Hey guys, This is my first time on these forums. I require a little help because I'm really in a jam on my LC diet.

I've been a low carber (on and off) since a year. With school going on I was on and off the atkins so much, because I'd get really tired during induction and would have to introduce carbs to concentrate. Summer came so I had the chance to devote myself to the diet. However, I continued to eat higher carb foods like fruits, breads, etc until two weeks ago when i decided to try the diet again. I remember losing ALOT when I was strict 8 months ago for 4 weeks, and even lost 6 pounds on induction.

This time around, I've been strict as I can be, even my ketone strips are showing a darker red hue which indicates alot of ketones exiting my urine. But the scale stays the same. It hovers between 187 and 189 since I started 2 weeks ago, and I'm really getting frustrated.

My diet up till now included the following:

- Breakfast: 2 Atkins breads with 4 eggs sunny side up and a tetly decafe teabag with some milk and 3 nutrisweet sweeteners
- Lunch: 2 Chicken breasts from home or 1/2 chicken from swiss chalet or Wendy's chicken BLT with ranch (non fat) dressing w/o croutons (none combined, only one of these servings)
- Dinner: Kabobs, or Chicken, or Steak; and sometimes a 4" cucumber skinned with 0g carb spices on them (no meals combined, only one of these dinners)

For 2 days straight though, I did have alot cheese in the first week, but that shouldnt account for the rest of the week going to crap.

I'm pretty sure I'm below 20g a day. I run once a week on my day off from work for 6 kms with 1.5 km breaks for 2 minutes. I also average about 2-3 diet sprite sodas per day.

I've heard when some people stall they go carb crazy. I thougt I did that before I was even strict on the diet. There was about a 3 day phase that I had just over 100g of carbs a day, then started the diet up till now.

Any ideas on this?

Thanks for your help.

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Cut the nutrisweet which contains asparatame doesn't it ? (try splenda or stevia, but not too much a day) Asp. is a known staller for some people, also cut out the atkins breads then maybe reduce your egg intake (great food choice but too many and those suckers are high in cals)....that should stir things up enough. THEN I would call it 'strict'.

DO a clean induction and see what happens. The energy loss is only temperary but necessary as your body switches from carb burning to mainly fat burning. Sometimes we get comfortable and add in all sorts of the legal LC foods, but they don't always agree with all of us, this is where you have to listen to your own body, and try adding the legal LC foods in the order the book suggests, and slowly...that should help I think.

Good luck!

I agree, though I doubt the nutrasweet is to blame. If you need to boost your carbs a bit to concentrate, just do it a bit, with low impact veggies, dairy, etc. Then stay at that carb level if you have to... but I would try to avoid going back and forth. It's probably messed up your metabolism, and it's going to take time and consistancy to heal it.

Good luck.

I'm going to get a reputation here I’m sure.
Bread? Bread? Where did Dr A say bread was OK particularly on the induction phase.
So called LC foods are causing more problems for more people on LC diets than anything else. Please stay away from them and follow the time tested and reliable plan- then you'll see the inches drop and maybe even the weight too.
If you prefer you could replace the bread with cheese slices, carb free sausages Ask you butcher to make them for you if you have too- There normally delicious.
Lastly, ditch the Diet drinks. They only seek to remind you about sugar and their 'carb freeness' depends heavily on the sweetener used. Water is better- try Perrier or any good quality bottled water and remember to change brands every week or two so you get a better selection of minerals and trace elements rather than becoming overloaded with the same ones all the time.
Regards
No Bun

Shezan...

Just because you're under 20g carbs per day doesn't mean you're on a strict Induction. I see several problems with your diet...what I see might not be clear to you, but seems obvious to me...and I can say this from experience as well.

First of all...NO LOW CARB BREAD on Induction!!! It was never a part of Induction, no matter how many carbs it has. In fact...a "clean" induction allows NONE of the "fake" or "low-carb" type of foods that normally wouldn't be low carb. A lot of people have trouble with those foods on ANY stage of this regimen...from experience, I can say that I cannot eat ANY bread or ANYTHING with activated yeast...I might not even be able to tolerate many grains....and I'm on the OWL stage....

I don't believe nutrasweet is a serious problem...I can handle it in moderation...but I think it would be wise to ditch that sweetener in favor of pure sucralose or stevia extract powder.

