Hello all,

Little did I know, I have been on Atkins OWL (ongoing weight loss) stage for the past 6 weeks. I have lost 12 pounds, but I originally started the diet in order to naturally cure myself of adrenal fatigue from years of stress, and unhealthy habits in grad school of not sleeping for three days in a row, not eating, and fretting constantly.

Now I only want to lose another 20 pounds, and once I realized that I was essentially on Atkins, I thought, hmm... I could lose the weight FASTER if I were in the induction phase!!

I cut the following things out of my diet: small amounts of 70% cocoa dark chocolate at night (~10g carbs), a turkey muffin (~10g carbs), carrots at breakfast, and cashew butter right before dinner.

This is truly a three-part inquiry.

why??
1) Because previously, I could weigh myself every single morning and be able to judge if what I was eating was causing me to gain weight (I hardly fluctuated at all!)
2) Following the first day of induction, I gained TWO FREAKING POUNDS!
3) I hadn't eaten cheese, butter, mayo, cream, or bacon before yesterday

so here are my questions:
1) Is it natural to gain much weight at first during the induction stage?
-Should I wait it out, and HOPE to lose weight this week?

2) Should I stay in the induction phase, or go back to OWL???? (I was happy before! )
-Should I take it easy on the cheese and butter, or maybe pork grinds?

3) Is it NECESSARY that I eat a bunch of fat with each meal in order to enter ketosis?
-I bought the ketosis test strips, and noticed that my levels increased drastically by the end of the day yesterday, but were back to trace amounts this morning

...At this end, I've gone back to eating my chocolate, and not adding butter to my proteins. I'm under 20g of carbs per day...

Any guidance or suggestions would be greatly appreciated


EXTRA INFO for the curious:
-I don't drink alcohol
-I add extra salt to EVERYTHING, and that hasn't stalled my weight loss in the last 6 weeks.
-I count my calories, because a 1000 calorie deficit previously (over 3 months this year) did not result in weight loss, and it makes me happy to know that what I'm doing works
-I don't work out (except for occasional 20 minute walks) in order to give my adrenals a rest
-I sleep at least 8 hrs per day
-I drink lots of water (probably not 8 glasses), and drink lots of tea (one cup of caffeinated green tea per day)
-I drink apple cider vinegar
-I make my own salad dressings from scratch (latest concoction has less that 1 gram of carbs per serving)
-I steam all my meats, and have 3 servings per day (~90 grams/day)
-I don't eat any later than 8pm
-I have very little if any diet soda every week
-I take an over-abundance of vitamins, and adaptogens as a daily regimen

1) Is it natural to gain much weight at first during the induction stage?
-Should I wait it out, and HOPE to lose weight this week?
One pound is 3500 calories, To your question yes! The reason why you would gain those pounds because it was never worked off. If you eat 3500 calories you will gain a pound if you do not work at least half of that off. If you go the next day and eat the same amount of 3500 calories you will gain another pound!


2) Should I stay in the induction phase, or go back to OWL???? (I was happy before! )
-Should I take it easy on the cheese and butter, or maybe pork grinds?

I truly believe you can eat whatever you want; however you need to burn at least half of what you eat off in the gym or at home. You could cutout butter or even any-type of meat for a week and see how your weight loss goes.



3) Is it NECESSARY that I eat a bunch of fat with each meal in order to enter ketosis?
-I bought the ketosis test strips, and noticed that my levels increased drastically by the end of the day yesterday, but were back to trace amounts this morning

This question I can not answer because I have never tired ketosis.

I consumed less than 1500 calories though...
and I forgot... I actually did three sets of squats and kickbacks, and I took a steam bath for about 30m. I understand the theory behind a calorie deficit.

Ketosis means that your body is burning your own body fat for fuel through the production of ketone bodies from fat stores.
-This is achieved through eating less than 20g of carbs per day, hence the "induction phase" of Atkins. You have never tried this????

I consumed less than 1500 calories though..


Now this is interesting; because my intake is 1650 calories a day and sometimes I do eat less; however I work it off in the gym, I still manage to lose weight. I lose up to 3-4 pounds a week if I stick with my plan.

If you are eating less then 1500 calories you should not be gaining weight. You should be losing weight. If you are gaining weight your body could be in starvation mode.


