Hi! I am new to this site. I have been using this site as a tool for the last few weeks or so. I must say the support & advice from the members is amazing, so I thought I would give it a try. My boyfriend & I have been doing Atkins now for well over a month. We have a cruise at the end of April & I have over 20 pounds to lose. I am now in a panic. I can not seem to get myself into the 150's. I am stuck at 161-162. I have noticed with others you want an example menu. So here is an average day for me:

Break- 2 eggs hardboiled or (scrambled eggs & bacon on weekends)
A hot tea w/splenda & real creamer
snack- string cheese or hard boiled egg
lunch- tuna w/mayo, pickle & a slice or two of cheese
w/ a cup & 1/2 of lettuce
or a chicken breast w/no carb marinade w/ cheese & a salad
2c w/ blue cheese dress
snack- roast beef w/cream cheese roll up
dinner-flank steak or turkey w/1-2c salad. Maybe bacon & cheese
over a chicken breast. Sometimes I make taco salads (w/no shell)
& I use sour cream & tapatio for dress.
Desert- diet rootbeer over ice & cream or sometimes whip cream
made w/splenda or a hot tea w/cream & splenda

I do believe our biggest downfall is the weekends. We do have cocktails. We only drink vodka w/diet spark water or white wine. Also on the weekends we treat ourselves to the lc candies the chocolates or cheescakes. Is the drinking on the weekends truely the cause for my 3 week stall. Am I completly blowing this diet w/ cream & splenda? This week I am cutting out drinking & no more lc treats & increasing the excersize (which is needed) & praying to see the numbers on the scale drop! Any words of wisdon are so appreciated!!! Is it possible for me to drop 22 pounds by 4/24/04?

Thanks for listening...

It is very common to "stall" out around the 3rd week. Actually this isn't a stall at all, even though it feels like it. Many people find that they lose the most inches during this time, even if the scale is not moving. You might want to knock out the lc treats for a while, just because they do stall some people. OR at least space them futher apart. Make sure you get enought fats in. This really helps! 22 pounds in two months may be expecting a bit much. Your basic menu from what I can see looks fine. Make sure you get lots of water in.

Here's an article I read when I was concerned about the same thing.

The Atkin's 2 Week induction phase:- heady stuff, weight loss nearly every day, usually enormous and unbelievable amounts!

This is very often followed by complaints of "a stall" or only losses of "just 1lb per week".

Many people don't know that weight loss is rate limited, in other words the body has factors preventing more than a certain amount to be released from storage and even more factors that prevent these released fatty acids from being used up instead of stored back in the cells.

This is called the set point principle.

The priority of the human body is survival, anything that threatens that results in a cascade of events to maintain the previous status quo.

Water fluctuations are one way the body protects itself.z During induction you may have lost 10lbs during 2 weeks, possibly 7lbs 1st week and 3lbs 2nd, then weeks 3& 4 - no loss! & weeks 5&6 only 1/2lbs each- so what's happening?

Initially the body jettisons your carb-burning enzymes whilst building fat-buring ones(around 3lbs), and the water attatched to the glycogen stores that we diligently deplete to get into BDK. This amounts to 3-5 lbs water. In addition muscle stores of glycogen are not being replaced when used, which will account for most of the rest of your losses. All in all maybe 0.5lbs fat metabolised during 1st week & maybe same 2nd, so only 1lb fat lost, but 9lbs water and enzymes.

The body senses this diuretic effect, and the sirens go off, 'WARNING! Water loss occuring... New thing! get back to status quo!!"

The Brain tells body to produce vasosupression antidiuretic hormone - more water is retained and so, no weight loss is registered on the scale.

Fat loss is still occurring however- maybe 2lbs per week- because BDK is firmly established and appetite surpresssion is in effect- but water is hiding that weight loss.

The body is preventing dehydration and that is a Good Thing. However, from the perspective of the scale this can be very discouraging, and why we all say "Get the tape measure out!"

Which is why the mantra 'Water retention hides weight loss' is helpful!! Water retention will mask ongoing weight loss for as long as the body retains the water.

We can combat this by drinking more water but we can't overcome this natural mechanism during the initial water loss phase of Atkins.

By week 5&:6 things start to get back into balance and the scale will begin to reflect true weight loss - which is still rate limited.

http://www.low-carb.org.uk/3rdweekstall.htm

Hi teramo, I'm in my 4th week,staying with induction foods, and have only gone done 1 1/2 lbs these last 2 weeks. I am seeing inches disappear tho. Hang in there

I think you've been given some great information here, I don't have anything to add except that it happened to me too and during week four I started losing again at a pretty good rate.

I'm in the same boat teramo. I've been trying to get into the 140's for about 5 weeks now ("ve been low carbing for about 2 months). Even though the pounds aren't coming off I have noticed my back flab going down. I just want my stupid thighs to go away, but I spose I'll just have to wait. My body is losing from the top down. I've decided to commit myself to this wol for at least a year. If by new years 2005 I don't like my results I may try something else, but I think you need to give it more time than a month or two. Good luck!!!