Help! Where's my "getting started" weight loss??

[kawaiigirl]

Please, I hope someone out there can help me!

A little background:

I successfully used low carb (Atkins/PP combo) to lose 25 lbs two years ago. When we decided to start a family I was at my ideal weight, but I gained 30 pregnancy pounds PLUS the 25 I'd lost a year earlier. So now my baby is 1 yr old and we're finished with nursing. I'm ready to get back on the plan with a goal of losing 30 lbs.

I started the induction portion of the diet six days ago eagerly anticipating that first burst of weightloss you get when you first start out. I have been in moderate to deep ketosis for five days, but I have not lost a single pound! I may have even gained a half pound or so. C'mon, I should have at least shed some water weight, no?

I consider myself to be very well-read and experienced with the LC WOE but I'm perplexed, not to mention really bummed out. How can I be in Ketosis for such an extended period, right at the beginning of my new WOE, and not losing. I have been doing the treadmill every couple of days, drinking water, eating a reasonable quantity according to the plan, and I've never had any food sensitivity problems. To add insult to injury, my DH, eating the same thing, has already lost 6 lbs. Grrr...

I'm stumped. Any ideas? Advice?

-K

[Dougie]

I didn't lose a pound until my sixth day. I was upset. But everyone on this board kept saying give it a chance. I did and have lost 5 in 3 weeks.

We have two in diapers, so I don't get to excersize, but I am just going to take my time and know that I have a new way of eating. I grew up drinking a bottle of soda everyday after school in addition to candy. A month ago I came to a realization that I wanted to be healthier. Also, I didn't want to go to size 40 pants.

My wife tried this way of life and gave up, but she wasn't as committed as you are.

[agonycat]

Since you have dieted before, and since I don't know if you make a habit of yo-yo dieting I can only suggest that currently your body is probably saying "not this again" and hanging on to every fat cell and water it has.

Low carbing should be looked upon as a way of life and not short term weight loss and then you go back to eating the way you were. Dieting like that will lower your metobolism making it harder and harder to lose weight over time. Aging doesn't help matters either.

Give it time, the weight will come off again.

You should be eating 10 to 12 times your weight in calories a day and drinking 64 oz of water plus 8 oz for every 25 pounds you want to lose. Keeping at this rate will assure your system you are not going to starve it to death and it can burn the fat as fuel.

[kawaiigirl]

Dougie,

Thanks for the advice and support. I keep thinking that I will suddenly start to make progress. I weigh myself on Mondays and Thursdays and my DH and I record the results on a chart in the bathroom. I hope I don't have to mark another straight line while he continues to lose, but if I do, I'll remember what you said. Thanks!

Agonycat,

I'm not sure what I wrote to suggest that I am some sort of habitual yo-yo dieter. I switched to the LC WOE years ago and used it to lose and then maintain my goal weight. Then, I got pregnant and nursed for a year. Now that my baby has weaned, I'm back at it again. Is there something wrong with that? I'm confused...

Anyone else,

I welcome any further ideas, advice, wisdom, etc to help get me through this!

-Kay

[agonycat]

Originally posted by kawaiigirl
Agonycat,

I'm not sure what I wrote to suggest that I am some sort of habitual yo-yo dieter. I switched to the LC WOE years ago and used it to lose and then maintain my goal weight. Then, I got pregnant and nursed for a year. Now that my baby has weaned, I'm back at it again. Is there something wrong with that? I'm confused...

-Kay

Kay, nothing wrong with it. You were asking however where is the weight loss. It could be, due to you dieting before and having the baby your metobolism has slowed down, which is keeping you from losing so quickly this time.

I was merely giving you a possible reason as to why you aren't dropping the weight so fast this time.

I did state that, "since I don't know if you make a habit of yo-yo dieting", I was not accusing you of doing so. Sorry if you took offense at that comment.

[ShaneiceL]

Hi there! i read your first post today and all I have to say is stick with it. after my second baby - and not losing the weight i had gained with the first i was stuck and stayed the same weight for two years before i decided to make a change and i tried atkins.

i also had a bummer first week....no weight loss! very frustrating but by about 6-7 days in i started losing and at the end of the 2 week induction i had lost 9 lbs!!!! that was one year ago and none of it came back!!!!

now i'm doing it again and i'm guessing that the closer i get to my goal weight the longer it is going to take.

let me tell you that i am metabolically resistant and you may be too. i must have read and re-read that section in the book a half dozen times to try and figure out why i wasn't losing that first week.

also.....darn them men!!!!! they have faster metabolisms by trait and your hubby will lose faster than you. don't be discouraged!!!!! :wave:

[kawaiigirl]

Thanks for the support and advice. Now, 10 days into induction, I've lost 3 lbs so I guess that's progress. Meanwhile, my husband has lost 10 pounds and is already halfway to his goal. I'm happy for him, really...grrr... The ketostix really keep me going by letting me know that no matter what the scale says, I'm on the right track.

