needing lots of motivation

[Sawgford]

Hi guys,
I was wondering if anyone could help me, I have been on Atkins since November 1st, and I have lost about 12 pounds so far which is amazing, and I'm totally happy about it, but the thing is that the weight was lost all within the first two weeks, and the scaled has not budged even an inch in either direction since. now going on to almost my 5th week I haven't lost anything for about 3 weeks in a row. I know this is very common, as i was reading a few other threads like this, but it's so hard to keep saying no to things & not see results...I guess what I'm asking you to tell me is 1) if you have experienced this yourself and if so how long did you not lose weight 2) when did it start moving again 3) what you did to motivate yourself and just keep at it! 4) critique my menu?
I have read the DANDR 2002 book from front to cover and i know this isn't a stall officially but its really getting to me emotionally since i tend to be an emotional eater and life's been particularly stressful lately, I've been great so far but I need the numbers to go down, or find some coping methods to deal with the scale not going down (preferably the latter).
I dont weigh often, usually max. twice a week and every time i do, its a huge disappointment.

my typical menu is:
breakfast: 3 eggs any way, or mushroom cheese omelette (1 oz. cheese) (abt. 4-5 mushrooms) made with either butter or extra virgin olive oil
lunch: lettuce, 1/2 tomato, 4-5 slices cucumber, tuna with mayo, & homemade olive oil & vinegar dressing
dinner: chicken or turkey cut up on 1 cup lettuce, with baked zucchini
water: 5-6 500ml water bottles


I'm currently moving from induction to OWL rung 1 (trying to up my veggie intake) but either way I never go over 20-25 g carbs .
I'm 21 years old, 5"5 and a half
starting weight:178
current weight: 166
goal weight: 120

any help would be appreciated, thanks in advance.

[atkinsgal08]

Re: needing lots of motivation

>>now going on to almost my 5th week I haven't lost anything for about 3 weeks in a row.>>

You might INCREASE your net carbs as you're supposed to by moving to OWL.

Induction is about getting your body ready to lose ... the real losing comes during OWL.

>>breakfast: 3 eggs any way, or mushroom cheese omelette (1 oz. cheese) (abt. 4-5 mushrooms) made with either butter or extra virgin olive oil
lunch: lettuce, 1/2 tomato, 4-5 slices cucumber, tuna with mayo, & homemade olive oil & vinegar dressing
dinner: chicken or turkey cut up on 1 cup lettuce, with baked zucchini>>

What's the net carb count of this ... doing it for each individual item would be most helpful so that we can really help you.

>>5-6 500ml water bottles>>

Each bottle is 16.9 ounces ... and that's certainly enough water.

>>what you did to motivate yourself and just keep at it!>>

When I was just starting Atkins, I realized that this was going to be how I ate for the rest of my life.

So I didn't need "motivation" ... I had already decided that this was the best way for me to eat ... regardless of what happened on the scale.

>> I dont weigh often, usually max. twice a week and every time i do, its a huge disappointment.>>

There's some questions in DANDR at the beginning of Ch. 12 ... answering them might help you.

Also, it might be helpful to read this article:

Why The Scale Lies...

Don't rely on the scale do define you ...

[Lou44]

Re: needing lots of motivation

have you been measuring yourself?

As I've said in another thread, I actually didn't lose anything in the first two weeks but I actually had dropped a dress size. People at work are commenting on my clothes being too big now!

It's only now that I've actually started losing (I'm on my third week).

So you could be losing inches slowly but not seeing a difference in weight...

[Sawgford]

Re: needing lots of motivation

hey! thanks for your quick replies,
Lou44: I regret it, but I havent measured myself at the begining, i am starting to notice that my clothes are a bit looser on me, (there one special dress i try on every week) and since the third week the dress pretty much fits the same way...
Atkinsgal: i measure all my food my typical precentages on fitday are fat: 55%, carbs 6% and protein 39%
thanks for the link, it makes me feel a bit better...=)

[atkinsgal08]

Re: needing lots of motivation

>> I havent measured myself at the begining,>>

You can measure now though.

<<i measure all my food my typical precentages on fitday are fat: 55%, carbs 6% and protein 39%<<

Ok. However, that's not the information that I asked for!

And ... your protein % might be too high ... it's typically 20-25%, and your fat is probably too low. Atkins is high fat ... not high protein. Typically on Induction, 60-75% is a good range.

What I would like to see is what the net carbs are for each of the foods you're eating ... or you could make your Fitday public and I can look at it that way.

