I am so close to quitting!! I really need help!

[nixxon]

I am so upset right now. I was doing awesome!!! I lost 42 lbs and feeling great and life was getting good. Now, I cant lose anything!!! I have cut my carbs down so low and my cals so low I am almost not eating...... I do not know what to do. I am not going to starve my self. I am just so mad. I have come so far and done so much work that I just cant do it anymore.

Now before I get the response "don't use the scale just check inches". I have and everything is a 0. I am just stuck. Any ideas or stories would be great! I am going to get to bed before I just say forget it and start eating what I did before I started. This is so not fair!

[autotheism]

Don't quit! This WOE is not magic! You have lost a lot of weight and you are feeling great. Focus on that. There are a lot of reasons that your weight loss might have slowed/stalled.

First things first...Think of stored fat as "money" in the body's savings account. Evolution has made it possible for energy to be stored in the body as fat for a "rainy day." If there was a time of famine, body fat could tide humans over until they could get more food. When you go on the Atkins WOE, you lose a lot of weight quickly. Your body gets very nervous when you deplete the savings account in such a short amount of time.

How would you feel if a huge sum of money was missing from your bank account?

The body freaks out (momentarily) and puts a "hold" on the account. Even though you are doing everything right - you won't lose weight until your body stops freaking out.

Trust me...if you are doing everything correctly, you will probably lose a bunch of weight all at once. And then you might not lose anything again for a while.

Some people lose weight in stages. Some people lose weight in tiny increments on a more steady schedule. Some people go back and forth between the two. You kind of need to go with the flow of your own body rhythm.

After everything you've been through, do you really want to go back to the way that you were eating before? Do you want to lose the awesome progress that you have made so far? I don't think you do. I think you are very frustrated and need to calm down.

Believe me. There are going to be other people on the forum who tell you the same things.

DO NOT lower your calories so that you are not eating. That is not the Atkins WOE. That is a panic response because you aren't losing weight the way you did in the beginning.

Are you on Fitday? Are you taking enough vitamins? Are you exercising? There are so many things that you haven't said in your post. So many reasons this could be happening.

Get a good night's rest and take a deep breath in the morning before you do anything drastic.

Good luck!

[Beaglesaroo]

1. How long has it been since you lost some pounds or inches?

2. Exactly how low are your carbs and calories? Not eating enough can result in problems...cutting calories and/or carbs super low, while often a first impulse, is not necessarily the right thing to do.

3. Do you exercise at all?

4. How much do you weight right now? How low do you want to go?

5. Male or female?

6. Have you gone into the Main Lobby and asked for ideas?

[junkfoodmonkey]

How long has this stall gone on for? Remember, in the book Dr Atkins defines a stall as 4 weeks with no weight or inch loss. Even if it's been that long don't panic and think it mean you'll never lose again. And lowering your calories will likely just prolong it.

Get the book back out and check the part about stalls and plateaus, and see what is advised there. Chapter 15 and then chapter 20, if its the 2002 DANDR you have. The issue is addressed in the plan, so follow that advice first.

[nixxon]

Well, first getting some sleep helped and I calmed down.


Yes I use Fitday, its a wonderful program. I exorcise 5-6 times a week for as long as I can with my busy schedule. its been 2.5 weeks with no change, I guess I am going to go back and look what I ate 4 weeks ago and see if I can repeat that and see if it will make me start losing again. I still have 50lbs I would like to lose and more then that and its a bonus.

Thanks for letting me know about the "fat bank" and stalling. I do like how I feel but its hard when you do all this work and it just stops. I really hope it starts up again.

[2big4mysize]

Hang in ther go back to doing your Atkins and if after 4 weeks of working your plan you haven;t shed any weight nor inches then you are stalled and chapter 15 is full of advice for you to checkout.

remember now that you are 42 pounds lightewr your body doesn't need the same amount of foods tro do the exact same amount of work about 9 cals less per pound gone or 378 cals less just for your basal metabolism. So you either got to do more intense workouts or eat slightly less they you were before to keep the scales moving.


so have you upped the intensity the duration or the speed of your workouts?

[nixxon]

Originally Posted by 2big4mysize

Hang in ther go back to doing your Atkins and if after 4 weeks of working your plan you haven;t shed any weight nor inches then you are stalled and chapter 15 is full of advice for you to checkout.

remember now that you are 42 pounds lightewr your body doesn't need the same amount of foods tro do the exact same amount of work about 9 cals less per pound gone or 378 cals less just for your basal metabolism. So you either got to do more intense workouts or eat slightly less they you were before to keep the scales moving.


so have you upped the intensity the duration or the speed of your workouts?

