I hate to post a stupid question and I really did try to find the information myself through the other postings, but I really need to know if I am doing something wrong here. I know I shouldn't complain because I have been losing weight, but at a slower rate than what I normally do. I have noticed that my appetite has decreased dramatically. I feel so full all the time, including mornings. I can't even force myself to eat one egg and a sausage. Just the smell of the food actually makes me sick. I'm not sure why this is happening and this didn't occur in January when I first tried the Atkins. Lunch and dinner are alittle better, but after about six bites I can't eat anymore. I've read somethings about your body going into starvation mode and that isn't something I want to do. Any suggestions, please!!!

p.s. I don't know how to really count calories so I'm not sure how much I'm having....

I had the same problem. Its like you gotta force yourself to eat more.. lol You should go to www.fitday.com and put in what you're eating, you might be eating more than you think you are. And as long as you're eating atleast 1200 you won't go into starvation mode.

What I did was add oils, butter and extra salad dressing just to get in the more fat which also upped my calories quite a bit. Adding a couple teaspoons of olive oil to salads and stuff was alot easier then eating another pound of meat.

This seems to be a common complaint...lack of desire to eat. It will pass. You got great advice...I add butter and mayo to up my carbs if I'm having a not so planned day.

Keep with it...and Congradulations on your weightloss!!

cin

SlimShAdY: Thank you so much for that link to fitday.com. This
is just what I needed. When I actually put
down everything I consume it does equal to
about 1200. One more question do I have
to subtract the amount of calories I burn
when exercising from that number? If so then
I'm only consuming about 600 calories.
Anyways, eventually I will understand all
of this..Thanks Again

Cinderella: I'm glad it's not just me going through this. Some
of my friends here at work are also doing the Atkins
and none of them seem to have this problem.
I'll take your advise on adding the butter, not to
fond of the mayo though. Thanks for the
encouragement and Congratulations to you
too...

Hi Anessa,

It is essential that you keep your calories up.... to 10-12x your body weight....even more if you're exercising intensely. Glob on the salad dressings and the butter. Have some cheese and sausage. Your appetite will return to normal soon enough, so don't worry about it too much, but do be aware of your calorie target and try to get there. Folks who are so used to the low-cal, low-fat mindset just LOVE this new lack of appetite and skip along their merry way eating <1000 cals a day. They may even lose weight....but eventually they will stop and in the meantime their metabolism has been permanently slowed down. Makes it harder and harder to lose the weight.

So do be careful and try to keep your cals up, ok?

Let us know if you need further help.

Another thing you can try is to eat smaller, more frequent meals like every 3 hours or so throughout the day. It's a bit easier to get your calories in that way, especially if your appetite isn't very big. It's been suggested that smaller more frequent meals also helps keep your metabolism fired up and helps you lose weight a bit faster. It also helps keep your blood sugars more stable. I seem to go through phases where I have a very good appetite and some where I don't feel like eating at all for a few days.