Getting discouraged!!!
 

So I wrote this as a comment in another post but I want to start a new one since I need a pep talk BIG TIME.

Hubby and I are doing Atkins together. We started on Sunday. I'm in the prediabetes range (grandma and dad both got type 2 at 60 so I knew it was coming but I'm only 43! But I lived a VERY high carb lifestyle. My glucose has been 112 for about a year with an AC number of 5.9 so definitely in the pre range. So we started Sunday. My biggest fear as that I'm metabolically resistant due to my sugars being out of whack. But by Wednesday I was down 4 lbs so I though yay my body will respond to this!!!

Yeah well....Thursday I went UP 1.5 lbs and today (Friday) I stayed the same. What gives? So I think I may be metabolically resistant after all. 3.5 lbs lost from Sunday to Friday on week 1. I know it's still a loss but the book says if it's only a slight loss that I'm probably metabolically resistant. WONDERFUL. I know, I know....still going in the right direction.....and I still have two more days AND another week on induction. Looks like I'll be of those who stays in induction for a while.....too bad for my hubby, he's down 9 but will have to stay in induction if I do since I'M the cook! LOL....he has 50 total to lose so staying in a little longer won't kill him. :)

The ONLY other thing I can think of is I know the beginning is just mostly water weight and you lose that faster than when burning fat in ketosis. My strips are purple (and my breath is lovely, NOT) so I know I'm in ketosis. So maybe that's why I slowed down. I didn't have a lot of water weight to lose because I'm in the pre-diabetic range and had been peeing non-stop since my body was trying to rid itself of excess insulin. I'm actually NOT running to the bathroom as often now on Atkins like hubby is. I always drank 64oz of water so my body was used to it. Hubby....not so much. Poor thing has been getting up two or three times in the night to pee. Welcome to my world baby!

:(

Good Morning Cattwoman and DH! So this is so good that you 2 are doing this eating way of life together and getting healthier together. Its nice to have encouragement and remember...... men lose faster (most do - lucky ducks!) Catt... Induction and weight loss is just different each time and for each person. I have done it so many times and sometimes I would lose 10 lbs and sometimes I would only lose 4 lbs for the 1st 2 weeks (and I have always been 100+ overweight). I also think hormones have ALOT to do with weight loss and water retention. I think that that too is part of the reason that Dr. Atkins made induction 2 weeks. So that woman during Tom before Tom After Tom.. (well you know) would get over that hormone hump (even me 8 years past menopause get "good" weeks). So I am thinking.. just give it time. The weight WILL come off. Give yourself the whole 2 weeks and see what the scale reads.... but more importantly how YOU FEEL! and how the clothes fit! annnddddd how the sugar rating in your blood will register and THAT stress will fade away in your heart and mind! Just be patient. Its only 8 more days... just 8 days of your life... small little part of it (Induction also helps create good habits too!)...

HUGS to you.. YOU and your DH can do it! YES YOU CAN!

Thank you!!! And after all that I was DOWN 2 lbs today! Once a week, I have to remember that. And my jeans DID fit looser yesterday than they did last week! Thanks for the encouragement! :)

Glad the scales decided to reward you today! :) I have learned you have to be very patient with this diet. Sometimes you will be up for absolutely no reason, but if you keep plugging along usually those lbs will disappear in 1-2 days and usually a couple more will go with them. I'm doing Atkins with a friend and we have both noticed we usually have a good week in weight loss and then a not so good one.
Hang in there! And listen to Sue! Shes getting close to the 100 lb mark!

Hi Cat, welcome.

I agree w Carol and Sue, you just need to be patient.

This is my fourth or fifth serious go at low carb (many false starts not counted). My loss pattern has been different each time too, although does seem slower and tougher as I age...

I've been predominantly low carb since 2009, and from what I've seen in those 4 or so years most people will lose about the same amount of weight (in proportion to their starting weight) over the first month. Some might drop a ton in the first week, then plateau for 3 weeks, some might lose relatively little the first week but keep on continuously losing a little week after week - and all variations in between.

I track my weight daily (on the 5 pound challenge mainly, link here : http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/atki...ml#post4954683) but I don't freak out about the occasional upswing. And prolonged stalls just help me look for new things to try to improve my diet.

I'm about the same age as you and I have found that I need to watch both carbs and calories in order to lose - and I've seen that turn out to be true for a great many women over 40. Men and younger women are luckier - and yes, men often lose much, much faster.

If after a few weeks you're not losing at a pace to keep yourself motivated, please share a few days of your food - often the collective experience here can help identify what some of the problems might be - but for now, it looks like you're doing great!

Good luck! With patience and persistence you'll get there.

Thank you all! Totals for week 1: me, down 4.5 and hubby down 8.5. Not too bad! The end of next week will tell. I'm just REALLY hoping I'm not metabolically resistant. I don't mind losing slowly (you are more likely to keep it off) but I just want to make sure this WILL work for my body! And I'm going to use Spark People (or maybe I'll try My Fitness Pal since a lot of people recommend it...even though I'm not exercising yet...and I stress YET, I will!) to track what I'm eating to see how many calories it comes out to be. It still HAS to be less than I was eating before, LOL!

Catwoman, you're over-thinking this. You and hubby are doing well.

On all diets, your weight will fluctuate daily. So long as it keeps going down in the long run you are fine. Do not get upset when it goes up.

The only thing that should upset you or cause concern is if you eat outside your diet.

Or if you are sticking to plan honestly and rigorously and over a reasonable amount of time, (!) find your weight is not shifting. Which means you are probably doing something wrong.


Reasons apart from over eating for causing the scale to go up:
you ate salty food
you are menstruating
you exercised really hard
you ate processed food with a high sodium content
you ate your usual quantity but stayed in bed the whole day.

Even if you are insulin resistant, you can still lose weight. You can even lose weight on a diet in which you eat carbs.

You have to foster your patience with weightloss. And i believe, adopt an eating plan you can live with for the rest of your life, if not at the outset, at least be prepared to develop one. The sooner the better.

If you don't like your diet plan, change it. They will all work if you can stick to them.

Thank you! I DID eat salty food last night....stir fry chicken and cauliflower "rice" so that could totally be why. My hands were swollen when I woke up too. I just thought on Atkins salt was a good thing since I don't drink the broth. Oh well.

I have the same issue as any salt causes me to swell. I can gauge this by the wide wedding band I wear. When I feel swollen, I drink a cup of warm water with lemon juice in it and usually spend a good part of the day going back and forth to the potty. LOL

I will usually see a significant drop off the scales in a day or two.

I used to stress over the daily weight check as you seem to be. If it gets to be a problem now, I put myself on time-out and don't weigh for a few days. I also reflect back on what I have been eating as some times what seems so minute may affect your scale reading significantly. I choose to use the Ketone testing strips daily as I know that if it is dark purple, my body is eating away at my fat as energy. Eventually the scale will show the losses as well.