I need some advice. I started the induction phase of Atkins 2 weeks ago and I have lost a total of .8 lbs. I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong. I haven't cheated, I'm working out and it's really starting to get to me. I don't drink pop, I drink decaff coffee, with only a bit of cream no sweetener. I'm drinking my water (2 litres a day!). I'm in ketosis. I just can't figure it out.
Sample menu:
Mon: Breakfast - 2 scrambled eggs, 2 pieces bacon, 1 cup decaf coffee
lunch - grilled salmon and salad,
dinner - roast chicken with sauteed cauliflower and tomatoes
Tues: Breakfast - 2 eggs and 2 pieces bacon, 1 cup decaf coffee
Lunch - Homemade chicken salad in lettuce wraps
Dinner - Lamb chops with sauteed red chard
Wed: - Breakfast - farmer's sausages (0 carbs), 1 cup decaff coffee
Lunch - leftover lamb with tiny bit of mustard and cheese in lettuce wraps
Dinner - Flank steak with brussle sprouts and broccoli
For workouts, I'm doing the C25K 3 days a week, with incline interval training 2 days a week. I do yoga at night 5 or 6 times a week.
Shantroy, (((HUGS))) Congratulations to you for choosing this healthy WOE!
I'm not sure, but if you were dieting before and already lost 14 pounds immediately before trying this (congratulations!) then maybe your water weight has already been shed before you started this.
You are still burning fat - the ketosis is proof of that - but a body can only burn at maximum 2 lbs. of fat per week. That's the human limit. And for us women, I'd say 1 lb. per week is more our maximum, honestly.
So what vanishes when people (like me) lose 12 pounds the first 12 days? It's not fat, that's for sure. It's hopefully not muscle, since I am exercising and eating lots of protein.
It's water.
If you have already lost your excess water, then you won't notice more than at most a pound a week loss. I know it's frustrating not to see the scale move down more quickly, but it might help if you concentrate instead on how much healthier you feel eating this way, than you felt on your old way of eating.
That's what I'm choosing to concentrate on anyway - I don't want to fall off my diet because this diet just makes me feel so great - more energy than I've had in years, and I feel better emotionally, too.
Anyway, I'm still a newbie, so I don't know much, but that's what I think is happening. But please don't give up!
I didn't add up your calories, but it doesn't look like you're eating that much. Maybe you're not eating *enough*? If your body thinks you're starving, it's going to hold onto whatever you give it even on Atkins, I'd think.
I don't expect dramatic loss during Induction because I've been dieting for so long already, but .8 is not acceptable. Maybe add up your calories and make sure you're getting at least 1200 a day.
thistoo, I'm pretty sure I'm getting enough calories as I just went to check and 2 eggs + 2 slices bacon is about 400 calories. I eat a large amount of protein so I'm sure I'm getting in my calories.
I didn't expect a huge loss, as I'd already lost some over the last couple of months and I don't have a large amount to loose, about 30lbs. So I wasn't expect a pound a day loss or anything like that. But I would have expect 5 or 6 lbs in 2 weeks.
Well I guess it depends on how you're cooking them, but unless you're using lots of oil or butter, I don't see how 2 eggs and 2 slices of bacon can add up to 400 calories. An egg is *maybe* 90 calories (if it's especially big) and a slice of bacon is 45 or so. That's a total of 270. Again, I don't know what you're scrambling them in, so obviously you know better than me.
Still, though, if it's not your calories, you could try adding some weight training. That will boost your metabolism as well as adding muscle to burn calories more efficiently.
2 eggs are come to 140. 2 slices of bacon is 230 calories. I put some cheese and a touch of cream in the eggs and cook the eggs in butter. So breakfast is easily 400 calories, more if I don't sneak in a 3rd slice of bacon which I've been know to do on occasion!
My first though was that I wasn't eating enough calories but I'm positive that I am. I'm super sensitive to not eating enough, anytime I've ever dropped below 1,200 calories it's triggered a migraine. I haven't had one of those in weeks. So I don't think calories is the problem. But who knows? Weightloss is soooooooo frustrating!
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Caroline brought up a very good point...fat. Are you getting enough fat? Atkins Induction is high fat....fattier cuts of meat, bacon, butter, full fat mayo, sour cream, heavy cream, full fat salad dressings. Since you aren't eating a lot of carbs, you should be eating more fat for your body to burn for fuel.
You didn't list any snacks, only breakfast, lunch & dinner. Are you eating snacks and if so what?
I'm not eating a whole lot of snacks, but if I do it's usually some deli roast beef, with a touch of mustard and some cheese or some salami. I'm not a huge egg lover, but if I get hungry between meals I'll have a hard boiled egg or two. I've never been a huge snacker, so that's difficult for me.
I put a fair bit of whipping cream in my coffee, use butter to saute my veggies. While I can't stand mayo on it's own my egg salad and chicken salad were made using full fat mayo and I ate several helpings of that. Salad dressing are usually caesar, or ranch or something else creamy along those lines.
For dinner's in the last two weeks, I've had rib eye steaks, salmon, chicken wings, spare ribs, brussle sprouts sauteed with bacon, halibut, roast chicken, pork chops, flank steak, grilled chicken and lamb.
