New here! Just a quick little bit about me. I'm 32, was diagnosed with PCOS when I was 18. Been heavy ever since I was a child. Spent years working out and adjusting my eating and managed to get down to 185. Then I was hit by a car and with that combined w/ depression, the weight piled back on. My friend started atkins about 3 weeks before I did. I wasn't sure I could do it, but as she lost 15 lbs the first 2 weeks, I thought I'd give it a shot. I've lost ~7 lbs which I am pretty impressed with because my weight loss has always been slow. But I am really starting to understand why people say to throw the scale away.

First off - workouts. I don't get all huffy and puffy and out of breath the way I did before. My friend and I walked 6 miles the other night and it was so different than any time I've walked that length in the past. Just a completely different feeling.

Hunger - I eat more out of habit lately or because I realize it's been several hours. The hunger feelings have subsided.

Clothes - What really pumped me up is that I went digging through my jeans to pull out the next lowest size, to see how far away I was from fitting in them. They fit. I pulled out the next lowest, they fit too. So even though the scale only says 7 lbs, obviously my body has been changing a lot more than I realized.

As I still have a lot to lose, I'm continuing on with induction. I hope I also see some other benefits - especially in relation to PCOS. My main goal is just to feel healthier and more confident. I'm definitely a believer now.

Good luck to all, I look forward to learning more from everyone on the boards!

Sara...Congratulations! That's wonderful news! Sounds like your Induction has been everything you hoped! I look forward to your updates!!!

Hello and Welcome, sara!

Huge Congrats on your first 7 lbs down!

If you have any questions, just ask and someone will have an answer or point you in the right direction!

Wishing you continued success on your journey to better HEALTH!

Welcome, Sara! Sounds like you're off to a great start. One of the most important things you'll come to understand is that it's a process of finding the best way of eating for the individual. You'll likely make some adjustments going forward, and that's something we've all done over time. The key thing is to enjoy the journey and embrace it as a learning experience and a way to better health!

Fertility issues (when the time comes) due to PCOS have great improvements when on a low carb diet. I was diagnosed "clinically infertile" and conceived both of my children (rather quickly too) while on low carb.

Keep going, the plan clearly has many benefits to you, not all weight loss

So I'm on my 7th week now and it took until this week to see the scale drop again. Thank goodness for inches lost and just the overall feeling better/healthier. I can definitely see why people might get discouraged. I had one meal that I went out w/ a friend - 3 lbs up for 3 days before it went back down. The scale basically stayed up and down between about 2 lbs for several weeks. Another friend had a bachelorette party Saturday evening - night out drinking and dancing. This isn't something I do very often at all, but figured since I'm looking at the 'diet' as a way of life, I'm going to allow the 'occasional' things, as long as I don't let it distract me. Both situations I've been able to get right back on plan, so for now it's working. May not be such a great thing though, cuz now I'm ready to justify the alcohol - the scale has gone down every day since I've also been working out at the gym consistently again (which also probably affected the scale) and I'm now to the point where I remember how much I love working out, how much healthier I feel, and just overall feel so much more in control and more positive about things. It will be a slow journey for me, but I've been down this road before (not lc, just with weight loss in general) and I have a good idea of what to expect with my body. Gonna keep on trekkin'

i really love this post.

Sara, congrats on your loss, even though your PCOS is known to make it way more challenging.

You are at exactly the spot where our carb addictions are working overtime to try to sabotage us--right around the 2 month mark.

It seems odd to say so, but the best idea, based on myself and many other people here who are at or close to goal, is to double down on induction, to get that danged carb addict in your head to shut up.

It was helpful for me that my doctor told me not to drink at all--I was in therapy for a traumatic brain injury. I didn't drink at all for long enough that I'm good with a half glass of wine every couple of weeks or longer.

Best of luck. It seems silly to say so, but THIS is the hardest part. Just when we think we have it down, our inner carb addict comes roaring back, to trick us into feeding the addiction.

You have the first couple months under your belt, though, and you can figure out what completely on plan foods you can have when your own inner addict is tempting you.

Thanks MickiSue for the advice. I am feeling really in control right now (which I agree, probably does mean the cravings will return in full force). I've never done as low carb as Atkins before but I've done carb cycling programs and even just as I adjusted to healthier carbs, I've dealt with that carb addict. One of the things that I'm currently doing is kicking butt at the gym. My friend says she notices inches lost and changes in my muscles. So even though that's probably affecting the number on the scale, I'm not worried about it as I honestly feel really great these days and in so much more control than I have in years. Self-care is SOOOO important. Diet, exercise, sleep, activities that help reduce stress, ALL of it. The inner carb addict won't win this time

Good attitude. And that's huge, it really is!

Took 10 weeks but I got to my first 10 lb loss. That inner carb does want to rear its ugly head. I have learned the atkins stuff may taste good, but my body doesn't do well w/ them at all. Now that I"m further along the path, I've been tweaking things here and there to see what works for me and what my body can handle. The days I stick closer to the stricter induction foods - the better off. I even learned to actually like pork rinds. I seriously needed a replacement for my popcorn and those have been great when I've had the munchies. Went clothes shopping w/ a friend and naturally pulled my old sizes off the racks. Was a boost of confidence to learn I could go smaller. The way my body functions, it's a good thing I'm not too caught up in the scale number. I absolutely love the way I feel eating this way. One thing I find interesting is the whole carbs/fuel/workouts thing. I know healthy carbs are a great fuel for workouts and whatnot but I can also say that yes, I can see a lot of growth and strength in my workouts being on a low carb diet. I've never felt the lack of energy or burn out or any of that... just the opposite really. I thought my friend was nuts when she started this diet and didn't think I could do it but decided to try anyhow. Though it's not been 'perfect' it's been so much better than I ever thought. Loving this journey and looking forward to what the next few weeks bring.

IF you are carb adapted, THEN carbs are a great fuel for workouts.

IF you are fat adapted, all they do is throw you out of whack.

It's one reason why I know my daily carb max, and my no matter what carb max. Daily is 10 net carbs. No matter what is 30 total carbs, and that means holidays, parties, on vacation, whatever.

I want to stay in fat burning mode, because I want to prevent returning to carbohydrate driven metabolism.

So good that you are loving this! If you have the time, this is a really good point at which to start doing some reading about why it works as well as it does.

Why We Get Fat by Gary Taubes, Grain Brain by Dr. Perlmutter, and if you haven't read the books themselves, either of Dr Atkins' books are a great source of information.

That, BTW, is just scratching the surface. There is a lot more information out there, but all of them are wonderful books to read, then re read at a later point.