Significant weight gain in week 1 of Induction phase? Is this normal?

[veryhungy]

Hi, I'm on day 6 of the Induction phase and I'm having some trouble. I decided to start the Atkins diet because I wanted to quickly lose some weight and try to reset my dietary habits. I've been stuck around 40 lbs overweight for the past 4 years. I normally eat a low-fat diet with the bulk coming from fruits and grains, so this is very different from my usual routine. Since I started I've been very strict on cooking my own food and monitoring my carbs and intake. However, since I started I've been averaging a weight gain of about 3 lbs a day which seems ridiculous. I'm showing a 19 lbs weight gain since I started. Even throwing out my initial weigh-in as a fluke I'm showing a 13 lbs increase. I thought it might be water weight gain at first since I'm drinking much more water than usual, but now I'm confused. I'm including my diet for the past 6 days below, if anyone has any suggestions, please let me know.

Day 1 - 201.5 lbs
4 large mushrooms stuffed with ground beef and a little monterey cheese, 1 small steak, 1 small iceberg lettuce/cheese/sour cream burger
Comment - Gym for 20 minutes.
Day 2 - 207.5 lbs
1 egg, 2 slices bacon, 1 blackened salmon on salad with 2 tbs olive oil/1 tbs balsamic, 2 cups chicken salad made from baked chicken breasts+3 tbsp mayo+mustard+ 1/2 celery stalk
Comment - No gym
Day 3 - No weigh-in
2 lettuce/goat cheese/sour cream/mustard/bacon burgers, 1/2 celery stalk, 2 slices cheese for snack, 1 small steak, 1 chicken breast, 1 cup chicken salad, 2 tbsp whip cream
Comment - Gym for 30 minutes
Day 4 - 214.0 lbs
2 cups chicken salad, 2 tbsp whipped cream, 1 sweetened water, 1 bacon cheeseburger, 1 small salad w/ vinagrette
Comment - Feeling really low energy. Slept through gym.
Day 5 - 218.0 lbs 2 cups carb-free jello, 3 tbsp whip cream, 2 slices bacon, 2 slices cheese, 1 tbsp cream, 4 stalks asparagus, 1 baked chicken breast
Comment - Gym for 20 minutes but felt weak so went home early.
Day 6 - 220.5 weigh in before dinner
1 cheese head, 1 cup black coffee, 2 cups chicken salad wrapped in lettuce, no dinner yet.

I'm not using any low-fat products, and with the exception of day 3 I don't think I've gone over an acceptable calorie limit. Does it sometimes take a while for the weight loss to occur? I expected it might take a bit to see significant loss but I wasn't expecting the opposite!

Wow, sorry, it reparsed my message and lumped everything together, let me fix that.
Oh, and to answer some of the replies, the exercise isn't new, 30 mins on an eliptical machine, but I'm doing it more regularly.
I don't usually eat cheese, and never mayonaise, so they're new to me.
Cheese head is a 0 carb stick of salty cheese sold in convenience stores.
I try to eat when I feel hungry, and I stopped craving sweets around day 4.
I try to eat 2-3 cups of lettuce a day

[2big4mysize]

Re: Significant weight gain in week 1 of Induction phase? Is this normal?

is the exercise at the gym new to your body? if so you can be holding fluids in your tissues which will come out soon.

next is that whipped cream home made and sweetened with a sugar free sweetener?

basalimic vinegar isn't legal.

you didn't list amounts for your foods so

did you have 3 cups of the atkins legal induction vegies each day?

did you eat what you ate because you were hungry and not cause it was legal foods and you had room in your belly? atkinseers only feed their hunger and stop cause they know they can eat again as soon as they get hungry.

Any of the foods new to you? you could be having a food intolerance or allergy and retaining fluid cause your immune system is inflamed.

Are your bowels moving? we can hold a lot of weight in the digestive tract.

there is no set atkins cal limits. we should be getting around 65% of our cals from our healthy fats. are you? it would be easier for you to see your breakout and for folk to help you if you logged your foods into the free online fitday.com system. You can make it public and folk can see your foods with the amounts you had each day if you make it public and share a link to it here.

[poobears1972]

Re: Significant weight gain in week 1 of Induction phase? Is this normal?

Sorry need to break this up so I can read it:

Day 1 - 201.5 lbs 4 large mushrooms stuffed with ground beef and a little monterey cheese, 1 small steak, 1 small iceberg lettuce/cheese/sour cream burger Comment - Gym for 20 minutes.

Day 2 - 207.5 lbs 1 egg, 2 slices bacon, 1 blackened salmon on salad with olive oil/balsamic, 2 cups chicken salad made from baked chicken breasts+3 tbsp mayo+mustard+ 1/2 celery stalk Comment - No gym

Day 3 - No weigh-in 2 lettuce/goat cheese/sour cream/mustard/bacon burgers, 1/2 celery stalk, 2 slices cheese for snack, 1 small steak, 1 chicken breast, 1 cup chicken salad, 2 tbsp whip cream Comment - Gym for 30 minutes

Day 4 - 214.0 lbs 2 cups chicken salad, 2 tbsp whipped cream, 1 sweetened water, 1 bacon cheeseburger, 1 small salad w/ vinagrette Comment - Feeling really low energy. Slept through gym.

