Hi

I have been lc since august 20 and lost 4lbs total. I have been testing with ketosis sticks and show ketones in urine for weeks. I have been fine with not eating carbs, i really don't miss them too much. Today was different! I got on the scale and the weight was the same and I said to myself this is not working I need to try something else. The story of my life when it comes to dieting. I saw a friend of mine and she was on ww and lost 20 lbs and she looked so good. I was so fed up with myself. I really worked hard not to eat carbs and still no success. I noticed today I felt different. I didn't care about sticking to lc. I made my kids pancakes for dinner. they have been asking for them for days, I have not been giving them pancakes because I didn't want them eating it. I feel different, I can tell that I am giving up. I really don't want to give up but I feel it. I am on the verge of giving up. I don't want to give up but no success and time is against me. Does anyone else have this issue??? Please email me with some kind of advice. I need to get back to the right frame of mind and see some success.

So, where is it written that success comes in "X" number of days.... ?

I think you're not being realistic. Your goal is to lose 81 pounds. Realistically, if you accomplished at a rate of 1 pound per week, you'd be at goal in 81 weeks, or just a little over a year and a half. Is that too long to accomplish weight loss and good health?

An unrealistic expectation is probably the undoing of most diets. Truthfully, dieting is an undoing in and of itself. To be successful, you need to work on making yourself eat a healthy lifestyle and forget about considering you're on a "diet", which implies eating a certain way just for the sake of weight loss, a temporary fix. You get successful by becoming informed and motivated not only for yourself but for those you love and those that love you....

When you reach goal, will you go back to eating as before and allow yourself to gain it all back? If that's the plan, why change your eating habits if it is not a permanent change.

Eating zero carbs or eating very low carbs is not necessary for a slow and progressive weight loss. Eat in a manner that you feel you can live as such for the rest of your life, use a nurtionally balanced approach and it is just as important to put yoiur children on a healthy eating plan also. Pancakes for dinner, is not a balanced eating plan and you and I both know that...

Take a deep breath, get some perspective, tomorrow, things will look different....

Well, you're certainly not alone. And I went off on a tangent and regained like 7 lbs. So not worth it..

I'm still experimenting. I'm looking at Fat Flush. I'm also looking at using some things lower calorie, slightly higher carb to keep calories down. Like my smoothies. I'm using Publix milk as it doesn't use milk from cows who've been given artificial hormones.

We also eat out a lot which I think is a challenge to my weight loss EVEN THOUGH I choose appropriate low cab salads. I've begun asking for the dressing on the side even on the Caesar salad, which is usually mixed in. Just FYI, my daughter says it's actually easier for the waitress.

More water, of course. And the cran-water from Fat Flush.

Come to the MOMD thread. (Master of my domaine). We prop each other up...

PS: Give us some meals you've been eating. Sometimes things you're eating, even if low carb, can be an obstacle.

I've been stalled for 5 to 6 weeks and I'm not about to change my way of eating. I consume less than 5 grams of carbs a day, with lots of fat, and have for 2 months, but it is the way I plan on eating for life. I feel absolutely marvelous! And if you don't then you haven't been on it long enough. The body has to have time to heal. Mine is healing. Don't cheat or you will do yourself an injustice. I cannot explain how great I feel inside. This is the plan for me for life. Eventually, I'll start losing again. I have about 80 more pounds that need to go and they will, when my body says it's time.

If you can't do meat only diet, then change to one that you can live with. There are all kinds of low carb plans.....pick one and follow it by the book. Don't tweak it or you won't be following the plan. Good luck in whatever you decide.

It is so easy to give up when you don't see the results you want. I restarted Atkins in August and have only lost 6 to 8 pounds. But I measured before I started and I've lost 4.75 inches off my waist. The scales aren't the only measure of your success. Also, I feel better, which is another way to look at it. You will feel better too, but you need to give it more time. My sister was on it for 4 months before she started to see some weight loss. Our bodies need time to adjust and they really don't want to give up those carbs. If I don't eat enough fat, I'm not satisfied and I feel hungry and then I want the carbs. Post your menus and let people help you. We are here for each other. I'm not giving up this time. If I had kept at it the first time, I wouldn't have 40 pounds to lose this time round.

" I restarted Atkins in August and have only lost 6 to 8 pounds. But I measured before I started and I've lost 4.75 inches off my waist. The scales aren't the only measure of your success. "

This is a great example of how the diet can work so differently for different people. I probably had to lose about 50 pounds to get 4.75 inches off my waist. We are all that different! You'll figure your way through this; one suggestion I really stand behind is getting your kids adapted to a low carb diet. My kids are so much healthier and well-behaved since they started eating this way. It can really help to throw out or donate all the high-carb food left in your pantry so it doesn't tempt.