Yes I have increased the intensity, I do not believe I can do anymore without hurting myself. I guess I will have to adjust the amount I am eating. Thanks for all your help!!

[catne]

1.cut out splenda & other artificial sweeteners (if you're craving cold flavored drinks for soda replacements, try the wonderful flavored teas out there--Lipton has a strawberry-passion fruit which is outstanding when brewed hot & then iced.) Even if you were doing fine with sweeteners before, sometimes your system adjusts to them and starts treating them just like real sugar.

2. reduce or eliminate the amount of cheese you're eating, and eliminate cream. Dairy stalls many people (same as sweeteners, sometimes you can use them for a while with no probs, then you stall. Worth trying.)

3. mix up the way you eat--eat steak for breakfast & omelets for dinner. And break your food up into smaller quantities over 2-3 hour intervals with no "big" meals. Sometimes that shakes up your metabolism.

If none of those work (give each a few days) or if you need drastic measures NOW...Try the Stillman's Quick Weight Loss version of low carb for a few days. Basically, it's all LEAN meat & eggs, with a small amount of 1% cottage cheese (1 cup or less per day). No fat (use tiny amount of cooking spray when cooking meat, trim all visible fat and try to buy lean cuts only.) No vegetables. No dairy other than the low fat cottage cheese (and measure that) You can use a small amount of sugar free ketchup and mustard, but no mayo! You can eat until you're full on the meat & eggs, but you will find within a couple of days your appetite is tiny...make sure you eat every 2-3 hours and you must drink 80 oz of water per day--do not skip this, as you can end up with real problems when you're eating virtually nothing but protein. (That's eight 10 oz glasses of plain water. You can drink tea & coffee, but do not count that as part of your water needs.) You will be running to restroom a lot due to the fluid intake, but you will also get off your stall within 3-4 days of this.

Warning- this is 100% BORING & DRY--it's very hard to have moist, tasty meat when you use lean cuts, and then cook fat-free. ( Some people have better luck using the microwave steamer bags to cook their meats & fish.) However, it's worth it to get off a stall. And then, when you can't stand it another second, go back to Atkins induction! The difference is it's so luxuriously scrumptious to put all the fat & such back in, you feel like you're cheating! But you won't gain any weight switching back to Atkins Induction. I've been cycling between Stillman's & Atkins since early February (lost 15 on Atkins, 12/29-1/12...then nothing for over 3 wks which was just too discouraging to me.) Anyway, then I did Stillman's for 9 days, lost 7 lbs. Then Atkins for 3 days, no change. Then Stillman's for 6 days, lost 3 lbs. Then Atkins for 3 days, no change. Then Stillman's for 5 days, lost 3.2. Today, I'm back on Atkins, and loving it. Will probably go back on Stillman's Monday or Tuesday...

[HappyHomeschoolMom]

2.5 weeks with no loss, while it can be discouraging, is not a stall.

I have cut my carbs down so low and my cals so low I am almost not eating

Your plan says "Atkins" and you are on the Atkins board. Are you moving through the Atkins plan for OWL and the carb ladder? Cutting carbs and calories low in a situation like this is not Atkins.

[autotheism]

I'm glad that you are not ready to quit just yet. Good for you!

Could you post your typical menu plan? Maybe someone here can spot something that might be troubling you. Here is another things that you learn after being on the Atkins WOE for a while - not every Atkins "legal" food is "legal" for every person.

What I mean is, there are foods that are technically allowed in Induction and OWL that I cannot eat even a little of without a stall. One of the biggies for me is avocado. Other people eat it no problem. My body stalls the weightloss. I LOVE avocado too! I just had to learn what foods worked for me and what didn't. Another example is cream. I can drink a quart of it and never stall, but others report that sometimes they have to give it up altogether.

Here's the good news. You can often tell which foods will give you a problem. If you find yourself seriously drawn to that food - almost an addicted feeling - it is probably a problem for you. If you keep eating that food past the point where you are full - it is probably a problem for you. Do you get a bloated feeling after eating it? Does it give you gas?

In my experience, those are all signs of a problem food. Not sure if anyone else had experienced that phenomenon.

Hope your weight loss resumes soon. You are doing a great job.

[nixxon]

Originally Posted by HappyHomeschoolMom

2.5 weeks with no loss, while it can be discouraging, is not a stall.



