I've used the low carb approach throughout my life to lose and maintain my weight and it's worked but not this time. I'm now over 60 years old and gained 30 pound over 3 years due to quitting smoking. Finally, I woke up and decided I could not let this go on and started on the Atkins Induction.

Here is my schedule. I walk 3 to 4 miles at least 3 days a week and have been on Atkins Induction diet for 4 weeks now, following it religiously. SADLY, I have lost only 4 pounds. I monitor my measurements and they are not decreasing. I have arthritis and am unable to do exercises that are too strenuous so I chose walking.

I am about to give it and go on a very low calorie diet which I know will be harder to follow but at wits end. I am willing to give it a few more weeks but this induction is getting tedious.

Please, advice?

Hi, Ladybug. Please try not to be discouraged. My advice is to give it more time. You've lost 4 pounds. Imagine lifting a sack of potatoes. That's how much weight is off your body.

I'm 62, started low carb three months ago, and floundered a bit before I got into the groove. I almost gave up, too. I'm down 16-17 pounds in three months, at peace with the fact that I may lose slowly but as long as I stick with the plan and continue to ingrain good habits, everything will fall into place.

I've read that when you're first starting out, it's better not to exercise so much. A 20-30 minute walk a few days a week should be fine. Give your body a chance to adapt to the fat burning without helping it along by exercising it off.

Try eating your first meal of the day around 11-12 noon and finishing your last meal by 7-8 p.m. Between those times, have non-caloric beverages. That's an easy way to do intermittent fasting, which I find also helps.

After four weeks, maybe it's time for you to try moving into phase 2, climbing the ladder and see how that works for you. Enjoy more foundation vegetables and salads. I'm loving my occasional berries and melon again.
That's about all I have to offer. Hang in there!

Well, we're older now. I'm 72, and quit smoking 100+ pounds and 20 years ago. (Part of my gain was because my mother died around then too.) And our bodies aren't as forgiving as they were all those years ago. I've been losing ridiculously slowly, and I've found the past six months or so that IF - intermittent fasting - helps speed things along for me. Well, still slowly. I've found also that bodies do well to be kept off guard, at least mine. I have to vary the calories and carbs, or my body will just adapt and preserve its current condition. You can do this! You'll find the things that work for you.

Meg

I, too, quit smoking 30+ years ago and am almost 60 pounds heavier than the day I quit. I've fluctuated up and down the scale towards (but never quite to) my original weight numerous times since then, but up has always been much quicker and easier than down. And that rule applies more and more as my body "matures." I'm bound and determined to maintain a downward trend from now on, no matter how slow the going may be, to my "happy weight," as Alyssa says. And keep it there.

Thanks all for replying and the encouragement. Yes, I have been trying intermittent fasting for a week now with no results. I don't eat until after noon and stop eating at 8pm. My walks are usually an hour long but not power walking as my body won't allow it. This is prescribed and if I fail to walk it is reflected in a decreased ability to function without pain so not an option. I will hang in there for a bit longer but for the feelings of deprivation I am experiencing, the return is not there. I eat no grains, no fruit, no starches, no sugars and limit veggies to 15 carbs/day. After one month of this, I'm losing my ability to visualize myself as thinner on this diet and instead am visualizing how great shrimp and grits would taste!

Hi.

I am only just into my 40s. I am 5 ft 11. And I just stopped smoking last July 3, 2016. Before that, I was a HEAVY smoker, for the last 25 years.

I was ok for about 1 month, maybe 6 weeks after I stopped smoking. Mostly because I was white knuckling, EVERYTHING. But soon after the first month or so after quitting, I literally piled the weight on like NOBODY'S business. I gained 100 lbs in 6 months, without even binging.

I am now 2.5 months back on the straight and narrow, of 20g carbs TOTAL per day. And in the first two months, at 20 years younger than you, no other health issues, and A LOT more overweight than you, I lost 7 lbs total. And THAT, was in the first 72 hours... and then I just fluctuated within 2 lbs of that, for the next TWO MONTHS.