Ummm..did I see "non-fat" salad dressing on your list? Did you know that there are a lot of hidden carbs in non-fat dressings? That's why we NEVER use them on Induction...EVER....

Did I also see "milk" ? When did milk become legal on induction? Oh...maybe because you just add it to the tea...it's a small amount. Well...maybe you can get away with it...because it's not that many carbs and you probably add it in. BUT....to do a clean induction...switch to pure cream instead.

Also be aware that anything you get from a restaurant or fast food place can have hidden carbs...even though they might say that it doesn't. The solution used when cooking chicken or other meats can have hidden sugar...I have to watch labels carefully when I pick up a roasted chicken from the supermarket deli...I've discovered that some of them add carbs...and the most likely ones seem to be the teriyaki and barbecue ones.
And...watch the salt as well...it can cause water retention....which leads me to the last observation....how much water are you drinking? I'm talking WATER, not diet sprite or tea....plain WATER. If you're not getting at least 8-10 glasses of pure WATER...you're not giving the fat and impurities the vehicle out of your body. If your foods are more salted or seasoned...you need MORE than that. Again...it's the voice of experience here.....I have to watch this constantly....or I could subconsciously sabotage my efforts.

Take care and good luck to you!

And Shezan, UPDATE us, We are dying to know how you are doing now! (well at least I am )

Hey,

Thanks everyone for the reply!

Alright, today I've started with pure creme, tea, and a a cheese omelete for breakfast.

As for lunch, and dinner, I will update as soon as I can. And provide results on the change.

Also, about the bread, they indicated on the package and on the atkins website that i can allow myself 1 slice per day: http://atkins.com/Archive/2004/1/21-636640.html

Am I still able to do that? Moreover, I've also heard of people going on a carb binge to restart their metabolism and get them losing again, would this work?

Thanks all!

Hi Shezan,

I don't care what the Atkins website says, the breads are probably a bad idea for you right now, as is milk, non- or low-fat products, and any form of artificial sweetener. I agree with everyone's advice, try being strict for awhile and see what happens.

As for a carb binge, if it didn't work for you before, what makes you think it will start working now? I think that's another really bad idea at this point.

Shezan...doesn't matter what the website says...if it doesn't work for you...IT DOESN'T WORK FOR YOU!! I'm on OWL...and I can tell you from experience...IT DOESN'T WORK FOR ME!!!!!

So...if you can eat the low carb bread....great...BUT...remember that this is an individual thing, so if you are still having difficulty...hey, maybe it could be the bread after all.

At 6 ft tall, I don't know how low your weight should BE, but I have to note your goal weight is lower than mine..and I'm a 5' 9" female... maybe your body just doesn't want to GO that low. Just a thought.

Ok, I've cut out alot of stuff. I've been having water like crazy, dropped the aspartame stuff. In my coffee i use pure cream, and now I have scrambled instead of over easy for my eggs in the morning. Since I've got back from my trip last week, I haven't hit ketosis yet. I have the urine strips that indicate if I'm on it, and I haven't been for the past week. From experience, everytime, I hit ketosis and the strips turn dark red by the 3rd or 4th day.

I had one question regarding this. Can shampoo have an effect on the blood stream? At the same time I started this week long induction over again, I bought one of those fructis shampoo products, but they also include large quantities of sugar cane and various natural ingredients like fruits and such. This may be a stupid question to some, but can it really affect the diet this much?

Unless you're drinking it, shampoo wouldn't be a problem at all.

DON'T EAT THE BREAD! PERIOD!! More places are banning the so called low carb foods because they are not being honest on the contents! All they have to do is add some artificial fiber and you have low net carbs! It's a trick to trap people. They don't want you to really lose that weight becuase then you wouldn't need their product anymore. Please dump the ready made stuff and do pure Induction and OWL as the good doctor intended. I lost 24" and 21 pounds in my first month and am now in my second month with the typical stall which I am working to overcome. If you keep buying into the myth that low carb manyfactured products will help you then you will never truly follow Atkins. I posted Induction and OWL data in my Journal (got from official Atkins site). Also, you have got to exercise at least 3 days a week! Good luck and please stop buying the myth. The only one profiting is the company that manufactures it. And eat your veggies!

As tall as you are, maybe you are closer to the ideal weight for you and your body is trying to tell you that! They say the last 20 is the hardest to lose! Good luck and I sure am glad you gave up the bread! It is one of the things I miss, but well worth the sacrifice! Good luck!