For the first two months on my new low carb plans I gained 10 pounds on top of the 100 pounds that I have to loose.

I had been a yo yo dieter all my life and do not know if that is contributing to my weight gain when everyone else looses alot on this woe. Over the last 2 years I had lost 100 pounds thru low/no fat and high carb diet ( pasta 2 times a day). I still have 100 pounds more to go. Since I was stalled for about a year I figured low carb was the way to go instead of low fat to shed the last 100 pounds. I know I can loose the weight. I lost 200 pounds before with drugs, constant excersize and 500 calaries. However, I just gained it back. I want to do it right this time.

I went to see the doctor in March and found out that I have a fibroid tumor the size of a tennis ball. Could that be causing my initial weight gain? For the last month or so I have maintained my weight. Just recently I have further reduced my carbs. Also about a month ago, I started a large regement of vitamin and mineral suppliments per the Atkins book. I did find out that one of the multi vitamins that I was taking had fructose in it and stopped taking it about a month ago.

Could I be eating too many calaries? I am going to get a scale and measure my salad quantities but I did not think I went way over my carb limit. Even if I did, I have a hard time beleiving that the few extra carbs is causing my gain and then stall after years of eating tons of sugar, chocolate and starch and general overeating.

Here is what I have been eating:
My breakfast is usually 4 sausage paties(0 sugar) with 1 - 2 slices of cheese or a 2 egg omlet with bacon, ham,turkey, mushrooms and cheese.

Lunch is a cobb spinach salad (about 1 -1 1/2 cups) with artichoke, ham, turkey, cucumber, tomatoe,mushrooms, green onions and cheese with oil and vinager dressing (Newmans) mixed with a teaspoon of half sour cream and mayo and seasonings (no sugar). I may also add some additional slices of meat if I have left overs from dinner and are really hungry.

Sometimes I have some tuna fish(home made no sugar or bad ingredients) or cheese as a snack during the day (morning or afternoon) if I am hungry.

Afternoon snack 4 times a week (I know this is bad but I must find a woe that includes some chocolate daily or I will never stick to it): Home made chocolate mousse with 3 oz of heavy cream, mint extract (no corn syrup), splenda and wondercoacoa (fat free, caffine free, and sugar free).

Dinner is some meat or fish with onions, asperagus or califlower. Sometimes I add velveta cheese melted on top or butter. I might add mushrooms too. If I use condiments it is Atkins so they are sugar and starch free.

8 pm snack, most nights ( okay I know 2 snacks are bad but remember what I weight and how much I used to eat. Limiting myself to 2 legal snacks is a HUGE reduction for me.): About 3 oz of home made ice cream with summersweet or splenda, heavy cream, water, wonder cocoa, and vanilla)

Am I eating too many calories? Could it be the cream? I try to slowly eat my lunch over 1 1/2 hours so I am not so hungry. Same with breakfast. Dinner I eat fast as there are a million things I have to get done at night. Sometimes I will eat 2 russell stover sugar free mint paties after lunch. I chew Atkins gum and suck on Atkins mints to try to reduce cravings and the need for always having something in my mouth.

I started walking at lunch maybe once a week. I will try to do this more as my work load eases of during the summer.

Any and all suggestions would be very appreciated. Sould I eat more meat or fat. I must loose this weigth for my health. I need to find a woe that I can live with the rest of my life and not loose the weight and go back to my old woe as I had done so in the past. I think that low carb is the way to go for me but I do not know why I am not loosing weight. I know chocolate is something that while I may be able to do without for a couple of days, it will always be in my diet even if it is sugar free and low carb.

Please help!

First of all, congratulations on sticking with your weight loss goals! I can't imagine how frustrating these past couple of months must have been for you.

I've only been low-carbing for about 7 weeks, so I'm no expert, but here's my 2 cents worth, based on what I've read here and in different low carb books...

Even though I'm sure most of us here have been yo-yo dieters to some extent, I would say your diet history is pretty drastic. The fact that you've lost 100 lbs. & 200 lbs. at a time shows that your body has been through alot! It will most likely take you longer to switch your body's metabolism. Did you follow strict Induction when you switched to Atkins? It seems like your body might especially need that sort of drastic plan to get your weight loss jump started.

Have you plugged your actual food intake into Fitday or another program? The reason I ask is that sometimes I don't realize how much I'm actually eating & it looks like most of your foods are legal.

If those numbers are coming out OK, the next thing I would do is elimanate one of the questionable foods you've been regularly eating, be it Splenda, cream, mints or whatever. Hopefully, you may be able to find some notorious weight loss stallers that your body will be able to handle. I would definately NOT worry about measuring your salad veggies. That's where the majority of your carbs should be coming from anyway.

I hope some of these generalized suggestions help & I really hope that things start looking up for you!!

