Help! I'm not losing!

  • Hi everyone. This is my first post to this forum. I am relatively new to Atkins and have been following induction for three weeks now. The thing is, I don't think I'm losing enough. The night before my hubby and I started the program, we went out for a last-night-pizza-binge and a milkshake. Then we started the program and on the first day or 2 I lost 10 pounds - which I chalked up to pizza, milkshake and probably a few pounds of water. Since day one, I have followed the program without cheating for three weeks now and I have lost a grand total of one more pound. I don't know what's wrong here, but I am getting really discouraged. I have lots and lots of weight to lose and I guess I expected that I would lose quickly at the beginning. I have always read such terrific success stories with this program about people losing quickly but it's just not happening for me. Can anybody lend me any words of advice, wisdom or support? I called the folks at Atkins to ask them what is going on, and they said I have lost a terrific amount of weight so far at 11 pounds. They don't think it matters that 10 pounds of it was lost in the first day or two. They were awfully nice but their only advice was to check the labels on my salad dressing to make sure there wasn't any sugar. (There was, so I cut that out and I'm eating oil and vinegar now.)

    Any help would be appreciated. I am really bummed out.

    PS - If it matters, I have started exercising about 30 minutes every other day (walking on a treadmill at about 2.5 mph) and that hasn't helped. Also, I am using the Ketostix and they have shown that I have been in ketosis all along - sometimes lightly colored, other times dark.

    Thanks for listening.
  • Hi!!
    I am new to this way of eating myself (only on day two of Atkins!!)
    but I think you have done the best thing by asking the Atkins people. Maybe you are retaining water and need more water to keep you from retaining so much? Or maybe even though you are keeping your carbs right -the calories are too high. If you are getting say 2000 calories a day it may be just enough to maintain your weight and not lose. It might be worth the effort to jot down the calories in your food and keep it say at 1800 a day and see if that works. Thats all I can think of.
    Good luck
    laura
  • Hmmmmmmmm? Well, maybe you need to cut out the salad all together for a few days, because even though it's veggies, it's still carbs. On induction you should really focus on meat, eggs, all that stuff. I lost 10 pounds the first 2 weeks, then only about a pound a week. It does sound like you're doing well. Also, when you switch from low-fat to low-carb, your body starts to build muscle that's been withering away. Plus the exercise is building some, too. Hope it turns out okay for you!
  • 11 pounds in 2 weeks is plenty! Let your body catch up, the first initial loss can be partly water, and you can gain muscle from eating adequate protein- you should figure 1 and1/2 to 2 lbs per week as the maximun loss expected!
  • Several things that could be happening is that first

    your body may not one that will respond to this very fast.

    second is are you drinking enough?? you NEED to take in fluid expecially if you lost that much at ne time. your body will retain fluid just like it did when you were cutting the calories it sences a starvation like mode like drought ant sends signals to your body to retain fluid so it does every last bit it can. so what happens is that you lose fat but retain fluid so the scale will not show any sighns of loss.

    next is are you eating enough?/ if you are taking in too little cals say under 1200 or depending on your current weight 15-- or 1800 then your body will go into the starvation mode

    and most important is what was your diet before this?? if you were noteating enough your body cold habe been wasting muscle and now that you are eating enough protein your body is using that to repair all the muscle damage that you have done, and as muscle weighs more than fat your scale will not show it at all. thai also happens if you have started an exercise program for me as an example. I weigh only 10 lbs less than I did of last year but this time lst year I waas a tight 18 now I am a 14. but only 10 lbs lighter. so muscle does weigh more than fat so you can be gettinghealthier but not showing it on the scale. does your clothes fit any different??