When my buddy and I first started Atkins, we were consuming about normal amounts of food. After we introduced gym/jogging into the picture, I started consuming more food because I found myself more hungry then normal. I attributed it to the increase in activity. But my friend was fine. He continued to eat the normal amount of portions. Now about a week ago, he's starting to consume as much food as I did when we started gym/jogging. I've stablized back to "normal" servings wheras it takes more to fill him up. Is this normal? I believe our fat content in the foods we eat should be pretty adequate. I was thinking it could possibly be related to the gym/jogging activity, but that doesn't hold up because we've been doing gym/jogging for almost a month now. So why would that all of a sudden spark up his hunger? So far we haven't gained any weight...and up until today...did lose any weight either. I believe it's attributed to the gym. We're converting our fat to muscle so that is one possiblility as to why we haven't lost any weight in like almost 4 weeks. As of today, we're now gonna cut gym back to like 2 days a week and jogging to like 5 days to see if we'll continue to lose weight. No need "stall potential" foods were introduced, so I can't really say we had hit a stall. BTW...weighed today and I'm down the 5lbs I was struggling to lose the last 4 weeks ...wooooosh . Sorry for the long post and the many topics...thanks!

It's definitely normal to have an increase in appetite as you increase activity level. Eat when you're hungry... solid exercise and a good level of healthy food is a great combo.

As for not losing weight while exercising, that is very common. Have you been measuring? Often, especially at the start of an exercise program, you're more likely to lose inches than pounds. Not only may you be trading muscle for fat, but exercise causes muscle tissue to fill with water. This is for repairs, I believe. So that water retention in the muscles is probably what's registering on the scale, even if fat is being lost.

When I first started an intense exercise program (3 days lifting, 3 days cardio a week, not to mention some yoga and Pilates thrown in) I didn't lose any weight for probably about a month or so too. As a trade-off, though, I lost tons of inches and really needed new pants.

Keep at it! You're lucky to have a diet and exercise buddy to keep you motivated. Sounds like you guys are doing great. Don't get discouraged by the scale, it's only a very small measure of success.

skamito...yea it seems that we've been losing inches. We haven't been measuring per se, but our clothes fit much better even tho the scale doesn't move. What you said makes sense! Thanks!