I've been doing Atkins for 2 weeks (I cheated one day last week) and I have not seen any weight loss. I am trying to drink extra water and I work out every day. I eat a high fat diet right now and was wondering if anyone thinks I may lose weight faster if I cut some of the fat out of my diet and focus more on lean proteins. Has anyone tried this? From reading Atkins it seems that increased fat intake can help you lose doing induction- but I am not really losing. Any suggestions?

P.S. Yes I am drinking my water! =) GULP.

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Carolyn Gleason Sanchez
DOI: 9/19/04
Age: 23 Height: 5'6''
142/140/120

"I am willing to grow up and take responsibility for my life. I am safe. I nourish myself with spiritual food and I am satisfied and free"
-Louise Hay
You Can Heal Your Life

Carolyn, are you eating any of the LC bars? If you are, your body might be reacting to them just as if they had sugar in them.

As for eating fat in the beginning............there's great debate on the subject. It helps to understand how the body metabolizes nutrients. There are fats, proteins and carbs. The body metabolizes carbs 100% into glucose, protein about 50% and fats about 5%. So with an eating plan that tries to minimize blood glucose, fats and protein would be the best choices. BUT the body also reacts to calories and if I remember correctly, you only need to lose about 20 lbs or so, eh? You may have to watch your fat intake as well as calories because you have so little to lose. Of course, the more you exercise, the more calories you can consume. I am at a point in my plan where I probably need to cut some of the fat and calories. I am about 6 lbs from my goal weight and I've lost nothing since January. I KNOW what I have to do, but am not ready to give up my cream cheese, Carb Countdown milk, cheese and all that. Awareness is half the battle tho. I suppose if you upped your exercise, you may see the scale move again. You could try it for about 1 week (that's doable right?........convince ME, LOL) and see what happens. I've given up wheat gluten just to see if that will make a difference. So far, no change. So the next thing will be some of my fat intake.............wahhhhhhhhh. :crying:

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Maybe it's tied to the amount you have to lose. . . When I was 20 pounds from goal, it seemed like the loss was almost impossible to see. I'd go two or three weeks at the same weight, drop a pound or two, then a few more weeks at the same weight, etc. Once I got into my goal range, I was at 140 for two months, then dropped to 138-9, then five weeks later 136. The more you have to lose, the faster it seems to go. Don't put too much stock in the scale; use your measuring tape & your clothes to get the real picture! Me personally, I do better with a higher fat %, than if I get on a protein thing. YMMV, of course.

Stacie
On a Butter kick
222/136/135-40

............Oh to see the 130's.........

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How about posting a couple of days worth of menus? Perhaps there are some hidden carbs in your diet.

When I was trying to lose the last 10 pounds, I did end up cutting back on the calorie dense foods and salty foods. I still ate well, but I was more careful with the cheese, cream, and nuts. I also eliminated those high fat fun foods that don't add a lot of nutrition to your diet - like pork rinds, sausage, and bacon.

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~~~Teelbee
Back to GOAL!!!
start weight: 176/goal range: 137-134/now: 138
Reached goal in Aug. 2003 - 4rd year of maintenance.

All wonderful advice here. Teel has a good idea about posting menus for a couple of days. Hang in the MissG.

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Ozzie's Place

Thank you all for your help. It is very encouraging to know that some of you have had the same problems.

I guess that I know I am eating too may fake foods to really lose. I have had fake low carb waffles with syrup, fake chocolate and I eat a lot of cheese.
I think that eating these foods has kept me from cheating on the diet, but if it's also keeping me from losing weight, then I guess there's really no point.

Yesterday I ate:
BREAKFAST
1 Low carb waffle (3g) with Joseph's maple syrup and butter
LUNCH
tuna with mayo and 2 slices of tomato on a low carb tortilla
caesar salad, no croutons & zero carb dressing with paramsean cheese
2 slices swiss cheese
1 glass crystal light
DINNER
1 slice beef brisket with fresh horseradish and mayo
greek salad with feta and a few olives - no tomato with oil & low carb italian
1 low-carb yogurt (3 carbs) with 1/4 cup fake granola
1/2 cup of coffee
Lots of water all day

Workout:
I only ran 30 minutes as it was a Friday night! =)

I also have a terrible weakness for the Cheesecake Factory's 6 Carb cheesecake. I have had about 3 slices (they are BIG) in the last 2 weeks. Ahhhhhhh I'm out of control!

Losing hope in myself.......not in the diet.............

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Carolyn Gleason Sanchez
DOI: 9/19/04
Age: 23 Height: 5'6''
142/140/120

"I am willing to grow up and take responsibility for my life. I am safe. I nourish myself with spiritual food and I am satisfied and free"
-Louise Hay
You Can Heal Your Life

OH MY GOSH.....Cheesecake Factory finally got with the program and has LC Cheesecake????? OHHHHH I wish you hadn't told me that!!!! Now I HAVE to go try some!!!!

Is Joseph's syrup sugar/free? Yep, you definitely want to lose the chocolate and waffles for now. That's probably what's causing the slow loss. You are prolly one who reacts to sugar alcohols as if you were eating REAL sugar. You might want to forgo the tortillas for now too. I know they are yummy, but you can have tuna salad, chicken salad, egg salad without the "bready" stuff for now. It's just as good plain on a bed of lettuce.

