I started around June 1 2016 ~ 235+.
I was pre diabetic, 99 sugar and 6.0 a1c.
I almost immediately cut out all the rice and bread which was a lot that I used to eat, and in 2 months I lost almost 20 lbs.
Then I gave up sugar as well, but I was eating nuts for 2 weeks in an attempt to not go into ketosis because I was worried about the side effects because I was starting a new job and had a long 100+ mile 1 way drive for a few weeks.

Then July 15th I decided to do proper induction. I dropped below 20 gm carbs but 2 days in the beginning I ate jerky that had sugar, and ate splenda. Then on day 3, ~11 am I started tasting metal. I soon realized I was in ketosis (did not get keto sticks yet). On most days I am under 10 gm carbs, and usually if I cross 10 gm its almost all due to veggies. But mostly I am on meat, eggs and cheese and the atkins shakes diet.

The cravings were all gone for the first 2 weeks, but they're partially back for the last 9 days, I am on day 22 of induction, but have not lost any more weight. I am not even eating artificial sweeteners. Essentially only sweet things I have had are the shakes.
The lower blood sugar (I can feel it actually) has helped my life a lot, I get less tired and some other problems have gone away, but honestly I am a bit frustrated at this lack of weight loss.

I can post my daily diet in detail if someone can trouble shoot it for me. But 1 shake a day, usually ~ dinner, meat and eggs for the other meals, mushrooms, green olives are probably the only veggies I have eaten. Adding arugula over the weekend, and maybe alfalfa sprouts.

Anyway I seem to have stalled, and am trying to see why.

Thanks.
Srinath.

Welcome, Srinath. Your progress is not unusual, as many go through a quiescent period after a few weeks. Not to worry. One thing I would recommend is to stay away from the Atkins food products, especially the shakes, but all Atkins products. They are a separate company and have leveraged the Atkins name to sell processed foods that do a poor job of emulating nutrition. Many have stopped stalls by eliminating Atkins "stuff."

It might be helpful for you post your diet, as there are many here who will chime in and provide feedback. My recommendation is to stay the course, eat whole, natural (non-processed) foods, avoid GPS (grains, potatoes, sugar), and enjoy the journey! It will happen in phases, as your body gets used to a new way of eating. Don't worry about weight as much as inches off the body. My rule of thumb is that if anything has more than 3 ingredients, be very suspicious, and inspect anything with more than 1 ingredient to ensure you don't fall prey to hidden sugars, starches, and wheat. Unfortunately it's everywhere under many aliases. Good luck!

Didn't you say you've lost 20 lbs?

That's not a stall. Your body is stabilizing.

But I agree that cutting out processed foods, specifically faux "diet" foods, is a step in the right direction.

I am too pre diabetic and I feel the same way you feel right now. My weight has come to a stall for some reason too. I tried just eating vegan and lots of veggies before I gave Atkins a try and it was been about two months now. I stated at 217 now I am at 204.7 with clothes on in the evening and in the mornings now naked I am at 203.0 this morning. I keep going up and down everyday I am not exercising because my schedule is so busy with kids, school and working as a single mom.

Both of you: a stall is at least two months with zero weight loss. You have both, in relatively short times, lost significant weight. My gosh! It took me 8 months to lose 20 lbs. And the last 14? 14 months.

Srinath, read the ingredients on the Atkins shakes: you ARE consuming artificial sweeteners, and a boatload of them. Try cooking up some hardboiled eggs and some sort of meat. Peel the eggs so they're ready to go, and have them instead of the nasty artificial shakes, when you need food quickly.

So long as you stay on plan, and don't eat beyond being satisfied, you WILL lose. But it happens on its own timeline.

I guess I am going to have to eat real food from now on.
Too bad, I have 7 of thes eleft, and I drank one today.
But I also ate seriously good lunch, a cheese, meat and olives, mushroom onion souffle - and ate like a good 3 of those. Seriously pushing 1500 calories, all of it in fat and protein. Barely 10 gm carbs if that.
Even counting the hidden carbs, I am well under 20, but I better go to that Meat, cheese and eggs with low carb veggies diet.
Arugula, green olive and chicken salad lunch tomorow and double cheese burger (no bun) dinner tomorow.
Thanks guys.
Srinath.

Are only atkins brand bad ? Is EAS or Premier or other ones better ???
I calculated the EAS had 4.8 gm carb instead of the 3 it advertised. But even with 4.8, I am under 20, cos I am usually running ~ 10-12 a day with the numbers on the box.

Thanks.
Srinath.

Canned shakes are pretty much bad across the board. Much better to eat real food.

