When you have stalled your weight loss..

[julirama723]

Re: When you have stalled your weight loss..

Bob I would say to give it time. If you enjoy the foods you are eating and you know Atkins works, then I would say to stick with it. Your body has plateaued, which is common after induction--your body has to readjust after losing a significant amount of weight.

I think your idea to ditch the coffee for a week is a good idea.

One thing I want to bring up is...are you eating ENOUGH calories? I had this problem just a few weeks ago. I wasn't eating enough based on my exercise and exertion levels. Once I started eating about 2000 calories a day, I started dropping weight again.

http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/

Check out this link. It will give you an idea of how much you should be eating each day.

[ValidRouge]

Re: When you have stalled your weight loss..

Bob, I'm sorry you're going through this so early on. It would be very discouraging I'm sure.

I've been sort of stalled/plateaued for over 6 months and just started losing again a couple weeks ago. Basically I've had to wait it out.

There have been some contributing factors (for me):
1) I quit smoking which wreaked havoc on my metabolism. Totally 100% worth it though.
2) I cannot tolerate grains well. Particularly wheat. I retain water like mad and will gain weight.
3) I cannot tolerate coffee with cream. I consume far too much of it (cream) and it makes me ravenous. I then, in turn, overeat legal foods...which leads me to #4
4) When I don't journal my food, and when I get bored, I "graze" eat which results in eating far, far too many calories. I'm seriously talking 3,000-4,000 calories in a day. Typically this happens on the weekends. All week long I eat really well, I don't snack, I don't gorge, I don't overeat my atkins. Then, on the weekends i can easily consume huge amounts of calories in legal foods. I had to give myself a reality check. All the good work I did during the week, I undid during the weekend.
5) Also on weekends, I tended to slack on water. It's so important to drink water, plain water. Sounds like you're doing well, but someone reading this might not be.

[not2late]

Re: When you have stalled your weight loss..

My goal is between 170 and 180 I do not know for sure untill I get there and see. I am 5'11.5" tall I am 52 years old. I am and have been for three weeks at 200 pounds. I started at 242 and went to atkins at 220. Here is what I ate yesterday....2 cups decaf coffee, 2 scrambled eggs and 4 slices of oscar meyer natural uncured bacon. A good breakfast for sure. For lunch I had 2 grilled hambuger patties about 4 0z each. 2 cups of salad with 3 olives 1 oz of blue cheese crumbles, I use olive oil and red wine vinegar for salad dressing. I also had 3 really small valasic pickled hot peppers (8=1carb) for dinner I had 4 small slices of roast beef with gravy made from the drippings a beef boulion water and thick n thin. I had a cup of steamed fresh broccoli with cheese sauce made from 1/4 cup of cream, 2.4 oz of cheddar cheese, water and thick n thin. I ate about half of the cheese sauce. I take metamucil every day and I have for about 20 some years now under advice from my doctor for difficulties with hard stools that I have had forever. I take two sugar free doses of one teaspoon 1 morning and 1 evening each has 2g carbs. Oh yeah I almost forgot I had a cup of decaf tea with about a third of a packet of splenda.

Bob, have you tried eating 1/2 to 3/4 of the food you are eating for any one meal? For example, you wrote that you ate 2 burger patties. Have you tried eating 1 burger patty to see if that amount satisfies your hunger?

My start weight was similar to yours. When I hit the low 200s and 190s, I found I didn't need as much food as I did in order to be satisfied with my meals.

Remember, we don't have to count calories because Dr. Atkins hoped the appetite suppression of ketosis would influence our food intake and that he hoped we wouldn't 'gorge'.

[higgies]

Re: When you have stalled your weight loss..

Also, at the risk of getting a smack, you are 52...it's not going to come off real quick most likely. I noticed a big difference even in the past couple yers for me.

I also had to reduce my food intake a bit when I got to goal. I stopped eating 3-4 eggs in the morning and went to 2, I had to cut my bacon intake, etc.

[Bob M]

Re: When you have stalled your weight loss..

I do not use cream or sweetners in my coffee. I for the most part have no cravings as much as darnit sometimes I just miss some good old food( I wont say pizza or lasagnia). I have a notebook and calculator on the kitchen table as well as my carb calculator printed out. I log every single thing I eat and or drink everysingle day. I even try to guesstimate for spices. I added 1g carb for spices I rubbed on my roast before cooking last night for dinner. My friend that spends a lot of time over to my house thinks I am in survival mode. He sees what I eat and a lot of times eats what I eat. He is loosing weight eating with me and he drinks like a fish. He will drink 10 beers or a third a quart of booze every nite. I have not had a drink in seven weeks and sometimes wonder and want to take it up again.

[Tracie515]

Re: When you have stalled your weight loss..

Twice i stayed the same weight for 3 weeks and then boom started losing again. I have learned just to stay faithfull to this WOE during that time and my time will come.

[ValidRouge]

Re: When you have stalled your weight loss..

Since you have it all written down, have you tried plugging it all into fitday for a couple weeks worth??? Maybe you are in starvation mode. I've seen it happen many times...and I've even had it happen to me back in the beginning.

