I'm new and I have a question

[Irregardless]

Hi I'm Jay. I have a question. I've been on Atkins for 18 days. I eat pretty much the same thing every day and I haven't lost any weight and I'm not in ketosis. I am in no way cheating.

Here is my menu:
Breakfast
1 tablespoon metimucil
3 fried eggs
1 multivitamin
1 diet snapple lemon ice tea (not always)

Lunch
2-3 burger (beef or turkey) patties

Dinner
1 tablespoon metemucil
2 cans of tuna 2 hard boiled eggs with mayo and celery
1-2 burger patties

Snacks throughout the day
2-3 bags of hot pork rinds

Dessert
3 sugar free jello cups

I'm drinking a lot of water. I'm using ketosis sticks and as far as I can tell I've never entered ketosis.

What am I doing wrong? Too many calories?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

- Jay

[Sd1136]

Re: I'm new and I have a question

I am sure more people will be here who know more then me
But your not eating your veggies
20 carbs - 3 loosely packed cups of salad or veggies.
tablespoon metemucil - do you really need this everyday? with Low carb you dont "go"as much.
too much Pork rinds - how many carbs are in those??
Im not too sure about the jello on induction ether.
But you need to read the book, need to look at the induction foods again.
Good luck, and welcome

[Irregardless]

Re: I'm new and I have a question

There are no carbs in pork rinds. I stopped taking the metamucil 5 days ago but nothing has changed.

One more thing, I did have a case of diarrhea for a couple of days at about day 12-13 but that went away. I'm not sure if it's relevant but I don't want to leave anything out. Sorry if I offended anybody with that bit of honesty.

[imagood1]

Re: I'm new and I have a question

Welcome to the Atkins Board Jay.

I don't know where you got your information but you are not actually following the Atkins plan. You are eating no vegetables - you should have 2 cups of loose packed salad veggies and 1 cup of veggies from the "other" list daily. The sugar free jello cups are made with aspartame and aren't allowed on induction. Hunts brand is made with Splenda - Jell-O brand is made with aspartame. Either way you should be trying to get rid of your sweet tooth during induction and by continuing to feed it with jello you aren't doing yourself any favors. The pork rinds are loaded with salt which will hold weight on you - a serving would be a handfull -- not 2 or 3 sacks daily.

The 2002 Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution (DANDR) is the book we follow here. It would be a helpful for you to have a copy of the book to refer to (www.amazon.com or www.half.com have inexpensive copies). At the top of the induction page you’ll find a condensed version of the book - (Atkins Diet Induction FAQs)http://www.atkinsdietbulletinboard.com/forums/atkins-diet-14-day-induction/77558-atkins-diet-induction-faqs.html

Make sure you drink a minimum of 64 ounces of pure water (nothing added), exercise starting today and taking a multi-vitamin without iron (you should get enough iron with the foods you are eating on Atkins).

Check all around the board for everything there is to, there is a challenge section with both exercise and non exercise challenges, Rate My Menu for help with your food, journaling – something for everyone.

Make a copy of this list (What foods can be eaten on Induction?)http://www.atkinsdietbulletinboard.com/forums/atkins-low-carb-dieting-faqs/6781-what-foods-can-eaten-induction.html and take it with you when you go to the store. If a food isn’t listed on the acceptable food list don’t eat it. Learn to read the label on all foods you buy - don’t just look at the “carb” number look at the ingredients list of everything and check the ingredients against your list. Just because it says "low carb" doesn't mean you can eat it. Also check for hidden sugars (learn the names used in place of the word “sugar”).

The recipe sites are helpful for meal planning – just make sure you use Induction Recipes to begin with.
http://www.genaw.com/lowcarb/menus.html (Linda’s)
(Never ending induction recipes)(Never ending induction recipes)(Never ending induction recipes)http://www.atkinsdietbulletinboard.com/forums/atkins-diet-14-day-induction/58513-never-ending-induction-recipes.html (Induction recipes)
(Induction Recipe Basics--More recipes added)(Induction Recipe Basics--More recipes added)(Induction Recipe Basics--More recipes added)http://www.atkinsdietbulletinboard.com/forums/atkins-diet-14-day-induction/6807-induction-recipe-basics-more-recipes-added.html (Induction Recipe Basics)

If you need anything we’re here to help you!! Good luck to you!

[Irregardless]

Re: I'm new and I have a question

Thanks for the info.

I guess I'm not doing this right at all!

- Jay

[Sd1136]

Re: I'm new and I have a question

HI again,
ok I never had pork rinds, so i am not sure about them.
The runs happens a bit in the withdrawl part.
you need more veggies, they help fill you up.
I would slow down on the S/f jello and see, some people say the stuff that makes it sugar free, stalls people.
I am sure more experience people will be here soon to help

[Sd1136]

Re: I'm new and I have a question

Jay your trying and thats great!!!
we are all learning here.
Come here often you can learn so much here

[Irregardless]

Re: I'm new and I have a question

I also wanted to mention that I do 40 minutes (4.5 miles) on the cross trainer 3 times a week and I drink well above 64 ounces of water a day(more like 100 ounces minimum). The question still remains, should I be in ketosis after 18 days of a diet that is under 20 carbs, no sugar (other than the aspartame in the jello) and lacks some veggies? I guess the answer has to be "no" as I am not in ketosis. I'm not going to give up as everybody else that I know has lost weight on this diet. Please keep the comments coming.

