VERY VERY upset

[jenniec]

I am very upset and discouraged that I am stuck. I can't make the scales move beyond the 15 lbs that I have lost in over two weeks. I keep going back and forth between 190 and 185. I just feel like giving up. I am so frustrated. I am being very strict and following the rules but I can't seem to make the scale show it. I don't exercise a lot but I am very active in my daily routine. I don't know what else to do???????????

Jen

[deannagmd]

DON'T GIVE UP!!!

Yes, I am yelling at you...keep at it...You've already lost 15, so you are on the right track. Maybe start an exercise program...you might not be as active as you think.

[RedJodie]

Well I'd say losing that first 15 pounds is quite an accomplishment, some people may only lose 5 pounds over 2 weeks. Try not to let it get to you, you'll start to lose again, don't worry. Sometimes it works that way, you lose some, then you don't, then you lose again, then you don't....try to focus more on how much better you're feeling now that you've started this WOE. All this fantastic rich food and you get to lose weight too! Just take things one day at a time, it'll turn around for you, just wait and see.

[cs_carver]

Looks like you've lost 3# a week since you started. That's pretty good. It's going to take a good while to get where you're going. Kinda like driving a long trip--nice if you could do 65 mph the entire time, but there are bathroom and gas breaks.

I'm not here because this works so well. I'm here because nothing else works at all.

Exercise is different from "active," in my experience. "Active" doesn't get my heart moving the way exercise does.

[Donna I.]

I know too well how you feel, I am sure many do. Just don't give up, giving up will do even less for you. Just keep trying different things, more exercise, cutting out certain foods (ie: cheese, processed meats, sodium, calories, etc) It will work at some point, you just have to find out for yourself what does. Your body, your science experiment.

[manaburrn]

Smaller portions

Eat when you're hungry

Eat more fat

[Luzyanna]

Are you still doing induction? If so, consider going to OWL. A lot of people start losing once they up their carbs. I've been stuck at the same weight for 3 months now myself. It is frustrating and though the scale isn't budging for now, I feel sooooooooo much better than I did before Atkins and will not go back to eating sugar.

Your "whoosh" will come soon....just keep doing everything right. :)

[jenniec]

thanks for your advice and inspiration! I won't give up, because I feel SSSSOOOOO much better and have so much more energy.

Thanks
Jen

[jenniec]

i forgot to anwser i am still doing induction. I have thought about moving up BUT I am scared I will delay my weight loss.

[erinleigh]

Your third and fourth week your body is catching up with the weight lost! Keep that in mind in a week or so you'll start to lose! I promise!

[AndrewH]

Use a tape measure rather than a scale. For over a year my weight remained the same but I lost inches.

[Duparc]

At the initial stages of dieting, rapid weight loss is normal but all that the body has done is to shed water that can too easily be put back on again if you succumb. You have hit a plateau which is a recognised feature in weight reduction. The theory is that your body (which seems to have a memory of its own) thinks there is a famine and has gone into the starvation mode to preserve itself. It could take a few days or a few weeks before it decides to yeild, and yeild it will do if you stay on course.

[MrMoose]

let me add my encouragementas well. The weight loss looks like a decending sawtooth wave form with many areas of flat lining inbetween. I have experienced periods of six weeks with no loss. However over the last seven months I have lost over 60 pounds.

Keep at it and feel free to try some tweeking.

Weight loss is just like the stock market except that you can't make money playing the spread. ;)

mike

[raven_1051]

I was stalled for three months. I was eating right and exercising. What actually broke me out of it was drinking more water.

