A little help?

[harmadillo]

Hello folks!

Long time lurker, new member. I've been trying to lower my weight with Atkins for the last 4 weeks and have not noticed any real improvement what so ever. I kept at or under 20 carbs a day, I stayed away from "net" carbs, and I ate lots of veggies. I went from 217 to 208.5 in the first week and a half but now from that point to today I have not lost a single pound.

I take Kung Fu classes 3 times a week so I'm getting my exersize, I'm just not sure 1) Why I hit a plataeu all ready 2) How to get past it.

My questions is this. Do I need to start induction over and do it 'clean', or do I need to wait it out. Being completely honest, I have not drank the water as I should have most days. If you think a 'clean induction' is what is needed, what exactly does that mean? I've done a search here and I get lots of people talking about it, but I have not been able to find an example of it. I don't have 'much' weight to loose. My target at this point is 175 I just can't seem to get un-stuck. I'd REALLY appriciate feedback.

Thank you!

Phil

[Sweet_Sadie]

Hey Phil - Welcome!
Why are you staying away from "net" carbs? I don't understand what you mean by that?

[prfctlildvl]

Welcome -

I also don't understand staying away from "net" carbs. Net carbs are just your carbs minus your dietary fiber. You may find "hidden" carbs in some food items and there are website such as this one http://www.carbaware.org/consumer/counter.htm where you can enter the information from the label and find out if there are hidden carbs.

How have you been staying away from net carbs? Maybe you should post a few days menus so someone can take a look and see if there is something you are eating that is stalling you.

Also - it's very important that you drink a minimum of 8 8oz glasses of water plus and additonal 8 for every 25 lbs you want to loose.

[prfctlildvl]

This will help explain clean induction and also some other questions you may have:

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[Desertthorn]

Phil, you really should do 2 weeks clean induction, drink your water, exercise and take supplements. It works best that way. Once your over induction, if you want to try to tweek the diet, youll know which foods you can tolerate and which you can't. Am I making any sence.
Now, most folks lose the most weight the first week and then a tad bit more on the second week. Some then have a couple weeks where their body doesn't drop anything and they get frustrated and often quit. I went for 6 weeks without losing a pound and then dropped 5 and a week later 5 more. I don't know why. Its just the way your body reacts. But following the plan you will be at goal in no time.

[2big4mysize]

relax it is very very natural to hit a scale weight loss hesistations after the initial rapid weight loss.

you do not want to reinduct unless you have done something to knock yourself out of ketosis and staying under 20 isn't going to do that. if you have ben measuring you are seeing some inches leaving as you shed fat weight. scales don't know the difference in your body composistion and on Atkins we morph our bodies shedding fat mass adding muscle mass and those darn fluid masses are in constant state of flux. Stalls are 4 weeks of no weight loss NOR inches lost since you lost in induction and don't know your inches and are only 4 weeks in to Atkins you are not stalled.

Also the human body loves for complicated biochem reasons to maintain shape so it stuffs the tissues where those fat molecules you have been burning off are coming from with fluids. Until your body reachs your individual tolerance for the biochem interference of those fluids ans generates chems to rid you of it ( like whooshie pie does only naturally) your scales have no idea you have shed fat mass and added fluid mass. when that day comes overnight you will see pounds gone even though you didn't do anything different then the day before. we call that a visit from whooshie.

hang in ther unless you are overeating your Atkins you will be losing weight working your paln so feed only your hunger, drink all your water do you mandatory daily exercise and take the supplements you need and you will be the healtheir smaller person you want to be.

happy low carbing

[harmadillo]

Hey Folks!

Thanks for all the great feedback. I'm very glad I found this place as I am dieting 'alone', at least now I can ask questions to people who may have answers. Ok. Let me clear up what I meant by "net carbs". That was a misnomer, what I actually meant to say is I am / was staying away from things like Atkins Breakfast Bars or the variety of sweets you can get with sugar alcahol. On those packages it shows "net" or "impact" carbs which is what I was trying to imply. Sorry for the confusion!

As for ketosis, I'm still in it. I've never left it. I even checked 3 minutes ago. The pad was around a medium-ish purple, but as I understand any shade of purple means you're in ketosis.

I've reflected on everything I'd mentioned and I had a realization. I'm not sticking to the water at all. If I drink 40 oz - 60 oz a day, that's a lot. And some of the times I'm even putting Crystal Light in them. Can this be the key to my stall do you think?

Anyway, thanks again!

Phil