mercedes1989's Journal, 06 Feb 11

Just took a peek at you food calendar. Be sure to use it daily. Shoot for 12-15g's of veggie carbs. Don't be afraid to eat healthy proteins, and healthy fats, ...and if you can try to inch your calories up in the 1800 range and keep them there steadily. Make sure you are drinking about 1/2 your body weight in water ounces!!! Every day! And lose the Atkins snack bars. Unfortunately they are a known staller for a lot of people. (the shakes don't seem to be an issue, and can be used as a snack...but not a meal replacement.) You've lost 8 lbs in just over 2 weeks, regardless of the fact that you haven't lost in 9 days... I know it can be discouraging...so try making a few of these tweeks, and get on here everyday, and check your food logs to see how you are doing. You can even enter stuff ahead of time, before you eat it, if you need to check the carb counts of something, or the calories, etc... You are doing a good job though...so hang on! It'll come... 

I agree with jsfantome. The atkins snack bars made me stall horribly. Once I gave them up, I saw progress again. Hang in there! 

Hi Mercedes, Welcome to FatSecret and the Atkins plan. I'm not a doctor or dietician, and I've only been on Atkins since January 11th, having started after my mother successfully lost 40+ pounds on the Atkins plan in 2010. (So far...I've lost 14 to 15 lbs). So feel free to take this advice with a grain of salt, so-to-speak. I base my remarks on what I see as your "NET Carb" intake on the data you've entered in your Diet Calendar. According to your entries, you're consuming way below the amount of NET carbs recommended in the Induction Phase of Atkins. (9.71 on 1/27, 2.42 on 1/29, and 9.75 today)...and very little of that is vegetables. The recommended amount is 20 NET carbs...with majority of that coming from vegetables. My guess is that by eating so few net carbs, you might be negatively impacting your metabolism, possibly slowing it down, which could make it harder for you to burn the calories needed to lose the weight. As I said, this is just a guess, but I have read that getting too few (good) carbs can be just as bad as eating too many carbs. I'd recommend eating more veggies and use your Diet Calendar on FatSecret to help track your NET carbs so that you can try to maintain 20 (give or take a couple)...and see if that doesn't help jumpstart things for you. I completed my Induction Phase, averaging 19 NET carbs per day and lost 13 lbs in that two-week time frame. So, don't get discouraged. It will happen. The weight will come off with a good balanced diet...and that exercise you can get at the gym. (You lasted longer on a treadmill than I would've. *grin*) 

Thanks everyone...i knew when i would eat them snack bars that they were way too good to be true...lol...ok so starting tomarrow...im gonna take all of yalls advice and start using it.so definantly more veggies..and bcblyod lol im sure that you could of made it that long on the treadmill...but seriously thanks for the advice im really focused on this diet but now im gonna be even more determined since i have more tips now...well everybody good luck im sure all of us can use luck... 

Hey Mercedes!! I was reading around and thought you might appreciate this as much as I did. It's about the "whoosh fairy" I've been seeing people refer to: "The theory is... when fat is burned, the fat cells refill with water. The fat cells retain their size and weight and the scales don't move. If you stay on the diet long enough, sooner or later the fat cells will release the water. This results in a 'whoosh', where you lose four or more pounds, seemingly overnight. Actually the fat has already been gone for some time." Maybe that's what's been going on?? 

OMG Maggie you just made my day!!! wow i didnt know that im super excited now..where did you learn that at...i think today im gonna do some more atkins reading research..lol...its to nasty outside to go anywhere and its my day off was gonna go to the gym but way to much snow again this morning...thanks again maggie 

For sure drop the bars for awhile & there are links in the Crunches and Punches forum for exercise since today is the first day. So you do your activities & log it in, in the evening. You're doing great.  

thanks slush kitty