It's the longed-for 15th day of induction.....

[Atkin50]

It's the "BIG DAY" today when official induction is done. My weigh-in was a disappointing 3.3 lbs less than when I started. Hardly anything to get excited about since it's only 'flux' weight. My waist is half an inch less.

Have noticed my evening bloat going down. At first I'd add 2 inches to my waist in the eve....second week down to 1 inch, last couple of days only half an inch of daily gain; and I'm hoping this trend continues. Not sure yet what it means, but I'm sure it's improvement on some level.

Maybe I'm having too much sodium? I don't know what a good daily sodium goal would be. Any suggestions? I'm going to cut out cheese, stay on 20 gram OWL, and see what happens in the next couple of weeks. I did have a lo-carb muffin around day 10 but another ADBB member said to remove it from my foods until OWL rung fir grains so I did. I was confused by the induction menus on the Atkins nutritional website that allow breads, pancakes and muffins. I've never been resistant to any of my other weight loss efforts but this one.

Keto stix are still nothing like any of the colors on the bottle..maybe they're 'bad'? Don't really notice anything different except a lack of energy. Sleep patterns are the same. Mental well being is slightly improved.

Thank you to all in this forum who addressed my wearly newbie concerns and I'll be movin on to the OWL forum now.

HW/205 SW/183 CW/ 180 GW/135

[spirittalker]

Hey 3 lbs is 3 lbs and if you were already dieting before you started Atkins then you would have already rid yourself of the water weight. You can expect to lose 5 -10% of the weight you want to lose so your induction was successful. Good for you for giving up on the muffins. There are some legal muffin recipes.
Are your ketostix changing color at all? Any change means you are in ketosis. All ketostix measure are ketones in your urine don't depend on them. Instead go with what you feel. Has your appetite been supressed? Do you have the metal mouth taste? If so then you are in ketosis. Weigh to go getting through induction!

[2big4mysize]

congrats on losing those 3 pounds and getting smaller.

So you are moving to a modified OWL besure you read the OWL stickies along with your DANDR chapter 14.

D you think you have a lactose problem and that was causing the bloating? Any other dairy in your Atkins WOE?

You can look on your fitday in the reports section and see if you ar too high sodium or not. SOme folk can handle more then others. 3500 mg is the rate the new heart patients get and if they have troubles with fluids it can go down to 2000 mg. a day.

You didn't say but what are you doing for your exercise part of your Atkins?

Happy low carbing.

[Atkin50]

HI!...yes, I will now read all about OWL now that I've arrived...and ALWAYS read stickes and all pertinent posts. I'm not sure that I am lactose intolerant. Never had noticed any issues before. Someone suggested cheese could be stalling me so I'm going to give it up. I guess eliminating cheese AND ham/bacon at someone else's suggestion will tell if they were the culprits. I'a a little frighteneed this first day of getting enough cals, because that's been an issue even WITH cheese and pork. Checked my sodium and it's averaging about 3,000 a day (plus my added TABLE salt...that could be WAY over so I'll watch that, too).

My daily exercise is at the gym usually M-F....60 to 90 mins aerobic training at 60-70% Max HR burning about 600 cals. I just got a Heart rate monitor/ cal counter to be sure I'm in the 'zone'. Then I do strength training exercise for another 30-45 mins, splittiing my routine into upper and lower body so I have a day of recovery for each muscle group. Then I go into the steamroom and suana for more meltdown, the jacuzzi to help eliminate lactic acid buildup and VOILA...there goes another 3-500 cals.

Water is MINIMUM 100 oz a day. AN additional 40 is decaffeinated green tea to which I add Stevia

My total routine involves several hours 5 days a week, and some extra on weekends when it's convenient.

PLEASE let me know of any 'legal' muffin recipes....I don't want to make the same mistake I did believing the Atkins nutritional website menus with bread and pancakes!

I've requested a mentor from CHYNNA a few days ago but haven't heard back yet. Thank you for your concern and analysis of my efforts!