Resistant to the Atkins Diet?

[dpaca]

Hi All,

After a few months of not being on the Atkins diet, yet still not having gained the weight back (only 5 pounds out of the 30 lost), i am back to Atkins again and this time hopefully with a vengeance. However, I have been 'Atkinsing' since 2003, and every time I stop and start, I seem to be losing less and less. The first time I did the Atkins diet I lost a lot of weight in a very short period of time, whereas this time round I am struggling to lose more than 1 or 2 pounds a week. Has anyone else ever experienced this? Please post your experiences, it would be very helpful for me, and many others who perhaps have had the same experience.

Thanks

[Brook]

Re: Resistant to the Atkins Diet?

This isn't about Atkins. This is about the yo-yo dieting you've put your body and metabolism through. You're not going to have the same success you had 5 years ago if you've spent the last 5 years going up and down. That and you're 5 years older.

Dig in and do it once and for all so you don't have to worry about how fast you're losing it ever again!

I wish you success.
~Brook

[dpaca]

Re: Resistant to the Atkins Diet?

Thank you for your well wishes, however I do not find your comment very helpful, though I appreciate you taking time to respond.
I don't believe it is yo-yo dieting. Yo-yo dieting, is defined as continuous loss and gain of excessive weight through excessive dieting. I am not doing that nor have I ever been in such a cycle. As for the age, I am only 25 so I do not believe that is a crucial factor.
However, having read a few threads on here, it seems that many people have shown some concern about not losing as much weight as they possibly did when they initially started the programme and more precisely induction.
As for my metabolism, mine is working excellently. I am sure you know thyroid hormone regulates metabolism, I had my blood tests done on Wednesday, and they showed up great.
I am not suggesting that there is some thing wrong with this programme that is causing this problem, since personally I believe that this is the best approach to losing weight and getting healthy. What I am interested in finding out is whether our bodies can become resistant to diets because they do not want to change the status quo. Therefore, I am wondering whether what happens is that when we first go on a particular diet, which our bodies have never encountered previously, we lose a lot of weight and once this cycle is repeated, the body is used to it and does not wish to respond.

If anyone else has had similar experiences, I would really appreciate it if you could post. I believe this will make me and others feel that they are not the only ones, that this can happened but it can also be overcome.

Thanks.

[Brook]

Re: Resistant to the Atkins Diet?

I have been 'Atkinsing' since 2003, and every time I stop and start, I seem to be losing less and less.

This is the very definition of yo-yo dieting, dpaca. You said it yourself, so I'm confused as to how you do not see yourself in the very cycle you describe yourself as being in? - But I digress.

5 years is 5 years and damage to the metabolism is damage to the metabolism. It doesn't matter if you're 20 or 50 - although I'll give it to you that the impact is going to be much greater when you're older.

Yes. People post this question often, and if you've been using the search function, I'm sure you've seen the answers you're bound to get here.

Thyroid is only part- a big part, but not the only part- of what regulates metabolism, but I'm glad to hear that you're is doing well That will make things easier for you and will ensure you have the energy to rev up the other things that effect it, like exercise.

While I'm sorry you don't find my answer - that yo-yo dieting and more years will slow you down- helpful, it doesn't negate it's truth. Our bodies acclimate to most anything and everything, even eating healthy.

Again, I wish you success and hope that others chime in to give you the answer you want.

Have a great day.
~Brook

[brandywine1241]

Re: Resistant to the Atkins Diet?

I think one of the reasons, for me at least, that Induction the second time around was not as spectacular as the first is that even though I did "fall off the wagon", I did not eat nearly as many carbs on average as I used to. Therefore excess insulin was not nearly as much of a problem as the first time.

I believe our bodies do adapt to a certain extent. Remember, our bodies fight very hard to maintain the status quo. Usually we are very glad for this characteristic and depend on it such as maintaining internal body temperature when we get too hot or too cold or producing antibodies to fight off infection. When it comes to maintaining a stable weight, however, we don't like it so much - at least not when we are trying to lose. Once a body has experienced severe carb deprivation, it remembers how to cope so we have to be more persistent to achieve the desired results. This is only my theory. I have no facts to back it up.

[dpaca]

Re: Resistant to the Atkins Diet?

Thank you brandywine1241. That is also how I feel about ito. Could anyone else that has overcome this problem tell us how they manage to overcome and achieve their desired results. For example, Brook you look great and have obviously achieved incredible results however it seems that you also restarted at some point so it would be of more help if you could tell us how you overcame this problem if you encountered it.

I think one of the reasons, for me at least, that Induction the second time around was not as spectacular as the first is that even though I did "fall off the wagon", I did not eat nearly as many carbs on average as I used to. Therefore excess insulin was not nearly as much of a problem as the first time.

I believe our bodies do adapt to a certain extent. Remember, our bodies fight very hard to maintain the status quo. Usually we are very glad for this characteristic and depend on it such as maintaining internal body temperature when we get too hot or too cold or producing antibodies to fight off infection. When it comes to maintaining a stable weight, however, we don't like it so much - at least not when we are trying to lose. Once a body has experienced severe carb deprivation, it remembers how to cope so we have to be more persistent to achieve the desired results. This is only my theory. I have no facts to back it up.

