Okay, i've been reading the posts in this section. I'm very discouraged by my stall because I thought if I'm in ketosis I would be losing weight. After reading the posts, it appears you can be in a stall while in ketosis. This is very confusing to me.
So here are some of the things I eat, I guess that may be causing this. Will someone please help me figure out what I should cut out?
Splenda - 2 packs maybe a day
diet drinks with splenda (maybe one a day)
shakes - 2 a week
bars - 2 a week
coffee - 2-3 cups a day
cheese - 3-4 ozs a day
whipping cream - 2 oz a day

I eat my veggies and I drink lots of water.

Maybe this diet is not for me. I lost 9 lbs. by the 3rd week and have since gained and lost the same 2 lbs over and over. I feel like I'm really strick with my carbs and am always in ketosis. About 3 years ago I went on Atkins and this same thing happened. After losing 12 lbs I never lost another lb for 6 months. I gave up. So does it sound like maybe I should try another diet? Thanks, TC

What kind of coffee are you drinking ?

Caffeine seems to stall weight loss for some people. Maybe you ought to cut that out for a week and see.

TC, first off take a deep breath.

We all go through stalls. It is quite normal for our bodies to take breaks from losing weight. Have you kept track of your measurments?

There are many times that our scales won't move but we lose inches as our bodies move things around on us. I stalled for 8 months. No loss on the scale. No loss of inches. I did stay with it because this way of eating was actually making me feel better. I haven't had a cold since I started. My migraines are gone. My allergies don't bother me as much.

How long did it take you to gain the weight? I gained 60 pounds over a 10 year period. I have lost 50 of those pounds in the past 12 months. If it takes me another year to get the last 10 pounds off then I am 8 years ahead of the game. Don't expect to lose the weight fast because you didn't put it on that way I am sure. This isn't a quick weight loss scheme. It is a way of life focused on how to eat correctly to keep and maintain a perfect goal weight for life.

If you give up where does that put you? On a path to gain weight again? Regardless of what diet you pick or chose, if you don't stick with it and give it a chance to work then you will always have a wieght management problem. Don't think of this as a diet. Think of this as the way you should be eating for the rest of your life.

hi Vivian,

I sneaked a peek back at the journal you'd started previously, and noted a few things that may be culprits for difficult weight loss ... whether you're following Atkins or not.

First ... fibromyalgia (me too ). Being unable to do vigorous exercise will definitely make things slower and more difficult. And the medications can interfere with weight loss too. I'm assuming you're taking meds to help your sleep ... such as amitriptyline or doxepine? These tricyclics are a mixed blessing ... they help you to feel at least somewhat restored in the mornings, but they do have weight gain and altered carbohydrate metabolism as a side effect with long-term usage. The effects aren't drastic, but enough to make things a bit more difficult. The carb effect is best offset by following a reduced-carbohydrate diet, even for folks who don't have a weight problem. If you're also taking painkillers, muscle relaxers and/or NSAID's, these will interfere with weight loss as well. It's not impossible, just more difficult. Don't stop taking your meds though in hopes of speeding up weight loss ... you need to relieve your pain and stiffness, and achieve restful sleep so that you can function. It's a balancing act.

Have you had your thyroid function checked lately?? Low thyroid symptoms can mimic and overlap fibro symptoms. Not to mention it will slow your metabolism and make weight loss difficult.

Caffeine may or may not be a staller ... I suggest you consider cutting out coffee, or at least cutting back to one cup a day. Coffee has carbs ... a 10 oz mug is 1.3g ... plus the carbs in any sweetener and/or cream used. And yes, decaf has the same carbs too.

Those Atkins bars contain controversial ingredients which can be stallers for some people. Glycerin, polydextrose, sorbitol, maltitol and similar ingredients ... these are synthetically produced carbohydrates which the manufacturers claim will not cause blood sugar to rise, therefore they don't include them in the total carb count on the label. But, they ARE carbs, and if you did count them ... you'd discover that those 2g bars actually have 14 or even 20g carbs in each one. Now, everybody's different and some people can devour those bars with no problem, but time and time again, I see members post here "help I'm stalled" ... When they cut out the daily "low carb" bars .... voilà, un-stalled!

