Hello all. I just wanted to say hi and introduce myself. This is my 3rd time doing Atkins but my first time post baby and serious. I am 5'7" and weigh 200 lbs. I'm not sure of a goal weight, maybe 150 or so but I would like to be a size 8/10. My biggest problem area are large "girls" 40DDD and the tummy area. Currently my stomach is larger than my waist and that sucks. My measurements are 42-35-43 (Chest-waist-hips). I haven't been a size 8/10 since maybe junior high. I was a size 12 with a D cup in high school. Anyway, I just spent 6 hours reading a lot of old posts so hopefully I won't re-ask the same questions. This is my 2nd day and my head hurts and I feel a little sick to my stomach. My menu is:
B - 2 turkey sausage links/boiled egg
S- celery w/cream cheese
L - chicken breast/green beans
S - 1 oz almonds
D - fish/spinach

I am eating every 3 hours or so to keep my metabolism going. I also have tracked my menu on fitday and without the nuts I was only taking in 930 calories which for me was way too low. I find that if I don't at least take in over my BMR, my body goes into starvation mode and I don't lose anything.

Any tips or suggestions from some of the regulars? Anyone else find that they need to eat more to lose weight? I've been reading up on the nuts and I guess the biggest problem was that they were not being eaten in moderation. I hope I don't need to cut them out. If so, any way to keep my cals up so my body doesn't go into starvation mode? I've rambled enough.

SIO

Hi SIO -

You are experiencing detox and it may continue for a couple more days. Your body is getting rid of the bad carbs and getting used to not receiving them. Once you get past this, you'll feel great! Hang in there and keep going.

Welcome back to Atkins and Good Luck. I am also 5'7 and was 234 to start with. I am down to 150 now and it looks pretty healthy on me. I am trying to lose 5 more lbs. I wear a size 4-6 now. I am a 36DD on top and I still have to wear large shirts and always will, but much better than the 2X's I was wearing. I have tracked my calories and 1200-1400 daily works best for me while doing Atkins. It takes me this many calories to lose weight and not feel hungry. My exercise is walking either outside or on treadmill. I am hoping to find a gym with a pool and take some water aerobics classes for me and my daughter. Also plan to get a bike and go bike riding with her. Wishing you the best.

Hello SIO -

It does sound like you aren't eating enough. The great part about Atkins is you can eat more normal portions of low/no-carb foods...as opposed to the old way of dieting which is starving yourself. No fun!

Today is day 14 of the Atkins diet and like you; this is my second time trying and my first time post-baby to do a diet. I am 5"6 and have a 9 month old. Coming to this site was probably the best thing I could have done for myself while doing this diet. I urge you to check in here everyday -- or if you feel like you need a pick-me-up, come more! I come a few times a day now and love reading everyone's posts. I've actually learned a ton of things from everyone here.

Listen to JerseyGyrl -- she definitely knows what she is talking about. Look at all of the weight she lost! She's totally inspirational and was one of the first people I chatted with here.

I haven't been on the diet that long so I'm not the best person to dole out advice on it yet...but from my experience on the diet, I started out with good portions of the diet meaning I was sure to eat good sized portions the first few days so I wouldn't feel hungry. I drank a TON of water -- I was peeing all day long! ha ha!! I took my vitamins as the diet suggests and slowly came off my coffee each day (I was drinking a few cups a day). Now I still have my one cup of coffee each morning, but it’s half decaf and if I want another cup during the day, I’m fine with simply decaf.

I read up all I could on the diet. For me, it helped to keep my mind busy on the benefits of losing this excess weight so I wouldn't think of snacks and all the foods "I thought" I was missing out on. Before, that was the downfall for me. I would dream of snacks and bad foods and end up falling off the wagon. This time, I went about it differently and as you can see, I've lost 10 pounds in 11 days (I weigh myself every Friday – so hopefully that will be more).

Good luck to you --- hang in there --- come back here often and well give you encouragement!

Welcome SIO! Where in Ohio? My family lives in Mt. Sterling and Washington Court House. I lived 12 years in Westerville.

I have only one thing to say -- eat more! You do not have to limit calories at all.

So far today, I had 3 slices of bacon, 3 sausage links, 1 1/2 eggs scrambled in butter with cheese for breakfast.

My morning snack was a hot dog (1 gram of carbs) with cheese and a little chopped onion.

My lunch was a salad with ranch dressing, grilled fish and shrimp with some grilled veggies.

For dinner, my husband is grilling elk and we will have asparagus with it.

Oh and my afternoon snack was a hamburger patty with cheese and sliced tomatoes.

When I first started Atkins, I'll bet I ate every couple of hours. I never allowed myself to feel a hunger pain. When I wanted to eat, I ate -- and as long as I stuck to the list, I didn't worry about it.

I've lost 145 lbs so far doing it this way. You can do this!

