New to Board, 4th induction week, struggling

[more2life]

Hello to all of you! I have been reading this board for the last four weeks and want to thank you all. This is my first post due to some difficulty I had becoming a registered member. Thank you to Kent for fixing the problem.

Now that I can post, I am going to be honest. When I started on my weight loss journey, I had 19 pounds to lose. I started by watching what I ate and restricting calories and lost 5 pounds in 4 weeks. (miserable) I then started induction for 4 weeks and have only lost four pounds (in the first two weeks). Yes, I have lost inches. Three at my waisteline, in fact. My clothes size has not changed much as I haven't really lost as much in the areas where my clothes are tight.

Here is my qestion: Since I haven't lost in a few weeks and only have 15 to go, what should I do? Move on or not. It's almost as if I don't know how to move on and at the same time I am not happy with what I'm doing. Things I'm doing wrong: 1 not drinking enough water 2. overeating on legal foods 3. having 3 to 4 servings of sweeteners per day in the form of diet coke, in tea or in coffee. 4. possibly not eating enough veggies subconsciously to try and counteract the sweetener carbs. Yes I am exercising. 30 minutes of cardio 3 to 4 times weekly and I just added weight training as well. Like hitting the weights and being sore for 3 days weight training. Anyone have any suggestons? I think I am mentally stuck and its making me lazy. Thank you all in advance, you guys are helping me get my life back!

[Georgiana]

In the first weeks of induction, one is expected to lose 5-10% of the excess weight. Since you have 19 lbs to lose, 4 lbs mean an amazing 21%!!! Those people who lose more usually also have more to lose. I also have about 15 lbs to lose and I lose little (in pounds, not in percentages!) on induction.

You have very little to lose, so I would advise you to move to OWL. Extended induction (i.e. over 2 weeks) is only recommended for those who have a lot to lose or are metabolically resistant. You're none of this (yay!). When I started Atkins in January, I stayed on induction for something like 6 weeks, if I remember correctly. Guess what -- my weight loss stopped. But when I moved to OWL and added more veggies, I began losing again.

Other than this, be aware that diet coke, tea and coffee do stall some people. You can't know what effect they have on you unless you experiment with not drinking them. You said you're not drinking enough water, so I'm not going to give any other advice on this -- you know what you're doing wrong.

[more2life]

Thank you so much Georgiana. There is so much power in another persons words, especially someone with experience. I have started OWL rung #1. I really enjoyed the extra veggies today! I was so happy to see your reply because thats what I did. I also drank my water and exercised. I feel really good about not getting discouraged and giving up. Thank you so much

[Georgiana]

You're welcome!