I am far from being an expert, but that sounds like a heck of a lot of food. On induction you really need to limit yourself to 20 carbs, all of which need to come from the salad you are eating. My typical day consists of a healthy breakfast (either an Atkins bar, or maybe some bacon with eggs), lunch a steak with melted blue cheese and a chicken breast, and dinner chicken with a salad with bacon, egg, cheese and a low carb dressing. No snacks. Not during induction. And I must say I a never hungry. My cravings for sweets have completely vanished, and I have more energy than ever.

Send an S.O.S. to Nat (natruska) she knows a whole lot about this way of life and when I was a newbie she gave me some valuable information. I wasnt loosing in the beginning ( when I first did atkins a while back) and it was that I wasn't eating enough. Also some times the cream and the cheese can be a problem with people who have yeast problems. Looking at your menu, if you are supposed to be on induction lets see:
cheese your not supposed to eat more than 3-4 oz of cheese daily ( generally 1slice = 1 oz or 1 cube = 1 oz) So if you eat two slices at breakfast , some more at lunch and then more to snack on you are probably eating too much cheese.
sausage and hams: hard to find them with out hidden carbs they use sugar to cure most hams and in sausage the most always have some type of filler (as starch) in them. Hewbrew brand has a good all beef sausage with just 1Carb (if I can remember)
turkey ( make sure smoked doesn't have sugar and that it doesn't have honey in it)
x the onions for now use chives
your cob salad: you are eating spinach with is a one cup per day veggie(and only if you are eating at the most 2 cups of lowest carb veggies = mushrooms, cucmbers, lettuce, celery, peppers etc. )w/ artichokes, onions and tomatoes which are also at one cup per day ( but that isn't ~ 1 cup per veggie that is all types in that group combined to equal 1 cup for a day)
I love the heavy cream too , but that has hidden carbs in it . Do you know how to find hidden carbs?If not just ask me.
So from what I can see you are probably going over your carb count of 20 for induction. You are making good choices for low carb, but not for induction.
The cocoa has 3carbs per serving and thats not for induction , but being the choco freak that I am I understand, but then you have to watch the other things that you eat, to allow for that. You can have sugarfree jello with whipped cream. Have you ever been to fitday.com. If not incorporate that into your plan. There you can check & track how many carbs, fat and protein you are actually eating. Use measuring spoons and cups cuz what you may think is a cup may be 1.5
Ohhhh and you def. want to measure youself. Sometimes when people exercise they gain muscle and loose fat. Fat weighs less than muscle, so if you are accum. muscle and losing fat you may initially weigh more. One month I didn't loose any weight, but I lost inches. Good way to keep your mor'al up too.
And..... Drinks lots and lots of water (lots meaning 1/2 your body weight in ounces). It really helps the weight to come off and your body really needs it now to flush out all the protein and fat. You can always go to http://www.atkinscenter.com to double check what you are eating for induction and anything else really. Good luck. Don't give up. Gina

wow wow wow..... what a wealth of info you all are... thank you very much.. I see a few things i need to be aware of while im still in induction

tracy

Hi cvillacci

As has already been said, I to can imagine how frustrating the last 3 months have been for you. Much of my own thoughts will echo various elements of the replies that you have already had.

At the beginning it is important to know exactly how many carbs you are eating so that you educate yourself for the future. If you have not already done so, then do check out Fitday and log in your daily food intake. This site will not only tell you how many carbs and calories you are eating each day, but will suggest - if you look in the activities section - the amount of calories your body needs each day, if you are not slimming.

Try to keep your carbs at under 30, preferably around 20, for a week. It is not good to go to nearly 0 carbs, as this upsets some of the balances in your body and also may stop you losing weight.

Look at how many calories you are eating. Keep them a couple of hundred above your basal level - as seen in the activities section of Fitday. Never go below the basal level as this will tell your body to prepare for famine and it will not let go of its fat. If you lead a very active lifestyle then you will need a higher calorie intake.

Eating too many calories can cause you to put on weight. I've done that before now. If you supply more fat than your body needs for energy it will not just ignore it all. It is unlikely to put it into your fat cells, but you do tend to get an increase in water weight to cope with the extra fat in your body.

I have been low carbing for 20 months now. I have yo-yo dieted in the past and know I am a slow loser. Hence, for me I keep very close watch on my carbs and calories as you will see if you read my journal.

Do you drink enough fluids, particularly water? Keeping your body fully hydrated is essential to losing weight. Funnily enough, drinking more water often leads to weight loss. Eating more protein you need more water to process the food you are eating. If you do not drink enough fluids then your body will tend to hang onto what it has got and not lose weight.

I'm glad to hear that you are getting out walking and therefore doing more exercise. One thing I was surprised about was the 3 pounds I put on the first week I went to the gym. Muscle is heavier than fat and you do tend to hold on to additional water when you first start exercising.

