New Here. Day 12. Lost 1/2 Pound

[Meagainhere]

Hi. I'm new here. I previously did Atkins years ago and didn't lose weight. I've only lost weight when I ate very limited amounts a day.

I admit to trying something 'odd' lately. HCG diet. I did the 43 day version but extended it a tad. Very very low cal, low fat. I lost 25 pounds.
Following the 43 day plan (or the short 23 day version), you are to eat no starch or sugar for 3 weeks, followed by 3 weeks of adding starch/sugar in slowly as tolerated. You are not to gain/lose more than 2 pounds during these 6 weeks. There's MUCH I don't 'buy' about this diet but I did it more as an experiment with the hopes of dropping a nice chunk of weight off quickly to get me on track. That part worked. Much of the time I was in Ketosis also.

I figured no starch/sugar was very Atkins Induction-ish so that's what I decided to do for the 3 weeks. Saturday is 14 days. I'm retaining water today but I'm looking at a 2 week loss of 1 pound.

I'm now reading about these "Rungs" which I don't recall at all in my Atkins book. Despite experiencing no loss on Induction in years prior, I'm shocked to not have lost weight again.

What am I doing wrong? I've had zero bread/pasta/starch/sugar.
Mostly my meals consist of 2 coffee's with heavy cream, big romaine salads with hb egg, grilled chicken, tomatoe, Oil/Vinegar. Or salmon with a cream/butter based pan sauce, or steak.

I don't feel I'm over eating at all. Sticks are purple. The only thing that might be wrong was in the almost 2 weeks, I've had maybe a total of 6 bite sized cubes of a musk melon from the farmers market, and a few handfulls of Mac nuts (which I thought was allowed on induction).

I really wanted this to work to drop some weight but even with the few bites of melon and some mac nuts - I feel I should have and am stumped.
I'm very shocked at the amount people eat here and lose.

Not sure if anyone has advice. I think I'm just venting that Atkins isn't working for me. Not sure what to do about it other than again a very low cal/low quantity version of it

[pagliaccia]

What are your stats (starting/current/goal weights)? Are you eating 3 meals a day? About how many calories are you getting in?

One thing I'd say is that you probably won't experience the big Induction loss if you just left another diet (because you probably lost all that water weight on the other diet). Also, are you near your TOM? I don't even bother weighing just before TOM.

[Meagainhere]

Not TOM. Not eating 3 meals a day. Never do. Never hungry in the morning. Gosh if I ate 3 meals a day, I'd gain anyway.

I'll create a signature, but I started at 173.5, lost 25. Currently at 148.8 with a goal of 130.

I'd rather not have to do another 23-round of HCG diet and was hopeing Induction would take care of this but I'm not losing and I'm not sure what else to do. I've not counted calories, just have a general idea in my head. Should I be counting calories also? I basically can't really lose any weight if I'm over 1,000 cal a day More like 800-900 seems to be the magic number.

[Meagainhere]

testing signature

[stacy3477]

Hi!

There are some great moderators here that will send you the links you need for information about induction rules and On-going Weight Loss (OWL) - which is the rungs you mentioned.

I've only lost weight when I ate very limited amounts a day.

You've convinced yourself to believe that, but you should really consider giving Atkins a try - by the rules. One major rule of induction is to eat something every 6 hours. It sure sounds like you've put your body in starvation mode. You probably won't lose that way.

Good luck and welcome to the forum!

[Meagainhere]

Well, I did it by the rules years ago and didn't lose a thing and now I'm sort of remembering I might have gained.

I eat Lunch & Dinner. Lunch to dinner is about 6 hours. I never ate breakfast in my life. Just not hungry. I have my coffee and that's it. I'm in my 40's and am not a breakfast person. Eating breakfast if not hungry at all seems like a bad idea to me (eating when full). Are you saying I should force myself to eat a breakfast?

[stacy3477]

Originally Posted by Meagainhere

Are you saying I should force myself to eat a breakfast?

Yep, get your metabolism going. It doesn't have to be much, and it definitely doesn't need to be "breakfast food"...a piece of cheese, chicken strip, celery and cream cheese, anything on the induction list. If you post a couple menus, you'll get some really good feedback. Good luck!

[Meagainhere]

I'll try this starting tomorrow. There is little doubt my metabolism is dead or on life support and has been for years. I'm sure my prior diet didn't help matters! I need to jump start things and get into losing mode.

Yesterday I had:
Heavy cream in coffee. About 2 TBL total for the day
Perhaps about 3 ounces of left-over Tri-Tip with a rub (no sugar) for lunch
Dinner was a big romaine salad with grilled chicken, 1/2 a tomatoe, HB egg, V&O
Snack was handful of Mac nuts. (which I think I shouldn't be eating)

I was up .8 today.