I have JUST in the last week, started to lose a few pounds again. So while my post is kind of depressing (to me) to read, I am actually trying to encourage you. It DOES come off, but sometimes it is really slow. I mean, at my height, at my weight, and at my young age and with no thyroid issues, there is NO way ANYTHING should have been this slow. But it is, and there is nothing I can do about that. So I would encourage you that this way of eating is for health, and that results are sometimes slow to catch up, and slow to sometimes accurately reflect the correctness of what we eat on a day to day basis.

My advice would be to stick with it, but as you are a very petite person, also be mindful of calories, not just of carbs.

Lastly, I would also share that last summer when I was walking 3-5 miles, 5 days or so a week... I literally lost NOTHING. For many more weeks than 4.

Sometimes other people's experiences help encourage us that we are on the right path. It is frustrating when some people seem to drop 40 or 80 or 140 lbs or even more with little seeming effort - but the truth is, it's always a dedicated effort.

Good luck, because you can definitely do it!

I'll chime in too to encourage you to stick with it..but I say try varying what you've been doing. I've lost 10 to 13 pounds since starting.. and gee it has seemed slow. But lately i've followed my instincts.. cut down on cheese, mayo, and drink one splenda diet soda a week, and stopped eating dill pickles. i've been losing faster since

There was a week early on where i actually gained a half pound.. i was almost tempted to quit.

You may just need to tweak your food choices..don't give up.

Welcome
You don't mention eating any processed foods, but the first book you listed was the New Atkins Made Easy. That latest version has menus filled with Atkins frozen foods, bars, shakes made with a load of crappy ingredients. So if you have added any of that, follow instead the menu plan in that book that is only Real Food. Or this Atkins summary: http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=236482 no nuts or alcohol.

Are you on pain meds or any of the other many meds that slow weight loss?
http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=453311 The general health impacts of NSAIDs has become worse since this thread was started.
http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=477169
Hang in there! Weight loss is slower over 60 but it will happen.

Exactly! I'm also 72, and I've found that varying what and when I eat and the amount of exercise I do keeps me losing. I lose only ounces at a time, but I still lose.

The secret of success is to never think of this as a diet, something you'll stop. Sadly, our bodies will always try to go back to our highest weight.

Don't give up, K?

Good Morning Ladybugs, it is very upsetting to hear you say that you are going to give up. I am 66 and I can attest to what has already been said here, the older we get the harder it is, I can't explain it. it just does...so, life isn't always fair, but things that are worth it, take persistence and fight.
I tried this WOE a few years ago strictly 'cause I was looking for a quick fix...seriously, there is NO QUICK FIX. I have been on every diet known to man, and I can honestly say there is not one, where you get to go to bed fat and wake up thin...ain't happening.
No one on this forum is more impatient than me...and even I have learned that THIS TAKES TIME.

All I can say to you is, one day at a time, small steps, tiny victories all add up to success. Be kind to yourself, the weight did not go on overnight and it will not come off that way either. Use the resources here and ask for help and advise, there is a mountain of information here, use it. Best of luck to you, drop by and meet me sometime, leave a note, I love company, ttyl

Hi Ladybugs, you may find the following an interesting read.

https://proteinpower.com/drmike/200...nd-time-around/

My progress has been slower this time too, but it is starting to pick up the pace after almost 2 months.

Hi Ladybugs - DO NOT GIVE UP! If this has worked for you in the past, then it is a good thing for your body and your metabolism. Sadly all good things slow down as we age. It has taken me a year and a half - LITERALLY 19 months, to lose 70 pounds. That is less than 4 pounds a month. And you know from before, you have some months where you have a big loss, and some where you don't have any. But over that 18 months, that is 70 pounds GONE! Keep at it - it is so much better for you in the long run!

Also - try Callanetics if you have arthritis - those gentle, but sculpting movements might help your muscles without over stressing any joints. I find that it is a helpful workout for me.

I second that emotion! I was going to mention that in my original post above. Even if you lose, say, 3-4 pounds a month on average for a year, that's potentially close to 50 pounds gone! And over that time you've developed better habits, and improved your health, and are feeling better - it's all good.