Hi guys,

I started Atkins on May 11th and have so far lost about 17lbs. I keep reading these posts about people who lost that much in the first week or two! What am I doing wrong? I am also exercising religiously, an hour five to seven times a week alternating cardio and weights. I know that 17lbs isn't bad but it just seems like everyone I know who is doing this is losing at a much faster rate than I am.

Help!

Could you be gaining muscle and losing inches?? All that exercise would do that!!!!

Congrats on the 17 lbs taht is awesome!

Seventeen pounds is wonderful! But I understand your frustration - when other people are losing fast, I want the same results, darn it!

I have gotten a lot of good advice 'round here. Perhaps you might want to post what you ate today - maybe people can give you some clues as to what they've eliminated or included?

Wow, what quick responses!

I'm not sure about lost inches, I will find out how much I've actually lost next week because I joined a challenge at my gym to see who could get the most fit in a month, that sort of thing. But I do know that in one week I lost about 4 inches off my body, including about 1.5 off my hips, which I imagine is good. This type of measurement is very new to me so I don't know what is the average loss, etc.

Doing Atkins has been pretty easy for me (after those first two weeks when I had NO energy) but I do have two problems: First, I can't for the life of me figure out what to have for breakfast other than eggs (keep in mind that despite my almost 2 months on the program, I am still in induction) and second, I love diet soda and I am having trouble finding flavorful substitutes. I drink plenty of water but I need to drink stuff that has some flavor, too. Any suggestions?

I think sodium might be doing me in, I'm not sure. I have taken to eating hotdogs (pop a few of those babies in the microwave for a minute with some cheese and you've got a fast meal) but I think their sodium content may be too high. I can't think of anything else, I don't really drink soda anymore although I'd love to and I'm doing pretty well about eating only what's on the induction "allowed" list.

I just want to be one of those people who can say, I lost 10lbs in one week! Haha.

As to what I've eaten today:
3 zapped turkey hotdogs with some cheese
and about oh I'd say 3 or 4 glasses of water


I appreciate all your help and support!

I think Atkins spicificly warns against hot dogs in the literature, so try going off those for a while. I also have to remind myself not to rely on so much cheese and to make certain I get the salad and water in.

Is there a thread here that's JUST for weightloss and menus? That would be so useful - a thread where you give your menu for the previous day and your weight change...so we can see what typically gets results and what may hold people up. I know it's different for everyone but it's SO frustrating when you're doing everything you can think of and the scale won't budge.

Oh, I don't remember seeing that in the book, but then again I have a horrible memory. So, that's what I'll do. I'll cut the turkey dogs out and cut down on the cheese. I do need to eat more salad since I have trouble with that.

The good thing, at least, is the scale is moving in the right direction. Just not nearly as fast as it seems to be doing for others.

Thanks guys! My weigh in day is Sunday and on Tuesday I'll be having measurements taken to see how many inches I've lost in the past two weeks. Wish me luck!

Any suggestions as to what I can have for breakfast instead of eggs?

Thanks again!

Hi Aziza and welcome.
I don't know how old you are but I do know that the older we get the harder it is to get those pounds to melt off. When I was even ten years younger, I could easily lose 20 lb in a month but now it takes much longer. The first time I went on Atkins, I lost 13 lb the first week but that was in the 70s and I was a lot younger and livelier. A lot also depends on what kinds of medications you might be on. Some of them can really cause lengthy stalls. Your inches lost should make you very happy. After all, it's not how much we weigh that's important but how those pounds are distributed and how fit and firm we are. Nice to have your clothes fitting looser too, isn't it?
If you like quick meals that you can just nuke, check out our low carb recipes. Many people make up several pounds of ground beef into nicely seasoned burgers, precook them and then freeze them. That way you can just take out what you need and zap it. You can also make sausage patties out of ground pork and do the same thing with them. YOu are in control of how much salt goes into them and you don't get the artificial coloring and other additives you might find in commercially made sausage.
There are also recipes for several filling soups and even a mock pizza that is great reheated. Check them out.

Hi Linda,

I'm 24 and I wish I could lose 20lbs in one month! This is why I think I might be doing something wrong. I'm not on any meds and other than what was noted above, I don't think I'm doing anything outside of what's allowed for Induction. Someone recently suggested that it might be my metabolism but I would have thought that all this exercise would have taken care of that.

I will definitely check out the low carb recipe section as I'm always looking for variety, although I must say that as far as diets go, this has been the easiest to stick to which makes me really optimistic about finally losing the weight I need to lose.

aziza: at 9:06 pm last night, you posted that you'd eaten 3 turkey hot dogs with cheese and 3-4 glasses of water. was that ALL????? please say it isn't so!!!!!!!!