If I were you...I'd move up and add more vegetables and I'd put everything into fitday and see exactly how many calories you are eating. Check what your BMR is and make sure you aren't eating too low for your BMR.

[not2late]

Re: When you have stalled your weight loss..

You aren't your friend. So don't compare yourself to him. One of my sisters and I started Atkins together. Beth lost her weight (pounds and inches) faster than I did...never had a weight loss stall...never had any problem foods....She had no 'problems' compared to me.

So don't compare yourself. It'll just increase your frustration. What you need to do is tweak your diet alittle. So explore the satisfying your hunger thing.

[ValidRouge]

Re: When you have stalled your weight loss..

Bob, sorry you did say that you are consuming 1400-1800 calories. According to the Harris-Benedict Equation for calculating BMR and how many calories you should consume to avoid starvation mode and for weight loss....
http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/

Your bmr is about 1847 calories. If you are a light exerciser, multiply by 1.5 and in order to lose weight you should reduce that by 20%. That comes out to about 2200 calories a day. If you are regularly eating closer to 1400 calories, I'd say you could definitely be having problems with starvation mode. If that's because of the appetite suppression, moving into OWL rung 1 and adding more vegetables (good carbohydrates) you will find that the appetite suppression lessens a bit and you can consume more calories.

[Bob M]

Re: When you have stalled your weight loss..

Higgies....Yeah I know who wants to be 52 only someone that is 51 for sure. Eggs arent my problem for sure. I force myself to eat them. I rarely eat more than two and usually only one. I eat one hard boiled egg and one ounce of cheese for my breakfast a lot of days. That is most often the only egg I eat most days if I even have that. This morning I ate a left over hamburger patty for breakfast so I could take my suppliments. I usually only ever really have a big breakfast on one weekend day. If I over do the eggs and greasy breakfast meat I have a gutbomb for the rest of the day so I use caution. I have for sure dropped drastically the amount I eat. I have really tried to make the satisfied not stuffed a way of life. More times than not I turn away the second portion. Most day lunches I would not have had the second hamburger pattie but I seemed to be particulary hungry at lunch time yesterday. So following the Atkins book I was hungry and I ate. I very seldom eat between meals. Before I got stuck I would have an afternoon snack of maybee an ounce of cheese and an ounce of sausage slices or pepperoni slices and a few pork rhinds. And I gotta say pork rhinds YUC. But I have not been having those snacks since I have been so stuck

[Bob M]

Re: When you have stalled your weight loss..

The only reason I brought up my friend was the fact that he thinks I dont eat enough and a have gone into survival mode. The fact that he is loosing weight and not really even dieting along with lots of drinking is his thoughts on where I am at. Now you are all seeing my frustrations. Some of you are thinking dont eat so much while others are thinking eat more?????? Now you know where I am at.

[Lyssie]

Re: When you have stalled your weight loss..

I would go to the site for my BMR, use the Harris-Benedict equation and calculate out how many calories per day it takes for me to maintain. I would then track a few days of how much I'm actually eating vs. that number.

But that's just what *I* would do.

[Bob M]

Re: When you have stalled your weight loss..

You guys have to remember I lost 22 pounds the low fat low calorie way before starting atkins. I did that for two and a half months. I was below 20g of fat per day and under 1800 calories. For my goal weight which is the number to plug in and for size and age 2250 is my maint. calorie intake. Now to loose weight at any kind of a rate around 1 to 2 pounds per week you have to drop off 500 calories. So there you have 1800 calories. Now I was used to 1800 calories a day before going into atkins. I did not make atkins a plan for pig out time. I think you all should be able to figure I am not being a pig all of the sudden especially as I moan about the fact I quit loosing weight. I actually if anything eat less but eat different things. I was really missing meat on the old diet and that is the main reason I switched to atkins. So I really think I am ok in ruleing out that I eat too much.

[Lyssie]

Re: When you have stalled your weight loss..

Your goal weight isn't the number to put in to calculate your BMR...

I wasn't trying to suggest that you were using Atkins as a way to scarf down any food you came in contact with. I don't think anybody was. I think that without knowing what you were eating daily, it's an option. I think that if you think that you're eating less calories than you were on low-cal/fat that you should probably figure out what that is. I think that if you go from eating normal, to eating 1800 cal quickly, to then going atkins and dropping even lower cal, your body might be wondering if you're going to keep going lower and lower... I don't know if that makes sense.

We're all just trying to give options/advice. We're not you or your body so the best we can do is try to come up with theories as to what's going on.

[julirama723]

Re: When you have stalled your weight loss..

Bob, I don't think any of us thought you were being piggish!

A common problem during induction is NOT EATING ENOUGH calories due to appetite suppression caused by ketosis. Many people are of the mindset that "less is better" and that you have to restrict caloric intake. Induction naturally restricts caloric intake by eliminating cravings, and so the issue becomes one of making sure you're eating ENOUGH.

Like Lyssie said, you need to calculate BMR based on current weight, and then multiply using the Harris Benedict equation. If you don't eat enough your body goes into starvation mode and metabolism slows down. Your body is probably pretty confused right now and it needs to be assured of a constant supply of calories before it will be willing to shed some pounds.