Please someone help me. I am on the verge of quitting this diet. I am so disappointed with myself. I read the book, I have done lots of research on this diet. I started this diet with a bang, it was really hard but I was so excited. I was the happiest I have been in a long time. But after the first week, I stopped losing weight. It has been a week since I stopped, I don't know what I am doing wrong. My ketone strips are fine. An average day of eating would be two eggs and bacon for breakfast, two burger patties and two slices of cheese for lunch and dinner would be either eggs again or chicken breast. I allow myself 2 Crystal Lights a day, the rest of the time I drink lots of water. I take a multivitamin and a calcium and vitamin c supplement. I am not even loosing inches! I grew up on mac n cheeze and pizza, I love those foods that is all I ever ate. What is the point of not having the foods I love if I am still fat? Why make myself any more miserable than I am already? Please any advice, I would appreciate it. Am I one of those people that just can't lose weight on this diet? Do I need to try something else?

Ready to quit already?

But you are doing so well! You have lost 8 pounds according to your profile....that is FANTASTIC!

How long did it take you to put the weight on? Was it 2 weeks? Be patient with your body.....after all it was really patient with you when you were putting the weight on it. Work with it not against it.

Ask yourself this:

If I was not watching what I was eating and following this plan, would I be gaining weight instead of slowly losing?

Low carb diets are NOT fast weight loss schemes that the media seems to think they are. They get a lot of bad hype due to the incrediable weight loss some people experience at the beginning. A weight loss that is mostly water I might add. It takes the body a while to adjust to fat burning. Give your body a chance to adapt to it's new fuel source.

Pick a diet plan you can stick with for the rest of your life.

If you started a new job tomorrow....could you know everything there is to know about the company in how it was run, who was in charge and every single detail of every person that worked there? Your body has changed jobs......you took away it's easy fuel source and now making it work for it's energy. Give it time to adapt. It does and will pay off.

Good luck!

Don't give up just yet!

One of the mentors on this forum says that your body is just waiting to see if you're really gonna do this. We tease our bodies so much on and off fad diets that it thinks that this is just another go round. Give your body time to realize that you are not going to give up and that it's not going to get any carbs. You will start to lose again! Keep drinking your water and taking those vitamins, that's very impressive! I'm not doing either and it would definitely help me.

You might look at some of the journals posted on this site. Those who are successful and are low carb experts have already gone through this and journal all the things they have tried and succeed with.

You'll be happier in the long run as a LCer! AND it's harder the second time around!

Cowgirl Up!
Jennifer

Hello,
Don't give up!!!!!!! It will get better. Patience develops slowly. Right now you're impatient and that's normal. But after a while, if you stick with it, (even if the results are slow) you will eventually start to feel better and will start losing. Perhaps the foods you loved so much are keeping you stuck. Now's the time to think about why you want to get healthier and leaner. Sure, it takes discipline and sometimes it's hard (I've fallen off the wagon twice - but got right back on) and the best thing is this, I got back on. keep going and let me know how it turns out. You can do it.

Ruby

hang in there! The weight will come off, in fits and starts. Stay off the scale if it drives you nuts; instead use a pair of too-tight jeans to measure your loss (it's actually more accurate than the scale!)

I think it's also a good idea to keep our eyes on a period down the road--say next New Year's Eve. You'll look wonderful in your dress, you'll wake up with energy, you'll be playing with the triplets and be able to keep up with them! It's like...I run now, on the treadmill, and if I grow tired and decide to count down every footfall or second ticking off on the timer, that is discouraging! It fixates me on the pain of the moment. But if I relax and just run, let my mind wander, the 35 minutes is over before I know it!

You can have macaphony and cheese--cut up slivers of the firmest, lowest carb tofu you can find baked in a rich three-cheese sauce made with cream! You can have pizza--either with a meat crust and all your regular topings, or have it like I do: Glass pie plate, 1/2 c. of the lowest-carb tomato sauce, slice up some veggies or your favorite pizza meat, pour 8 ounces of grated mozerella over it (I actually prefer low-fat mozerella for this, but that's not very 'atkins' of me), bake until cheese browns, then eat with fork. You won't miss the crust, I promise! (And the glass pie plate makes clean up possible. )

The Crystal Lite could well be stalling you and perpetuating your cravings. Hunt down Diet Rite sodas (not the cola--the white grape or other flavors) and have one once or twice a week (not daily--drink water only most days).

HTH. LC is a permanent way of eating that is manageable for the long run for so many of us who have struggled with carb addictions and cravings. I hope you can find a program that, as Agonycat said, will last you forever.

Don't give up yet. Keep the Faith and Stay the Course. Give your body a chance to fairly respond.

You started a day after I did and our experiences have been pretty similar. Spectacular weight loss the first week then, blam, the door is slammed in our face. Don't misinterpret either of those. You lost a lot of weight initially because of the strong diuretic effect that the switch to an LC diet has. You also lost some fat. Then in the second week your body started reclaiming the water that it shed that it shouldn't have - and you continued losing some fat. The two effects largely offset each other, both on the scale and with the tape measure, and whether you lose a little, stay the same or gain a little is merely an artifact of the particular balance that your particular body achieved this particular week.

Ride it out. It isn't a fair test of this WOE until after at least a couple of months.

Hang in there.

I hope you have had a chance to read some journals, and some of the other threads here.
You, like so many of us, are normal. I know that in our world, there is no "normal", however, when it comes to this WOL, you are going through what most of us have.
It's like being an addict of anything, there is a withdrawl period. It is different for everyone, however, everyone goes through it.
Hang in there.
You seem to be very concious of everything you are doing for your body, give your body a chance to catch up with your mind!
I use Sweet n Low to try to stay away from the cravings caused by Nutra Sweet. I also use both Splenda & Sweet n Low when baking, or cooking, as it cuts the bitter taste of artificial sweetners.
I go through periods of eating one thing constantly, like bacon and eggs for breakfast. So I make a quice, eggs, sausage, bacon, several different cheeses, a little spniach, what ever I have in the fridge. I bake it in a glass bowl, freeze the left overs. I also make a batch of Atkins pancakes, which lasts me several days. I am about to take on the adventure of trying to make Atkins bread. (I'm not a Susie Hommaker type!)
You'll find so many recipies here from those of us who enjoy eating and, like me, aren't chefs, however, we can make a few simple recipies which will bring the enjoyment back into meal time.
I find that I enjoy this WOE as it's rich, and I know it's good for me.
Please hang in there, and keep up with the vitamins, supplements and water!
You really are doing great.
Just think, if you ONLY loose one pound a week, in a year, you'll have lost 52lbs! So the weeks that you stall, or the weeks you loose more than a pound will average out.
Murp