Not doing so well...please help

[Hinen]

I've been doing a lot of thinking about Atkins, feeling very discouraged about my lack of progress.
Heres the plus side: I have lost a total of 5 pounds and 10 inches. I have stopped bingeing. I am off the sugar rollercoaster. The brain fog has lifted and I can think clearly.
What hasn't happened: no remarkable weight loss, no miraculous boost in energy levels, no decrease in apetite.
I am as obsessed with food as I ever have been. I am driven to distraction by the feeling that theres something missing from my diet.
I have found exercise I enjoy and incorporated it into my life, hopefully longterm. Yeah I know I should be exercising 5 times a week but for now 3 times a week is all I can manage.
I drink the 3 litres of water and take a multivitamin.
I have been in ketosis the whole time, according to ketosticks and other signs.
In over 2 months of a very strict and restricted EI eating plan.....I am begining to think this isn't for me.
I can accept that I am a slow loser, that every body is different but this is ridiculous! But more importantly its not sustainable, it can't be a WOL for me, to be working so hard for such little progress. So this is a cry from the heart of my bottom, please can any of you good people see what I am doing wrong? Please can you suggest what I need to do to make this work.

SW 284
CW 279
GW not sure

[FightingTheFight]

Re: Not doing so well...please help

Perhaps you should try moving on to OWL, lots of people found that it help increase their losing potential, not to mention help you with food choices...some people are just not meant for induction long periods of time.

I see you upset by what hasn't happened and not happy about what has happened.

have lost a total of 5 pounds and 10 inches. I have stopped bingeing. I am off the sugar rollercoaster. The brain fog has lifted and I can think clearly

Whats your menus look like? How many calories are you getting and btw, if you are hungry...then eat my dear.

[Iapetus999]

Re: Not doing so well...please help

Definitely move on to OWL and post some menus.
Some people lose slower than others. Some people have been on Atkins for years before hitting their goal.
I think the energy thing may be a little bit of hype. It took a long time for my appetite to settle down. I think once I got thru OWL and found lots more food I could eat I felt a lot better about eating this way.

[Bugaboo]

Re: Not doing so well...please help

She's got a fitday menu's going...it's in her post.

Hinen, 10 inches is absolutely fantastic! Your body needs to get used to this new way of eating...sometimes our bodies respond fast, sometimes they don't. I didn't own a scale when I first started this WOL but I'm pretty sure I had a slow start because I didn't need new clothes for awhile and people didn't even notice I was losing weight until 2 or 3 months into it. Give your body time to adjust. Try to focus on all the positive changes you've made. You went from no exercise to exercising 3 days a week. That's fantastic! I bet if you're patient quite soon you'll have a lot of frequent whooshes. They'll come when your body is ready. I have a few questions...are you on any medication? Do you keep your copy of DANDR handy for quick reference? And can you try to ditch the nuts for a couple weeks and see if anything happens? As the others said you might want to consider OWL...it's a lot of fun incorporating new foods again! I know you'll do well if you're just a bit patient. You've done great so far and I know you can keep doing it!

[Katlam]

Re: Not doing so well...please help

you might also want to PM Limabean, she had some tough start time and figured out to add more fat (of all things) and she's been wooshing regularly.

I'd drop the nuts, cut out or cut back on the cheese and/or cream to see if that has any effect. I noticed that you had franks, you mean hot dogs? sometimes there is filler in those that is not good for atkins.

Your body might take a while to catch up with the changes you've made in your lifestyle (exercise, water, etc...) so be patient and go back and check your atkins book for clues.

Kathy

[RunAwayMichelle]

Re: Not doing so well...please help

I can really hear your frustration. This is such a big change for you and the results are really slow in coming. Kathy, Rhonda, and Iap have given you some great advice. I would add this one READ LABELS. It is shocking how many carbs are in some products also count every single carb. It is amazing how an extra 1 or 2 carbs per item can really add up over the day. But I see you are using Fitday so perhaps you are already doing this.

I can tell you that long term I did adapt to this WOE. I started off hateing salad and really missing starchy foods. Now I love my salad and can barely stand starching foods. It did not happen overnight, it took months. I still really struggle with sweets. But then I'm in this for the long haul. A life time of gaining has stopped and the losing has begun.

I hope you can find a way to make this work for you. Hang in there.

[Hinen]

Re: Not doing so well...please help

Thank you so very, very much for replying, for hearing my cry for help. I hit some sort of rock bottom. Heres some things I have learnt:
1.Using fitday, trying to keep my calories at 2000 has triggered food anxiety. There is nothing more guaranteed to make me feel anxious and get crazy around food than trying to limit my intake, it is the single biggest trigger for bingeing. So no more fitday.
2. I have decided to go to OWL, well sort of. Unprocessed meat, vegetables, and a little olive oil, no dairy, mushrooms, vinegar.
3. I need to be sure I've done everything I can to make this work before I throw in the towel. I have started the anti-yeast diet KISS.
I am not sure if I am still doing Atkins, I'll carry on lurking here in the meantime. And given the opportunity I will repay your kindnesses to somebody else.

[womanpraised]

Re: Not doing so well...please help

Hinen... not only can you keep on here, dont lurk! There are folks who follow Atkins to the letter, some like myself have found that we need to tweak a bit, I have run across a few Protein Power people, you may want to check that out, it is low carb but with wider parameters, the authors are mary dan and (john?) eades. There is also a forum for those who are other low carbing it... and they come out to the other forums also.

I think DR. A had said that Yes, some people do lose wieght on low fat diets.. and there is a whole other group of people out there that those never work for... it seems that since this is a way of life/eating and not just a crash diet, we all need to find what works for us, and use that in our lives.

Not a giving up, just a re-adjustment.

Blessings.. kime

[Hinen]

Re: Not doing so well...please help

Hi, here's an update. I have increased my vegetables and am eating the last of the dairy products. I weighed on Friday Aug 5th and have lost 4 pounds in the past week. Huh?? I dunno how or why that happened, its a bit confusing. I will continue with KISS and anti-yeast supplements for the time being.

[maribelle]

Re: Not doing so well...please help

Hey Hinen! You know, I had to go on some major antibiotics this last winter, and gained 40 pounds, after losing 70 last year. Induction didn't even help...just kept sitting there, frustrated. I did the KISS diet for only 4 weeks...thats all the time I could stand it, then went back to normal induction. I started losing again, but slowly. Moved on to OWL, and am back to losing like I did last year, and am now past the lowest I made it before getting sick! Tweaking is definitely the thing to do, and it sounds like its working for you! SOOOOO Glad! Just keep on a trucking, and pretty soon, you'll be wondering where all that weight went!

[limabean]

Re: Not doing so well...please help

Hey, yes I had the exact same problem and almost quit. You really have to do a CLEAN induction. I was cheat free and I did not have ANY Frankenfoods...I also had to up my fat and food intake. I was not eatting alot...and now I lose about 2 lbs a week. I work out 5 days a week and I drink lots of water with the exception of the past couple of days. We are moving and I need the caffine to keep me going lol...I still have NOT cheated. Keep up the work...add in fats. I added in Avocado's and real whipping cream with my sf jello. PM me if you need to chat. I will be off and on while we move.