I finished induction on Sunday. On Friday, I got TOM and ever since then I have shown a 5 lb increase. My TOM is over now and I am worried that I am not losing. I have noticed a difference in how my clothes fits, though. I didn't exactly have a clean inducation. Toward the end of the first week I had a Pure Delite bar. On several occassions during this time I had these chocolate bars. Although, I stopped drinking dt mt dew, I have continued to drink dt pepsi. I am not sure what the problem is. I thought that once my TOM was over I would re-lose that 5 lbs but that is not happening. Help! My daily menu is on fitday. There is a link at the bottom.

Dr Atkins said it's ok to stay on induction for longer if you feel you need to. Anything up to six months is ok. I was on induction for six months and am only now introducing myself to OWL. Decide for yourself and give induction a try for longer than two weeks (without cheating!!!) and see if it kicks starts the weight loss. Also are you exercising? Whatever you decide GOOD LUCK!!!

I find that I lose inches OR pounds but not both at the same time. That is one reason I like to measure myself. It is like I lose inches first and then the scale will catch up. As long as you find your clothes are fitting differently, then you are shrinking. The scale will change.

Ditto what Paleo said. Weight loss isn't linear..it's full of ups and downs...after a brief "up", if you follow the plan (and you may find giving up the treats helps a LOT) you'll almost alwasy get a loss... Hang in there, stick with it, and you'll do fine.

I lost inches for all of induction and not lbs... and now i go in spurts... it is one or the other... It sounds like with the bars... you are still doing ok... but if you would like to see better or different results... see what happens if you cut the bars out...
Also drink tons of water... so you feel like you are floating away... it helps with water retension after TOM visits...

kbluvscats

Congrats and welcome! You CAN stay in induction and fine tune your menus a bit.

I checked out your fitday journal and I have some advise:

Stay away from the bars! They are known stallers! They have more carbs than the label really says because the carbs effect everyones blood sugar level differently. Are the bars upseting your stomach at all? They are know to send people to the bathroom too! They ruined me the first time on Atkins last May I did great for two months and lost inches and pounds and had great success. Then I discovered the dreaded Advantage Bars and Endulge Bars. They were so tasty so I gorged on them all the time and before I knew it I was craving normal processed sugary foods and the bars threw me off of the Atkins lifestyle. I know it' s hard, but try not to have them anymore. I am now starting over after gaining everything back and have to work even harder this time because of those damn bars! Take my advise, trust me they are not worth it!

It looks like you are doing great on veggies!

Some of the days it looks like you have more protein than fat. You should be aiming for:

70% fat, 25% protein and 5% carbs

Also, I'm not so sure that you are eating enough. Are you still hungry throughout the day? You should be consuming 10-12 x your body weight in calories.

I see that you had sausage with your eggs yesturday and that is very high in sodium and usually contains sugar! Be careful with ham, pepporoni, sausage and bacon because most of them are high sodium and some are cured with sugar. There are a few brands of bacon that are no added sugar, reduced sodium, nitrate free etc... Read your ingredients and labels even if it takes forever in the grocery store it's worth it!

I also see that you have had Slim Jim's and I use to have these for an on the go snack till I read the ingredients. They have corn syrup in them so I don't have them anymore.

Next, pork rinds! If when I have these I drink like 3 more bottles of water that day. They can stall you because they are so high in sodium too!

It also looks like you are eating too much cheese. Cheese should be limited to 3-4 oz a day. I see that you are having cream cheese which is great to keep your calories up and increase your fat intake, but monitor how many oz's of cheese you have all day. Cheese is known to stall people and constipate people!

I have been researching and reading about Atkins for six months now and it's a process to learn but you can do it. Please take my advise and I promise you success. If you have any other ?'s I would be happy to help. This forum is great and it's how I learned most of my info other than Atkins book and Atkins website.


An Induction Day Menu For Me Is:

Breakfast: 3 eggs and 3 slices bacon with water

Lunch: Burger King Chicken Caesar Salad with 4 Tablespoons of Newman's Own Natural Olive Oil and Vinegar Dressing (I buy the dressing at the grocery store and keep it in my desk at work-it doesn't need refrigerated and it's high in fat and you need fat)

Snack: 10 grape tomatos and 2 slices of cheddar cheese

Dinner: Hamburger w/let, tom, mayo and mustard
1 cup of steamed broc with 1 pat butter and 1 Tablespoon mayo

Calories:1680
Fat: 132 71%
Protein: 101 24%
Carbs: 19 5%


I last piece of advise would be to have a clean induction with no caffeine, no bars and no sugar alcohols. If for some reason you just have to have some choc, (like TOM time) Swiss Miss Diet Hot Choc is made with splenda and is 3 net carbs per serving!

Thanks everyone!

Is it alright to have sugar free jello and whipped topping? I read somewhere in the DANDR that it was okay.

Also, what constitutes one ounce of cream cheese? Would it be a tablespoon or two tablespoons?

Is unsweetened baker's chocolate bad for you?

Sugar-free gelatin with whipped cream is OK, but there are a few warnings. The SF Jello brand gelatin is made with aspartame, which many people avoid because of stalling and the bad health effects. You can make your own SF gelatin with Splenda or DaVinci syrups — search the recipe section here for ideas. There are also some brand-name gelatins made with Splenda. Ready-made Jolly Rancher is an example, if I remember correctly. Regardless, read labels. Some people have a problem with aspartame, but I do eat SF Jello brand every once in a while with no problems. Also (geez, this is getting longer than I planned on!) make sure you're using real whipped cream that you whipped yourself. The stuff that comes in a can or a tub contains added sugar.

Next question: Cream cheese. If you buy Philadelphia in the 8-ounce blocks, it's premarked on the foil by the ounce, kind of like how butter is. Looks to be maybe 2 T of cream cheese to an ounce, but don't take my word for that.

Lastly, Baker's unsweetened chocolate. I use this to make homemade peanut butter cups (absolutely delicious, by the way) with no ill effects. It probably does contain some natural sugar, but in small enough amounts that it's never bothered me. And hey, there's new research out now that suggests that chocolate is actually good for us — what do you know!

Thanks, Hilary!

Chocolate is good for us? Can it be so? Let me not entertain that for right now.....I am very new and on induction

Actually, there is a lot of research out there that lauds the benefits of chocolate, especially for women. It's the sugar added to the chocolate that is a problem.