Thanks again,

- Jay

[Sd1136]

Re: I'm new and I have a question

can I ask how much you have to lose?
I dont know if the S/f jello can keep you out of ketosis
But i have read some people never get into it.
Try doing the atkins plan as he said to
Imagood1 gave you good links.

[JulieB]

Re: I'm new and I have a question

Have you checked for sugar in the metamucil? Some are sugar-free, some aren't

[dockevoc]

Re: I'm new and I have a question

I have done Phase 1 several times and have NEVER gone into ketosis! But I ALWAYS lost weight even without a ketone strip EVER turning dark.

Cut the Snapple/Jello (I just realized that I too was taking in too much sweeteners - it stalls you big time).

Eat a garlic dill pickle, some celery or some olives with lunch and eat a salad with dinner.

This is NOT a no carb diet. It's a restricted carb diet that works most effectively when you DO eat 10-15 grams of veggie carbs daily.

Good luck!

[Aways2Go]

Re: I'm new and I have a question

Hi Jay - also a rookie here, been doing Atkins at induction level for a little more than a month. I don't know nearly as much as a lot of people here, but will share what I have learned this month during my rookie break-in period.

I definitely would check the metamucil for sugar just in case. ALSO see if it is sweetened/flavored with aspartame (Equal). I bought some off brand fiber mix and then after I got it home, saw that it had aspartame in it so I never started using any of it. Aspartame is notorious for causing stalls in weight loss per a lot of folks around here.

Anyway, I lost some initially and then was stuck for two straight weeks with no loss and began investigating what was going on. Turns out I wasn't supposed to be eating things with aspartame, which I hadn't known - I had been having sugar free jello, too, plus some diet tea mix, and they BOTH had aspartame. I had also been having one or two low carb wraps per week. Even though I had the carbs to spare, I wasn't supposed to be having that either.

I asked for advice and was told to cut out anything with aspartame (and to cut out the couple of low carb wraps per week). I would try cutting out the diet jello, the metamucil if it has sugar or aspartame in it, and also the snapple if it uses aspartame instead of splenda.

I can tell you I cut those aspartame things out and within a number of days, I started losing again and have now lost 8 pounds in about a week.

If you don't really like cooking veggies/making a salad or are in a rush, the easiest and quickest to try might be to grab a bag of chopped romaine or mixed baby salad greens from the salad area of the grocery store, pick up some blue cheese dressing or other salad dressing that is low carb count to throw on it (should have maybe a couple of carbs for 2 tablespoons) and grab a few bags of frozen plain green beans or broccoli from the freezer section. They can be done in just a few minutes in the microwave or on the stove, and then maybe add some salt and pepper and a pat of butter for good measure, LOL! I put an ounce or so of cheddar on the broccoli after it is done and melt it and mix it all around - YUM!

I was taking in a little too much salt myself, and cut back on that some. I did that at the same time I cut out all the aspartame items, so I can't say for sure, but I feel certain that helped jump start me back to losing too - it for sure didn't hurt.

Also if you are eating pre-made burger patties, I would look to make sure they don't have any kind of fillers or whatever added to them that is adding carbs. Some of them do.

And as far as artificial sweeteners, they say you shouldn't have over 3 servings a day total, even if it is Splenda which is allowed. How many servings are in a snapple bottle? Probably more than one, I'm sure.

Hunts does make little 4 packs of "jello" (gelatin desserts) in cups which are sweetened with splenda. But keep the "3 servings a day" limit for allowed sweeteners in mind. I don't like them quite as well as the sugar free gelatin I was making at home myself (this pre-made kind is a little thicker), but I haven't found any brand of box mixes that DON'T use aspartame, so that option is out.

Good luck - and if you keep struggling with no weight loss, keep asking questions here. Lots of good folks here really will try to help you figure it out!

Don't give up! It will work as soon as you figure out what is wrong!

[Aways2Go]

Re: I'm new and I have a question

One last thought - you aren't using ketchup on the burgers are you? Ketchup is out. And if you are sprinkling them with some kind of seasoning/spice mix or something like that, I would investigate that for sugar. Also, some processed foods say zero carbs because in a small serving, they have less than one carb (but it may be really close to one carb). If you have anything like that you are eating and you are eating a lot more than a serving of it, you might be adding in quite a few carbs you don't even realize.

Good luck!

[mk2100]

Re: I'm new and I have a question

Hey Jay, I would definitely listen to the advice listed ion this post. Reading the book is pretty vital, I didn't think so at first, but after reading it, I learned that it's more than just cutting carbs and eating meat lol. Don't get discouraged, your hard work will pay off!

[JulieB]

Re: I'm new and I have a question

... Also, some processed foods say zero carbs because in a small serving, they have less than one carb (but it may be really close to one carb). If you have anything like that you are eating and you are eating a lot more than a serving of it, you might be adding in quite a few carbs you don't even realize.

Good luck!

FYI
If the carb count for one serving is < .49 they can round down to 0. So two servings can be really close to 1 carb I count 1/2 carb for each serving.
You also should check the ingredient list for everything you eat - if any of the ingredients aren't in the list of accesptable foods for induction, then it isn't allowed, no matter how few carbs it has.