Day 5 - 218.0 lbs 2 cups carb-free jello, 3 tbsp whip cream, 2 slices bacon, 2 slices cheese, 1 tbsp cream, 4 stalks asparagus, 1 baked chicken breast Comment - Gym for 20 minutes but felt weak so went home early.

Day 6 - 220.5 weigh in before dinner 1 cheese head, 1 cup black coffee, 2 cups chicken salad wrapped in lettuce, no dinner yet.

Ok let me read real quick and I'll see if anything jumps out at me.

[2big4mysize]

Re: Significant weight gain in week 1 of Induction phase? Is this normal?

I forgot to ask what is a cheese head? I know what headcheese is but not cheese head

[Desertthorn]

Re: Significant weight gain in week 1 of Induction phase? Is this normal?

Hum, have you read the book? Not that I see anything particularly glaring about your menu, but I'm wondering if your eating enough food. Being hungry isn't suppose to happen, at all. We are suppose to eat til we're full, not stuffed but full
A 19 pound weigh gain is certainly significant. Are you a male or female? Could other factors be contributing? Are you eating more sodium than usual? Do you retain water?
We shouldnt be counting calories at this point either, just keeping the carbs lower than 2o and having most of them coming from veggies.

[poobears1972]

Re: Significant weight gain in week 1 of Induction phase? Is this normal?

balsamic is not allowed on induction

Whip cream unless you made it yourself from heavy whipping cream is not allowed

Sugar free jello is junk, no nutritional value and just keeps your cravings going

Are you making your own burgers from scratch? Or are they store bought? I know for me I stall if I eat much hamburger. My body doesn't process it like steak or other meats for some reason.

Does your vinagrette have sugar in it?

What is a cheese head?

What is your water sweetened with and are you drinking enough water, minimum is 64oz a day.

Most of your carbs should be coming from veggies, 3 cups a day, you are way low on them.

Are you constipated?

[poobears1972]

Re: Significant weight gain in week 1 of Induction phase? Is this normal?

Wow you got lots of help at once LOL

Sorry for the repeats.

[veryhungy]

Re: Significant weight gain in week 1 of Induction phase? Is this normal?

Thanks for the replies! I'm cutting out the whip cream and buying a different vinegar to make salad dressing. I occasionally drink water with stevia(truvia), but mostly just plain water now, about 8 cups a day. I don't seem to be constipated, but I'm also not peeing very much. I'm trying to eat enough veggies without going over 20 carbs a day. I guess for now I'll see how things are in a few days.

[chinadoll]

Re: Significant weight gain in week 1 of Induction phase? Is this normal?

How much do you weigh? Most folks do best if they are drinking half their body weight in ounces of plain water daily. Also your veggies seem pretty low. Most of your carbs should come from veggies. Since you have not given quantities for some things, I suggest you plug into Fitday.com or keep a food diary for a couple of days and really see how many calories, carbs and fiber grams you are eating. You may find the answer there.

[Georgiana]

Re: Significant weight gain in week 1 of Induction phase? Is this normal?

I'm trying to eat enough veggies without going over 20 carbs a day.

It should be 20 net carbs per day. Net carbs are total carbs minus dietary fiber.

I try to eat 2-3 cups of lettuce a day

2-3 cups of lettuce is not enough vegetables.

Cheese head is a 0 carb stick of salty cheese sold in convenience stores.

How much is a stick in grams or ounces?

And all cheese has carbs, regardless of what the label says. On American labels, if the carbs are less than 0.5 g per serving, they can be reported as zero.

Cheese is limited to 3-4 oz per day.

I decided to start the Atkins diet because I wanted to quickly lose some weight

When you started, were you planning to make Atkins your way of eating for life or were you only looking to lose some weight quickly?

[poobears1972]

Re: Significant weight gain in week 1 of Induction phase? Is this normal?

Salty cheese? You are probably retaining any water you are drinking due to the high sodium.

[liv]

Re: Significant weight gain in week 1 of Induction phase? Is this normal?

Don't drink water with stevia - drink plain water.

[marc998]

Re: Significant weight gain in week 1 of Induction phase? Is this normal?

just a side thought but muscle weighs more than fat, so if the gym is new and your building muscle then that could add to the weight gain.

does your body feel different?

[liv]

Re: Significant weight gain in week 1 of Induction phase? Is this normal?

I don't think one builds muscle that fast. What can happen if one exercise very hard is that one retains water to heal muscels. That sometimes happen to me. I may weigh more after a run than before but it is a temporary thing.

[Eama]

Re: Significant weight gain in week 1 of Induction phase? Is this normal?

Are you sure your scale is working correctly?

Gaining 19 pounds in 6 days seems impossible. Are you extremely bloated?