YOU NEED TO EAT!!!!!! and you MUST drink more liquid. 64 oz is the bare minimum, and some folks go over 100 oz. it doesn't exactly wash away the fat, but it gives your body the water it needs to metabolize everything efficiently.

i strongly suggest that you start up a menu thread and post what you're eating. others will comment [since we can't help ourselves!] AND other folks will also post what they've eaten so you can get some ideas.

as for breakfast, leftover chicken or turkey is a nice change.

Jiff I agree EAT!!!!

first the muscle gain you have done is fantastic. that is where the measurements will come in handy. you should also have yoru body fat content in hand. you will not see a huge drop in that butif you work the numbers for that you will see that you have lost much fat and gained much muscle. (muscle weighs much more than fat so do not be dissapointed. ) Many gain wieght when started an extensive wiehgt training program. look at how well your clothes fit. if you hold and wait you will see a sudden drop. that is the metabolism from the muscles kicking in.

an example. when i was 150 lbs i could bearly fit into a size 14 but when i was exercising and got down to 170 i could squeeze my butt in a size 12!! so when exercising do not watch the scale. you are definatly moving in the right direction!!

but you must eat!! especially with weight traiing. that will increase your bodys need or you will throw your body off so bad it will fight any weight loss effort you have!!!

Your not kidding Jiffypop, if all your eating on his diet is once a day and hot dogs of all things, that will do it....... Atkins himself says you can not do that on his diet.

You need to cut out all the processed meats (lunch meats, hot dogs) and watch your cheezes. When on induction your only alowed 3 - 4 oz of cheese per day. Gotta watch those nitrates too.

If you need fast meals, how about a boiled egg for breakfast. Some chicken & salad for lunch, don't forget the real fat dressing, blue cheese, ceasars, what ever you desire. For dinner a burger w/out bread, maybe a slice of cheese, some veggies or a steak, some fish, turkey......

Have a snack of celery w/cream cheese or some turkey bacon.

Sodium can definitly be a culprit. But eating only once a day on this diet is worse.

Hugs to you and it was really nice talking to you in chat the other night........let us know how you make out.

I'm starting Atkins on Monday the 7th...pray for me too !!

Leenie

UUUMMMM In Cairo is that in Egypt? Like several hours before us so that would be your morning??? or what is your time frame according to the east coast. Many of us are on the east coast so that would play a difference in your time frame too.

So any ways do post what you eat for the whole day

That way we car really get a feel for what youa re eating. and well we should get those daily menues back up and running!! (not today for me that piece of cake did me in for my diet today!!!)

Hi everyone!

Well, after going to the gym I went and bought lots of salad stuff and ground beef and steak so I can be well prepared and in advance (I'm going to make those burgers in advance and just nuke them, thanks for the suggestion!).

I had two meals today:

Beef and broccoli (and two slices of white American cheese, cut veeeery thin) and several bottles of water.

then

Steak with a little green beans and some cauliflower (what amounted to about a cup) and then a bunch of salad (less than two cups for sure), and a 33.8 oz bottle of flavored seltzer that's caffeine free, sodium free, and pretty much everything free *grin*

I will work harder on eating breakfast, that has certainly been very difficult for me. But I'm improving the salad and water and overall eating!

Weigh-in is tomorrow, wish me luck!

Oh, I need to change that. I was indeed in Cairo, Egypt for the past three years, but I recently moved back to the East Coast (NC).

I wish you all the luck, Leens! I'm sure this will go spectacularly well for you!

I will watch the nitrates and no more processed meats, that is for sure. What else do you guys eat for breakfast? (I'll give leftover chicken a try as soon as I make some! haha)

hmmm. aziza... really.. check out the low carb recipes. and somewhere dottiejohn has posted her breakfast muffin recipe. they're basically an omelette mixture that she spoons into muffin cups and bakes them. and then, get this!, she freezes them, so all she has to do is grab one in the morning and give it a quick nuke.

i am the queen of deviled eggs. my current favorite is salsa mixed into the yolks, with chipotle mayo, jalapeno mustard, and some ground chipotle. [see a theme here???]

a couple of chicks cook on the weekend, several chicken cutlets, whatever, and use that. others find the grocery store's already-cooked chickens to be a lifesaver, and my local also does half-turkey breasts.

and leenie.. love you... will send you a pm soon...

what else can i tell you, aziza??? hmm,,. nasus has posted wonderful-sounding ricotta pancakes somewhere around here.

and leenie is right about the unprocessed food. most of us eat relatively unprocessed...

bedtime!!! i spent three hours at the gym today and i'm tired!!!

goodnight all