About 18 months ago, I was preparing for a surgery on short-ish notice and needed to drop some weight. I kept carbs under ~20g/day and it worked like clockwork. I lost weight every week, 1-3 lbs (except for 9 lbs the first week), for about 12 weeks, dropping 30 lbs total (246 to 216). Great results, I was thrilled.

I had the surgery and was advised to go to a normal diet to facilitate healing. A couple months later, I tried the diet again. I lost 6 lbs the first week, and then basically nothing (228 to 222). My weight went up and down a couple pounds, but for 6 weeks I didn't lose any measurable weight.

I gave up and went on with a normal diet. My weight was stable over the intervening year, but this past December, I had a 5 week period where some stuff happened in my life that caused me not to worry about what I was eating and also not be able to exercise. Coupled with Christmas, a PR vacation, and getting married, I packed on over 25 lbs (235 to 262)! I decided I was going to try Atkins one more time after Puerto Rico.

I have been on the diet since I got back (1/10). I dropped about 6 lbs the first week, and 3 the second week, now nothing since. Same thing as last time, I am hovering in the 252-254 range.

I don't understand what I am doing wrong? I don't seem to be losing inches, either. I lift once and get in 2-4 hours on my bicycle per week. I avoid all artificial sweeteners (except for the sucralose in my shakes) I DO NOT cheat on my carbs (<20g).

For meals at home, I am eating primarily chicken thighs, steaks, some bacon, and romaine lettuce salads with mushrooms, ranch, and some cheese topped with ground beef. I don't eat excessive amounts of cheese...more like a topping. At work, I will have a zero-carb protein shake for breakfast (the only fake food I eat, uses sucralose) with a little cheese, and a can of flavored Walmart chicken breast or Tuna for lunch.

If I go out, I get wings with non-carby sauce, a steak, or salad. When I drink, it is hard liquor (unsweetened), or a max of one Amstel Light per day (5g carbs).

Anyone have any ideas? I just don't understand why I was so successful before and cannot make any progress now. I have been racking my brain, but I don't think I am doing anything substantially different than last time.

I think it's the marriage. Marriage is fattening.

It's likely that you're not doing anything "wrong." Bodies seem to have their own ideas about these things. If you are happy with your menu and your lifestyle choices, just stick with it. You may experience a transition down the road when your body learns that "this is it."

However, many people here use intermittent fasting (IF) to promote a breakthrough, or as a normal control feature of the quantities they eat. For a complete overview of this, go to Dietdoctor.com and view the comments of Dr. Fung, a leading proponent of IF. "Fasting" can be defined in many ways, whether a multi-day fast, or a daily "non-eating" period of 12-16 hours.

Read around the forum, and you'll find some commentary.

Best wishes.

In the course of my first four months (4 months) my weight went UP a couple times. You can look at my MyPLAN link if you are curious.

Sounds like the only thing you're doing wrong is entertaining expectations that may or may not be met. See if you can modify those or entirely let them go, remain calm and LC on for a few more months then re-assess.

As I heard in a Kung Fu episode years ago, "...expect the unexpected"

You will do well.

I use IF to stabilize my weight when not using Atkins. I just love beer too dang much. The nice thing about atkins is that it controls me at parties (a perennial weak point in my diet) and I cannot really drink beer. That alone was probably enough to help me lose weight.

Ultimately, if atkins is not going to induce weight loss I am considering just going back to IF but cutting out the beer.

The other option would be to give the new weight watchers program a shot.

It is becoming more clear that alcohol, of any kind, can be a major stumbling block when it comes to losing weight.

http://people.com/bodies/alcohol-an...-they-dont-mix/

If you can make Weight Watchers work for you, great: I never could.

Weight Watchers is just calorie restriction, if you do decide to restrict calories, you might find it easier to do so on low carb, I know I do.

Have you tried tracking your food intake on fitday? I've had times when I've said wait a minute, how could I not be losing weight? and then plugged in my meals and ended up wondering why I wasn't gaining.

Well, I think you've figured it out. Beer--even in "moderation"--seems to be standing squarely in the way of your weight management goals. In fact, many people find that what they love most (sugar, popcorn, ice cream, etc.) is often the primary thing they have to give up. Bummer.

Totally ditch the beer (and other alcohol, too, while you're at it) for three months without exception, and see what happens.

