Can you spot anything wrong?

[Georgiana]

I've been doing this for a while, so I thought I am able to figure out if there's anything wrong in my menu. Everything was fine until 2 weeks ago, but since then my weight has been going up... not a lot, about 3-4 lbs, but I find that significant as I don't have a lot to lose anyway.

Background... I did two weeks of induction, started at 162.4, lost 2.2 lbs. Then rung 1 for ~ 2 weeks, lost 2.2 lbs. Then rung 2... here I've lost weight in the first 3 days (which were exactly the days in which I had yogurt... 100 g or 3.6 oz per day), and then the scale started hating me.

I eat at the university canteen and there is not too much variety in 'legal' raw veggies. Usually I have lettuce (iceberg, green leaf, red leaf), cucumbers (with skin on) and tomatoes. Some days I eat raw cabbage (max. 1/2 cup), radishes, onion (max. ~ 1/2 cup) or celery. There is more variety in 'legal' cooked veggies, but these usually have a lot of salt added so I'm careful with the quantities. I tried cauliflower, broccoli, green and yellow squash, tomatoes and green beans. Didn't add anything new to my menus during rung 1, I just increased the number of net carbohydrates. At the end of induction I was still losing while eating ~ 30 carbs.

When I started rung 2, I did not increase the number of carbs. Here I've introduced cottage cheese (with which I had a few 'cheats' during the end of rung 1 as well and it does not cause me problems) and plain yogurt (4.1 carbs in 100 g). I had yogurt three times, in consecutive days... which I know is not smart, but anyway. The weight kept going down and on Oct 21st I was 155.8.

After Oct 21st the lbs began coming back. At this point I was still at rung 2. I cut yogurt to no more than 1 oz of yogurt per day (although I don't think it's a staller as I did lose while eating it), but continued having cottage cheese.

This Monday I ate macadamia nuts (1 oz), but I can't say how/if they affected my weight. It's still slowly going up.

Two days ago (so this would be the third) I cut the carbs back to 20 g, eliminated cooked veggies, mayo, cream, cream cheese, mustard, sour cream, and all rung 2 and rung 3 foods. Basically I live on (unprocessed) meat, raw veggies (arugula, lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, cabbage, celery, onion), sliced swiss cheese (max. 2 oz per day), olive oil and vinegar (white and red wine vinegar, if that matters... anyway, not balsamic). I don't expect results to appear over night, but my weight did not change in these two days.

I do drink regular coffee some days (max. 4 oz espresso), but it's not something I introduced recently. I also had it before without any issues. Sometimes I drink it black, sometimes with stevia, but no cream (used to be with cream, but I ditched it).

I determined my CCLL before I started a big cheating adventure this summer (restarted Atkins around Sep 20), and it's around 40-45 carbs, depending how many come from veggies.

Other things that might matter... I sleep 4-6 h per night, drink about 200 oz water per day, take a multivitamin/mineral supplement, don't drink alcohol and exercise at least 5 days per week, about 1.5-2 hours per day (C25k, elliptical, stationary rowing, biking, strength training with weights, abs, push-ups and badminton). And nope, TOM's not around.

OK, I hope I didn't forget anything... The link to my FitDay account is in the siggy. You can also see my sodium/water intake if you check my stats (link also in the signature).

Any ideas why the scale hates me?

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Forgot to add this... the tape measure does not hate me, but it does not love me either. No change in inches since I started gaining.

[FLdoodette]

Hi, Georgiana I hear you ... I found both dairy and nuts stalled me; no, actually, it halted my weight loss altogether until I dropped them and went back to Rung 1 (25 grams of veggie carbs don't seem to cause a problem). Sounds like you just need to give your body a chance to recalibrate, since you've only cut out dairy/nuts a couple of days ago. Maybe that espresso is doing a number on your blood sugar? And my understanding is that the less you have to lose, the longer it takes! Life ain't fair, sometimes :P

[shay85]

oh dont worry...both the scale and the measuring tapes hate me lol
im having the same issue...i've been on atkins for about 2 monthes...i've only been able to lose 4 -5 lbs. i lost 8 pounds during induction, then my weight started going up 2-3 punds. and i've been stuck at 128 lbs for the longest time, and i gained a few inches as well. but hey...atleast i feel better physically, and never felt healthier in my life. im sure you do too . so dont lose hope and dont stress over it hun

[liv]

I think you may be putting to much trust in the scale. With a fair bit of exercise it is very likely you are building muscles. Use a tape to measure yourself and see if this is true. I don't think you should punish your body by cutting down while this is happening. Also make sure that eat enough calories and fats. If your fitday is right you are not eating enough your body will go into protest mode.

[Georgiana]

Hey all, thanks for your replies!

Norah - I don't know if they actually halted my weight loss (or maybe I just don't want to admit it?) Not sure about the yogurt, but I ate cottage cheese several times (in a one week - one week and a half interval) before the scale went mad. Maybe I'll also drop the espresso after I finish my exams on the 9th.

Shay - Yup, physically I feel much better than when eating a ton of carbs and that is the reason why I love Atkins. On the other hand, even if I don't lose any weight (boo!), at least I would like not to gain any. Though I never heard of anyone getting fatter on Atkins, so I suppose that won't happen... What rung are you at?

Liv - No inches lost or gained in the past two weeks or so. However, I only have about 20 lbs to lose (probably I'll also be happy with less as long as my body gets more toned... in inches, 3" from hips, 3" from thighs and 2" from waist would make me happy) and it takes some time to see changes in inches. But I'll keep measuring and see which way they go. FitDay is correct, I eat between ~ 1100-1500 calories per day. I'm not hungry, but maybe I should try adding more food. I also depend on the canteen here, money for "extra" food are a little tight.

[liv]

Try to eat more. I am a lot smaller than you (and older), I also work out and I try to eat about as many calories as I use every day (which is at least 1700). I still lose. Your requirement must be higher than mine. You seem to have a good metabolism (if your CCLL is about 45) so don't ruin it by eating under 1200 calories.