Welcome Sio-this is a great place for motivation! I come here every day for inspiration, and it has really helped. Good luck to you!

hi i'm new here - sort of - i've been trying to do atkins since january and lurking since then with not alot of success (10 lbs) and my husband has been doing it with me and has had simular lack of success. 1st thing we eliminated to try to make adkins work was the atkins products (bars & shakes) next think we elinated was nuts and (most cheese) and i started keying things into fitday to make sure that we were'nt missing anything we both walk 30 min a day at lunch and i small amount of coffee or diet soda - most days i get 60-80 oz water Yesterday i had less than 1200 calories and 20 net carbs and i GAINED a 1/2 lb!!!
the only good that has come of this is that i'm not hungry all the time but I'm really ready to throw in the towel!!!
and it's not that time of montha and i'm not retaining water from muscle strain ...

any ideas what the heck we are doing wrong?

Thank you all for the tips.

JerseyGryl - how much weight have you lost? What phase are you in? Wow, 3 scrambled eggs and 6 slices of bacon... that's alot. If I did that for a week that would be 21 eggs and 42 slices of bacon I'm not sure I would want to do that much. I'm all for eating but almost 2 dozen eggs and 2 packs of bacon... umm... I see that I need to add a cup of salad to each meal and maybe snack on some pepperoni w/cheese instead of almonds.

Buffy0 - It seems like just yesterday my youngest was 9 months old. Now she is 21 months. Don't they keep you busy? Are you bf or bottle feeding? If you are bf I found that Atkins and bfing just don't mix plus my body just held on to weight until I weaned her.

Hockeyfan7 - I am in Cincinnati. I love going to Jeffersonville outlet mall in Wash CH. I also lived in Columbus for about 5 years too. Did you feel sick after eating 6 pieces of meat and then a hot dog and then grilled shrimp and fish and then more grilled elk? That just seems like so much meat. Do you have a problem with constipation after that... (sorry if too much tmi). I just worry that all that meat would back me up.

Lilybelle - wow you can wear a 4-6 at 150 lbs and a 36DD chest? I must shop where you shop. When I was 150 lbs I wore a 12/10 on top and a 10 on bottom. I too kept the DD chest but wish I could lose some more of the girls. How long did it take you to get to 150 from 234? What size were you when you were 234? You seem like my body twin so I know there is hope for me. Do you mind posting your measurements? If not that's cool. Do you think the last 5 lbs you lose will affect your chest size? I was really hoping that by losing this weight my chest would significantly decrease. What was your chest size at 234? O.k. enough of the 3rd degree.

Thanks ladies for all of your responses. Today is day 3 and I'm feeling a little better. I had another killer headache last night so I couldn't even play with the kiddies. I tried to eat another sausage patty with breakfast and I will try to get more food with my meals but not sure if I will be able to eat so much meat.

SIO

Hello slimminginohio -

They do grow up fast! He definitely keeps me on my toes that's for sure!

I breastfed for 5 months and stopped when I returned back to work. Yes, I agree with you, Atkins is not that great when breastfeeding. You need other nutrients when feeding like that. If you are still breastfeeding, I would hold off and do the phase 3 or 4 of Atkins.

Hi JeanB -

I think you and hubby should start over. Do you have the book? Try doing the diet and stick to the strict induction rules. I don't think you can have nuts in the induction phase...and make sure to limit cheese to 3 oz in one day. Also, those veggie carbs can sneak up on you so be sure to measure your intake. You need to get into deep ketosis so it works. I know a lot of people don't really like them but I bought those urine strips and test my ketosis levels every morning and every night. I love them! Some nights it's lighter and shows I probably ate too many carbs that day so I can go back in my journal and see what I did wrong right away.

Are you exercising?

yes we are both walking 30 min a day monday thru friday and we just started rollerblading on the weekend because it's nice out but we haven't gone far - we do have a couple versions of the book (didn't know which to buy) we do have the ketosticks but we haven't used them yet - we had been taking multivitimin and calcium but just added:
Acetyl L-Carnitine
CoQ10
Chromium Picolinate

Hi JeanB -

I have Diet Revolution. It's an older book I think but it's totally fine for me to refer to when I have questions so if you have a couple of versions, you are probably ok.

Sounds like you have the exercise part down which is great! Keep it up!

Are you sure to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner along with snacks? It says not to go more than 6 waking hours without eating. If you are not consuming enough calories, that will stall your weight loss. Also, it's really important to be sure you are in the ketosis state. I suggest starting the diet again and doing the urine test each morning and night. I think you'll find no traces to start and as the diet progresses, it should slowly move your body into ketosis.

I also suggest doing a food journal -- I use fitday.com. It's free and super useful! Especially at first. I used it in the beginning and it was really useful. I too found myself kind of floundering in the first few days. So I bought the urine strips and started keeping a journal. It's all about finding that right balance for yourself.

Be sure to eat enough - the Atkins diet is lovely for that! And for the first 2 weeks, cut out the nuts.

jean b-just be careful about those "net carbs". Manufacturers aren't listing these things with just Atkins in mind. Figure out the net carbs on premade items for yourself-you should really just take total carbs and subtract the ones from protein, because ALOT of people don't do well and stall with the sugar alcohols that the manufacturers automatically subtract so that the product looks good to dieters (like the low-carb ice-creams, and even the Atkins bars, etc).
Buffy's right-try the ketostix-that way you know for sure whether or not your diet has put you into ketosis. There aren't many people out there that don't lose if Atkin's is done properly, and if you are one of those people-read the book. There is a whole chapter devoted to solutions for those who can't.