I noticed the menus in your journal didn't include a lot of vegetables or fiber. Trust me, with fibromyalgia, and the meds we need to take ... you want to have plenty of fiber to keep things regular. Constipation can lead to bloating and fluid retentioin, and sluggish digestion will make it more difficult to shed lbs. YOu might want to have a look at the article Low-carbing and Intestinal Health, which you can find by clicking on "Low Carb Tips" from the orange menu bar near the top of the page.

Don't give up ... even with slow weight loss, the benefits of low-carbing and reduced blood sugar and insulin swings will be very helpful for your fibro and over-all health. It's helped me a lot

Doreen

Hi there,
It looks like you got some great advice from other people. I didn't lose å lot on induction, and got really frustrated too. it's been pretty much a steady one pound a week for me. One thing I have noticed is that my measurements keep going down. Have you tried the Pantometer? Are your pants feeling looser and looser?
Welcome aboard,
Sandy

Thanks everyone for responding. Okay, I'm not going to give up.

As far as the panotometer, I haven't noticed any changes there in 2 or 3 weeks. I did not start out measuring like I should have, but I feel like I've stayed the same for the last 2-3 weeks. My face in thinner. I'm going to cut out the bars and the caffeine first and see if that makes a difference, then I'll start on the cheese if that doesn't work.
I guess what is frustrating, and I know everyone is different, but a friend of mine at church lost a lot of weight on this diet and really is looking good. So I start on it and at first am doing okay. Well, we were at a function together that had food. She was eating cole slaw with sugar, baked beans and other things with carbs in them. When I asked her about them, she was like, "Oh, you mean these are high in carbs?" So here she is clueless and just winging it and getting great results, and here I am strick and not. I would be happy with 1/2 lb a week. Anyway, I know we're not to compare, but that is ridiculous. She has no clue about this diet, but it works great for her. Ha. Probably what is really going on with her is that she has cut her portions of food way down compared to what she was doing before and it's still lower in carbs. Oh, well, enough about her.
Now to respond about the fibromyalgia, Doreen. What a battle I've had with this. I have, however, managed to get off all medications except Ultram. Occasionally I take stronger pain meds as needed, but try to get by now with Ultram only in the morning. Do you know if that has any effects on this diet, and if it does, why didn't it affect it at first. I had too many side effects with all the other meds I was given and had to give them up. They actually made me worse. I have found the Noni Juice and Bovine Collostrum has helped me tremendously. And I know that exercise is very important for this condition, so I do walk or jog on a mini trampoline at least 5 days a week for 45 minutes. Sometimes that's all I get done in a day but I know it's important. I've just recently incorporated walking with one pound weights.
I really appreciate all your responses and I think I will start over with induction tomorrow and cut out a few things. I also need to start journaling here. I think I only journaled the first 2 or 3 days. I kept track myself and was always in ketosis so I thought that would be enough. But you can't really see a pattern if you don't have it all written down.
I would appreciate any other suggestions. Again, thanks. Tc

TC you may want to read through the following threads. I am sorry you are having such a frustrating time, but I can honestly say I have been there. I know I was very frustrated at my 8 month stall. Everyone around me was dropping weight left and right and I wasn't losing anything I go months at this point not losing a pound but I now know that it comes off in it's own time. I just sit back and enjoy the food and know I am not going to gain anything while eating this way.

Uses and abuses of Induction

The wrong way to do Atkin's

Vivian, you might want to cut out the Noni juice for a while According to the nutritional data, one fluid ounce (30 ml) has 3.0g total carbs, of which 2.3g is sugar (glucose and fructose) and 0.7g is fiber.

An 8 oz (240 ml) glass would have 18.4g net carbs from sugars.

Doreen

Hi -- it looks like you've gotten some great remarks from some seasoned LC vets, but I have two cents to add from an experience closer to yours: Like you, I didn't have a pronounced drop in weight during the first weeks on LC. It was more like 6 pounds, and then I hovered around the same 4 pounds for weeks after. I even gave up at one point (the stress of planning a large family event was too much to compete with) but have since restarted, and begun a more rigorous exercise routine as well.

I don't think I'm losing that much weight, but I FEEL so much better, and I think I'm losing inches. I've stopped weighing myself, and hardly ever get the tape measure out. I'm eating better, tastier foods than I ever did on any other eating plan, and I have more energy. Yes, I want to lose weight (and dress sizes) but the point is, there are assets to LC that are equally as important to me as my size. I get discouraged sometimes - a lot actually. But I try to focus on my attitude and the way I feel, and trust the loss will come, too.

