stalled... for sure..

[ahmerkhan]

Hey guys, I have been on atkins for around 4 months now. I am about 6 lbs away from my goal, and it has been this way for abt a month now. I am not doing weight training, so no added muscle, havent added anything drastic to my diet. Even went back to induction level foods to see if it was something up the rung ladded that was the source of the problem. Beet at induction level for 2 weeks still wont budge.

I did some research on stubborn fat and learned that its your bodies way of saying thats enuff fat loss however I feel im still 6 lbs away from having a body i am aiming for. I upped the excercise, and dont know what else I can do. I know there are no hidden carbs involved as i am eating the same exact foods that Got me here. I have been meauring to see if inches were lost but nope. been the same all month.

[atkinsgal08]

Re: stalled... for sure..

>> I feel im still 6 lbs away from having a body i am aiming for.>>

Your body may not feel the same way though.

Just because you haven't lose for abt a month doesn't mean your body is finished.

How many net carbs a day are you eating?

[ahmerkhan]

Re: stalled... for sure..

I dont feel the body should give up on me as I still have noticable fat and love handles. correct me if im wrong, but there are pleanty of people with noticable abdominal muscles and are healthy.

I was eating around 45 a day for the first two weeks of this stall, but now I am around 25 and close to an induction level diet.

[Happy2BThin4Me]

Re: stalled... for sure..

Have you had your body fat analyzed??? You might be within normal levels and your body is winding down its fat loss. Also you said you stepped up your exercise, what kind? Cardio? What kind of cardio? I run and when I add mileage or intensity, I gain muscle (and hold 3-5lbs of water in my muscles as they heal). You could very well still be losing fat/gaining muscle. Adding length or intensity to your workouts makes your body have to heal from the changes - even if its not strength training workouts. It's still some sort of stimulus it has to adjust to. Also, try changing your exercise up - do a different activity. Your body can get used to a certain exercise after a while. That's why so many are so fond of "cross training". If walking is your main exercise, try elliptical or bicycle for a day or two a week and see if that shakes things up enough for your body to release more fat.

I am sort of in the same situation. My body ALWAYS stalls at 165lbs. Of course, I am tall and often feel that perhaps this is where my body wants to stay but I don't want it to. I have weighed much less in the past and been much happier, however I also know that I have more muscle now than I used to (I also didn't exercise back then). Still, I want to lose another inch or so off my waist. I often wrestle with whether my expectations are in line with what my body wants and is comfortable with. That being said, it doesn't mean I have had much success making it do otherwise or get lower (short of starving myself). When I did get lower on the scale, I couldn't maintain it (not on a low calorie diet). So...its a matter of patience. I am going to keep doing the right things with my diet and exercise and check back every so often with the scale and my body fat measurements and see how its going. So far my body fat is going down independent of my scale weight so I guess that's good. The only thing that's kept me going and kept up my hope that I will eventually lose the appropriate amount of fat is that my sticks turn pink/purple lol. So I know I am doing everything right! I just have to wait for the scale to catch up to my fat loss!

-Michelle

[2big4mysize]

Re: stalled... for sure..

Don't forget Dr Atkins says it should take 6 months to lose the last 5-10 pounds so you could think of yourself as right on target and move back to where you were with your CARBs and see what happens with the added exercise.

[ahmerkhan]

Re: stalled... for sure..

great, im glad to know that I am not alone. I am just going on the scale test. Im trying to fit into cloths that I used to fit into, and since they were my old cloths, I feel that my body is capable of being at that weight. I understand that I maybe with in the health leavels of body fat. If fance, im pretty sure I am. BUt my goal is to have abdomanl muscles show. I see the top two, but the buttom 4 have a layer of fat and I still have slightly noticable love handles. The scale as a judgement tool is my last resort, I mostly rely on eye test, and inches. If i feel like I am at the same then i use the scale to see maybe its comming off somewhere i cant/dont notice from. i even considered stopping excercise to see if the weight is still comming off, and to stop muscle growth if any (temporary)

[Happy2BThin4Me]

Re: stalled... for sure..

Ha, Ahmerkhan, I considered a reduction in my activity too lol. The week or two after a race I have been training hard for, I drop about 5lbs. Just from resting! I always thought that I used to hold a lot of glycogen in my muscles for my long runs (which also keep lots of water in there too) but now I am not so sure. Do the muscles of low carbers still hold a store of glycogen in their muscles I wonder? I would image not since we are burning primarily just fat...

However I have decided that I am going to keep up my workout plans, watch my carb intake like I should and not freak out and go back to induction if I gain a couple of pounds. I have been known to do all of that. This time I need to keep my head on straight and trust my body to know what to do with this way of eating. Just yesterday my ketone strip was purple after my run...that let me know that I am burning fat, my body is changing...I need to have faith and stop obsessing lol. Not sure if that's your problem or not but its definitely mine lol.

Good luck and keep your chin up.

Also, 2Big, I did not know that it can take up to 6 months to lose the last 5 lbs. Wow. That's a whole new lesson in patience for me! I guess I will just have to hang tight and see how it goes!

[ahmerkhan]

Re: stalled... for sure..

Ms. Happytobethin thanks for the advice, you look great btw.

[Georgiana]

Re: stalled... for sure..

Do the muscles of low carbers still hold a store of glycogen in their muscles I wonder?

Yes. Muscle glycogen stores are not completely depleted.

See, for example,

Low-carbohydrate nutrition and metabolism -- Westman et al. 86 (2): 276 -- American Journal of Clinical Nutrition