I Don't Know What I Am Doing Wrong?
 

I have lost weight on this diet, about 8-10 pounds in the couple of weeks I have been on it. However, i have continued eating in the same way I just added more low-carb veggies and now I have gained back the weight (about 5 lbs). It makes me want to cry. I feel like I am doing it wrong but everything I eat is in-line with Atkins. What is going on? Is it water weight? I have only been on it a couple of weeks so maybe I should just be patient? Please give me the low-down on how to do this and how to do this right. What do you eat and how much and what times? How long until this works? I thought I had it down pat but now that I've gained 5 lbs I am not so sure. I just want to lose weight.

This is completely normal, here is explanation:
http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=365499

Good article diedra posted. Yes water, has a lot to do with it. Adding:

you did not gain five pounds of fat.

Have you also taken measurements, or notice how your clothes fit?
You don't have much weight to lose, so progress will be slow, but you will have progress to your goal. :thup:

We are the same height, but I am 66 and OK with hanging around the top end of a healthy BMI. That is 169 for us, I weigh 171 this morning. Yes, it would be lovely to be 150 again, what I weighed in college, but I take no medications, am very active and healthy. A lot depends on your bone structure, BMI is far from perfect, but I have a good waist:hip ratio. Many notice on a LC higher protein diet that they have more lean muscle. Same clothes fit at a higher weight.

Which Atkins plan are you following? We need more details to really help, but do NOT eat any Atkins branded foood like substances...real food works best.

Sometimes when there is not much to lose, little changes in types of foods or amounts matter. We don't count calories, but calories do count :)

This is from early in my "weightloss" or general weight change (mostly downward) from 2015 using a very accurate scale - an earlier version of this http://www.weighsouth.com/wsi-602/

I found it hard to believe that others weights on the daily weigh-in thread at that time hardly budged day to day - maybe their scales sucked ;) The most I recorded from one day to the next was 8 lbs or about 1 gallon of water.

RELAX! :) <--- that's been key for me!

November 2015 (NC are NetCarbs)

Date - LBS.X - NC - ActivityLevel
1101 - 311.6 - 22 - High
1102 - 311.2 - 17 - Medium
1103 - 310.4 - 21 - Medium
1104 - 312.2 - 19 - Medium
1105 - 310.4 - 20 - Low
1106 - 306.4 - 21 - Low
1107 - 309.4 - 20 - High
1108 - 307.8 - 19 - Medium
1109 - 305.8 - 21 - Low
1110 - 309.2 - 21 - Medium
1111 - 309.2 - 17 - High
1112 - 306.4 - 19 - Low
1113 - 307.4 - 22 - Low
1114 - 309.8 - 17 - High
1115 - 310.2 - 19 - High
1116 - 307.4 - 20 - Low
1117 - 308.4 - 19 - Low
1118 - 309.4 - 16 - Low
1119 - 304.8 - 16 - Medium
1120 - 305.0 - 22 - Low
1121 - 305.4 - 21 - High
1122 - 304.4 - 18 - Moderate
1123 - 308.2 - 20 - Low
1124 - 306.8 - 19 - Moderate
1125 - 302.8 - 23 - Low
1126 - 302.2 - 25 - Low
1127 - 303.0 - 18 - Moderate
1128 - 301.6 - 20 - High
1129 - 301.0 - 20 - High
1130 - 302.6 - 19 - Low

Given all the information others have given you I think a reasonable answer to your question is that you are doing nothing wrong other than freaking out, which is never good for you.

Jean

You could be eating more carbs than you think. Are you counting? Also cheese always stalled my weight loss. I like Thud's weighing daily.. because I tend to cheat when I don't.

I agree with the cheese stalling weight loss. I've cut back on cheddar this week because parmesan suited my recipes better, but I feel noticeably better and less bloated. My muscle tone definitely shows better as well! Being patient is the best thing you can do as well...if you stress, your body stresses, and it leads to a whole lot of trouble. Good luck to you!

For me I try not to weigh too much weeks 2-4. My weight bounces all over in a depressing way. I guess its an adaptation process. After that things smooth out.

Weight loss won't be linear anyway so use your measurements or those tight jeans as your guide.

While obviously vegetables are great for you, being on induction, I am very careful to only eat what's on the acceptable food list for that phase - leafy greens, cucumber, radishes, celery...and I don't eat as many as is allowed daily, because I do not lose as quickly when I have. I don't know what kinds of vegetables you're adding but I would pay attention to that, and the amounts. Cheese could also be a factor. Though it doesn't seem to stall me, there are so many people for whom it does, that I even try to limit it just in case. So cutting back on that may be a good idea. When I was having trouble losing for a couple of weeks, I also added more fat. That absolutely helped me. But like the others said, you also have to be patient. If you have more energy, are less hungry, and overall are seeing the signs of ketosis and the benefits thereof, you are doing the right thing and the weight will come off again. Water weight is also a big factor. And unlike some others, I CANNOT weigh myself every day. My personality is too obsessive for that. I allow myself one weigh in a week, on monday mornings, and go by how I (and my clothes) feel the rest of the time. Best of luck to you!

