Hello everyone, I have just begun atkins. I'm still in the Induction phase. It's been about a week and I haven't lost any weight. I've been working out and eating 20 net carbs or less still nothing. Now I did read something about alcohol slowing down your ketosis and I didn't have one night where I did a few tequila shots so I'm sure that has some type of effect on me. I'm also taking birth control and I read that it can effect weight lost. Is anyone else on birth control who has been successful with a low carb lifestyle?


Thank you

I found this on the Atkins site:

There has been no research to evaluate the effect of any weight-loss program on the efficacy of oral contraceptives. However, because birth control pills contain estrogen, they may impact your ability to lose weight on Atkins. Estrogen causes more fat to be stored in your tissues rather than being burned as energy. This increases insulin resistance, making weight loss more difficult. Estrogen also lowers thyroid function, which is necessary to keep your metabolism at an appropriate active level. If you have no choice but to take birth control pills, be prepared for the fact that your carbohydrate threshold my be lower than it would be otherwise, requiring you to be extra vigilant about your carb intake.

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Ammy
www.dreadedintentions.com

I suspect those tequila shots may be interferring with your weight loss. Your body burns calories from alcohol before anything else, so it can easily impact weight loss.

Lots of women on birth control are successful at losing weight on a good low carb eating plan. That's not to say that the medication is never to blame for slow weight loss, but I would look for other culprits first.

Perhaps if you post your menus someone can spot some hidden carbs that may be slowing your loss?

There are some sneaky foods that can stall weight loss - the Atkins bars and candies are notorious for interferring with weight loss. Ditto for other brands of LC bars and chocolates. Even something as seemly innocent as basalmic vinegar can add a lot of carbs to your total without you even noticing.

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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.

AMEN about the estrogen, I am estrogen dominant and it is soooo hard to lose weight. I have no metabolism. I have to pratically stay at induction. Very hard so very hard.................

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Rachel

Hi,
I am in the same case, it?s been almost a week, 6 days to be exact, and I haven?t lost any weight either (but I lost about an inch at the waist). In the other hand, I also take bc pills, haven't done much exercise this week and I have hypothyroidism. I am taking medicine for it but I think it will always be a problem for me.
Why don?t you try few weeks taking them and if you continue not loosing then stop them and see the difference, that way you will see if that is slowing your weight loss or not. I think I will do that.
Good luck!

First, alcohol is NOT induction friendly......... and you won't lose any weight while you are taking shots of any type of alcoholic beverage during induction. Alcohol, in MODERATION, is acceptable for the later phases of Akins. I would worry about alcohol first, and secondly birth control inhibiting my weightloss. Hopefully, you have the book (DANDR) someplace in your home. If not, you really need to buy it. Stick to only induction friendly foods for the first two weeks..... follow the plan thereafter, and you will be successful. If after that point you are not, then worry about what birth control medications you are taking.

Hope you will post often and good luck and your new journey!

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196/135-135

Thank you for all the advice everyone. No more alcohol. I'm off bc for now to see how it effects me. I mistakenly bought Atkins for Life instead of DANRD, which I will be buying soon. I also wanted to add I've been putting the Wal-Mart brand of crystal lite into my water it has no carbs no sodium and no calories do you advise against these? Also what about hot sauce, I haven't used any yet but I always read that a lot of you don't advise sodium.

Well, sodium is an individual thing. If high amounts of sodium make your face puffy or your fingers swell, it's probably best to use the sauces (or salty snacks) in moderate amounts.

I haven't used crystal lite, but it sounds innocuous. What alternative sweetners does it have? Some people report issues with aspartame, and many people report problems with many of the sugar alcohols used in place of real sugar.

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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.

i've been on oral contraceptives the whole time i've been lowcarbing, and it hasn't kept me from losing, but people are also very individual. but as others have mentioned, i'd be much more likely to blame the booze 1st, 'cause that's pretty much always a show-stopper, depending on how much you're having.

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