still frustrated!

frustrated and aggitated have been on this plan since March 1st - did well 1st 3 weeks then nothing except a 1lb gain...

the only thing "bad" i have had was sugar free syrups a few tiems - that has sugar alcohol that dont come off the "net carbs on here so it makes my totals look off....

If you are Atkins you need to read the book again .

If I can remember one thing I hated about the atkins diet GEM, it's that cheating is a NO-NO on the atkins. If you're not into making that diet a lifestyle get out of it now and find one more accommodating. Nothing comes easy, especially losing weight.. No matter what "diet" you're on.

Have you read the book??? Are you entering everything you are eating??
Maybe you should subscribe to the Atkins site, they have great recipes and I love their meal plans. I find them easy enough to follow.
I don't know any healthy eating plan that suggests to skip breakfast. Go have a look, you might appreciate what you will learn, ( It is not necessary to buy the bars and shakes to make it work )

Although I am not a "diet" type of person and believe eating healthy and calorie counting is the way to go, I will say that no matter what weight loss plan you're on, there should always be some basic principles that should be followed.

Are you consuming at least 1200 calories a day? If you're consuming less than this amount, your body will go into an almost starvation mode where it will try to conserve as much fat as possible for energy stores. From looking at your food diary, some days you eat as little as only 1000 calories a day! You should be trying to consume close to your RDI number. Are you recording everything? (even exercise). If you're doing the same exercise routine every day, try switching it up since your body will become accustomed to the amount of effort used to perform that certain exercise, which in turn will burn less calories.

Lastly, don't beat yourself up for eating certain "bad" foods every once in awhile. Life is meant to be enjoyed and speaking from experience, berating yourself for slipping up every now and then is a quick way to regress back into old behaviors.

Good luck!

I'm having trouble getting a sense of what you eat from your food diary, because you're recording all your vegetables under snacks, which makes your meals look really fat/protein heavy...

It doesn't look like you have snacks throughout the day unless they are veggies. I don't know if you have breakfast every day but the breakfasts you've recorded are kind of strange. A tablespoon of butter and some sugar free syrup?!

There are four things I would recommend:
1. Cut out all the sugar-free syrups, etc, from your diet. Some people's bodies react to sugar alcohols in the same way they do to sugar. Try stirring liquid stevia in to the food or drink instead.

2. Make sure you are journalling your food every day, without fail. (You seem to have done much better with this since April 3rd.) I know if I am not journalling it's usually because I'm going off track and want to ignore the fact!

3. Try changing your meals to 5-6 small meals instead of 2-3 big ones. This helps your metabolism by reducing the total secretion of insulin and improving blood sugar control. (You will remember from the book how crucial this is on Atkins.)

4. What is your exercise routine like? If you habitually take no exercise and have a sedentary job, your metabolism can get stuck in a bit of a rut. Try to add more exercise somewhere in your routine - I started just by going for a 15-min walk at lunchtime.

Also assess how you're feeling - do you have more energy, feel healthier and more positive? Or are you feeling tired and run down? If the latter, then it's possible that Atkins isn't for you and you could benefit from going more towards low fat approach.

Best of luck.

Thanks everyone for your insights.

My food journal looks like that because it was suggested that to track the veggies in the snack section to see easier if was getting the 12-15 net carbs from veggies everyday that you are supposed to have and then to put the other components of the meal where they go. So if I had pumpkin or squash w/butter and sugar free syrup for breakfast... I put the veggie part in the snack section and logged the butter and syrup under breakfast.

I don't eat snacks typically ... I eat pork rinds occasionally if I get the urge to munch after dinner.

I do have the book and have read it and am on the atkins website. I have made recipes from that and other sites.


Breakfast is still a struggle for me at times...some weekends I get up late or get busy and don't think about it until I look at a clock and its after noon. Some weekdays I run behind and breakfast slips on those days. I never ate breakfast before at all before I started this.

I journal all of my food the best I can but I don't have computer access at home.

I have not started an exercise routine yet but was wondering if that would help.

As far as the syrups I use those at breakfast mainly or in a dessert.

I do feel better than before I started I don't have the sick feelings (headaches, nausea, dizzy) I used to. So I know my body doesn't like all of the carb-loaded garbage I used to eat. Which I'm sure is why I didn't feel well after lunch.

I know this is a lifestyle not just a "diet" and I do have more energy since I started. Yesterday was a mistake and I know that I should have stuck with the plan and pushed through my frustrations. There have been some things that have happened that added to my frustrations lately as well.

I think Karen's reply was very helpful! I'm on induction, so I know how frustating the ups & downs can be.

I would also suggest that you get rid of all the syrups. Just having the need for the taste of sugar is a bad thing - imo. Now that I'm completely sugar free, I just don't crave it any more. That's one of the great things that Atkins has done for me. And no, the weight isn't just rolling off of me either, but I see how beneficial this diet will be for me in the long fun. And I keep making little adjustments to keep the lbs coming off.

Best of luck to you! And keep working at it.

GEM, I got this article from the Atkins website:

WHY THE SCALES CAN LIE

A biologist at Berkeley shared something very revealing on the low-carb BBS system about 4 years ago that helps us all through the erratic weight fluctuations you invariably encounter: Fat cells are resilient, stubborn little creatures that do not want to give up their actual cell volume. Over a period of weeks, maybe months of "proper dieting", each of your fat cells may have actually lost a good percentage of the actual fat contained in those cells. But the fat cells themselves, stubborn little guys, replace that lost fat with water to retain their size. That is, instead of shrinking to match the reduced amount of fat in the cell, they stay the same size! Result - you weigh the same, look the same, maybe even gained some scale weight, even though you have actually lost some serious fat.

The good news is that this water replacement is temporary. It's a defensive measure to keep your body from changing too rapidly. It allows the fat cell to counter the rapid change in cell composition, allowing for a slow, gradual reduction in cell size. The problem is, most people are frustrated with their apparent lack of success, assume they have lost nothing, and stop dieting.

However, if you give those fat cells some time, like 4-6 months, and ignore the scale weight fluctuations, your real weight/shape will slowly begin to show. The moral of the story - be patient! Your body is changing even if the number on the scale isn't

Missy, if you have a Smartphone you can download the fatsecret app so you can use it anywhere. If you don't have one then carrying a little notebook is probably best.

I'll re-iterate my suggestion about eating more, smaller meals per day. Especially if you frequently skip breakfast. Your metabolism will really benefit.

If you're not taking any exercise at the moment, definitely add some. Even if it's just a 5-min walk around the block. In 2004 I had a back injury which caused me huge amounts of pain at 200lbs and I was afraid of taking any exercise at all. I just started to walk at least a little every day - at first just down to the end of the road and back, then around the block, and eventually for at least a mile every day. The walking actually IMPROVED my back pain and it jumpstarted my weight loss. I got down to 140lbs a year later. (Why I put it all back on is another story, LOL)

I remember when i was on crutches for 3 months during school due to a chipped femur i endured during a rugby game.....
3 months on crutches and i still got my butt to work out at home AND at the gym. Everything was so much harder and everything took more time. But because of the effort i put during that time im so much stronger, cut, and more motivated.

NO EXCUSES. YOU CAN!!! DO IT!