It is possible that your tumour could be having an effect on your weight loss. Best results are always obtained when you are fully fit as your bodys systems are in balance. Last year when I experienced low estrogen levels I kept gaining and losing the same 2 pounds for 3 months. I kept low carbing the whole time and nothing I could do would help me lose weight. So there could be other things at work here.

You enjoy quite a lot of dairy products. Whilst this is not a particular problem for me I know that there are many who are sensitive to them and lose weight better after they have been cut out.

It is important to never feel hungry. Have legal snacks close by for those weaker moments. It is often better to plan in snacks throughout the day, distributing your calorie and carb allowance over 5 or 6 meals/snacks a day. This keeps your metabolism going.

There are many who do not take to Atkins and find 20 carbs to restrictive. Many other plans tend to allow up to 60 or so carbs a day and it may be that with your current problems this may also be something to investigate. Whatever way of life you choose you need to be happy in it and you should not feel hungry, deprived or lacking in energy.

Every success.

Thanks for all of the input so far. I have picked up quite a few tips that I will follow : I will reduce then eliminate the cheese, I will up the spinach portion of my salad and reduce the high carb veggies like artichoke and mushrooms. I will reduce then eliminate ( if possible) by 2 snacks made of cream.

I already found 6 carbs in the seasilver liquid vitamin I was taking so that is stopped. Yesterday I reduced my snack to just the ice cream, smaller portion in the afternoon. I also reduced my cheese intake and upped the meat. I was home yesterday so I weighted every thing that I ate plus measured my breakfast and lunch for today. I am going over to fitday to input it.

Any suggestions how to copy a previous days menu into the current day? I hate having to look everything up each day when I eat pretty much the same things.

Thanks again for all your suggestions.

At fit day you can add the foods to your list so that you don't have to look them up all the time. The USDA also has a site that has a lot of the foods that fitday doesn't have in their data base and you can add them to your personal list.

Wow you made those changes already? You are on the ball girl!

Hi Cindy

Great to see you making changes already.

With regards to Fitday, have a look at this thread in the newbies questions forum.

When you have the same things everyday you will find them already in the short "ad recent" list. If you scroll down to the bottom then there is display all. Click on this and then click all the items you want to add in one go. This saves a lot of time and effort.

Mushrooms. These are real low carb and unless they are very different in the US - which I doubt, have less than 1 effective carb per 100 g. I eat a lot of them.

Have a great Friday and weekend.

Reporting in on my journey. I found an additional 6 carbs in the L-Carnitine that I was taking. I also found 3 carbs in the yeast figher pill from twin labs( I was thinking that maybe I had candida and it was imparing my weight loss).

Yesterday and today I there was no heavy cream snack. I ate some tuna instead. I also eliminated cheese and the veggies in my omlet. I used ice burg lettuce in my salad instead of all spinach leafs. I eliminated the butter and cream in my omlet. Omiting all dairy except for the mayo in my tuna and a touch of sour cream added to my vinager and oil salad dressing. I am adding more lean meats and fish to my shopping list.

My goal is to eat as much ( quantity) of food as possible and still be at 20 carbs and 2000 calaries. I think this will help me resist heavy cream mousses and ice cream snacks.

When I went into fitday, I found that on some days I was eating 3500 calories and 40 carbs. I dropped it down to 19 carbs and 2500 calaries yesterday and I am determined to hit 2000 calaries today.

Please keep all the suggesions coming. THey are very helpful. I am hoping to see a weight loss my next week

Wow, Cindy, you're making those changes great! Might I make another couple suggestions? I, like you, am a chocolate addict. Yep, I'm addicted. But, the more I do induction, the less the cravings hit me.

Here are a couple more suggestions looking at your modified menu - I wouldn't cut calories TOO much - 2000-2500 might actually be about right for your size.

Butter is okay - real butter, unsalted, has no carbs.

Cream and cheese, for me, were stallers - I cut out the cream entirely, and cut the cheese to 1 oz per day.

Iceberg lettuce is pretty empty, and not on the Atkins list for Induction lettuces. Try Romaine, or get one of those bagged ceasar salads, and toss the dressing and the croutons.

Mushrooms are GOOD They are very low in carbs. I would suggest you reduce the spinach (to 1 cup or less), and put in 2 cups of romaine lettuce mixed with mushrooms (this gives you your entire vegi allotment for the day, mind you) - or split it up into several snacks.

You're doing GREAT! And keep your chin up - those of us who have yo-yo dieted for years, losing a lot, then gaining it all back and more, are metabolically resistant. It is more difficult for us to lose than someone who has never dieted. But we will lose, be it gradually or quickly - granted, it's much more fun to see the numbers on the scale drop quickly, but even dropping a little is better than nothing

Sh'ra