What could I be doing wrong.

[OrigamiFrog]

Here's a fitday of my menu yesterday.
FitDay Free Calorie Counter and Diet Journal:*Public Journal

Yesterday started off good. A friend called me up and we went out to lunch, I decided to just get some chicken wings (unbreaded) with a small amount of hot sauce some celery and blue cheese. Dinner was a few meatballs with a dill cream sauce (a little butter, sour cream, and cream cheese makes a fine cream sauce I've found.) Also about 3 cups lettuce with some blue cheese dressing. I drink about a gallon of water per day, and I did get in my 20 mins of excercise. This is pretty average of what I eat daily, the lunch was unexpected but I feel I made good choices. I doubled the amount of blue cheese dressing because fitday only lists a low-cal version.

Here's the problem. I'm coming up on the end of my fourth week, and I've just been hovering at about 345-346. I started at 353 so I've at least lost 7-8 pounds, but for about two and a half weeks now nothing has changed. Sadly I don't take measurements (I really need to go get a tape measure,) I think my cloths are fitting better and my moobs (man-boobs for the uninitiated) seem smaller but maybe it's just in my head. Is it the dreaded 3-4 week stall, am I retaining water in my fat and losing inches? It's kinda depressing to see no change on the scale, but I know I'm in ketosis. My ketostix were dark pink to begin with, but now they have faded to light pink. Maybe that's my body adjusting to how to process ketones. Maybe I did something wrong somewhere and slipped, but ketosis is ketosis.

Any words of encouragement or advice?

[liv]

Re: What could I be doing wrong.

I looked at your fitday and I think you are doing pretty good.
It is absolutely true that some times we loose inches without losing fat. And it sounds like it may be happing for you. It is not too late to measure
Body will hang on to water as fat "melts down" We get a bit squishier but smaller- the cells will let that water go and then the pounds will fall off too. Drinking water to help this process along is good.

So make sure you drink lost of water because you have lots to lose and the more we have to lose the more we drink.
Are you drinking anything else than water?

I have two suggestions for improvements
One has to do with veggies - right now most of your daily carbs comes from dairy - you need to get some more veggies going. Your body will need those carbs (to be regular - if you know what I mean - and also for vitamins/minerals)

Second - you tend to go a bit heavy on dairy - there are limits on induction so try to follow those.

Good work on the exercise.

[Ryan.Stoeppel]

Re: What could I be doing wrong.

Hey there, I recently went through the same thing you are describing. The first week of Induction I lost around 7 lbs, and the first half of the second week I lost about 3-4 more lbs...but after that I stalled out. In fact, I actually GAINED a couple pounds back which was totally depressing. You just have to get through it. It is far from uncommon for your weight loss to temporarily halt after the first two weeks of Induction. Ask anyone on this board and chances are most of them will have a similar experience. From weeks 2.5 through about week 5 my weight bounced around between 296 and 300 and I was getting pissed off! I'm not sure what you eat on a daily basis, but the two things I really looked at for myself were cutting down on the amount of sodium I was taking in and also cutting back on cheese. (Consequently I was using string cheese as a snack, which is packed with sodium, so killing two birds with one stone was easy for me.) I did, however notice that my measurements were dropping even when my weight was yo-yoing, so like Liv said it isn't too late to start doing measurements. I keep mine on FitDay as well, and take them once a week. Just stick it out...I know it is easy to say and harder to do, but I did and I am glad I did because I have been dropping slowly and steadily since getting over that little hill. Keep up the good work, I know you can get through this!

Check out this ADBB thread
It talks all about Post Induction Stall Syndrome...it helped me and I think it will help you as well!

[OrigamiFrog]

Re: What could I be doing wrong.

Hmm yea my dairy was high yesterday, normally not so much. I'll try to cut it even more and see how that goes. I don't drink anything other than water. For the first few days I had a glass of crystal light with dinner, but it doesn't even really appeal to me anymore. I'll go out an pick up a tape measure tomorrow and start measurements for the begining of 5th week.

Thanks for the advice and encouragment. From what I see on this board Atkins is not a myth, I just need to stick with it. I figure eventually my body will give out and start dropping the pounds.

