A ? for those who were stuck at a plateau, and then able to get past it..

[Back2Back]

Well I think we've all been there at one point or another. My question is, were you there and then able to move beyond it? If so, how long were you stuck at your plateau? What did you change, or what do you think was the change that budged the weight loss? I would love to hear any success stories on this topic.

[not2late]

Dr. Atkins defined a "weight loss plateau" as 4 consecutive weeks without the loss of pounds or inches. Due to the "inches" part, I never was in a "plateau", because while the scale was "stuck", the inches kept coming off.

If you are in a true plateau---no loss on the scale or on the measuring tape---then I would say to really keep track of your carbs/menues and really stick to your exercise regimen. Also, you might want to start measuring all your foods again. Often we get comfortable estimating what a cup of this or a tablespoon of that looks like, when in reality we are overestimating that amount two or three-fold. So start measuring your foods and start keeping track of your carbs.

The other thing is this: If you have been doing the "extended Induction", you might want to start doing Atkins properly and move to the OWL phase. We have many members who have seen their weight loss pick up once they leave their "extended" Induction and proceed with the diet as Dr. Atkins designed it. Staying on Induction longer than 2 weeks isn't necessary for the majority of us. In fact, Dr. Atkins wrote in the book that staying on Induction longer than 2 weeks may help correct metabolic imbalances for those of us who have a high metabolic resistance to weight loss. For the vast majority of us, staying on Induction won't guarantee "faster" weight loss or "consistent" weight loss.

If you have moved to OWL phase, then make sure you are eating at or slightly below your CCLL. Again, it's not very hard to over-eat our carbs if we don't measure our foods properly or don't take care to count them. An extra spoonful of this or an extra "bite" of that, might be enough to push us into our CCML range. For some of us, if we exceed our CCLL by a few carbs, our weight loss will stop. The other thing is to review your menu and see if the plateau coincided with any "new" food you added. Additionally, you might want to see if you are eating a "new" brand of food. For example, I discovered I can eat only 1 brand of ricotta cheese and still lose weight. If the plateau did coincide with a new food, then follow the Rules of OWL and drop that food from your menu and see what happens.

[blue996]

Excellent post Megs!

[sallyseachange]

Originally Posted by blue996

Excellent post Megs!

Ditto

[partytrouble]

i was at my plateau for months, went off plan, on plan, off plan, on plan.....restarted induciton about a million time. finally went back to strict induction with NO processed foods/meats, changed my workouts, and after about 8 weeks broke through and lost rapidly. good luck!

[SunnySmile501]

I stayed on strict induction too long, and stopped dead in my tracks, so I cut my carbs down even more and gained. At that time, I was hanging with a group of people on eDiets that followed the 1972 version (we were lovingly referred to as Atkins Nazis). They were encouraging me to cut out things like spinach and the thoughts of cutting down on my beloved veggies even more made me mad, so I pigged out on veggies and the weight started pouring off. I stopped that nonsense and started following the 1999 version and kept losing as long as I mixed things up once in a while, including my exercise. If you do anything for too long, it becomes your new "normal" and your body will try to maintain the status quo.


Sunny!