Your plan says "Atkins" and you are on the Atkins board. Are you moving through the Atkins plan for OWL and the carb ladder? Cutting carbs and calories low in a situation like this is not Atkins.

No I am on Atkins. Just panicked and starting cutting way down to see if I could get things moving. I am going to go back to following the book and hope for the best.

My menu has been awesome. I rotate my menu often so I do not get bored however, I never leave my list of allowed foods.

Steak, lobster, salad, tuna, chicken, eggs, cheese, bacon, and ham are all things that I have been eating and losing weight with. There are so many foods I can eat but that is mostly with I do. Of cook em different so I do not get board however I love all of them so its not to hard.

[Rubyred025]

Just keep in mind that the foods you are eating are high in salt, so cutting back on the salt might help or uping your water intake to flush the salt. Keep us posted.

[jakesmomma]

I just recently had done something similar, I had stalled, and started cutting way back. I stumbled across a carb cycling post, and it got me to thinking, I went back through my journal and the times when I had "cheated" and ate over my limit, the next 2 days I was 2 pounds over, then I would drop like 3-4 pounds. I realized that I had been TOO restrictive and it just caused my body to go into starvation mode, even though I wasn't starving. I suggest climbing the carb ladder a rung. I did this and the very next day I had lost 2 pounds. I just added some higher carb veggies and 1/2 cup of blueberries, and the next day, the stall broke. There is some very insightful reading on here pertaining to leptin levels, glycogen stores, etc. In the end you have to really listen to your body, don't starve yourself, it is counter productive. Good luck, don't give up, your body is going through alot of transition, if you are like me, you have put your body through a whole lot, you need to appreciate how well it is responding to your efforts.

[nixxon]

Originally Posted by jakesmomma

I just recently had done something similar, I had stalled, and started cutting way back. I stumbled across a carb cycling post, and it got me to thinking, I went back through my journal and the times when I had "cheated" and ate over my limit, the next 2 days I was 2 pounds over, then I would drop like 3-4 pounds. I realized that I had been TOO restrictive and it just caused my body to go into starvation mode, even though I wasn't starving. I suggest climbing the carb ladder a rung. I did this and the very next day I had lost 2 pounds. I just added some higher carb veggies and 1/2 cup of blueberries, and the next day, the stall broke. There is some very insightful reading on here pertaining to leptin levels, glycogen stores, etc. In the end you have to really listen to your body, don't starve yourself, it is counter productive. Good luck, don't give up, your body is going through alot of transition, if you are like me, you have put your body through a whole lot, you need to appreciate how well it is responding to your efforts.

That is defiantly something I am going to try. I can do it, it just gets so frustrating. I feel so alone. Not one in my family supports me so its just harder then I thought.

[chi1ip3pp3r]

Don't give up! What is more frustrating- being stalled at one weight, or gaining the weight you have worked so hard to lose?! Atkins is a way of life... you must press on! You can do it, and this will pass!

[violettfem]

1.cut out splenda & other artificial sweeteners (if you're craving cold flavored drinks for soda replacements, try the wonderful flavored teas out there--Lipton has a strawberry-passion fruit which is outstanding when brewed hot & then iced.) Even if you were doing fine with sweeteners before, sometimes your system adjusts to them and starts treating them just like real sugar.

Is this true? I don't understand how one's body can suddenly break down Splenda as if it were a sugar. With a rise in Blood Sugar and everything? I know that some people are sensitive to Splenda, but I have never heard of this.

Can someone educate me please?

[little_miss]

We all have bad days, sometimes you stall but are met with a big whoosh in a few days. It has happened to me alot, if you aren't consuming more calories than you are burning, you are losing weight. I know it gets hard sometimes. Stay strong

[OutofTheWoods]

Do Not Give Up!!!! My gosh 42 pounds and you are ready to throw in the towel? C'mon! Your body may just be catching up to the new weight. 42 pounds is a lot whether you believe that or not, your body now has to adapt to the changes you made. Instead of decreasing calories why dont you try upping them quite a bit to trick your body..if you are so close to giving up anything is worth a shot right?

[almostlost]

Violet,

Yes the body can react to spenda (artifical sweetners) like it was sugar. The issue is that when some people that eat something that taste sweet, there body immediately reacts by producing more insulin in preparation for the glucose that will come. Now you have an excess of insulin in your blood stream. When that happens the body can looks to see if their is any fat that should be stored and stores the fat. This is only a problem if you are already insulin resistant and may have more insulin in your blood stream.

This does not happen to a lot of people but it does to some.