nearly a week and nothing...

[winklet]

I have been doing atkins since Wednesday so today is my 5th day on it and I've gained a pound or two instead. I have done atkins before and the weight slid off at a pound a day. This was about 3 years ago. I am doing everything this time the same as I did it last time but why the lack of results? This is very discouraging. I did just quit smoking about a week ago and have read that it slows down your metabolism. All the sites I've looked at just try to convince you its ok to gain a little weight. Well its not ok by me! I will NOT being going back to smoking to lose weight but there has to be something I can do to get this process going....I don't want to feel hopeless over it anymore!

[Georgiana]

Re: nearly a week and nothing...

Can you tell us your stats, winklet? Height, age, starting weight, current weight, goal weight?

And please post a menu too, including quantities for everything.

What are you doing for your exercise?

[winklet]

Re: nearly a week and nothing...

I'm 31, 5'7 and weight 241.6 and my goal weight is eventually "thin" lol
Exercise: Just started walking last night
Menu:
B: 2-3 poly-o string cheese and mustard
L: 2 cups salad with Italian dressing and either 1/2 c. feta or 1/4 c. goat cheese
D: (2 cups?) raw broccoli and 1/2 c. ranch dressing, 2 italian sausage

This is nearly identical to what I ate before except before I had a lot more cheese. The only difference I can see is the smoking but I want it to desperately NOT be that!!

[Georgiana]

Re: nearly a week and nothing...

B: 2-3 poly-o string cheese and mustard

Check the ingredients in mustard. Any sugar there?

L: 2 cups salad with Italian dressing and either 1/2 c. feta or 1/4 c. goat cheese

What are the ingredients in the Italian dressing? Do you have sugar there? Also measure the amount of dressing you are using, don't just pour from the bottle.

Cheese is limited to 3-4 oz per day. You are eating more than that if you have 2-3 oz for breakfast and half a cup of feta for lunch.

D: (2 cups?) raw broccoli and 1/2 c. ranch dressing, 2 italian sausage

Broccoli is on the "Other Vegetables" list, so it is limited to 1 cup per day.

Half a cup of ranch dressing? Is that a typo?

What are the ingredients in the sausages?

At least half of your net carbs should come from veggies. I don't think this is happening now, considering how much cheese you are eating and how much dressing (unless that's a typo).

You are eating a lot of cheese, processed meats and dressings, all of which could affect your weight loss. What about having some "clean-cooked" meat for lunch instead of so much cheese? Same thing about the meat you eat for dinner. And for breakfast, instead of snacking on cheese sticks, it would be better to eat something that is more food than snack (e.g. quiche, leftovers from dinner, veggies with dip, omelette, pumpkin with cream cheese).

This is nearly identical to what I ate before except before I had a lot more cheese. The only difference I can see is the smoking but I want it to desperately NOT be that!!

I'm pretty sure it's not the smoking. Just little tweaks that need to be done to the menu.

[winklet]

Re: nearly a week and nothing...

thanks for the suggestions! i will try some of the things you mentioned. I think that I rely on more cheese because I am not a huge fan of meats or seafood. I will try cutting down though and see what differences I find in my weight loss. I guess I am just so perplexed because I was so successful last time doing the same thing.

[Georgiana]

Re: nearly a week and nothing...

You're welcome. But if you are eating 1/2 cup of ranch dressing, you should really eat less. In 1/2 cup of regular ranch dressing you have 7.2 net carbs and about 600 calories.

I don't know how much Italian dressing you are eating, but if it's also measured in cups, I have the same advice. Use 1-2 tablespoon, not 8 (8 tbsp = 1/2 cup).

[winklet]

Re: nearly a week and nothing...

haha i'm not eating a 1/2 cups of ranch dressing! I would lose the broccoli in that! sorry for the misunderstanding but I will check the italian dressing for sugar- I didn't even think of that

[Elsie150]

Re: nearly a week and nothing...

Also I would plug all that into fitday it free. www.fitday.com
ratios should look approx 5%carb/30%protein/65%fat for induction. Eating at or around your BMR. Not more than a couple of hundred lower though.

Good on you for coming to boards instead of giving up!

[stacy3477]

Re: nearly a week and nothing...

Also, if it's only your 5th day, you may just not be in ketosis yet. Do you have any of the physical signs or are you using ketostix? Hang in there...the first couple days are the worst. And your breaking your sugar and smoking addiction at the same time?? That's wonderful!

Stay strong and good luck!