"For most people, eating 1,500 calories a day shouldn't lead to weight gain. In fact, this caloric intake is more likely to result in weight loss than anything else. This isn't to say a 1,500-calorie diet won't cause you to gain weight. Your body's caloric need is affected by your age, height, weight and level of physical activity, so you may find under certain circumstances that 1,500 calories is too many calories for you.It really depends on your age, weight, height and physical activity level if 1,500 calories will cause weight gain." LIVESTRONG.COM

Unfortunately, I believe that Livestrong is one of the most contradictory websites on the internet. It's like a very large blog written by many people who are not responsible for the "mis"-information they put out there.

What I'm saying, is that for the past 6 weeks, my weight has stayed fairly constant, or dropped--day-in and day-out (that is, if I don't have more than 50g of carbs in one day)

UPON cutting my carbs further, and replacing the lost calories with fat calories, I miraculously gained 2 pounds overnight.

For those who know a lot about Atkins, or the ketogenetic diet, I was wondering if this a normal fluctuation, or if I should go back to consuming more carbs and less fat

Okay, super sorry! I'm cranky!

I actually almost went into dietetics as an undergrad, and through years of crazy stress, I've found it nearly IMPOSSIBLE to lose weight like a normal person.

I may have discovered why I gained weight initially... I don't think I was drinking enough water. Since I've never experienced induction before, I should allow it a full week to work, and drink enough water!!

I'm going to stop adding butter to my meat, and drink 80 oz. of water every day in order to ease into induction properly.

Who votes that not enough water was my problem??

Okay, I've been through two days of induction, and I'm still up two pounds total. Yesterday I drank a mega butt-ton of water, and woke up three times in the middle of the night to pee!

This is terrible for my adrenal fatigue, and I'm wondering if induction is a bad idea for me.

Does anyone confer?


Here's what I ate yesterday, and what I'll eat today:

Breakfast: 2 strips of bacon, 2 over-easy eggs

vitamins (mostly for adrenal fatigue):
-B-complex liquid with pantothenic acid
-2000 mg vitamin C
-magnesium
-B12

extracts:
-licorice root
-ashwagandha root

Lunch: cup of romaine with 1/2 cup of veggies (peppers, roma tomato, and zucchini), with homemade oil & apple cider vinegar dressing (<1 carb)
- 4 oz. of chicken, steamed
- string cheese

extracts:
-licorice root
-ashwagandha root
-Rhodiola

Dinner: same salad as before
- 4 oz. pork
- string cheese
- 6 tablets of 70% cocoa, dark chocolate bar

vitamins:
-multivitamin

Totals:
1108 calories
19g Carbs (19g fiber, 13.7g sugars)
86.5g Protein
-my app doesn't show me how many grams of fat, and I'm too busy to do the math right now

Thanks JerseyGyrl, that makes sense! I didn't realize that certain foods were absolutely forbidden, I just figured that as long as I kept under 20 carbs, I would be okay...

SO, I cut out my dark chocolate, and opted to make my own "cocoa treats" that are .5 g carbs per TWO servings! woohoo!

Yesterday and the day before I ate 18g and 15g of carbs respectively (without dark chocolate bars), so I'm only counting that I've been on induction for the last two days... Hopefully I'll lose more by tomorrow!

The point is, I lost back the two pounds since I "attempted" to start induction (4 days ago)! YAY!
I'm in a weight loss competition, so now I'm back down two pounds since my last weigh in--- I just have to keep these pounds off until tomorrow morning

I'm not winning! Some other guy is winning that cut out "fast food" from his diet-- NOT FAIR!! I am super strict, and all he does is cut out fast food.. bah! I can't remember the last time I ate fast food!

AND... I gained three pounds overnight! How great... That's it! I'm going back to OWL, where I have consistently lost 2 pounds a week... I don't care what anyone thinks.

The treats include less than one Tbsp. of unsweetened cocoa powder (2g carbs), stevia, butter, and coconut oil

The recipe makes about 20 servings

Each serving contains:
5.2g fat
0.3 g carbs
0.1 g protein

Previously, I had been consuming about 50g of carbs per day, and not consuming cheese, cream, or bacon. I had been losing 2 POUNDS A WEEK!

I think it's fair to say that induction isn't the ideal balance of macronutrients for some people. I am consuming the same amount of calories before, except for that I'm gaining weight.

Before, I didn't have cravings for carbs... I was fine. I think a person should be able to do what works for them--- not what is "written in a book as the BEST WAY to do a diet.."

I don't see why I can't start Atkins off with the OWL phase if it's working for me.

Losing weight should be the goal, not sticking rigidly to a plan that's making you GAIN WEIGHT

And I know it's not water weight, because everything I eat is running straight through my intestines

Okay cool. Sorry I'm so cranky, I get crazy when I gain weight