[kibskix]

Re: What could I be doing wrong.

well technically you've already started dropping pounds, so you know it isn't a myth!
my 3rd week stall i cut out cheese and processed food, and restaurant foods like chicken wings because they may not be breaded, but I dont know what seasonings are on it.
I also don't eat sauces from restaurants, cause that isn't -just- blue cheese in there. i also upped my workouts. so after -10 on week one, then going up 4-5lbs week 3, i did those things, and now i'm around week 5 and down to -12. try not to compare your loss to other people losing more than you. its still coming off isnt it? turtles tend to win the race!

[waterlily]

Re: What could I be doing wrong.

Hey OrigamiFrog! Look at our locations...we are neighbors

I just want to add my encouragement to stick with this. It REALLY does work. I routinely am up, down, up, down to the tune of 3-4 lbs. a week. Then finally, whoosh and the 3-4 lbs. are down and stay down. Then the same routine starts again, but it always ends with a loss -- just not as fast as I'd like.

I agree with the folks who say watch the dairy. I cut out cheese completely, mostly because I couldn't control myself and stick to the 3-4 oz. per day, but also because I had read that it stalls some. The only dairy I have now is cream in my coffee.

Just wanted to say hello and to say relax a bit about the scale not cooperating. You will lose, I promise you that!

[OrigamiFrog]

Re: What could I be doing wrong.

Hey OrigamiFrog! Look at our locations...we are neighbors

Cool another Sarasotian.

[DreamCatcher]

Re: What could I be doing wrong.

Happy Friday! I think I will probably need to take Ryan's approach concerning the string cheese. I always pack my hubby's "breakfast bag" and every day it contains the string cheese. Maybe I will avoid that for awhile.

Does anyone have an opinion on the "cheese crackers"? These are the cheese crisps made out of cheese singles.

Normally we have a breakfast quiche and then I always have some kind of veggie for him to have as a morning snack. Whether it be cucumber slices, or grape tomatoes.

I just know that he is stalled right now and getting very discouraged. We did Atkins 8 years ago and both of us did very well. This time around, it doesn't seem to be working quite as quick, but I always remind him that we are both older now and things will be different this time around.

[EverLosing]

Re: What could I be doing wrong.

Don't give up for even a second. I lost most of my weight on induction and then nothing, nothing, nothing, and for a couple weeks out of the month, I seem to drop several pounds. It cycles for some people. I've been on long walks and beat myself up mentally, wondering if I should stick with it...and I've always come to the same conclusion. If you stick with this way of eating, it always pays you back. Your patience will always pay you back but you have to stick with it. It's hard sometimes but that's part of it.

I agree about limiting your dairy. This was not hard for me as I really have to make myself eat string cheese!! Another thing I've found helpful is, if I hate the results I'm seeing, I try something different. If I walked one mile after work the week before and it wasn't enough, I'll walk 2 miles the next week. When you amp up the water and exercise for better results, you generally see better results! If your heightened activity level is a shock to your system, you'll retain water for awhile in your muscles. This is normal and will work itself out.

You're in the right place at the right time for achieving your ultimate goal!! Hang onto that! Have you started a journal? I know that has helped lots of people track their "everything" and sometimes that really helps you see the big picture! Plus, when you are struggling you can just post to your hearts content in your journal and people will come along and offer support and suggestions. Are you involved in any challenges? That might help you stay focused. If you work toward a challenge, you're bound to see some results! I was in a 6 week exercise challenge and had ridiculously lofty expectations of what I would lose in 6 weeks. Turns out I only lost 11 pounds BUT I shed 21.75 inches! No one sees my scale but everyone I know could tell my body was smaller! Go get that tape measure! It is your best friend!!

Sorry about the novel. Just want you to stay in the race with us. You can WIN!! Study these terrific links:

http://www.atkinsdietbulletinboard.com/forums/main-atkins-diet-forum/59260-why-scale-lies-importance-measuring.html

http://www.atkinsdietbulletinboard.com/forums/atkins-diet-14-day-induction/59987-inches-vs-pounds.html

[imagood1]

Re: What could I be doing wrong.

Does anyone have an opinion on the "cheese crackers"? These are the cheese crisps made out of cheese singles.

I make the cheese crackers occassionally -- maybe 1 meal every other week. I am not really limiting cheese because I don't have enough to count most days but when I have something like a hamburger or hot dog occassionally I want something crunchy along with it so I'll make 1 slice into crackers and it does the trick.