Second time trying Atkins and not losing weight as quickly

[BennyMaker]

I started Atkins about 8 months after I gave birth to my son. I was a steady 220 pounds for months, and when I did Atkins, I dropped to 198 in about 2 months and I stayed steady at that weight for 6 months (Hooray!). At that point I had stopped doing Atkins and successfully didn't gain any of the weight back.

Well now I'm ready to start losing more weight (I was off Atkins for 7 months), and I am restarting Atkins, I've been in induction for 9 days now, but I've only lost 2 pounds. I usually fluctuate 2-3 pounds anyway even without being on Atkins, so I don't understand what I'm doing wrong. Why won't the scale budge?? I was hoping someone would look at what I'm eating and let me know if I'm doing something wrong.

Last time I did Atkins I lost basically 12 pounds in the first 10 days and then the rest of the weight took longer (but was lost within 2 months), and this time I'm doing the same thing so what gives?

Breakfast: I usually have 2 scrambled eggs in canola oil, and drink plenty of water. I have been known to unintentionally skip breakfast sometimes because my son is very active in the morning and sometimes I don't have time to actually sit down and eat....

Lunch: I eat a Chicken Cobb salad made of romain lettus, some bacon bits (not much), crumbled blue cheese, boiled eggs, grilled chicken slices and vinaigrette all come to about 5-6 carbs total. Also drink water

Dinner: A salad made of lettus, cucumber and ceaser dressing, and a half a roasted chicken with some mayo for dipping. Or I have grilled chicken peices (like kabob) and a salad with ceaser dressing. Water.

I don't really snack but I do have a sugar free Jello after dinner every night. I drink maybe 1 diet coke a day due to bad habit I'm trying to quit. But last time I did Atkins I drank diet coke like mad, AND I was not this careful last time around. Just confused and I want to know what I'm doing wrong so I can fix it. I would appreciate any help! :o)

[trinityx03]

You are probably doing fine. May want to ditch the canola oil, cook up some bacon and eggs in the bacon grease, maybe sub one of your salads for some meat, steak, chicken, whatever. Up with meat and fat, I say.

[krystalr]

Breakfast: I usually have 2 scrambled eggs in canola oil, and drink plenty of water. I have been known to unintentionally skip breakfast sometimes because my son is very active in the morning and sometimes I don't have time to actually sit down and eat....

Lunch: I eat a Chicken Cobb salad made of romain lettus, some bacon bits (not much), crumbled blue cheese, boiled eggs, grilled chicken slices and vinaigrette all come to about 5-6 carbs total. Also drink water

Dinner: A salad made of lettus, cucumber and ceaser dressing, and a half a roasted chicken with some mayo for dipping. Or I have grilled chicken peices (like kabob) and a salad with ceaser dressing. Water.


You need more fat.

Ditch the canola oil and use butter.

Your dinner and lunch have barely any fat. You need to add some in. It's great that you are getting plenty of veggies (this is usually where people don't do well), but chicken is very lean. Add more bacon to your salad. Sub your dinner salad for a nice steak (ribeye or NY strip are nicely marbled). Use 80/20 ground beef and make burger patties or an all meat chili with ground beef and ground pork. Cook in butter and olive oil. Add a drizzle of olive oil to your salad. If you like coffee, have some of that with some heavy cream. Make some sauces that are cream based for your dinners. Swap out a side salad at dinner for some other veggies topped with butter (green beans, broccoli, cauliflower...). Fat is the key.

I would recommend charting your meals with something like My PLAN (at the top in the menu bar in yellow) or Fitday. The most helpful bit to look at is that part where it shows your calorie breakdown. You want your fat to be 60-70% of your calories....the higher, the better. Carbs should be low. An ideal or close to it is 5% of calories from carbs, 25% from protein, 70% from fat.

[BennyMaker]

Oh wow...I never really thought about the amount of Fat I was eating, just making sure there were very little carbs. I'll for sure try that. Thanks

[krystalr]

Eating the proper amount of fat is just as important as keeping the carbs low. You're body needs fat in order to burn fat. You'll more than likely start losing much better when you incorporate more in :) And, if you are having issues dealing with hunger, the fat will help keep you satiated longer.

[bobiam]

+1 on more fat.

[PurpleBass]

You might want to get rid of the artificial sweeteners & see if that helps. Some people get stalled out by those.

Good luck.

[missaec]

In addition to the other comments, my two cents---

I did Atkins in 2004 and lost 85lbs between 2004/2005. 27lbs in the first month. It was awesome. I kept nearly all of it off until getting pregnant and subsequently breastfeeding. Gained it ALL back. I'm losing 50% in the same amount of time as what I lost the first time around. I think it's most effective the first time you do it, but also throw in the fact that we both had babies. Yeah, your first time was after giving birth, but it can take a year for your body to get back to normal. Hormones and other physiological changes could be throwing it off.

I know that the way I did things the first time around doesn't work for me now with all the changes I've gone through, although the first time was years before I ever got pregnant. I'm having to relearn how to do LC in a way that works best for my new post-baby body. Honestly, I think pay attention to what you're doing, take the suggestions of the other posters, and tweak as necessary. It can take some time, patience, and observation before you get the mix of LC strategies right.

[champ90046]

I just want to say the support on this forum is AMAZING! I learn so much by the comments people leave. I would have never thought to add more fat to kick start fat loss! Great tip!

[Wikireader]

are you exercising?
did you exercise last time you did induction and lost weight?

[PurpleBass]

Also remember, the second time you do anything is always the hardest... because you THINK you know what to expect! :D

Forget all of your expectations. Each day, see how you did that day. See how you are feeling and how well your pants fit, in addition to seeing what the scale says the next morning.

Things will happen at their own pace. You will get there!

[madeyna]

Your minue could have been one of mine. I agree with everyone that if you up the fat it will really help kickstart things. I cook brockworst and freeze them that way I always have a easy grab high fat food that is ready after a few seconds in the nuker.