Hi from Flagstaff!

[hwhite7787]

Hi, my name is Hannah and I have been doing Atkins Induction for three weeks. As you can see by my Ticker progress, I haven't had much of a weight loss and I'm getting super depressed about it. My dad is a dietitian and has been coaching me through this, but it's still not working and he doesn't know what else to tell me. I printed off the list of "allowed" foods for the Induction Phase and have been following it to a T.

I have 35lbs to lose by beginning of July and I thought this would be doable with Atkins, but maybe my body is rejecting it for some reason.

I bought the ketone test strips and it doesn't look like my body is going into ketosis. Last night, my test result was a light pinkish purplish, which looks like somewhere between 15 and 40 mg/dL, so I know that's not ideal.

I am absolutely at a loss as to what I should do. I don't get it. I've only cheated a couple of times (by accident) and they were small things like I accidentally popped a jolly rancher in my mouth and didn't realize it until I had already eaten it. And then one time, I was cleaning my kitchen and decided to drink the rest of my Captain Morgan (about a shot worth) and that was an accident too. But both of those things happened during the first week!

Please, please tell me what I am doing wrong. This morning, I was on the verge of tears because I really thought I was doing everything so correctly. Although I started at 180, it was only because I started this diet after Spring Break where I went down south and ate soul food for a week straight. Normally, I weigh 175, so to still be at that weight 3 weeks in is absolutely depressing. AND how much of 5.5lbs is water weight??!!! I might as well be shoving my face in burgers, fries and ice cream if nothing is going to change.

HELP!!!

[hwhite7787]

Re: Hi from Flagstaff!

One more thing, I have also been exercising nearly every day I've been on this diet. I don't think muscle would build that quickly, but could me building muscle be the issue? I don't think so because I haven't seen or felt any changes in my clothing or felt thinner. Today was the first day it's reached 60 degrees and I don't feel comfortable enough wearing a tank top because I feel fat. Wahhhhh!

[Shrew2u]

Re: Hi from Flagstaff!

Hannah, hello and welcome! I'm sorry your experience so far is not what you'd hoped it would be. Let's try to change that - starting now!

First, can you help us help you by listing everything you've eaten in the last two days (Sat & Sun), by item, quantity and net carb count? Also, do you have a copy of Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution 2002, which is the book we use on this board?

[Georgiana]

Re: Hi from Flagstaff!

Welcome, Hannah!

I have been doing Atkins Induction for three weeks.

Please post one or two menus, with quantities and net carbs for all foods, and we'll take a look and see if there are any changes that need to be done.

How much water have you been drinking, on average?

I have 35lbs to lose by beginning of July

Why by July? Setting deadlines for weight loss rarely works.

Also, you do realize that Atkins is a way of eating for life, right? So you'll continue Atkins after July, too, regardless of how many pounds you lose until then.

I bought the ketone test strips and it doesn't look like my body is going into ketosis. Last night, my test result was a light pinkish purplish, which looks like somewhere between 15 and 40 mg/dL, so I know that's not ideal.

The color on Ketostix is not important. The concentration they show is not proportional to the rate at which body fat is burned. That's because during ketosis you are producing ketones both from body fat and dietary fat, and also because Ketostix only measure the concentration of excess acetoacetate (this is only one of the three ketones the human body makes) in urine. Ketostix know nothing about the concentration of ketone bodies present in the blood.

I was cleaning my kitchen and decided to drink the rest of my Captain Morgan (about a shot worth) and that was an accident too.

If you decided to drink it, how can that be an accident?

[hwhite7787]

Re: Hi from Flagstaff!

Shrew2u:

Thank you for your reply! I'm not sure I can give you the net carb counts, but I can tell you what I've eaten for the past couple of days.

Saturday
Breakfast: 3 egg omelet with green onions and cheddar cheese, glass of water and a Women's One-A-Day Active Metabolism Multivitamin
Lunch: 3 pieces of turkey pastrami (0 net carbs per slice) with 3 slices of sharp cheddar cheese, a glass of water and a glass of diet A&W rootbeer.
After-Workout Snack: Salad (3 lg pieces of romaine lettuce, 2 things of green onions, 3 slices of ham (1 net carb per slice), 1/2 a cucumber, 2 stalks of celery and ranch dressing (1 net carb per 2 tbsp and I probably had 3 tbsp) and alfalfa sprouts) and a glass of diet A&W rootbeer.
Dinner: 1 Chicken Breast, a stirfry made up of cabbage, onions and cauliflower and I poured some soy sauce over it. I also had a small salad with some leftover taco meat and pesto (1 net carb) as dressing. 1 glass of wine.

I also drink water from a water bottle all throughout the day and had to fill it up twice.

Sunday (so far)
Breakfast: 3 egg omelet with a pork and green chili mixture I had made the night before, with melted cheddar cheese and a glass of water with my multivitamin.
Lunch: 3 pieces of turkey pastrami with 3 pieces of sharp cheddar cheese.
Dinner: haven't had it yet.