[Shrew2u]

Re: needing lots of motivation

Based upon the values I entered into NutritionData -






Your caloric intake is pretty low. You should be taking nutritional supplements, of course. You don't say anything about added salt, so if you aren't salting your food, your sodium intake is ok. Add another 5g veg and increase your caloric intake (olive oil is lovely).


(You did not provide portion sizes for meat/fat and spotty ones for veg, so I guessed. Do not criticize my psychic abilities...I have none. Yes, I forgot to add vinegar - 1 calorie 0 carb per teaspoon of white distilled vinegar.)

[Sawgford]

Re: needing lots of motivation

I'm not really sure how to make the fitday public,
and by netcarbs do you mean the carbs minus the fibre?
what it says tat the bottom of my fitday page is how much are my total carbs and how much of that is dietary fibre, my total amounts for the whole day are usually something like:
carbohydrate: 23
dietary fibre: 6.5
so net would be 16.5?
is this too much too little? Gosh, I must sound really slow huh? i guess i need more help with this than i thought!

[Sawgford]

Re: needing lots of motivation

wow thats almost spot on! i do salt my eggs and my meat,
i usually have about 5oz portions of meat, depending how hungry i am, and the tuna is usually one whole small can...

[atkinsgal08]

Re: needing lots of motivation

>>I'm not really sure how to make the fitday public,>>

To make your Fitday public, log in, go to the Profile tab, click on the blue Public Settings Page at the bottom, click on the "Make My Journal Public" button. Then you'll get a link at the top:

http://fitday.com/fitness/PublicJournals.html?Owner=<name of your fitday account>

Then you can paste it in a reply.

>>by netcarbs do you mean the carbs minus the fibre?>>

Yes.

>> is this too much too little?>>

Could be.

How many calories are you eating?

[Sawgford]

Re: needing lots of motivation

it ranges day-to-day but usually anywhere from 1100 to 1700, some days i have no hunger whatsoever, and other days i still have no hunger, but more cravings...i kind of have to push myself to eat...and I'm nervous to eat more b.c i havent been losing anything in so long

[atkinsgal08]

Re: needing lots of motivation

You might not be losing because you're undereating.

Not eating enough net carbs or calories is counter-productive on Atkins. It's not hard to put your body in starvation mode ... and you stop losing.

Eating more often does the trick to get your body losing again.

Try eating 10-12 times your current weight in calories ... CONSISTENTLY for a while ... and aim for 20 net carbs ... with 12-15 NET from Induction vegetables ... and I bet you'll see some results.

[atkinsgal08]

Re: needing lots of motivation

>>some days i have no hunger whatsoever>>

Ketosis is a natural appetite suppressant ... and during this phase of "no hunger" you have to eat through it ...

If you can't do real meals, then do lots of snacking ... you have to keep your metabolism fueled.

[Sawgford]

Re: needing lots of motivation

thanks for the advice! I'll def. try to eat more, its so strange b.c this way of eating has me so backwards on the way i used to eat. I LOVE food, and its so insane to think of me undereating, I used to eat all the time, and now its almost as though im afraid of it, like afraid of messing what i did so far...
one thing i know for sure, if this was any one of the other weight loss methods i have tried, i would have given up the day i noticed the scaled wasnt going down...something about eating this way makes so much sense, it feels right, I have so much more energy, and i'm in general so much happier...i guess I was letting the scale interfere huh? (even though im still hoping for the woosh one of these days though ...)
thanks for all the suggestions! I'l def. take them to heart, I'll def. buy some more veggies and make a nice hearty lunch, you guys have been super helpful....

[atkinsgal08]

Re: needing lots of motivation

>>this way of eating has me so backwards on the way i used to eat.>>

Yep!

>>i guess I was letting the scale interfere huh?>>

Yep!

You're welcome for the help!

[Shrew2u]

Re: needing lots of motivation

1) if you have experienced this yourself and if so how long did you not lose weight 2) when did it start moving again 3) what you did to motivate yourself and just keep at it! 4) critique my menu?

1) Yes - three weeks between October 10 - October 31. I expect to experience such periods from time to time. That's just the way the low-carb cookie crumbles sometimes.

2) November 1 - after I ate four pieces of Halloween candy. The candy most emphatically *did not* contribute to my weight loss, as much as I would have loved for that to be true.

3) I have a 50% chance of developing Type II Diabetes within the next 8 years, due to a Gestational Diabetes diagnosis whilst pregnant with my now-toddler-daughter. Sometimes I GoogleImageSearch "diabetes amputation" to remind myself what my previous chili-cheese-fries-and-choco-shake Way of Life would have gained me in the long run.

4) Critiqued prior.