No question, alcohol slows down my weight loss. I limit myself to weekends only. Maybe try giving up all alcohol for a weekend and see if you get through your plateau? Seeing a change in the scale might give you motivation to give up the beer a little longer.

Or maybe try switching from beer to wine? At age 52, my husband switched (almost completely) from drinking beer to drinking wine. For more than 30 years, he'd walk in the door at night and crack open a beer. Now he goes to the wine. If he can give it up (mostly), you can too. It's just easier for him to lose weight on wine than on beer. His hard liquor of choice is bourbon but he probably only goes to that a few times a year. I think bourbon makes him eat other food in a way that wine doesn't. I don't drink hard liquor but I myself gave up beer a long time ago and have felt healthier for it. Wine just doesn't give me the same bloated feeling.

Well, I went the entire week without a drop of alcohol, I was definitely under 20 carbs every day, and I have not lost anything more. Thank you all for your help and time, but I am going to move to a calorie-deficit type diet after I burn through the remainder of the food I purchased for Atkins.

I am so disappointed, in 2 months on the diet, I have only lost the standard water weight. The first time, I lost 30 lbs in the same period.

Please come back and let us know how that goes. Really! Many long-term folks here know that not everyone is the same, and we're interested in success. Please give us an update.

Oh well. You gave it a shot. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't I guess. I wish you well and good health HSF5432!

It is not about only being under 20 carbs. It is about eating enough calories and the right things to get things moving. Depending on how long you did induction it may be time to add carbs to get things moving again. Are you SURE you are eating correctly? Only eating from the acceptable list? It works. This is not my first rodeo. IT was a slower start but I am down 20.5 lbs in 6 weeks. My weight goes up and down in the process but over all I move down.

If you want help I am happy to help you but you need to eat consistently for a week. Stabilize everything and then start with calculated moves up the ladder and it will work. It does work.

I'm 2 months into this and have extended my induction phase. I have been tracking my meals, everything and keep my carbs to 18-22 a day. No, sugar substitute, no nuts or alcohol. After the initial loss, I have been steadily seeing 1 pound a week come off. It's doesn't seem like much but it's effective and I'm never hungry. I'd try losing the sauces, alcohol and track your food intake so you know what's really happening. Good luck!

I have basically stayed on induction the entire time. For breakfast, I will have about 300 calories of zero-carb shake, a hunk of pepperoni, and a few ounces of cheese, usually smoked gouda, etc. For lunch I generally have a can of flavored chicken breast or a big can of tuna and a little more cheese and pepperoni or summer sausage. Dinner varies a bit more, could be a few microwaved chicken thighs with parmesan and garlic salt, or a steak with montreal steak seasoning, or a pork chop, 12oz of ground beef on a romaine salad with ranch, or even a slab of salmon. If I snack, it is generally some cheese or maybe mushrooms in a low-carb dip of some kind.

When I ate out, it was a steak, salad w/o carby-stuff, or wings in a butter or vinegar based sauce.

I tried eating more and eating less, more fat, etc. Nothing is making the scale move. Like I said, the most confusing thing is that I did all this 18 months ago and lost pounds without trying. Same foods, same meals, similar activity level.

To be clear, I lost over 200 lbs on Weight Watchers back in ~08-09, and have kept those healthy eating habits and picked up several physical hobbies, mostly biking of all kinds.

The downside is that I have so many more friends and more of a social life now that it is much harder to concentrate on my diet. I also picked up a craft beer hobby, as I mentioned, and that really makes things challenging. I usually still eat very healthy meals, but when I wash it down with 1000 calories of beer, it doesn't really matter.

Seeing as I already gave up beer for this diet, I am planning on trying intermittent fasting again, this time with no beer unless I have been exercising significantly. I can be committed to a diet, not cheat at all, and give things up pretty easily, but in the end the diet needs to F---ing work!

Additionally, it does look like difficulty on repeated low-carb attempts is a real thing. I did a lot of research last night, and there were many reports about weaker results after the first try. Most of these sites point to things like "you learned how to cheat" or "you got older and your metabolism slowed down", but this really isn't true in my case. Some sites genuinely acknowledge that it just doesn't work nearly as well after that first time.

At this point I am just hoping calorie restriction works like it did before. I am not going back to 400 lbs, and I am not getting bariatric surgery unless I have no other choice.