Thread: Wondering if I should give up...

Hi all,

I seem to have the blahs today. I stepped on the scale (firts time this month so far) and I STILL haven't lost more than my original Induction poundage. In total, in 7 weeks, I have lost a grand total of 7-8 pounds. That is IT! I have followed this way of eating to a T. The only thing I don't do is write stuff down which I started to do today. I know my level of exercise isn't great. SInce becoming a full-time student in January 2004 I have reduced my ice hockey down to 1 time a week instead of the 3. I walk to and from the subway station daily (15 minutes each day), and am fairly active at school (I am in Massage Therapy school and massaging is pretty physical). I don't know...maybe I should quit while I'm ahead? I hate to think like that, but it is frustrating.... *sigh* I am not a quitter, but can't figure out where to go from here. I am eating roughly 40-50 g of net carbs per day. Could it be that I only have 25-30 pounds to lose in total??? A modest amount to lose maybe??? I dunno. I am new at this and am very disappointed in myself. It seems that I am the same weight and have lost the same amount of inches (which is surprisingly alot of inches in sucha short time - 2 inches off my waist - always the last to go for me, hips 4.5 inches, 3 inches on my ribs, 1.5 off left and right thighs, 1.5 inches off of each arm and 2.5 off of my ribcage). Do any of you have any suggestions? Have any of you experienced a "stall" right after induction?

I need some encourgement....I think....

Thanks in advance!

-Krystyne

It's hard to say without seeing what specifically you are eating, but why not go back down to induction levels and see what happens? Maybe you need to take your carb count down some, at least for a while and try for 20-25 a day. I've stayed at that level for 13 months. The less you have to lose the more slowly it comes off for sure. I lost 25 pounds the first three weeks but then again, I weighed 305 lbs! Sometimes there is a food item that is stalling you, I ran into a problem with peanut butter for instance. Try posting your menu and maybe people can spot trouble foods and help you out! Don't give up yet you are off to a real good start and maybe you just need to tweak things a bit!

Hockeygirl,

You may be hitting the stall that happens to most of us, just a bit later than average. And, you may just be a slow loser. Many of us are.
Also, with an increase in protein in your diet, you may be building muscle, which is heavier than fat. The difference in your measurements shows that your woe is working, but it may not show up on the scale.
Another thing to consider is, maybe your level of carbs is too high for you. Did you increase them slowly after induction? Was there a point at which you stopped losing?
Are you getting most of your carbs from veggies? Are you drinking enough water?
If you are feeling healthy, enjoying what you eat and losing an AVERAGE of a pound a week, then I would say you are doing ok. Not everyong loses at the same rate, or steadily. This just may be right for you.
Try posting some of your menus so we can help you fine-tune your woe. There may be something you can tweak to help you lose at a more satisfying rate. But don't give up yet; and remember, we are here to help!!

Hi Hockeygirl,

Well, I don't know about you, but when I started LowCarbing/Atkins, I knew that this was going to be something that I was going to do for life. Not just lose the weight, and then go back to eating the other ways, which caused me to be 306 pounds. If you feel that you need to "give up", then you haven't really taken LowCarbing as a WOL, have you? From how I see it, this WOE is something that will help me lose weight, inches, and tons of other health problems. (People do it for different reasons, but those are mine) What reasons did you have when you decided to do this WOE? If they are similar to mine, then I would suggest to STAY ON TRACK!

I, who started almost 2 months ago, have only lost a total of 18 pounds. Weighing 306 pounds when I started lc, 298 when I started Atkins. I have been very discouraged when I read others who have lost that much in induction alone, but then I say, "I am different. My body is different. This is no race. It will come off when it does." And I go on.

I think that you are right about a couple of things, because of the amount of weight you need to lose, it may take a little longer. (LUCKY DUCK! I WISH I ONLY HAD TO LOSE THAT MUCH! ) And another thing, it is great that you are writing things down now. I write down everything, even the bite of salad here, or the piece of sugar free gum, or the 1 sip of Pepsi. Everything! LOL!

With all of that being said, let me end this post with this.

You are a beautiful, intelligent, and caring individual. (Yes, I got that from your posts.) And you are worth a million. Your heart, mind and body. If you chose to stick with this WOL you will be doing great things for all of those things. I KNOW you can do this. I know you can reach your goal and encourage others to do so too. I have alot of faith in ya girlfriend! (BUt only YOU can decide if this WOL is for you)

I am sure some veterans will have some awesome advice for you too, but this is from me. Take care and don't lose faith in this. How can Millions of people be wrong???

krystyne-

the biggest thing is, if what you're doing isn't working for you, well change it! try different stuff. try lowering your carbs, upping your carbs, alternating your carb levels. review what you're eating to see of there's something in there that's a problem you weren't aware of. (i've had this happen to me before. it's easy to miss something). try dropping the lc treats if you eat them. try different exercises than you've been doing. not necessarily more, but different. maybe add some weight training to build more muscle? just try stuff!

while i agree that less weight to lose = slower loss, i also know it can be discouraging to not feel like you're making any progress at all...make sure you're measuring yourself, trying on different clothes, and finding as many ways as you can to measure and acknowledge your progress, even if that nasty ol' scale is not showing your work. if you are losing inches, it IS working, even though the scale stays the same. i'm sure you know muscle weighs more than fat, but is more effective at burning fat and looks and feels better, too!

i've also seen it mentioned before that sometimes when people get closer to their goal, they may have to start paying attention to calories as well as carbs. it's something to look at anyway!

the thing is, you can't really look at it like a diet, where you do this so long, lose the weight, and go back to eating "normally". this needs to BECOME your nomal at some level. while you'll undoubtedly end up eating more carbs in the long run when you're done with weightloss phases, if you go back to your old eating habits, you'll also go back to your old weight, too.

why not take it one day at a time? make a commitment to yourself to try to change something about your approach and then do it for today. see how it goes. then you'll be at tomorrow. see how that goes. you get it.

all the best to you!

once again..... refer to JOYS OF NOT WEIGHING every day.. or week .. or month..
you just might be surprised....
although i DO understand if it seems you arent losing inches or anything either... but i have to agree.. this has to be a WOE for life... otherwise... whats the point... surely you FEEL better? you have to...
it is AMAZING to read posts of various people in here and see the WIDELY different rates of loss of lbs and inches... its what makes us INDIVIDUALs..
if you have to ask US if you should continue with this WOE...ya probably already know the answer.... now... the QUESTION is... do you want to listen to that answer?