Hi Everyone! I thought that I'd post this here again. We have a lot of newbies that might benefit from reading this. Does anyone know how to make this a sticky? I think it's important enough to keep on the message board all the time.
Info about stalls especially in the first few weeks
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I found this in another forum thought that it may be helpful for those that are beginning and feel that it is to frustrating. copy it and put it in your folder for later reading, it also pertains to those who have fallen badly and have gotten back on the wagon.
This article from Lynne's Lowcarb Page at http://homestead.juno.com/ellaxiak1/files/ or www.elaxiak.com
discusses the common 6 week stall that low carbers exeperience after starting a low carb plan. If you are stalled at the 5 to 6 week mark, you might consider the following:
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Common patterns of weight loss
From tracking a *lot* of people who become assimilated into the lowcarb lifestyle
(hehe...resistance is futile!) a pattern emerges....
the 2 week induction is pretty heady...weight lost just about every single day, enormous and unbelievable amounts of weight loss are reported.
This is often followed by complaints that weight loss "stalls" or that the rate drops to only 1 pound per week.
Many people just don't know that fat-loss ...the actual goal when on a weight-reduction" diet, is rate-limited. In other words, the human body has factors that prevent more than a certain amount of fatty-acid release from storage...and even more factors that prevent those released fatty acids from being used up instead of stored back into the fat cells.
A priority of the human body is survival. Anything that threatens its survival results in the cascade of events to maintain the previous status quo. Water fluctuations are one way the body does this.
OK...so you done good on Atkins' during induction...lost 10 pounds the first 2 weeks.
Maybe 7 the first week and 3 the second. But, whoa! Weeks 3 and 4 there is NO loss! And weeks 5 and 6 is only 1/2 pound each! So... what gives?
Initially, the body jettisons the water attached to the glycogen stores that we diligently deplete to get into ketosis...this accounts for about 3-5 pounds of water. In addition, muscle stores of glycogen are not being replaced when used...which will account for the rest. All in all...MAYBE 1/2 pound of fat was metabolized during the first week... and MAYBE 1/2 pound of fat was metabolized the 2nd week. Of that 10 initial pounds, only 1 pound was fat and 9 pounds water...
The body senses this lack and sirens start shrieking: Warning! Warning! Losing water... new thing...got to get back to the status quo! Brain tells body to produce and release that vasopressin antidiuretic hormone....more water is retained, and no weight loss noticed. Fat loss is still occuring, MAYBE even 2 pounds per week, because ketosis is firmly established and appetite supression is in effect...but water retention is hiding that continuing fat loss. The body is preventing dehydration with this mechanism, and that's a *good* thing. From the perspective of the scale, it can be discouraging.
Which is why the mantra: Water retention masks fat loss (repeated frequently to oneself ) is helpful.
Water retention will mask ongoing fat-loss for as long as the body retains the water. We can combat this by drinking more water...but we aren't going to totally overcome this mechanism during the initial water-loss phase of the Atkins diet.
By weeks 5 and 6, things start to get back in balance, and the scale will begin to reflect the true fat-loss...which, as mentioned before is rate-limited. Individuals vary, but max weight loss runs about 2 pounds per week...under extremely optimal conditions... or 1% of body weight.(whichever is the lower number)
Take-home message: Even when the scale is in a stall, fat loss can be occuring. Don't use the scale as an excuse to undermine your progress!
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If you really havent lost anything since starting low carb you might look into fat fasting or all-meat diets for a few weeks. Those are pretty extreme approaches to low carb and I'd first make sure that you really need to go to that extreme, but apparently there are people who need that degree of shock to the system to get weight moving.
Looks to me more like you're just in a plateau, and like the excellent post above says, that's NORMAL and TO BE EXPECTED on ANY diet, including low carb, including during induction. The key to breaking 99% of plateaus? Patience. I know, it sucks, but truly if you stay the course for 3-4 weeks you'll almost always see it break.
Our bodies aren't the simple calculators you find on the net of calories-in, calories-out -- there are lots of hormonal fluctations and readjustments going on, and losing weight will trigger some reactions that will make weight loss stall for a while for most of us.
Hang in there & know that if you need to move to a "plan B" after several more weeks, there are things you can do.
Boy, you really threw a brain-twister in here. Your meal plan looks fine and you're in ketosis. You use the keto-stix? How dark are they turning?
The ONLY food you mentioned that could be iffy was the salad dressing...ranch and caesar. Are they bottled? Do they have "sugar" in them? I don't just look at carbs when it comes to processed foods....I avoid any and all that have any sort of sugar, sucrose or dextrose in them.
Other than that, I have to tell you....the ONE thing for me that HAD to happen for me to lose fat was for me to be in ketosis. Of course, I say that with the caveat that I am NOT eating entire sticks of butter. So the ketosis is body fat, not only dietary fat.
So if you are in ketosis....this really doesn't make sense...unless it's not enough calories, too many calories, water retention, not enough fat, etc. How MUCH food are you eating?
I don't have a very big appetite on Atkins, generally speaking...BUT, occasionally I will make something I love...like chicken salad....and eat a butt-load of it.....and won't lose for a few days. Have you calculated how many calories/day you're eating?
I am really curious to know how you continue to do. This is indeed a puzzle...as being in ketosis, you should be seeing a loss.
Induction but not loosing?
