21 and Ready for... Atkins Round II

[ReporterGirl87]

It's been almost 2 years since I first did the Atkins Diet. The first time around I started at 145 and ended at my goal of 130. I first tried the Atkins because I was getting ready to compete in MISS NY USA and I knew I'd be up against girls who were pratically anorexic. I felt that I needed to tone up and get fit. It worked and I was so happy but soon after the pageant I started to put the weight back on...and now here in 2008 I weigh 151.
I started atkins again a week and a half ago and I have already lost 8 pounds and a few inches. But lately it seems that my scale is not moving and its depressing. I wish I had more support but I recently moved away from home and all my friends to another state and to a big city. Before I started I finally realized that I was gaining weight because I was depressed and the final straw was when I went to my boyfriends' college roomate's wedding and god were those pictures frightful.
But, anyways, so far so good. I think I'm going to stay on induction for another week after this week is over and try and get to 140.

I'm setting my Goal weight at 130 again!!

Please give all the support you can and if anyone has any advice please give it. I want to do this for me this time and I NEED to do this for my health.

Thanks

This was before in 2006-2007 when I first did Atkins...





This is This year...So here's my BEFORE...


WISH ME LUCK!!!

[Skeptika23]

Good luck and congrats on your loss so far!

Be patient - weight loss is not linear and we don't always lose the way we want, as fast as we want.

Also - are you planning on adopting Atkins way of eating permanently? Using it to lose weight quickly can work for the short term, but if you adopt it as a permanent change, you won't ever have to do any kind of "diet" thing again (and avoid all the problems those of us who are way older and in the course of time chose really badly for ourselves have).

[ReporterGirl87]

I'm going to try very hard to stay on it permanently after I lose the weight. I just want to be healthy again. Before I started doing atkins again I started to count calories and eat healthier foods but counting calories and all that jazz was to stressful and I still felt hungry. I got a little excited this morning when I weighed myself. 149!! It's only 2 pounds but it still felt good. Do you have any suggestions for the best foods to put your body in ketosis? I bought the Ketostik and they keep showing that I'm only a small to moderate amount in ketosis. I'm eating all of the foods on the free list and have been drinking loads of water and taking my vitamins. I just want to make sure that this is working.

[mitzimarie]

A few things...

Ketosis - you're either in Ketosis, or you're not. There aren't "degrees" of it. Sounds like you're already there.

As for advice - my best advice is to follow the book to the letter. And be patient. In the grand scheme of things, you aren't very far from your goal weight. Things are bound to slow down a bit. Although, you haven't slowed at all yet! I only averaged a loss of between 1 and 2 pounds a week, and I had a lot more weight to lose than you do.

I know that it's tempting to stay on Induction till you get closer to goal, but there are good reasons to move onto OWL (Ongoing Weight Loss). Why is it so important to move onto OWL, rather than stay in Induction till you hit your goal?

OWL allows you to begin to tailor Atkins to your unique needs and tastes. Everyone has his or her own carbohydrate threshold, determined by many factors including genes, lifestyle, metabolism, age, the medications you're on, and so forth. Your journey toward that personalized number - the number of carb grams you can eat while still losing weight - begins in OWL. Adding carbs back gradually means you take the guesswork out of weight loss while gradually expanding the variety that makes sticking with the program even easier.

If you don't learn how many, and what kind of, carbs your body can handle, you are setting yourself up for trouble. You need this information to be able to maintain your weight. And as someone who has been maintaining for a year now, I can tell you that Maintenance is waaaayyyy harder than losing the weight.

Good luck to you!

[Christia17]

Hi, My name is Christina and I am 26. I am in the same boat too- was looking great but the huge stress of moving from a small state, my family and friends, and EVERYTHING to a new state, a new job... I turned to comfy foods and alcohol, and now I have gained 35 pounds. I am just wrapping up day ONE of Induction. I will be rooting for you.

[Chelsey20]

Congrats on your weight loss so far! We are pretty similar in goals except I'm starting from a little higher weight 159 but my goal is also 130. How tall are you?

[ReporterGirl87]

Chelsey, I'm 5'5. But I started at the same weight as you. Before I started 2 weeks ago I was at 159. So looks like you and I have the same goal!!

[ReporterGirl87]

Thanks Christina, I'll be rooting for you too! I know what you mean by comfy foods and alcohol. That was just it. Every weekend I ended up hanging out with my boyfriend and his friends cause I don't have any friends here and all they wanted to do is go out drinking at a bar and eat greasy bar food. It took its toll on me fast.

[Christia17]

I can TOTALLY relate.