Hello

You started at a similar time to me (well my version of atkins anyway- I started exercising and stopped "bad eating" a few weeks before)

Yeah in my opinion weight is a bit superficial until you get right into the program. I only weigh myself monthly. I have a fair bit of weight to lose so I know its going to take me a while.

Believe it or not between 1 and 2 pounds a week is a nice healthy weight loss.

I have managed to achieve some nice numbers but I have paid dearly through some hard (well hard for me) exercise and lots of gritting of teeth lol.

I would like to challenge you to stick with it and just try even harder. I am unsure what your daily routine is but maybe increase your exercise a bit and lower your carb intake more.

My Ketosticks are usually dark red. I have had one naughty day where I exceeded my daily carbs by about 10 g and it went pink the next day and took a day to get back to dark red.

Don't look back because you know that road already. I think your going through a bit of a down day. I am having one today myself. I got on the bench press and couldn't even complete my first exercise I was mentally and physically exhausted felt like I was jelly or something.

I thought to myself fine I will rest today and do it tomorrow. Took me an hour before I kicked myself in the bum and said right eat something, drink some water and then get back on that bloody bench press lol.

Took me about 20 mins to really get into my workout but I managed to get through the 40 mins and came out feeling alot better. I always do.

Diet is important but its only half of the equation in my book. If your looking for big results over short periods you gotta work it

Double check your doing all the right things, drinking lots of water, counting your carb intake correctly, adequate amount of exercise each day (could be just a 30 min stroll), getting enough vitamins and minerals and give it another solid month and weigh yourself again.

I want to see you really give it a go!!! and at the end of the next month after you do all this, if you STILL haven't lost. Just say "Clunk your an arse, shut the hell up"......and i will. lol

Otherwise I am looking forward to seeing your next weight loss!! And many more after.

Clint

thank you Clint for that one! i would like to add that my first time around it took 1 1/2 years to loose 58 pounds but it took 3 1/2 years to gain it all back plus 10 pounds....I will learn this time around to be patient and learn to keep THE focus on all the questions to why I am back yet again....beyond where I started from!

dont get discouraged....it takes LONGER to gain than it does to GET WHERE WE SHOULD BE!

Funny am trying to motivate when i am feeling SO UNFREAKIN MOTIVATED at this time....WHATever....maybe will get a triple whoosh this week.....am feeling so unselfish at this time! ummmmm does that count as excersize....lolololololol!

me.

Does a cow need motivation to graze on grass in a pasture?

When we think of diet as retricting food to achieve weight loss, we are creating something which becomes a burdensome task.
That is the only reason we need motivation, to do what is not natural to correct something we did that was not natural. That is sort of like trying to put out a fire with fire..........

We correct one unnatural pattern by trying to act out another unnatural pattern. We do get results and/or disappointments, but we don't learn anything beneficial......

We don't want to believe these things I've just said, and we want motivation as our entire focus is on losing weight, so we convince ourselves that what we are now doing is the way to go.

Some will say, this is not so bad, and this is the way I will eat from now on, which of course works only as long as the motivation exists. Meanwhile, the cow is still grazing naturally in the pasture...

There is such a thing as balanced nutrition and only when we find that balanced nutrition for ourselves can we discover that eating properly is a very natural experience which really does not require any motivation.

Temptation to eat unnatural again will always exist, that is our lustful human nature, but if we can learn to think and realize that anything unnatural will only bring about unnatural results, we can realize that temptation is a deviation from what it is we really desire, it's a false sense of what is right, it's the beginning of the end of good health..........

I'm not trying to preach, even though it might seem like it. I went through all of what I know most of you who have posted in this thread are going through. I'm sharing from my experiences and I don't know another way to put it into words.

I realized, I had to change my attitude towards life and food in order to have a meaningful change. It took a long time to realize this, but once I did, my life changed for the better.... I hope I've been helpful and didn't offend, as that is not my point...

I also hope everyone can find their natural balance before their health declines as mine did. I've restored myself to good health, but I'm one of the lucky ones, some people lose their health as I did and can never get it back...

when something doesnt work you NEEd to change strategy. this is something most people here wouldnt advice. But that is the truth of life. If you do the same things over and over again and it is giving the same results you need to change what you are doing . I am not telling you to go off low carb into something else. But what i want to tell you is there a so many different ways you can do low carb have you explored all possible ways?

I will throw things at you
1) high fat lower protein and carbs.
2) intermittent fasting.
3) Very high insuline resistent 1000 calorie fat fast.
4) increase excercise.
5) increase vegetables.
6) take coconut oil 2 tbsp daily.
7) check your blood sugar and take herbs to reduce it.
8) south beach kind of diet.
10) See if your thyroid is pooped and do something about it.
11) If you have candida go on a stricter diet and supplement regime.
12) Take l-carnitine , l-glutamine and lecithin and other fat busters.