So here's a question since the last time I did this I was leaning more towards Protein Power than Atkins: should I move onto OWL at the end of two weeks as planned or stick with the induction diet a while longer?

-K

[ruby]

Hi,
I'm no expert, but Atkins does say that if you begin induction premenstrually you could retain water and that would affect the induction numbers.

Be patient and good luck to you! :)
Ruby :wave:

[kawaiigirl]

Ruby,

That's an interesting fact that I had missed in the book. Of course, I don't think it applies in my case, but it is interesting nonetheless. Thanks!

I'm glad to report that I lost two more pounds overnight. But I am here to confess that I was very bad... After 12 days of strict induction, firmly in ketosis, I was inexplicably experiencing growing cravings. By last night, even my baby's discarded, slobbery graham crackers were looking good to me, lol! At 10 pm, I went down to the basement freezer to pull out tomorrow's steaks and there... there on the shelf... was a cheesecake from the famous Junior's in Brooklyn - a Christmas gift from friends. With my sharpest knife, I carved out a piece, defrosted it in the microwave, put the rest back in the basement, and then I sat down to enjoy my forbidden cheesecake. It was good. I felt a little guilty, but the cravings were gone and I actually felt much better. This morning, if I had gained two pounds, I would have accepted that and learned my lesson. But NO, I had LOST two pounds. This has happened to me before while low carbing and it does nothing for my ability to adhere rigidly to LC. The good news is that this morning I feel much better (no cravings) and my eggs-for-breakfast never tasted better. Can anyone provide any insight as to what just happened, what it might mean for how I should continue this way of eating in the future, and how I should respond to such cravings in the future?

-K

[otenn]

K:

I think that many people have experienced just this sort of occurance. I have been a member of this board for 8 months or so, and I have seen a lot of posts where people are miraculously "down" after a small cheat.


I have read many possible explanations for this, including simply that you are just providing a "jolt" to the system which reacts by losing.

It has happened to me too, and although I haven't ever introduced a regimin of cheating, it did help me to ward of any extreme feelings of guilt if a small cheat crept up on me.

HOWEVER! One word of warning.

I am pregnant right now, and in about my 6th or 7th week of pregnancy I started adding a little of this and that from the higher carb section of the rainbow into my diet. At first, I was just doing it because it was convenient to what the rest of my family was eating, or because I was really hungry and was out for lunch...so why not eat the bun as well as the burger....not to mention that I didn't really want to be in ketosis while pregnant anyway.

The upshot of this is that these small inclusions of carby treats at first caused no change to my weight, or the way I felt. What they did do, was to trigger more and more cravings for worse and worse food. To the point where I was finally binging out on half a box of chocolates.

A skinny as paper slice of cheesecake will not make you gain two pounds, and might even trigger a whoosh, but be careful, because it could very well trigger an unwanted rash of sugar cravings that are too hard to resist and eventually they are more and more persistant.

By the way, my body held out against the carbs for a few weeks and then my weight started to explode.

Mari

[kawaiigirl]

Hi Mari,

Congratulations on your very new pregnancy! I know exactly what you mean about the slippery slope. It is particularly tricky during pregnancy because you don't want to be losing weight or in ketosis, but you want to keep a lid on the insulin response, not to mention cravings. I remember when I became pregnant I had been maintaining at my ideal weight for quite a while. I had big plans to not eat sugar and to eat only high-fiber, whole-grain when I did consume complex carbohydrates. Then, I hit the queasies (usually they last from around 7-12 weeks if memory serves). Nothing appealed to me. Some things made me feel ill. I was hungry and repulsed at the same time. I started to feel like I needed to eat something, anything I could keep down, in order to maintain my strength. A pickle, a sandwich, pudding, popcorn, if I suddenly had an interest in something after a long day of hungry nausea, then I felt it was only reasonable to eat it. That alone, I think, is fine. But, just as you described, this translated to carb cravings as the nausea dissipated and I entered the always-hungry second trimester. I think I would have done much better and not gained so much if I wasn't facing the insatiable hunger of the second trimester along with the full-blown carb-craving cycle. Then, when I got to the third trimester, when my stomach just didn't have much room due to the growing baby, I was still victim to the cravings. I remember often eating even though I felt stuffed, saying "I'm not really hungry, but I just *want* this particular food." Unfortunately, when you are pregnant, you can't kick yourself into deep ketosis in order to get back on the right track. It will take much harder work to maintain control, but I do reccommend that you try or else you will find yourself in my shoes. Good luck with your long pregnancy ahead!

As for my little cheesecake indulgence, I'm glad to say that it did not trigger cravings or set me off on a binge as it might for others. I actually feel much better in that regard. I've read that if you are going to splurge, it is best to do it in the morning when you will be more likely to properly metabolize it. However, if I do that (remembering from the last time I was LC'ing) then I just feel that the whole day is shot. However, if I succumb to a little goody before bed, I go to sleep with a little guilt, wake up to my scale, and start a new day with new resolve. I do need to be sure that such goodies only happen on occasion, to be certain.

