I started (back) on Atkins August 2008 and have been through 2 serious plateaus since then. Both times, I lost A LOT of size while the scale stayed the same, bouncing up and down 10-15 lbs. The scale was frustrating me because I knew I was staying totally on plan, but I kept losing inches, and having to buy smaller clothes, so I didn't stress.
Once I got to the point where I wasn't losing significant size, I investigated plateau busters. I found two that worked for me, however, YMMV.
The first is "Texas Low-Carb Elimination Diet" (google it). It's pretty severe, but it works. You use it to find out what foods are stalling you, and it involves periodic fasts. It's not safe for long-term dieting, but it's a good tool to find out what's causing you to stall. I stayed on it 3-4 weeks, found out several Atkins-friendly foods that were causing me issues (e.g., bacon), then went back to Atkins and continued losing.
More recently, I stalled BOOM. No weight loss, no size loss, even though I was still 100% OP. So I started on The Metabolism Miracle. It's a lot lower fat than Atkins and is a bit more permissive with some low-carb foods like nuts, green veggies, etc. After getting comfortable with it, I decided it was working better for me than Atkins so I made a permanent switch. I've also virtually given up red meat--and DC Hound
lived on red meat when I started this journey in 2008. It wasn't a snap to give up, but when all is said and done I'd rather lose this weight than keep eating steak. I let myself have one maybe once a month, but not daily, like before.
Investigate what's out there--there are plenty of low carb plans--and find the one that's right for you. I always say I think Robert Atkins should be nominated for sainthood--I truly believe that--but personally, I had to change from Atkins to a lower-fat plan because my body wasn't shedding weight like it needed to on the higher-fat plan. That's just me though, we're all different. That's part of the beauty of being human.
Plateau busters for Atkins?