I know you wrote this a couple of weeks ago but I wanted to respond that you are my new best friend. I wrote something http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=478079. I read the above article and decided to ignore the scale for a few days. Sure enough, after putting pounds back on, they came off again.

I'm someone who has a very, very hard time just taking things on faith so, no matter how many success stories I read, I always have that nagging thought in the back of my mind, "OMG, suppose I'm one of those people for whom this plan doesn't work? I'm going to be stuck here forever!" Nevertheless, I persisted, since I've done the yo-yo thing more times than I can count. I'm really good at losing weight, but those pounds always find me, and they bring friends and neighbors.

I guess what I'm trying to say is what everyone else told me: Your body knows what it's doing. The scale is only one measurement and there is a good possibility that it will make you nuts. We like the scale because it gives you an absolute number that's easy to measure, whereas most of the other figures are either subjective or involve a needle. Please, please keep at it. Read, and reread, the article above. It's true. If you drink more water, you will gain weight at first, but your body will adjust. If you eat a big meal, it wouldn't matter if the meal had no calories, since the food still has weight. Your body knows that that weight won't stay around for long, but the scale doesn't.

I'm not a particularly patient person, and I hate the idea that it could take several months before my body entirely adjusts. But I plan on being here six, twelve and eighteen months from now, and I bet you do, too. Please give it time, since we know that the "starve yourself, exercise a ton and hope for the best" method doesn't work. It's a lifetime strategy, not a short-term diet. Good luck!!!

Mike

Mike, this is really a learning process. It's about learning how your body works and how it reacts to foods. Each of us is different. I adore vegetables, but through a lot of time and experimenting I've found that they give me a lot of trouble, and often, bloating. While trying to lose weight, I've pared down my veggie list to cabbage, lettuce, limited avocado (actually a fruit of sorts), moderate onion, moderate red peppers, mushrooms, occasional asparagus, and that's really it. I also have to be careful with dairy (not too much of it, and only the full fat things). So my best weight loss comes with meat, some poultry, some fish, limited veg, eggs, and that's about it. If you go up in weight, take a look at what you ate the last couple of days. Even if you ate theoretically "correct" Atkins foods, there might be an item of two that bloated you up. Sudden weight gain is always water retention, so look for a reason. Once you find your magic recipe or formula for how to best eat to keep losing weight, then stick with it. Boring is good. Eat a limited group of foods that totally agree with you, that's the key. Once you find that group of foods that work well for you, stay in that lane and it becomes easy street.

Thanks Carole! Yeah, I wish that my body came with a manual that said, "These types of food are good for your particular body, these are bad..."

I'm down about 19 pounds since I started six weeks ago but have definitely hit the proverbial wall. I'm teaching myself not to panic, because I knew that this would happen. Science dictates it.

Thinking about cutting back on dairy, although the only dairy that I eat is full-fat Greek yogurt and cheese. I'm told that some types of cheese are better than others.

My goal is two-fold: First, and most importantly, get to a healthy body weight. Second, though, is to find enough variety that I can eat healthily for the rest of my life and not get bored with the menu.

I love the "Why The Scale Lies" article because I'm one of those people who is always thinking, "Suppose I'm that one person in a million for whom nothing is going to work?" The article puts a lot of scientific explanation in layman's terms, and my motto for this diet (in the sense of what I eat, not losing weight), which will last the rest of my life, is "trust the science."

I don't know if Atkins is the right diet for me long-term, even if I'm losing weight now, but once I get down to a healthy weight, I'll have a little more room to experiment with what works and what doesn't.

Thanks!
Mike

I found much great information in Death by Food Pyramid. This has some good outlines of how our genetic profile has a much greater impact on how food affects us than was ever glimpsed prior to recent research.

I have found that high fat pastured dairy (a no-no for many people) works great for me, likewise goat cheese, and lots of seafood. My best vegetables are leafy greens and raw cabbage, with berries and cherries beneficial fruits when eaten with a meal (many find fruit spikes their blood sugar.)

Only then did I discover that my aunt had done some family geneology; I come from a long line of herders and fisherpeople in Northern climates with a short growing season.

Not that this is all I eat, just that such family insight can help us get started on figuring out what foods actually get along with us, and what foods do not.

Also, are you on any medications, even OTC? Getting enough salt, magnesium, and potassium? (Avocados are great for that, as is fresh meat.) How’s your sleep?

All of these can have a big impact on your weight loss, because they shape your health.

I would suggest patience and really checking out the carbs,sugar in what you are eating.

MANY of us have had stalls, sometimes it is about needing to drink more water, some of us need to give up cheese (like me), for some it is dairy in general, for some it means taking a closer look at those veggies you are eating. Maybe taking a look at condiments being used....

In general we each need to tweak what we are eating to our own bodies by listening to our own bodies.

Hang in there and listen to your body and what it is telling you,

I don't own a scale. i rarely weigh more than once a month and sometimes go for 2 or 3 months without weighing. It works best for me this way, as a number on the scale can make the difference between me having a good day or a horrible day. And on horrible days I have, in the past, tended to say "forget this, it's not working, I give up!". So as long as I know I am doing everything right, I just keep on doing it, going by how I feel, and also how my clothes fit. As someone who suffered from eating disorders when I was young, I know myself well enough to know it's better if I don't obsess on what the scale shows.