Hello all,

Today makes the 49th day I have been doing the Atkins diet. I have read the book, followed the diet correctly with a few exceptions in the begging (i.e. bars, shakes, diet soda, less veggies and even less cheese) I do not take meds and I take my vitamins. Breakfast is usually eggs bacaon, or sausage, decaf coffee with h/h or decaf tea, lunch would be tuna, egg, or chicken salad w/mayo or no suger lunch meat with cream cheese. Dinner, small salad w/steak, hamburger ect.... for dessert I would have cream cheese w/splenda (poorman cheese cake) Went to OWL, but slipped back to ind. Anyway, "some" inches lost, no weight lost. Sticks were pinky purple now tan.

Thinking this is not the diet for me, I love this diet, but was more successful on Weight Watchers. Go figure. Thinking about going back to WW. Anyone have any suggestions? Very very very discouraged.

Hi
Well I'm giving it one more try. I did a diet called ultralite which is low carb and I lost 18lbs in five weeks, but got complacent and ended right back at my present weight. I was thinking that WW would be just the same at least you can lose 2-3 lbs a week I thought I had lost 8lb then the scales showed I only lost 4lbs (how did I put them on?) NO TOM anyways doing this without cream and cheese and too much splenda will see what the next weeks brings before I make my decision to quit.
49 days seems a long time with not much weight loss...I'm thinking we're doing something wrong...too many poeple have had great success!

good luck!

Kristine, right off the bat I'd say there's a serious lack of veggies going on in your diet!

If the only thing you're having in the form of veggies is a "small salad with steak etc." then you certainly aren't getting 3 cups worth of veggies in, as prescribed for Induction; and if you've been on the Plan for 49 days you should be OUT of induction and eating even MORE veggies!

How 'bout water? How much are you getting a day? It's really important to have at a BARE MINIMUM 64 ounces of WATER. Decaf coffee does NOT count towards that total! In fact, if I drink decaf coffee or tea, I add an EXTRA cup of water. (Decaf beverages are generally NOT caffeine free - just reduced greatly.)

I'd hate to see you give it up without really sticking to the plan, but I always say - one size does NOT fit everyone.

I lost 35 pounds on Weight Watchers but was always hungry. I switched to Atkins and I'm NEVER hungry, except normal mealtime hunger. I've maintained my weight loss since May and couldn't be happier, all the while eating cheese, cream, bacon, eggs, full-fat dressings, steak, pork, etc. etc. etc. BUT I also eat LOTS of veggies!

Recheck the DANDR for the listing of acceptable veggies. Try increasing your intake to a minimum of 3 cups a day. Have some celery sticks or red bell pepper strips or cauliflower/broccoli florets with your lunch. Dip them in your favorite salad dressing if you like.

Have a BIG salad with dinner, with olives, artichoke hearts, hearts of palm, sliced zucchini, whatever you like with dinner. Try the mashed cauliflower, which tastes amazingly like mashed potatoes; or the cauliflower salad, which DH and I like even BETTER than potato salad!

Take advantage of the recipes here and on other low-carb recipes boards. Do a search on Yahoo or Google for "low carb recipes" - you'll be amazed how many come up!

Hang in there, and DRINK YOUR WATER - EAT YOUR VEGGIES - and you may find you're successful at this!

Char

P.S. Don't forget exercise too - even walking 20-30 minutes is GREAT for you........

Don't squat with yer spurs on!

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Breakfast is usually eggs bacaon, or sausage, decaf coffee with h/h or decaf tea, lunch would be tuna, egg, or chicken salad w/mayo or no suger lunch meat with cream cheese. Dinner, small salad w/steak, hamburger ect.... for dessert I would have cream cheese w/splenda (poorman cheese cake) Went to OWL, but slipped back to ind. Anyway, "some" inches lost, no weight lost. Sticks were pinky purple now tan.

Thinking this is not the diet for me, I love this diet, but was more successful on Weight Watchers. Go figure. Thinking about going back to WW. Anyone have any suggestions? Very very very discouraged. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I agree with Char.. At almost 2 solid months, you should be in the area of 45-50 carbs a day if you followed the plan to the letter.

Your breakfast is ok, but your lunch, and dinner are sadly lacking in nutrition. Have a side salad AND a cup of veggies with each meal. You're not getting enough carbs, and your body has probably gone into starvation mode.