What's in the "fake" granola"?

The rest of your menu looks good.

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Welcome Carolyn!

I would like bring up the point of your height. You are 5'6" and 140 pounds, believe me, there are MANY people on this board who would consider you at goal already. I'm 5'5" and 140 IS my goal. And, I look damn good at 140 too!

Are you sure you need to get to 120? Perhaps with the extra inch height than me 130 is about right but 120? Do you REALLY need to get to 120?

Are you going by health and how you feel or are you trying to fit into a certain size?

I know, we're all different and have different body types, etc. but truly, I do think 120 is too thin unless you have VERY small bone structure.

If,in the end, you really must hit 120, you have to remember that it often takes longer the closer you get to goal.

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It is always necessary to leave some part
of cooking to improvisation. - Paul Bocuse
Member since 2001

I have to agree with Marcia. I have hesitated to respond to your post for fear that you would take it the wrong way. At 5'6" and 140 you are considered to have a healthy BMI. 120 pounds would place you at the extreme low end of the healthy BMI range.

I'm 5'6" and currently weigh 142 and I wear a size 8, a bit on the loose side (granted I am 41 and have had a baby). In the past, after an illness, I weighed 123 pounds and was a size 3 at which point I looked more like a holecaust victim than a healthy 25 YO.

Unless you have a really small frame I believe you should reconsider your goal weight. Your body may actualy be telling you something by not allowing you to lose weight at this time.

In addition if you are still working out twice per day as you have previously posted you may be building muscle which weighs more than fat but takes up less space. Do you have measurements from before you started as opposed to measurements currently?

I am not trying to bring you down, I just want you to look at yourself realistically and healthfully.

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Libby

2004 174/142/138

Begin Again 2007

164/159/142

There's nothing wrong with using Low Carb to have a healthy lifestyle, that's for sure!!!! NONE of us need sugar in our diets or those nasty processed carbs. So to do this for health reasons at your weight is a better goal. It has so many benefits: contolled insulin, not GAINING weight, normal blood pressure, avoidance of some cancers, energy, avoiding development of diabetes, lowered cholesterol levels, healthier hearts.............etc. I'm only 5'2" and am happy at my 140's. (course I'm older too and have had 2 babies.) I'm a size 10 and almost a size 8. I'm perfectly happy with that.

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Marcie and Libby may have hit the nail on the head. I am only 5'1 and my goal is 125, which will put me in a size 6-8 at 58 years of age. You are young, and I know you probably want a model figure. These figures are NOT realistic! And in your picture, you look gorgeous now! But if you really think you NEED to lose more, Barb's advice about the waffles, syrup, chocolate and tortillas is right on. Switch to ALL natural foods for a week or so and see what happens. More protein in the AM, some eggs and bacon, big salad for lunch with lots of veggies and some protein (go low on cheese) and for dinner, a little less protein and a lot of veggies. For a snack, I enjoy Blue Bunny's LC yogurt with a few berries. And after dinner I enjoy sweet tea (liquid splenda) with a touch of cream and almond extract. Let us know how you do . . . . .

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Alida
5'1" ~ 59 years old
Highest weight: 165
Atkins 7/10/2004
160/126/125
RE-DO, January 2008:
167/162/135

Carolyn:

Like Libaki and you, I am 5'6' and I currently weight 136. My goal, also like you, is 120, but that is only because I am very small boned - and I don't think I will ever see 120 (I'm 15 years older than you). But that is OK with me! I have done AStkins now since May 2003 and I feel better than I ever have. I got as low as 129 (last Feb) so being able to maintain current weight is huge. It also took me about 6 months to lose the last 6 pounds - it just takes longer the closer you are to goal. I think you are on the right track - you may want to revisit your goal based on your bine structure, but in the meantime, you are eating better and working out and that can only help you. (I really need to get back in the exercise habit - that's the only reason I haven't lost the 6 pounds I gained last March - eating has been good). My only suggestion to you is to ditch as much of the fake stuff as you can. I happen to be a big egg eater, but if that's not for you, you may want to try Maggie's cereal for breakfats )check the recipe section). IT's high fiber, high protein and just plain yummy.

Good luck and keep us posted.

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Jen



179/179/120

Ok, reading your menus sent up a BIG red flag on my end. The LC waffles for one, stalled me so fast it wasn't funny. Also, anything containing sugar alcohols can stall quickly. Low carb tortillas also stalled me bad. Instead of those for my tuna, I now use lettuce leaves. Also, I can't see that the LC cheesecake could be a good thing for your weight loss either. Alot of the point of atkins is to change your old habits and develop new and healthy ones. It looks like you are just trying to get around that by still have those things that should be eliminated, but having a LC version. Granted LC is wayyy better then the real thing, but your are not retraining your body and mind to eat and be healthy by having that stuff. It's probably not doing good things for your weight loss either. I have to agree with the others that the less you have to lose, the slower it comes off. Just be patient, change these things with your plan, and you will eventually lose those 20 pounds I don't know why you wanna lose anyway. lol