Well, I am almost to the end of my 3rd week. I have been sticking to the under 20 carbs a day but it appears I haveent lost any more this week. The first 2 weeks I had lost almost 13 lbs and am wondering what i could be doing wrong. I have added more salads, but it seems as if I am eating less at meal times. Even skipping some, I have a hard time forcing myself to eat breakfast and sometimes find myself eating foods around 1 -2 am. Right before bed, I know this isn't probably good but I don't goto bed untill about that time and we usally eat dinner around 5pm. Could eating this late have an effect even thought they are the correct foods.

Hello bwmiller.

I don't know if eating late could have an effect in losing weight, but I do know that after induction you could begin to not lose weight or even gain weight for a while. It is also completely normal to not have any appetite, but try to eat little snack foods, once in a while (about 4 times a day). Anyway Good Luck!!

SooCee

Hi there! First of all it is VERY normal to experience a slow-down or even a halt in your weight loss right after induction. A common mistake for 'newbies' is that they begin to cut back on their meals (and calories) when this happens....that's a throwback to our low-fat low-cal days and old habits are hard to break. It's reallly important that you keep your calories up to about 10-12x your body weight. A great place to keep track of your foods is on www.fitday.com ... do that for a while so you'll get the feel for what you're eating, how much and the amount of carbs too!

Be sure to keep your water up... that's also really important. You should drink 64 oz PLUS another 8 oz for every 25 lbs you have to lose. I just keep it simple and aim for a gallon

If you haven't started exercising yet, I definitely suggest you do that, too. Just a brisk walk or whatever you like to do.... it doesn't have to be intense aerobics or lifting.

Let us know how we can help!

I keep reading in various posts that we should keep our calorie counts high, which confuses me somewhat.

I read somewhere that Dr. Atkins position on this is that the good old "calories consumed versus calories burned" balance DOES apply to Atkins diets just as much as it does to any other diet. If you are eating more than you are burning, you CANNOT expect to loose weight, Atkins or no Atkins. You probably will during the first few weeks, but not after that.

With Atkins, you are advised to eat until you are no longer hungry, but that is not permission to gorge yourself - don't eat 4 porterhouse steaks every day and expect to loose weight.

For me, according to fitday.com, eating till I am no longer hungry means about 2200 to 2500 calories a day, which just happens to work out to about 10x my body weight. I am working out a lot too, so I am burning a lot more than I consume, and therefore I am loosing weight.

What's interesting to me is that I am loosing wt. at about the same rate as I would with a normal diet, a zone type diet perhaps, one that is not so low in carbs. The big difference is that I feel a lot better, so I am going to stick with it for a few more months.

It's not about keeping your calories "high"....it's about keeping them at an ADEQUATE level. You see us reminding people of that so often because there are so many of us who've had the low-fat, low-calorie dogma hammered into us for 30 years! On this eating plan many people lose their appetite in the first few weeks which they think is WONDERFUL! So....they eat less....which is not wonderful....because eating below 1200-1300 cals a day (for women) for any prolonged period can do some serious damage to their metablism. These low-cal habits are hard to break and so it must be reinforced over and over again to eat when you're hungry and stop when you're satisfied.

Another reason is because many people's weight loss stalls in weeks 2-4 of this new eating plan. Again, they start to think, "Well, it must be all this food I'm eating, all this FAT!! I better cut waaayyyy back!!".... when in fact, it's just their bodies making some adjustments and slowing down a bit. We have to reinforce that it's important to keep the calories up!!



Exactly.... and that's why so many stick it out for LIFE.

Good luck to you!!

I'm curious about this calorie level thing because I have stalled myself on my third week of induction. After loosing 12 or so in the first two weeks, I got stuck and didn't budge at all for a week. I decided to try fewer calories and that seemed to make the scale move downward again.... but maybe that's just what would have happened anyway??

Now I'm not sure what to do. I work out about an hour a day, plus some minor cycling to and from the gym, and shooting baskets, etc. So 2000 calories a day for me isn't really that much.... maybe I should be eating more?

Help, I am still confused...

Right, just as a general rule of thumb you shouldn't allow more than a 600 calorie/day deficit. Do you know what your BMR is? You can figure that on www.fitday.com and then put in your food and activities data....then generate a report that will show you what your intake vs. output looks like. I would venture to guess that you should be eating about 2500-2600 cals/day. If you eat too little, yes, you'll lose weight....at first....and then your metabolism will slow down to compensate for the "famine" it perceives. This metabolic slow down is virtually irreversible, so we don't want that to happen.

As I said before, a slowdown or a plateau after the second week is not unusual at all. A "stall" isn't really a stall until you've gone 6 weeks with no loss on the scale or tape measure. After that you can start tweaking!!

ok then, it's back to the bunless double cheeseburgers!!!

with a fried egg on top!

about this permanent drop in your metabolism - how long on a low cal. diet do you think it take to cause this problem? I'm asking because I used the Cambridge diet for about six weeks a couple of years ago to loose about 20 pounds, but I never noticed any serious effect on my metabolism.

so how do I figure my BMR on fitday? I've been entering food consumed and activities for about a week now, but I don't know how/where to find my BMR??

re: FITDAY.... go to "home" and you'll see the profile you made for yourself when you registered... it asks you about your activity level, height, weight, etc. here. Then go over to "reports" and look at "calories eaten vs. calories burned" and you'll see what I'm talking about. If you adjust the profile to reflect a sedentary lifestyle, that would give you an idea of what your BMR is. It's not HIGHLY accurate, but it's better than nothing. If you want a more scientific and accurate approach, may I suggest just doing a search on the web for "calculate basal metabolic rate" and I'm sure several will come up.

No, I don't think that 6 weeks on a low-cal diet is going to mess up your metabolism in a serious way. There are many people who spent years and years on a low-cal diet consuming between 500-1000 cals a day.... or they diet and gain, diet and gain, diet and gain (yo-yo dieting).... that kind of behavior is what leads to a damaged metabolism.

You're doing great... keep it up!!

Terodoodle,
I have a question. I weigh about 138 and want to loose 10 pounds. I can eat 2200 calories when I'm on atkins. Should I try to cut that down? I'm at a stall right now also. I lost 5 pounds then stopped.

Thanks
Bblondie

You haven't given me enough information.

You say you've "stalled"... how long has it been since you've seen a loss on the scale?

How much do you exercise? The calories you expend vs. the calories you take in are still a factor...even on Atkiins. If I assume your getting some moderate exercise (like a brisk walk 5 times a week), and your metabolism is in good shape (no yo-yo dieting in the past, no thyroid conditions, etc.), then I would think your calorie intake should be about 1550-1800/day. You should aim for 10-12x your bodyweight plus 200-300 calories to compensate for exercise. 2200 might be a little high, unless your doing aerobics for 1.5 hrs every day.

You're 5'7".... 137 is a good, healthy weight for you and your body might just agree with me. It may struggle quite heartily to keep you at that weight. Try not to get obsessed by a number on the scale and judge your progress by how your clothes are fitting. If you've been working out and you're toned up, remember that muscles weighs more than fat....so a number on the scale is really not the most reliable measure of progress. Take a good look in the mirror and ask if you are satisfied. If not, then step up your workouts, try something new, work with a personal trainer or get some tips from the exercise sub-forum about how to get even leaner and more muscular....but don't make the mistake of lowering your calories to get to that magic number you (or the fashion magazines) have decided is ideal.

Good luck!!