I do have a couple of questions:

1) Does it matter how much diet soda I drink? I actually was a 1-coca-cola per day type of person before, so cutting back has been difficult, but I am willing to stop the diet soda if that's affecting it.
2) Cheese - does it matter how much cheese I eat? When I get hungry in the middle of the day, I will reach for a string cheese or one of those laughing cow cheeses.
3) Wine - I actually started drinking wine at the beginning of my 3rd week. Because I was already frustrated with my lack of weight loss, I felt like I needed just a glass of wine. I'm the type of person who likes to end the day with a nice glass of red, so stopping for two weeks was hard. But I haven't had one every day. The question is should I stop the wine all together?

I don't have the book, but I will definitely pick it up at Target.

Let me know what you think.

Georgiana:

I don't have to lose all of the pounds by July, I just have a wedding to attend and would like to look a little better than I do now. I understand that it is a lifestyle change and that's exactly what I want out of this diet, but the wedding coming up puts some urgency on things. I don't have to be the "perfect" weight by the wedding, BUT that's what I put my goal as.

I'm confused by what you're saying about the Ketone test strips. It sounds like you're saying they're pointless.

Everyone slips up. I was cleaning my house and wanted to get rid of the captain morgan bottle and, out of habit, drank the remaining amount. Didn't realize it until I swallowed. I'm not too upset about it though.

Thank you ladies! Can't wait to hear back from you as to what you think I'm doing wrong or should be doing better.

[Shrew2u]

Re: Hi from Flagstaff!

Hannah,

If you aren't sure about your net carbs, you may be shooting yourself in the foot. More than one person on this board (including a moderator, I think) has found that they have a low carb threshold for losing (20-25g net). Other folks have found that their weight loss efforts were far more successful after adding 5g more net carb of Induction veggies. Keeping track of your carbs becomes even more important later on, as you work your way up the Ongoing Weight Loss ladder and add more foods back in. Consider entering each day's food intake into a journal like FitDay - Free Weight Loss and Diet Journal. Many folks here like it a lot, and you can make your journal public so it's easier to get menu advice on this board.

About the alcohol. If you are looking for stress relief, wine is not a very good choice right now. You see, as soon as you drink the wine, your body switches to burning the alcohol as fuel. If your body is burning the alcohol...it's not burning the fat. Counter-productive to your goal, in other words. Stretching and meditation under low lights and soft music can be effective stress relief without impeding fat burning. You'll be adding alcohol back in at Rung 5 of OWL, anyway.

Diet soda is crap. Your body deserves - and needs - something better than crap if it's going to be an efficient fat-burning machine. Ditch the soda and drink a minimum of 64oz of plain water each day (some folks drink far, far more than that). The first few days will be tough, but your body will thank you in the long run.

Monitor your cheese intake so you're not eating more than 3-4oz per day. Unfortunately, some folks have to ditch the cheese to lose the weight due to yeast overgrowth issues - something covered in the book and is definitely worth considering if you need to troubleshoot after getting on track with a clean Induction menu.

Also - are you measuring yourself with a tape measure? There are times when the scale may not budge, but you still lose inches. I'm sure you have a tight pair of pants in your closet - pull 'em out weekly and try 'em on. Those pants will tell you a lot more about your progress over time than the scale will, and is a good method of reassuring yourself that your efforts are not in vain.

[hwhite7787]

Re: Hi from Flagstaff!

Shrew2u:

Thank you so much for your awesome feedback! I will definitely cut out the diet soda and the wine. As for the cheese, I will definitely try to cut back. Cheese has definitely been my go-to snack for the past three weeks, but I was under the impression that this was okay. Soooo, I will make that change.

Also, I will try that food journal for the next couple of days and then post the information on here so that people can look at it and make sure I'm doing things correctly.

I have never measured myself, so I will also try that.

Thank you for these words of encouragement. Hopefully these tips will work out for me!

[poobears1972]

Re: Hi from Flagstaff!

You also need to check all your labels for hidden sugars and/or high sodium, dressings, sauces, pastrami......

[hwhite7787]

Re: Hi from Flagstaff!

One more question: What do you guys feel about those Atkins shakes? I bought a 12 pack of the vanilla shakes and think they taste delicious. Is there anything wrong with them? The packaging says for all phases, so I assumed they were good to drink. What about the strawberry or chocolate ones? Tell me your thoughts!

[poobears1972]

Re: Hi from Flagstaff!

If you scan through some stalled threads you'll find one thing in common for many of them. The shakes and bars. Seems like very very few people can consume them and lose weight. That my be your big staller there. No matter what they say on front, read the ingredients and you will see they aren't atkins friendly. Ok for an emergency when you can't get to an on plan food but not ok (for most people) for just regular consumption.

[Rosalind]

Re: Hi from Flagstaff!

I am on my second-time around with Atkins. I'm into my third week of induction, and My scale numbers haven't budged a bit, but I was able to get into my next-size smaller jeans today, for the first time in over two years. I've been throwing ketones like crazy, and I'm using the sticks for confirmation and morale. Sometimes the progress is so infinitesimal, it's easy to go from puzzled to exasperated to thoroughly discouraged. Keep at it.