[FatBottomGirl]

Re: Resistant to the Atkins Diet?

Hi dpaca - glad you found us. I hate to upset you [and REALLY would like you to find my thoughts useful - but my thoughts are my own and not everyone will agree], but I have to agree with Brook (and what a success story she is ~ so please take her opinion into consideration.. she knows what she is talking about). Here's my take especially if you are a second-third-fourth timer ((which I am as well))... If we treat Atkins as a "diet" and not as a life long lifestyle change then our bodies become almost immune because internally it see's Atkins as a "diet"... if we are constantly going off plan and then coming back it does become "Yo-Yo" dieting. We need to realize this is a life long commitment to staying healthy. Many of the success stories you will read about here that have kept the weight off for long terms of time - did this by staying on plan and deviating very little. Once we get to Maintenance we will be able to incorporate alot of the foods that we might feel that we are currently deprived of -- however the key will always be moderation of such foods... and even then some of us will never be able to eat all the foods out there as for many certain foods become triggers for weight gain. Even though you are young (lucky you )- I think age is still a factor for all of us. Our bodies do not respond the same way they did years before. I do believe this will work for you - you just need to stay focused and committed to your long term goals.

Take care!

[kate58]

Re: Resistant to the Atkins Diet?

I believe that if you start, stop and restart ANY diet multiple times you are in trouble. Your body, young or old, will get into a position where it becomes good at hoarding calories and hanging onto its fat.

Atkins, and indeed any diet, only works really if it's a long term forever thing.

When you say you have done Atkins multiple times, have you done the whole deal - Have you been rigourous and cheat free for long periods of time, or gone on and off over short periods, or had cheat days mixed in too often, which is more likely to mess with your metabolism.

Have you worked your way up from induction, through OWL, into pre-maintenance and finally reached your goal and moved to maintenance and maintained your goal weight on Atkins for any length of time? Or have you done a part of it, lost some weight and then stopped?

[dpaca]

Re: Resistant to the Atkins Diet?

I appreciate your comment, however, and perhaps I should have made this clearer, I do realise that this is for life etc, but I and perhaps others do stray or decide to stop, and that of course is our own choice. What is in the past is in the past and I do not need anyone to wag their finger at me for it. For the time being, what I wanted to know was if others had the same experience and if they found that it’s not necessarily resistance but other underlying reasons, and not necessarily metabolic ones. Basically, once you are in this situation, how do you overcome it and can you overcome it? Exercise is great and there are probably many other things that people have perhaps tried that also work, perhaps just drinking more water.

Thank you all for taking time to reply.

Hi dpaca - glad you found us. I hate to upset you [and REALLY would like you to find my thoughts useful - but my thoughts are my own and not everyone will agree], but I have to agree with Brook (and what a success story she is ~ so please take her opinion into consideration.. she knows what she is talking about). Here's my take especially if you are a second-third-fourth timer ((which I am as well))... If we treat Atkins as a "diet" and not as a life long lifestyle change then our bodies become almost immune because internally it see's Atkins as a "diet"... if we are constantly going off plan and then coming back it does become "Yo-Yo" dieting. We need to realize this is a life long commitment to staying healthy. Many of the success stories you will read about here that have kept the weight off for long terms of time - did this by staying on plan and deviating very little. Once we get to Maintenance we will be able to incorporate alot of the foods that we might feel that we are currently deprived of -- however the key will always be moderation of such foods... and even then some of us will never be able to eat all the foods out there as for many certain foods become triggers for weight gain. Even though you are young (lucky you )- I think age is still a factor for all of us. Our bodies do not respond the same way they did years before. I do believe this will work for you - you just need to stay focused and committed to your long term goals.

Take care!

[kate58]

Re: Resistant to the Atkins Diet?

You asked do people become resistant to Atkins. My point was that people who stick with the plan, from induction right through to maintenance, whether it is their first time, their second time or their twenty second time, will lose weight and keep it off. But constantly stopping and starting creates resistance to weight loss period, not Atkins specifically.

It doesn't mean that you are resistant to Atkins though, just that it may be slower and it becomes even more important to stick to the plan as written and work through the various stages, taking your weight losses as they come, however slowly that may be because of your previous experiences.

I'm doing Atkins for the first time, so you can discount what I have to say if you wish. I haven't fallen off yet, and am now over 6 months cheat free, though who knows what the future will bring. I'm not boasting about that, I have this board to thank for it. I just spent literally weeks reading over posts here when I began, concentrating on those who had most success and who had long term success, to get a feel for what they did.

Many had restarted multiple times. Many came up against the same problems as you have. But among the most striking things was that their final success came when they abandoned the idea of fast weight loss and/or of adapting Atkins in some way, and instead they stuck rigidly to the plan in that they worked their way up through all the various stages, really using OWL in particular to learn about what they personally could and could not eat. And they ate a LOT of veg and rarely if ever ate low-carb products.

My feeling was if it worked for them it was good enough for me, so I just do what they did. I am absolutely certain that if anyone else does it too, however often they have done parts of Atkins before, it'll work for them too.