[2ndHalfCor]

I think it's hardest when you've had some consistent loss, and then it slows or stops. After the first four weeks of 4-6 lbs. per week, last week I lost only 2 lbs -- and it was the same week I finally started getting some exercise. My brain tells me its just fine and all part of the process. My emotions though made me grumpy all day Monday! :mad:

Stick with it. I upped my exercise just to spite it and I feel a lot better today. :D

[jenniec]

I feel like I must confess. I CHEATED :( I made the mistake out of an act of desperation. I read that you can try to eat the bad food to jolt your system back into the weight loss mode (was sorta skeptical any way). I read it somewhere in the forum. I also had someone tell me yesterday you should have a free day once a week where you eat what you want and take a break from your diet????? I think to it may have been somewhat of an excuse to cheat to. First time in while. So I told a friend what I had been reading and asked her if I should do it and she said sure why not. So we have a peice of pecan pie and I want even go into what was one it........ Then I ate some grits last night. Well I was good all day today then this evening I had a craving bad for a CALZONE so I ate part of one. I am so mad at myself. How could I do this after so much hard work. Even though I have been stalled I have lost 15lbs. What is so crazy is I feel like I have let the people down here even more so than myself. I really feel bad about it. Not to mention it makes me feel bloated and just miserable. I don't want to do this again.

[AndrewH]

I don't want to do this again.That should be all the motivation you need to go back to proper LC and not cheat again.

I remember my first cheat, I went to a friends' house for dinner and instead of making me what she had planned she went to Boston's and got barbeque (very sweet sauce), mashed potatoes, desert...I felt horrible for two days. It really drove home the point that sugar is poison.

[Luzyanna]

I don't want to do this again.

Then don't! ;)

[RedJodie]

We've all learned lessons through this WOL, don't beat yourself up. Just pick yourself up, dust yourself off and move forward! :D

[manaburrn]

Just don't quit. That would be like getting lost one time while trying to drive across the country, turning around and going back home, and then setting your car on fire.

It's not about the perfect journey. It's about getting where you're going.

[jenniec]

thanks again

[RedJodie]

Well said, Mannaburrn!

[danabear]

Hey I tried to respond to your message to me but I don't think it worked. I haven't been losing weight as fast lately and I've been really strict. I think it just slows down after a while. I have been going down like .5-1 lb a week, which is slow but it's down. Sometimes it stays the same but that's not up! If you give up not only will you not lose but you'll probably gain the 15 back! I'm trying to do this for a year regardless then I'll reevaluate. If it continues at this rate I should be at goal in a year.

[RedJodie]

And a year will go by in no time!

[pigeon]

I would think, that you would need to keep an eye on calorie consumption as well. I know i have been told off on these forums for not having enough calories. But the same could be true of having too many calories.

[manaburrn]

Only carb calories.

[cs_carver]

Only carb calories.

It's way possible to stall or even gain on fat and protein calories. Just harder. Try living on whipped cream and butter.

[jenniec]

I know this is a dumb question but how do I calculate carb calories? Also I have decided to do a version of the fat fast. Any thoughts or ideas on that?

Thanks
Jen

[manaburrn]

About carb calories:
You don't really have to calculate the carb calories, it's much easier to keep track of the carb grams listed on the label, or from most "calorie counter" books or websites. On induction, you're supposed to stay under 20 carbs per day, and then you gradually raise that as you move through the Atkins levels.

About the "Fat Fast":
Eating fat is the conerstone of the "metabolic advantage" that Dr. Atkins refers to in DANDR. So the most "radical" of the diets of course it to simply eat 1000 calories of pure fat. When you do this in the abscence of carbs, the body is said to produce a substance Dr. Atkins called "FMS" or "Fat Metabolizing Substance". This substance tells the body to litterally dump the fat off your body - I think that the fat isn't even metabolized, it's just thrown overboard like the Boston Tea Party!

[Supermomm4]

Hang in there !!!!!
There comes a time when you just have to go with the flow and remain steadfast. It WILL come off. Just like any change in your life there is a period of adjustment.
I can't begin to count the number of times I have "cheated" but the one thing you have control over is to get right back in there and not let one time determine how this will turn out.
Keep your head up and just look forward to how you will feel the rest of your life as compared to one poopy day :)

[RedJodie]

Everyone has bad days ever once in a while, try not to let it get to you.