I recommend giving it another 30 days, and this time, doing it properly. MORE veggies, MORE water. Start at 25 carbs a day, and increase after a week to 30, then to 35, then to 40, and see if you don't see some improvement at the end of 30 days. In order for it to work, you have to give it a fair shot, and do it by the book.. Reread it if necessary.. Keep a journal here, or on your own of everything you eat, how much water you're drinking, etc. Post it occasionally for opinions...

18 lbs in 5 weeks is very good. I think you will do good on this diet. My sister-in-law just stared again and she already lost 5lbs and is in the dark purple. She was doing WW and lost 30 lbs and now is trying this to get the weight loss moving again. All I know is that I lost 25 on WW and have kept it off for a year. I have 30 more to go and thought I would give this diet a try and have not seen the results I would like to see. I have been uping my water to close to a gallon a day. I have not been doing cardio but have been walking/jogging 3 to 5 days a week. But have droped off due to my daughter being sick and sometimes lack to of time. Before my pregnancy, I was 135 (lost the 20 buy taking Xenadrene (no no) and doing cardio like everyday) But boy did the weight come off. Than I got pregnant and gained (ready) 70 lbs. That is the source of major depression as most women know who gain an obnoxious amount of weight during pregnancy. So know almsot 2 years later I have am at 170 (tops 210 prenant) and have stayed at 170-167 But since I have started Atkins the scale says 170 and the inches are few. Maybe we are doing something wrong? I have been faithfull. But, like I said, maybe this just doesn't work for everyone.

Dear Kristine

See my post above about the carbs in the lettuce mix!!!!! You must have the same problem check everything...twice lol!

Lettuce will not stall you, or cause weight gain. It's practically a free food.

It's what you add TO the lettuce that can make, or break you.

Field Greens bagged salads are some of the healthiest greens you can possibly eat.

Thats exactly what I was thinking but the pack says 3.3g of sugars per 100g so considering there are 250g in a cup I was thinking that was my problem

Oh and I have Paul Newmans Ceasar Dressing "Less than 1g" per tablespoon I have two so I count that as 1 gram and I use Best foods Mayo 0.02g per tablespoon

Sorry, I should have been more specific. I did include veggies in the begging. However, the book states that if you do not see a change in your sticks or weight lost, cut back on the veggies. So I did. I would have a few here and there since than. I do add veggies to my eggs once in a while but for the most part I was following the part about cutting back on veggies. I did however add nuts and berries when I got to OWL, but stoped that too due to no results. I have read and re-read the book, I even called the Atkins hot line. But if I am in "stravation mode" do I have to start all over? I have gone to most of the low-carb websits (lowcarb cafe, Atkins, here, Ediets, ect....and have made some pretty good things to eat. How does eating more veggies help in weight loss? Just currious. I have added the water, I know that helps. And the exercise. I just saw more results on WW. But I like this diet.

Shelremi- I think you are having a problem with the math on that lettuce mix! A cup of lettuce mix couldn't possibly be equal to 250 gm (over half a pound!) What is the total weight of the bag and how many servings do they consider the bag to be-- the whole bag is probably not more than 4 or 5 servings with 4.7 gms(was that it?) per serving. And that is without subtracting for fiber-- and trust me, all veggies have some fiber. Anyway, you could probably eat the whole bag of lettuce without seriously overdoing it on carbs. Recheck your numbers and Eat Your Veggies!

Kristine, not to be too negative here, but bars and shakes are enough to stall some folks completely. I would suggest eliminating them completely, upping your veggies a great deal. I personally don't think you can get into too much trouble with green veggies.

Next thing, berries and nuts are wonderful whole foods. But, they should be added slowly and sparingly. Again, for some, nuts really slow things down, other folks can eat a small daily serving without a problem. I don't buy processed nuts (too much salt for me), I get the raw ones. The type you would find in the baking section of the grocery, except I get mine at Sam's, it's much cheaper. If you have a Trader Joe's, they have wonderful prices on raw nuts. Sort of YMMV!

In my situation, bars will cause me to stall and crave. When I have had them, I slice them into small "fingers" eating only little servings at a time. I don't use them at all now. Never have used the shakes to speak of.

Best wishes and don't get discouraged. Eat more veggies!

Susan

LCE Member since 01/02
341/287.5/185

Thank for you suggestions. It is too bad that the bars and shakes will do that to you. Yes, I do think that was my problem to start of with. I will up the veggies and stay away from the others (bars, shakes, diet soda, less spleda ect....) Going to give it one more try the right way.

If some of your items just need sweetness, use the Davinci syrups instead of the Splenda packets. Syrup has 0 carbs, whereas Splenda packets have something like .6 carbs per packet.