[dpaca]

Re: Resistant to the Atkins Diet?

Thanks Kate. I agree with what you are saying, and it is true that following through is the best way to deal with this and of course, I am not going to discount what you say. Anyway well done on your weight loss, you have done really well. I am very happy for you. The thing is that we all start trying to do the right thing and believe in this program, however when we stall or do not lose as much as we want we or at least I stray. The reason I am here is for support, because I want to reach my goal and maintain it. I am just looking for support, which I think is a better thing to do than say 'well I am not losing on this anymore so I am going to give up'. This is really all it comes down to, how to continue by looking at other people’s examples of how they managed to overcome problems, when you feel that it is not working for you.

You asked do people become resistant to Atkins. My point was that people who stick with the plan, from induction right through to maintenance, whether it is their first time, their second time or their twenty second time, will lose weight and keep it off. But constantly stopping and starting creates resistance to weight loss period, not Atkins specifically.

It doesn't mean that you are resistant to Atkins though, just that it may be slower and it becomes even more important to stick to the plan as written and work through the various stages, taking your weight losses as they come, however slowly that may be because of your previous experiences.

I'm doing Atkins for the first time, so you can discount what I have to say if you wish. I haven't fallen off yet, and am now over 6 months cheat free, though who knows what the future will bring. I'm not boasting about that, I have this board to thank for it. I just spent literally weeks reading over posts here when I began, concentrating on those who had most success and who had long term success, to get a feel for what they did.

Many had restarted multiple times. Many came up against the same problems as you have. But among the most striking things was that their final success came when they abandoned the idea of fast weight loss and/or of adapting Atkins in some way, and instead they stuck rigidly to the plan in that they worked their way up through all the various stages, really using OWL in particular to learn about what they personally could and could not eat. And they ate a LOT of veg and rarely if ever ate low-carb products.

My feeling was if it worked for them it was good enough for me, so I just do what they did. I am absolutely certain that if anyone else does it too, however often they have done parts of Atkins before, it'll work for them too.

[FatBottomGirl]

Re: Resistant to the Atkins Diet?

I appreciate your comment, however, and perhaps I should have made this clearer, I do realise that this is for life etc, but I and perhaps others do stray or decide to stop, and that of course is our own choice. What is in the past is in the past and I do not need anyone to wag their finger at me for it. For the time being, what I wanted to know was if others had the same experience and if they found that it’s not necessarily resistance but other underlying reasons, and not necessarily metabolic ones. Basically, once you are in this situation, how do you overcome it and can you overcome it? Exercise is great and there are probably many other things that people have perhaps tried that also work, perhaps just drinking more water.

Thank you all for taking time to reply.

Hi dpaca - I don't think anyone is "wag"ing their finger at you - least of all me. I have been there/done that & doing it again as way of staying on Atkins. I believe it IS our bodies resistance and the only way to overcome it is to stay on plan, exercise and drinking the water. Which is what I am currently attempting. You asked for response from those that are experiencing the same types of concerns you are having and what I stated is what I believe to be true as a second-timer. I truly believe this program will work AGAIN - it just might take a little longer to see results. "We" just have to have patience and stick with it ~

[MrsBrittney]

Re: Resistant to the Atkins Diet?

I did Atkins with amazingly quick and easy success back in 2001 .. and now here I am, doing it again and my weight loss is nowhere near as spectacular. I think many factors can play into this...

For one, I'm older. I was 18 the first time, now I'm 25. Whether or not anything is "wrong" with my metabolism (as you stated, yours tested fine and my physicals always pan out just dandy as well), it does slow down as we age. So even if my metabolism is right on target and healthy for a 25 year old, its slower than it was for an 18 year old -- hence slower weight loss.

Also, as I've hopped on and off the Atkins boat throughout the years, the work I have done with reducing my insulin and then adding it back (when I'm not on the diet) does put my body through a toll.

I also know this time around I'm less active. My job is computer work so I sit most of the day, unlike the first time around when I was a veterinary technician and constantly on my feet. I also know I'm using cream this time around and more Splenda/Aspartame products than I ever did the first time around because they really didn't exist. I'm also eating MORE carbs than I did the first time, even within my legal limit, because I am doing it the right way this time and really adding those vegetables to my regime.

Also, yo-yo dieting is often a term used to describe hopping onto a diet and hopping off a diet, like a yo-yo's motion. It doesn't have to include regaining any of the weight lost in the process, though typically, a yo-yo dieter does this when they add binging into the role as well. So it can really be applied to both what you are describing and what Brook described. =)

[MrsBrittney]

Re: Resistant to the Atkins Diet?

Also, you can look into a yeast overgrowth which can stall as well.

[dpaca]

Re: Resistant to the Atkins Diet?

Thanks.

I have absolutely no idea as how to check for yeast overgrowth. I have looked into the sticky that describes it, but I was a bit confused with it. Do you need to get a test for it? This could be a problem because I now live in a different part of the world than where I used to live previously when I lost lots with Atkins. Here only white bread is consumed and I have a sneaky suspicion that it’s very yeasty.

Also, you can look into a yeast overgrowth which can stall as well.