Hello, I am new here to this message board, I stumbled upon this place in search of support. I have been LCing for the past 6 weeks with what I feel are very little results. I have only lost a total of 6 pounds, no inches that I can see, and I don't feel that I am making a difference in my life or health at all. I know part of that feeling is my disappointment in not losing as much as I feel I should have by now. I live in a rural area, and there are no support groups in my area (the closest ones would be over an hour away). I feel frustrated almost all the time, since most of my waking thoughts are about food, how much of what I can have, what and when is my next meal, etc. I have done LC before, and lost over 20 pounds, I don't remember feeling this frustrated last time. How many others feel like this? Frustrated, and feeling alone.

Welcome DGost
You have stumbled upon a large and long standing low carb forum, 15 years, so it has much information and support to help you be successful. For support you could start a journal or join a buddy group, you will learn you are not alone.

A good way to enter the forum is this one: http://forum.lowcarber.org/index.php?
You can see all the sub-forums, including an Introduce Yourself section. This post would be best there, more members would read it.

Hello Dgost23 and welcome!

Congrats on losing 6 lbs! That's super terrific!! Also, congrats that you didn't throw in the towel!!

Sorry to hear that you are starting to get frustrated! You've come to the best LC WOE site on the planet, IMHO!

People here are friendly, helpful, supportive and so knowledgeable!

Couple of things we need to know in order to help you:

1) Which Atkins plan are you following?

2) Would you be willing to share a couple of days worth of what you've been eating so that we can mayhaps see if that is the problem?

3) Are you taking any medications? Cause some can be problematic.

I know other people will pop in and offer suggestions and encouragement as well!

Keep Fighting the Good Fight, it's so WORHT it!

Hello just jo, thank you. I do have hypothyroidism and take levothyroxine. My tsh last month was 6 which I know is part of the problem with my slow loss. The plan I am following? I didn't know Atkins had more than one, I think I am doing the original one <20 carbs daily, the book I read was over 10 years old.

An average daily menu consists of... breakfast: 2 slices bacon spam and 2 eggs. Lunch: small chef salad with ranch dressing. Dinner: grilled chicken breast, slice of cheese, 1/4 avocado. Snack: SF jello, whipped cream.

I work night shifts, and on my work days I tend to only eat one meal, sometimes 2, and a snack. I am thinking #1 I am not getting enough calories, or #2 the whipped cream is stalling me.

Welcome Dgost. I think you are doing great. 6 pounds in 6 weeks is wonderful It really is just the right amount. My personal opinion is that you are not eating enough. Are you putting your food into My fitness Pal or another diary site?

I don't know how tall you are or how old you are. both of these affect how fast you are able to lose weight. I am short and older and it took me 6 months to lose 30 pounds. I am trying to get to 155 too, but I have been hovering around 160 for about 6 months.

I believe that in the atkins book in '72 he said that you should not do much whipped cream until after induction. I stayed at induction food for many months. I only added whipping cream and cream cheese after that.

Another thing that seems to help is getting more fat and less protein. But it looks like you are doing that. Have you checked the ingredients of the bacon spam? it may have more "junk" in it than you think. Also are you putting ham and cheese on your chef salad. I had to give up ham in order to lose. One of my favorite dinners is pork steak from the shoulder cut. It is usually one of the cheaper cuts. I cook it in a hot skillet with some bacon grease and just scarf it down.

i also weigh and measure everything I put in my mouth.
well that is my two cents and I hope you gain some insight. Don't give up, you are on the right path and this is an excellent resource of encouragement and love. I invite you to join either of the two challenge groups that I am involved in. We just started a new one today: August 2015 countdown, daily weigh in. The other is lose 5 pounds challenge # 271. That is an ongoing challenge that restarts when someone loses 5 pounds. Both of those groups are very supportive.

Good luck!

Thank you omablue. I will be 44 next month. I didn't think about checking to see what all is in spam, I just checked the carb count, and 2 slices is considered a serving with few carbs. I use atkins carb tracker app to keep track of my carbs and calories, as well as my weight daily. I did notice that often times I am only consuming about 500-700 calories a day. I know that is not enough, but I don't feel hungry most of the time lately, and therefore try not to eat. On my chef salad I usually put shredded cheddar and sometimes turkey, chicken, or ham depending on my mood. I was also thinking I needed to stop the whipped cream as those carbs add up way too fast, and it is way too yummy to stop at a serving lol.

Thank you for the invite, I will go over and join those groups as well.

Hey, I see you joined the 5# challenge. You've lost a pound a week which is a nice weight loss. If you are not feeling better, though, that's not something you should put up with. Maybe there are some foods weighing you down?

I'm so with you regarding frustration. The second time around does seem to be much slower for most people, including me. I think that 1lb a week for someone on meds who has hypothyroidism - and is doing this the second time around - is actually a pretty good result. I encourage you to keep on. The only thing that is certain is that you won't get where you want to be by giving up. I tell myself this all the time.

We are all different. Some of us need far more than 700 calories in order to lose. You may be one of those. Others (me) would have weight dropping off them at a startling rate if only 700 calories a day was sustainable. It isn't. Sigh.

Good luck. Please don't give up. Slow and steady wins the race.

You have to figure You out.

No one else can.

Can you get treatment for your thyroid?