Hi - I just started Atkins yesterday.

I'm 5'3" and I weigh about 135. I want to lose about 20 lbs. How much loss can someone with not a lot to lose expect during the 2-week induction?

I'm really anxious to lose as fast as possible - I'm visiting my BF from Aug 12-15 - I haven't seen him in 2 months - and I want to surprise him

Plus, of course, I want to do this for my own benefit too

I wouldn't expect too much if I were you. Contrary to popular belief, this is not a quick fix. How much you lose depends on how much you have to lose (not much in your case), how you're eating, how you're exercising, your own personal metabolism and a thousand other little things.

I will warn you, though: do not do this if you are not planning on making lower carb a permanant change in your life. Making dietary changes or taking diet pills to drop weight and then going off of it will make you gain back what you lost plus some and it seriously screws up your body.

Ditto-One of the problems i find with the quick fix is a lot of the first few pounds are water.....so say you lose enough to drop a size in clothing, go and buy new things, go on holiday, then start to eat normally, you'll go back up like THAT.Before you know it the clothes are uncomfortably tight....

not trying to be discouraging....Ive seen people rage through this and lose 15 in 2 weeks....and some lose 3....but like Star said, unless its a LS change, be prepared to put it back....maybe with interest.

Hi there. Welcome.

I have to totally agree with Star and Marie. This a life style change and not a quick fix. So if you are getting into it and just need to know what to expect, I read somewhre that it seems the majority of people will lose up to 20% of what they need to lose in the first two weeks. So if you fall into the majority you can expect to lose up to 4 pounds. However most of it is water loss. In Atkins book he states that one can expect to lose AT MOST 0.5 pound of fat each week. Now this does not translate that you see a 0.5 pound reduction in the scale every week since the body might retain water, or you might gain muscle while losing fat and the scale does not show a reduction.

Another thing I saw many people state over and over when I first started Atkins is that do not let the scale be your gauge. Do your measurements because you might lose more inches before the scale catches up. And I say measure as many places as you can, LOL, and pay attention to your body's composition. You have to give it a couple of months and you will be amazed how good you look, even if the scale doesn't show that much reduction.

Again welcome and good luck.

undefined Hello,
I started a few days ago on the induction phase and have dropped a few pounds already. I'm 5'3" and my starting weight was 138. My scale read 136.5 this morning. I think that if i'm not mistaken the average person loses between 4-6 pounds in 2 weeks? How fast you lose weight will depend upon your metabolic rate. Maybe you can lose more than the average, or below. Just stick with the 20 carbs or under per day and you'll do great. I'm doing the induction for the entire month of August. How long are you staying on Phase I? Do you or anyone know how long it is safe to stay in Phase I of Induction?
Goodluck!!!!

138/136.5/105 (31 pounds to go)

Ditto's to Star's post. Be careful.

The book said you can stay on induction as long as you're happy and not bored with your food choices. Remember you're re-learning to eat healthy for LIFE.

Alot of people get discourages in your situation because you dont have as much to lose. And then they give up on the diet. It is slower for anyone that is close to there goal weight vs someone like me who is still 125lbs from mine.. Granted mine stalls once in awhile which is discouraging also.
GL to you and your new weight loss journey I am sure you can do.