I was surprised by having lost 2 lbs because I really have only been at it for 10 days. I know that people often find that "shaking things up" helps after having been eating strictly low carb for a length of time, but it doesn't seem like this would apply to me. What I'm wondering, what I'm trying to learn from this experience, is whether this indicates a particular way in which my body responds which I should take into consideration. Perhaps I'm eating too low-carb? Or not enough calories (though I certainly haven't been restricting them)? But I don't keep count from day to day, so I'm not sure. Or maybe it is just a fluke which I should appreciate for what it is and then get back on the wagon... I don't know...

Thanks for listening!

-K

[ShaneiceL]

kawaiigirl~

good news on the weight loss!!! i'm on day four now and know that it will probably be a couple more days before i start seeing anything....

ruby, good to know about the pre-menstrual thing. i missed that in the book too! i will be keeping that in mind.

mari - congratulations on your pregnancy! How many will this be for you?

kawaiigirl: to your question before about when to start OWL....
last time i did induction i lost a little less weight - i'm sure because i'm getting closer to my GW. I stayed on the induction - 20 or less gr. - for four weeks. i felt great!!! then Thankgiving hit and i fell off the wagon and stayed off thru Christmas until now but only gained about 2 pounds back - i like to think just water weight. :p

soooo, do what you feel comfortable with. i felt really comfortable on 20 or less and as for SWEETS....i have a low-carb store in town and stock up on Atkins indulgence bars and other LC goodies so that when i do have cravings (usually in the evenings) i can have a couple bites and am satisfied.

QUESTION: what kind of pee sticks do you all use: Lipostix or Ketostix! I used Ketostix and i always register at the lowest - just above negative. Atkins recomends Lipostix - i wonder if it would show deeper ketosis or if they are just the same? :q:

Shaneice

[ruby]

Hi Kawaiigirl and Shanicet,

Some ideas:

I cheated at the end of first two weeks -- my headaches were very bad btw, enough to make me quit. Then towards the end, I just lost it and cheated. The scale went up 2lbs. However: Today: second day later, I'm down 2lbs. I've also cheated and lost. I don't know what it means, other than it's great it's happening. I can relate tho, that it doesn't motivate to stay disciplined.

Atkins says in his new book, I'm paraphrasing loosely, (you should read it yourselves for accuracy), that if we treat this diet as one where you follow induction week long then go off on the week-ends it's not good. SOmething, I think, about mucking with your insulin response, and over the long haul, we may be very sorry. (I don't know what he means by that dire warning, I took it to mean, diff iculty losing weight -- and so, this idea is always hovering around my head :spin: whenever I cheat.

PS: I love the story about going down in to the basement!!! It's very visual and quite entertaining writing. I smiled as I read it. I can relate.

I use Ketostix.

Bye by petites :roll: :roll: (Down 2 lbs today :D )

[LCer in NW]

Folks,

When you start the induction phase of Atkins, you'll likely be in ketosis by the 4th day. Many of you will be there before that. A small percentage will not establish ketosis by the end of the first week.

A question that I've seen a couple times is :confused: "Do I have to start the induction phase over in order to resume ketosis?" (ie. healthy weight loss and/or fat reduction). The short answer is always yes.

:idea: However, please note this is qualified as follows: Your body will have to return to ketosis to get you back on course. The fastest means will be to get your carbs back to induction level. As soon as you have verified you are in ketosis, you may jump back to the point where you derailed. If you get positive ketosis after 1 day, great. Maybe it will take 2 or 3 days, but certainly not a week or 14 days (assuming you have not been on a long binge).

Example: I had a piece of {excised treat to protect those who crave it}. :nono: It was 60 grams of carb all in about 10 minutes. There was minor digestive discomfort and a multitude of dreams overnight. I felt more hungry :eek: at breakfast than in the past. Atkins says this may start a craving for specific carbs, and he was right. I was in the OWL phase. :q: What am I going to do? The answer is pop into induction for the day, check for ketosis at day's end. If I'm in ketosis, I just plop myself back into OWL where I left off. :thup:

What can complicate matters is when you first start the diet, your body has to also have time to adjust to the low carbs and especially the volume of fats and proteins you consume. :exclm: Your kidneys, gallbladder and other organs act differently, and need to adjust. If you pop a couple of no-no carbs in before your body does the shift to ketone generation, it'll say WHOA! You'll get all sorts of mixed and angry signals from your body parts, including brain. That's what Atkins warns against. Don't even try the diet unless you ride it out with ZERO grain and sugar (fructose, glucose, lactose, etc.) until ketosis is firmly in effect.

Hope this helps.

[ruby]

Wow, that's very informative and will be useful. IT's well explained, I don't think Atkins does it better. Thanks :thup: :wave: Ruby