You shouldnt try all at once you justneed to alter one parameter and see if you make progress. this IS a battle and your only bet at survival is to try as many possibilities as you can and see what works. It is not going to get better ifyou cave in now.

I agree with chandbaby1 ! We are not cookie cutter lowcarbers and you need to find what works for you! I agree with you that 4lbs in one month is not a great loss, but a loss is a loss right?

Perhaps you should start a journal and post a typical daily menu so the veterans here an have a peek at it??

Have a happy day!

Chandbaby chimed in with something and it makes me realize that I need to explain that I'm not advocating getting off of a low carb diet.

I agree with Chandbaby also, there are many approaches, one of which will give you a nutritional balance with which you can live. We're all slightly different in what will work for us, so I can't say what will work for you, but it certainly is logical, as Chandbaby mentioned, that if what you're currently doing is not working for you, then try something else. I could not begin to count the number of times I changed things up until I found what worked for me.

Also, what works for me now is not necessarily going to work for me in the future, so I stay prepared to adjust and readjust as time goes on to keep the optimal health that I am now enjoying.....

Good luck to all...

Fully agree with this. I have my own version of the diet

We know your down because of a displeasing result but that's about all we know. A journal would better help the people in the know understand whats happening and enable them to assist you better. It also motivates you to document what your doing...and it is funny how if we document something we tend to stick to it better.



Its fairly early days yet. I noticed this post of yours which may be contributory to your result. So don't be so worried! You stick with it and it WILL work.

Having said that I also agree with what Cajun and Chandababy said. There could be so many different things that affect your life right now so tweaking the diet to suit you would be a good idea.

Again if there was more info, the Lowcarbians could help you with that too because I doubt you won't find someone who hasn't already experienced a particular situation here.

When it comes to Low Carbing I am still in nappies But I think I am succeeding by keeping myself very motivated. So if there is anyway I can shed some off onto you let me know

Still rooting for ya

Clint

Just an observation. We can't email you. It isn't available to us unless you pm someone your email. So, if you're lurking, it's not that we don't care. We don't have your email address..

I have found the advice in this thread very useful, and would like to thank everyone who wrote in. I was looking for a topic which seemed to describe my own situation and think this one fits the bill quite well.

I started the Atkins diet at the end of August 2008, and was doing very well until I got really ill in December. I stuck with the diet, but my appetite still hasn't gone back to normal, and I've been slow to recover energy (I have a chronic illness which impairs my recovery from any infectious illness).

In January, having successfully lost around 50 lbs (including 8-10lb I lost before starting Atkins), I decided to loosen off the dieting and give myself a break. I started eating occasional chocolate - lowering my other carbs to compensate, but otherwise, I easily continued with low-carbing. I was actually still losing a little weight - around 1/2 lb a week, which crept off so gradually that I didn't even notice. A few weeks ago, I decided that I'd like to stop eating the chocolate, because it was having a detrimental effect on me. I therefore stopped it, expecting to lose weight as a result, but actually, it didn't make much difference. I was hopping onto the scales daily, and eventually I felt really disappointed that I couldn't just lose that 1lb which would take me into the 160s. As a treat, one night, I tried some sugar-alcohol chocolate, and that made me gain noticably, so now I am back on the proper chocolate. I think I am depressed. My little pets all died recently (all siblings of the same age), and it just seems to have robbed me of my joy. Because of my health, my life is very slow to move forward.. I cannot work, and my brain is too limited to do much of value.. I am lucky that I have a quiet and happy home-life, but I wish I could have a more normal life, going out to work and being more active, which would enable me to be slim again, without eating such a restrictive diet. This diet has been practically miraculous for me, in that I lost so much weight, after several years of feeling powerless as the pounds piled on regardless of a generally low calorie diet. Now I am just needing to find the will to continue to push forward.. I've always been so self-motivated, but now, I just don't seem to be able to find any impetus to impel me forward.. I have supplements I am forgetting to take.. I'm still eating chocolate, and I cannot limit myself to one piece when I eat it. I would just love to get to a place where I can lose that 1 lb, and I think that would be such an encouragement..

Reading this thread - especially what Cajun Boy wrote - has helped me to put things into a bit of perspective. I know that I can make healthier choices.. and i need to continue to try to do that.. But in the meantime, I have been managing to lose weight, albeit very slowly, and generally my diet has been good, with the exception of the chocolate. I'd like to have been eating more vegetables, but since the illness in December, the thought of eating certain vegetables has made me feel nauseous. Now I have thought about it, I have decided to make more of an effort to get fresh foods into my diet - I could eat rasps, for example, and possibly find some other options in Dr. Atkins lists to broaden my diet, in case my present lethargy is being caused by nutritional deficiencies.

Thanks again