Discouraged after three weeks

[DreamCatcher]

My husband restarted Atkins three weeks ago and he is already bummed out. In the first week and a half he lost close to ten pounds and now he feels his pants are getting tight again. I have been at it for about a month and am losing much more slowly than the first time around. That's okay for me, especially since I found these forums so it keeps me encouraged.

Does anyone have any ideas that I could give him to stay with this? I have tried to help, but what I say doesn't seem to help.

Thanks!

[Peej]

Re: Discouraged after three weeks

Has he read the book? Really its pretty motivating at least for me. If he thinks he might be doing something wrong, post a few menus so that some here can evaluate and tell him what he can change to possibly have better results. Good luck!

[DreamCatcher]

Re: Discouraged after three weeks

Thanks, Peej! We first did Atkins in 2001 and read the book that was available at that time. I realize there is a more recent book that I plan to get.

He has been seeing a Neurologist and the Doctor told him that Atkins is a good diet. He also suggested to check out "The Glycemic Index" and to maybe incorporate those teachings along with Atkins. Any thoughts on this?

I found the following post and plan to have him read it so that maybe he can understand that if he is patient, good things will follow.

http://www.atkinsdietbulletinboard.com/forums/main-atkins-diet-forum/72434-not-losing-maybe-you-wait-whoosh-body-type-2.html

Many thanks to this wonderful board!

[Peej]

Re: Discouraged after three weeks

That is indeed a great thread. Urge him to give it more time, its hard to stay motivated when you don't see immediate results. However, our weight loss is very rarely immediate. Keeping him off the scale every day might be beneficial too. Its often easier to see losses if we keep it to once a week or less!

On this board we go by the book published in 2002 so depending on what book you have, your edition might be fine. I'm not sure about that, though, so I'll leave that for someone more knowledgeable about the subject to answer.

[liv]

Re: Discouraged after three weeks

Is he eating only legal food? He is not sneaking something on the side and then getting angry with the diet. I am not saying this to be mean but several guys here have told us that (in the past) when their wifes put them on a diet they followed it but they may have had snacks from the vending machine too.
Or maybe he is unhappy with food choices. Try and talk it over and see if there is anything more you guys could be doing.
Starting exercise is also very motivating.

In the 2002 Atkins book (which we use here) Atkins incorporated the lessons from the glycemic index - that is what the OWL ladder is all about. Really cool stuff.

[chinadoll]

Re: Discouraged after three weeks

Or it could just be a bit more food than necessary and it is pushing his calorie intake too high. If you post his menu for a day in the "review my meny" thread we could look for weak links.