can anyone help?

[Sam_24]

I have been doing the Atkins now for 7 days and I have not lost any weight. I am having three meals a day- and one Atkins bar at night ( Chocolate bar).
What am i doing wrong?

Help!

[Georgiana]

Re: can anyone help?

Welcome to the Board!

Atkins chocolate bars are not allowed during Induction. Many people are stalled by Atkins bars, mainly because the sugar alcohols they contain. So one thing you need to do is drop these and if you need a snack have some real food instead.

Could you also post your menu? Please include quantities for everything (meat, veggies, eggs, spices, sweeteners, etc.).

What are your stats (height, starting weight, current weight, goal)?

Since you're only on day 7, I'll move this thread to the "Atkins Diet 14-day Induction" forum.

[Sam_24]

Re: can anyone help?

thanks for your reply> i read that you are allowed Atkins bars on induction as long as they have a net carb content below 5g. I also read in the new atkins book that you are allowed a low carb processed snack?

I have also bourght the ketone strips which are not picking up any ketones?
heres the info you asked for- i look forward to your advice!!

Stats:
5.4
Starting:147lbs
target: 119lbs

Food diary from the last few days:
2 Fried Eggs ( 0live oil)
2 Cumberland sausages

Mince meat ( 1/2 a small pack)
Low carb tomato and basil sauce ( 2net carbs)
Cheddar cheese 3 oz
Cucumber 75g

Crayfish( 75g) and Salmon(3 slices)
Cucumber 75g
Romaine lettuce 1 cup

Protein Atkins Bar

Atkins Chocolate Bar

(total net carbs 14.4)

DAY 2

2 Fried Eggs ( 0live oil)
2 Cumberland sausages
mayonaise 1tbsp

Atkins proetin bar

Medium Steak
English Mustard
Cucumber

Grilled tuna steak
Seasame Oil
Soy sauce ( 1 tbsp)

5 chicken wings
Cucumber
Lettuce 1 cup
Mayonaise

1 sausage

Atkins chocolate bar

Net carbs 14.2

[Monkeymagic]

Re: can anyone help?

Hi.

I'm sure someone with more knowledge will chime in but IMO you should check to make sure you're drinking enough water, perhaps avoid soy sauce since some brands have added sugar, and cut out the chocolate bars.

[Georgiana]

Re: can anyone help?

thanks for your reply> i read that you are allowed Atkins bars on induction as long as they have a net carb content below 5g. I also read in the new atkins book that you are allowed a low carb processed snack?

The bars have ingredients which are not legal for Induction, so they are not allowed according to rule #5 in the Rules of Induction. But more importantly, a lot of people experience a stall or slow down in their weight loss when eating Atkins bars. This was also observed by Dr. Atkins and on the old atkins.com there used to be a section where dieters were warned that consuming these bars may affect their weight loss. About chocolate bars in particular, Dr. Atkins wrote (DANDR, Chapter 19, p. 23:

There are also controlled carb chocolate bars (appropriate only after Induction) that serve when only chocolate will satisfy your cravings.

So no chocolate bars in Induction. If you wish, they can be introduced in the appropriate OWL Rung (depending on the ingredients in them) or later in Pre-Maintenance or Maintenance.

The guys from Atkins Nutritionals, in their new book and on atkins[dot]com, changed the rules and allow bars as snacks. Ka-ching!

I'm sure you're working your butt off to lose weight and you want to lose at your maximum possible rate instead of being slowed down or stalled by bars, so my advice would be to ditch them. Here is another member's experience with the Atkins bars: http://www.atkinsdietbulletinboard.c...rs-worked.html

I have also bourght the ketone strips which are not picking up any ketones?

If you have been eating Atkins bars, it is possible that some of the sugar alcohols in them were metabolized as "net carbs", in which case they may have stopped you from getting into ketosis.

Another possibility is that you are not eating enough fat (see comments on the menu below). It is the ratio of fat to carbohydrate that plays the major role in helping your body to transition from glucosis to lipolysis/ketosis.

It is also possible that you are in ketosis, but it simply doesn't "show" on the stix. Ketostix only measure the concentration of excess acetoacetate (one of the three types of ketones) spilled over into the urine. If you have no excess acetoacetate left to pee, the ketostix won't change color. Similarly, if your pee is too diluted (e.g. you drink a lot of water), the concentration of acetoacetate can drop below the threshold of the ketostix in which case the stix won't change color.

There is a thread in the "Atkins Diet FAQ" forum, explaining when it's best to test for ketosis with ketostix. You might want to check that out.

More reliable than ketostix are the physical signs of ketosis, such as nasty breath, metallic taste in your mouth, reduced appetite, funny-smelling urine and/or sweat, increased energy, thirst.

Stats:
5.4
Starting:147lbs
target: 119lbs

Good, I see you have 30 lbs to lose. A person with 30 lbs to lose has a high metabolic resistance if she loses 3 lbs in the first 2 weeks, an average metabolic resistance if she loses 6 lbs in the first two weeks, and a low resistance if she loses 9 lbs. For you it will be tricky to determine your metabolic resistance using these estimates, because the bars have most likely skewed your Induction results. If I were you, I'd do 2 weeks of clean Induction (no bars) starting today and see how weight loss goes. The results won't be perfect, but better than with bars for sure!

Food diary from the last few days:
2 Fried Eggs ( 0live oil)
2 Cumberland sausages

Are you in the UK? Check the ingredients in sausages. Ingredients containing wheat (e.g. rusk), diary products or sugars (e.g. dextrose) are often added to them.