Good luck!

rhu

Actually, I stopped taking the noni juice when I started LCing because of the carbs, and started the collostrum. I did, however, find a noni juice with only 1 carb per 1 oz serving called Phase 1 Noni, so I might try that. The kind I was using had 5 carbs per serving. All I know is my fatigue has been helped tremendously with the noni juice. I've read a lot about the collostrum and talked to others that have had good results and so far it seems to be working well for me. It sure beats the heck out of meds for me.

P.S. Doreen, somehow you have my name as Vivian. Does it show up that way somewhere? I'm not very familiar with posting, this is all new to me.

Rubarb, thanks for responding. I sure hope I don't have 8 month stalls before I reach my goal weight. I guess I haven't been doing this long enough yet to feel like this would be a WOE if I didn't lose the weight I wanted. If I lost like the book says, or as I said, even if it was only 1/2 lb a week, even a 1/4 a week, I would be happy. But eating like this for months on end without results, I don't think I'm there yet. But I'm willing to keep on for awhile and try some of the stall breaker techniques. I know most people wouldn't be too concerned with a 4 week stall, but I just remember how 3 years ago I went for six months in ketosis with out losing. I was hoping it would be different this time because of a somewhat revised plan than what I was on before. That's why I was wondering if some of the other LC plans might be better for me than Atkins. But I haven't really looked into them to see the differences.

Has anyone heard of someone being on a paritcular LC plan, it not working, starting another plan and it working for them?

LOL!!!

TC ... this is what happens when you're in a sleepless fibro flare, and try to answer forum questions in the middle of the night

{hugs}

Doreen

I just want to add my $.02 about RATE of loss....

I agree that it's much more fun to see a new low number on the scale every week, but unfortunately it doesn't work that way for everyone. I've been low-carbing since March and have experienced two 7-week stalls in that time. The 1st stall was broken with a 6 lb. loss and the next one was a 3 lb. loss.....which averages out to be 1/2-1 lb. loss per week. Over my entire LC experience I've averaged a bit over 1/2 lb. per week.

It pays to have patience....and it pays well.

Teri, did you change anything in your diet to break those stalls or did you just keep doing the same things and it just broke on its own? I've been trying to figure out if something is causing mine and decided I would cut out caffine first for awhile. The most caffine I have a day is 2-3 cups of coffee in the morning (maybe not even that much), but I keep reading how caffine could do it.
Also, this morning while I was journaling, the question came to me about stress. Could that cause stalls? I certainly have been under a lot of stress, besides what I wrote about in my journal, but that is my main stress. Thanks for responding. Tc

Well, the first stall was broken by a decrease in exercise.... I went from couch potato to rather intense workouts 6x/wk. This put my body under a lot of stress. And then I hurt my back and stopped all exercise .... I lost 6 lbs. in 2-3 weeks. I can't really explain it other than to say that my body was holding onto water, glycogen, whatever... for muscle recovery and additional stress. I have no idea really. Other than than, there was no change in my diet.

The second stall was "broken" by paying closer attention to my carb intake.... going back to fitday and watching carbs and calories. I also have been attempting to decaffeinate....getting down to about 100-200 mg. a day (equiv. to 2 c coffee). Try to keep carbs below 30 and calories at 10x....1500-1600/day. Sometimes I go higher, but never lower. I don't ever eat frankenfoods (LC bars, breads, muffins, etc). I do have artificial sweeteners, but no more than 3 packets/day. I have no more than about 3 diet colas per week. I drink about 60-80 oz water/day.

Yes, I do believe that stress can cause stalls. I've seen it happen a lot with members on this board ... Donald (DWRolfe) comes to mind.... stalled during a stressful house closing/move/layoffs at work, etc....and as soon as he got moved in he dropped like 7-9 lbs. right off the bat.

Thanks for sharing... I too am having a hard start... been in induction for a few weeks now and NOTHING... so I took Teri's advice and went on fitday.com - filled in a few days and eeeek I really did have some hidden carbs (those stupid stupid atkins bars) and of course my incredible desire for SWEETS.

I am going to keep track of what I am eating with fitday and see if that helps. Thanks again, KarenS