What Am I doing wrong?? :(

[DocMarianne]

It's been 8 weeks now, and my results aren't that great. I have been 100% perfect, never ate any food like pasta, candy etc. Yet my first month I lost 9 lbs, my second month 2 lbs. My fasting blood sugar is 136 (down from 220 & no meds) and my triglycerides are 391, chol 227, HDL 29. Other Atkin's dieters have their sugard below 100 & triglycerides in the 80s after 3 weeks. They also lose so much quicker! Here is my average diet. Any suggestions? I've stayed under 20 carbs because my weight loss was so slow / blood sugar too high. Thanks!

Break: lettuce/turkey/no carb dressing

Lunch: lettuce, piece of protein (beef/chicken whatever I made, no sauce)

snack: almonds, or string cheese, or atkin's bar

Dinner: spinich, piece of protein

snack: usually none or 2 oz cheese

I do drink Lipton sugar free ice tea, but mainly water

Am I missing the point? Low calorie diets I lose faster (but usually fall off within 3 weeks) Please help

[stephbob]

If you're on induction, then you shouldn't be having the atkins bar, and I'm pretty sure almonds are a nono (I can't eat them anyway, but I'm almost certain they're on the nut ring...someone will clarify!)

Apart from that, I dont think you're eating enough! Re-read the book, or take a look at the wallet copy of what you should/can be eating and the amounts. You need to be eating at least 2-3 cups of salad/veggies a day, and I wouldn't expect that you're eating that much (Although you don't put the amounts on your post). If you aren't eating enough, your body is going to hold onto anything you eat because you're practically starving yourself.

Just take a moment to reconnect with how you should be doing things, re-evaluate and get back on track, and you'll be seeing results in no time.

How much water are you drinking? Maybe you should increase it. Also, are you exercising?

[Georgiana]

Nice new picture in your siggy, Steph.

Marianne, are you still in Induction, as your profile info says? If so, then Steph is right --- no Atkins bars and no almonds during Induction. Here is the Induction acceptable foods list: http://www.atkinsdietbulletinboard.c...induction.html (What foods can be eaten on Induction?)
And here are the Rules of Induction: http://www.atkinsdietbulletinboard.c...induction.html (What are the Rules of Induction?)

Is the tea sweetened with aspartame?

Are you tracking your foods in FitDay? Your menu seems high in protein and low in fat. Atkins is high fat, moderate protein, low carb.

[stephbob]

Thank you Georgiana!

[DocMarianne]

Thanks for your input! The tea does have aspartame (I thought it was splena) Yikes! I do eat 3-4 cups of greens/day maybe even more. I drink a ton of water. I do cardio 30min/6 x/week.

How or what is considered high fat/mod protein? Are you taking about eggs/bacon/cheese, a salad with high fat stuff like salami/ranch dressing? I think my blood sugar would be better with more fat/lower protein.

Can you give me some examples? Thanks!

[stephbob]

It can be things as simple as how you cook and prepare your meats as well. Cooking in fat will help balance things out a bit more if you're not doing so already. I put butter on a lot of my veggies too.

I think you have the mindset of a low cal diet, where higher fat is bad - it's nothing wrong, a lot of people have the same problem. But in this "diet", you need the extra fat levels to boost your metabolism, and to make your body use up your fat reserves, causing you to lose weight!

If you're worried about your blood sugar levels, maybe just try it for a few days and see what kind of results you get. I'm not sure what concerns you have over your blood sugar levels, whether or not they are medically based or what, so just give it a go It works for everyone here!

[Georgiana]

The percentages you should aim for during Induction are 65% fat, 5% carbs and 30% protein, where these are percentages from the total calories.

You can find a lot of menus in the "Review My Menu" forum. But the best thing to do is check the acceptable foods list, play with a few menus in FitDay and see what you get. For example, start from your current menu and either add things or take things out, to get close to the percentages above. If you need to increase your fat, a way to do it is by adding more fat to your salads and/or in cooking, by eating half an avocado, some olives...

[Gottabringmeback]

Like the others say, eat only induction foods..that means no bars (which are crap anyway and always cause stalls) and no almonds (yet). I can't really be a hypocrite and say no diet sugar free drinks because I am still drinking my diet coke (with splenda). That is the only fake sweetner that doesn't cause me to stall. I do drink alot less by taking someone's advice on here. Whenever you feel the craving, drink a whole glass of water first. If you still want it then go ahead but you probably won't.
Also, I don't know about the lettuce..Try adding sweet peppers, avocado, etc..other veggies. Lettuce is pretty much water with no nutrients.
Add eggs, not many, but some. Lost of nutrients, filling, easy and safe to eat.
Make sure your string cheese is legal and try to limit cheese to a couple of ounces only. Celery and bluecheese is a good snack though.

Also, track your food on fitday.com for atleast the first two weeks. It helps ALOT to give you an idea of the percentages your eating. Follow the rule above with that and try to keep it in that range. I don't track mine anymore as I have a good idea of where I am with what I eat.

[msanjelpie]

Have you tried entering your foods into fitday.com? It will tell you what percentage of fat you are eating each day... if it is too low (not 65% or higher) then you will not lose as fast as you could be...

[chinadoll]

Sorry but I think that maybe you are expecting a miracle melt. It took me four months to lose 17 pounds. I lost 5 on Induction, so maybe there is nothing wrong. Maybe you just lose slower than you imagined you would. If you lost that much even with the bars and sweeteners then I think you have been doing pretty darn well so far. If you ditch the Frankenfoods that should speed things up. Also, what exercise are you doing? Are you doing steady cardios or are you putting in high intensity intervals? I find I get much better losses if I put the high intensity intervals into my cardio workout. Just keep tweaking and try not to allow your losses to make you crazy. As long as the weight is coming off, it's all good.