Mince meat ( 1/2 a small pack)
Low carb tomato and basil sauce ( 2net carbs)
Cheddar cheese 3 oz
Cucumber 75g

Crayfish( 75g) and Salmon(3 slices)
Cucumber 75g
Romaine lettuce 1 cup

The foods are all allowed, but without knowing how you cook them I'd say your menu is too low in fat. Keep in mind that Atkins is a high fat, moderate protein, low carbohydrate diet and consuming excess protein will affect your weight loss (part of the excess protein will be converted to glucose and trigger insulin release). For Induction, the percentages Dr. Atkins was recommending are 65% fat, 5% carbohydrates and 30% protein. These are calculated from the total calories and are automatically displayed in FitDay (or DailyPlate, Sparkpeople, etc.).

150 g of cucumber are 1.4 cups. And you are eating 1 cup of lettuce, so 2.4 cups. You need another 1/2 cup of veggies. I see you are eating cucumber again in day 2. Try varying your veggies to get more vitamins and minerals. Cucumbers and lettuce have some, but they miss others which are only found in other vegetables. Vitamin deficiencies can affect weight loss, so do your best to eat the right amount and variety of veggies. Also take a multivitamin (without iron, unless your doctor recommended otherwise).

Soy sauce ( 1 tbsp)

I would not eat soy sauce during Induction. Soy and wheat (and often sugar) are used in the production process and depending on the method used part of them may still be contained in the sauce.

1 sausage

Again, check the ingredients and make sure they are all "legal" for Induction.

[Sam_24]

Re: can anyone help?

Thank you again for your help- really really useful. Could you advise where to find a two week induction food plan? At least that way I can stick to it to hopefully see the results. Am I allowed to have the atkins shakes? Because of work I often don't get a lunch break so will be easier if it won't effect my weight loss.
I'm not too sure how to add more fat to my food? Lol!

[Georgiana]

Re: can anyone help?

I've seen people stalled by shakes and bars alike. Maybe less by shakes because they don't have the sugar alcohols, but I can't say for sure. There are better alternatives to both, even if you don't have a lunch break. Do you have a fridge and/or a microwave at work? You could have

• a slice of quiche
• a muffin; there are two Induction recipes in this thread: http://www.atkinsdietbulletinboard.c...tml#post484571
• cheese chips
• flax chips (just 1 tbsp of flax is allowed per day and you shouldn't take any other fiber supplement unless you're constipated): http://www.atkinsdietbulletinboard.c...al-wafers.html
• "sandwiches" made on Revolution Rolls; you might want to check not2late's blog (the link is in her siggy) for tips; look for the entry made on May 22nd
• cheese cubes
• avocado
• chicken fingers (homemade, not breaded) with some mayo or dressing
• soup (you could drink it instead of eating it with a spoon)

Would some of these work? I hope others will come with more ideas.

2-week meal plan. The best thing to do is to take the acceptable foods list and make a menu based on your food preferences. The amounts will also change depending how hungry you are that day. This is the acceptable foods list from DANDR: http://www.atkinsdietbulletinboard.c...induction.html

Make a menu or two and post them in the Review My Menu forum. Then we can take a look over them and see if anything has to be changed. Try to stick to the Rules of Induction from DANDR 2002: http://www.atkinsdietbulletinboard.c...induction.html
This means, for example, 3 cups of vegetables (3 of salad or 2 of salad and 1 of "other veggies") per day instead of 12-15 veggie net carbs.

To increase your fat, choose fattier cuts of meat, eat the chicken with skin, cook with oils, butter and cream, eat fattier cheeses (e.g. Brie, Camembert, cream cheese). The good about with fat is that you don't have to add a lot of it to increase your calories (1 tbsp of oil is about 120 calories). If you take a fiber supplement like flax meal, that will add to your fat as well. Avocado (limited to 1/2 per day) and olives (10-20 per day) are also high in fat. Just keep in mind that olives and avocado are Special Category Foods, so you should stop eating them if you think they are causing a slowdown or pause in your weight loss.

[not2late]

Re: can anyone help?

thanks for your reply> i read that you are allowed Atkins bars on induction as long as they have a net carb content below 5g. I also read in the new atkins book that you are allowed a low carb processed snack?

We follow and base our advise on
2002 ed here at ADBB. So our advise is most likely different than what Atkins Nutritionals recommends.

[theredhead]

Re: can anyone help?

For some good sample menus and a ton of great recipes, check out Linda Sue's site: Linda's Low Carb Menus & Recipes - Home

Here's where she has induction menus: Linda's Low Carb Menus & Recipes - Induction Menus

[Sam_24]

Re: can anyone help?

Would you be able to recommend how much protein i should be having in a day? Getting a bit overwhemled with amounts etc!

[Georgiana]

Re: can anyone help?

It depends how much you are eating. Don't worry about grams of protein at the moment. Try to keep your protein at about 30% of the total calories and see how that works for you. If you are hungry immediately after a meal (like an hour or so after) then it probably means you should have eaten a bit more protein at that meal, so next time try increasing it by 10% or so and see how you feel at that level. To give you an idea of what a "normal" portion size of meat is, the ones in DANDR vary between 3 and 8 oz.

Just eat from the acceptable food list in such a way that you feel satisfied. Keep your fat up and don't obsess about grams of protein, grams of fat, calories, etc. You can always tweak things later if necessary.

So how did your menu look like yesterday?