What MickiSue said. Figure that all shakes are processed food offering calories empty of nutrients. They have lots of ingredients. Be very suspicious! You can do much better, and you know how. Having the patience to stay consistent with your way of eating (WOE) is the key. Have fun with it, as it takes a while to see changes, and the changes will come.

Yes, keep with natural foods. Also, try to be patient. The weight will go, but not as fast as you might expect. A pound or two a week is normal and it might take a few weeks to see an all of a sudden drop in scale weight. This is because fat cells fill with water to stabilize as the fat is gone, expecting a refill. Eventually, they will realize it's not coming and then, "whoosh" the water is released and the scale goes down. That's what usually happens for me; a pound every five to seven days. I am not losing a pound of fat overnight, but the water the cells held up until they were sure they'd stay empty.

Ok I had a spinach and arugula chicken salad for lunch, and It had a whopping 6 gm carb. With my bunless cheese burger for dinner I'll be ~ a round 8 gm for today.
Let me keep this thing going ~20 days and see what that does.

However my question is this ... and very very important to me that I do this, and not any other way ...

I dont care for bread or rice, and tortilla chips and all the rest - could care less. Never want to eat those.
However I do like my morning tea made indian style, so tea, spices milk abd sugar, and I used to have it with 23 gm of sugar, I hope that after 6 months of no sweeteners of any kind I can manage with less than 23 - but I cant give that tea up on anything other than few months.
My second favorite thing is other fruit based pastries, like cherry and apple pies. Of course I'd scoop out the filling and eat just the fillings ...

Then come fruits - especially cherries and pineapples.

Can I in 6-8 months when I have to be under 80-100 gm carbs for the rest of my life, I could do that.

I could give up the pies and fillings but not tea or fruits.

The funny thing is I can drink coffee black, and seriously like it that way, never going back to the syrupy old way. Hazelnut is my #1 favorite, putting sugar and cream in it makes it taste ordinary.

Anyway, sugar and fruits are Ok if I stay under 80 gm ?
Thanks.
Srinath.

Srinath - sugar and fruits? That depends on you and how insulin resistant you are. But rather than thinking this is a temporary thing, and knowing sugar is poison, why would you do that? The purpose of this WOE is to adapt to something that enables you to pursue a healthy lifestyle. I have been low carb, high fat for several years now and have been very consistent. For me, I have wonderful meals and fantastic food without wandering away from my low carb lifestyle. For me, this is a way of life and not a diet. You need to determine what your trying to get out of this, as a temporary diet will risk undoing everything you've done by following a low carb WOE. Your choice. Free will is a wonderful thing!

Srinath, I agree with GRB. I was also insulin resistant when I started this WOE a few months ago (6/20) and probably still am. I recently had a blood test and, compared to a year ago, everything was better. Fasting glucose was 83 vs 110 last year. Lipids were in range a year ago, but now they're better. This WOE is improving my health and I can feel it.

I baked bread almost weekly before I started this. It was delicious and my entire family loved it. I may make it again as winter comes, but I won't eat it. I tried a bite of my husband's bakery bread the other night and it was just meh.

As you get used to this new WOE, your tastes will change. Sugar in your tea will probably seem way too sweet. Many find that HWC (heavy white cream) now tastes sweet and no sugar is needed. Of course, you could try artificial sweeteners.

Pie filling is loaded with sugar. You could just eat a few berries with unsweetened whipped HWC and be satisfied.

The thing is, prediabetes means insulin resistance. This WOE reduces carbs so that resistance matters less and you can lose weight and reverse or put in remission diabetes and improve the insulin resistance (so can intermittent fasting). Once you have healed these issues, if you can, you might be able to add back some carbs.

Sugar will spike insulin immediately, so it's not a great carb to add, but everyone is different. If it's that important to you, try and see what your BG does in response. Get a meter. But don't even think about it for a while. You will probably find its less important as you go.

I will stay under 80 gm anyway but I wont get it in breads or rice or tortilla chips. The way I look at it, that 1 cup of tea is the equal of 1 slice of bread (which has 30 gm carbs as per the label)

I was pre diabetic, and i'll stay in phase 1-2-3 for 6 months I think, let me see how I feel ~ the end of it. Maybe just milk and tea and spices will suffice.

I could add honey instead of sugar.
I may be OK with stevia, or just a lot less sugar, I hope the un sweeter added WOE makes my taste buds more sensitive to sugar, so I can add less or none of it.
Does atkins increase insulin resistance ? I heard if you lose fat from the liver and pancreas, you'd become more sensitive to insulin. Does atkins diet not remove fat in the organs.

Anyway 6 months I am not going near the usual tea I used to have, lets see how that turns out then.

Thanks.
Srinath.

Have you tried cream instead of milk? It's very rich tasting and much lower in carbs than milk.