low carb help

joyfullee
joyfullee Posts: 23 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi, I've been doing low carb for a week now. I have been trying to follow the new atkins way. I'm keeping my total carbs around 20-25. I have had a couple things not listed on the "approved" list, but I still counted the carbs, and it was only like a handful of blueberries, a handful of peanuts. Its not like I was having candy bars. Anyway....I have only lost two pounds, and I heard people lose like 10 in the first two weeks. I want to know if eating a handful of blueberries can really throw me off?? I didn't even do that every day. Im discouraged, and desperate to lose weight!! Can someone offer advice from their own personal experience?? Thanks!

Replies

  • juggernaut1974
    juggernaut1974 Posts: 6,212 Member
    edited February 2016
    If you didn't reduce your calories overall (regardless of carb intake) you won't lose (fat) weight.

    Quick loss of several pounds on low-carb diets is primarily due to the shedding of water weight that corresponds to the body's decrease in glycogen stores. Most of it is not actual fat weight.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    I don't think a handful of blueberries would have thrown off the water weight loss by that much.

    The "10 pounds" in 2 weeks promise is for very large people....that's my guess. Most of the 10 pounds will be water weight (glycogen stores) anyway.

    Let's math: a 3,500 calorie deficit for every pound lost. 3,500 x 10 / 14 = 2,500 daily deficit.

    If you ate just 1,200 and your daily maintenance (TDEE) was 3,700 calories....that's a deficit of 2,500. A TDEE of 3,700 calories is a tall order for a woman.

    These are more realistic goals
    Pound per week goals
    75+ lbs set to lose 2 lb range
    Between 40 - 75 lbs set to lose 1.5 lb range
    Between 25-40 lbs set to lose 1 lb range
    Between 15-25 lbs set to lose 1 -.50 lb range
    Less than 15 lbs set to lose 0.5 lbs range
  • JodehFoster
    JodehFoster Posts: 419 Member
    Are you keeping a food diary? Do you weigh your foods?

    Even if you did have that initial loss (of water), once those glycogen stores are depleted the loss will slow, and sometimes by quite a bit.

    You seem like you might not have the patience for this ("desperate to lose weight") and I'm not convinced this is the right plan for you. After one week, you are already discouraged and it looks like you expected low carb to be a magical rapid weightloss diet, which it isn't.
  • _Figgzie_
    _Figgzie_ Posts: 3,506 Member
    juggernaut1974 wrote: »
    If you didn't reduce your calories overall (regardless of carb intake) you won't lose (fat) weight.

    Quick loss of several pounds on low-carb diets is primarily due to the shedding of water weight that corresponds to the body's decrease in glycogen stores. Most of it is not actual fat weight.

    +1
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
    Blueberries with their sugar won't help you get into the groove of Atkins induction. If you're following a plan it's best to follow it, at least for the first 2 weeks. There are people that lose 10 lbs or more, but they're exceptional and I don't know the details.
  • WhatLouAte
    WhatLouAte Posts: 155 Member
    Waiting for someone to say 'low carb isn't magic'.....
  • Sarahb29
    Sarahb29 Posts: 952 Member
    edited February 2016
    I'd restrict fruit until your body adjusts to your new diet. I agree with the other posters as well, the 10lbs in 1-2 weeks are generally larger people who lose quicker. When you're only 10-20lbs from your goal weight it's much harder to lose weight so it really depends where you're at.

    My own personal experience is I was like 150lbs overweight so yea I lost 10lbs the first week but I didn't have any sugar whatsoever that first week. The only carbs I got were from leafy green veggies, zucchini, almonds, things that were very high in fiber.
  • auntstephie321
    auntstephie321 Posts: 3,586 Member
    I don't know how atkins, or induction works. I do low carb and currently keto. You might want to check out the resources in the low carb group. there is a ton of information that you may find helpful. not everyone's loses 10 lbs their first week and like others have said a lot of that initial loss is due to loss of water and sodium. I never had large drops in weight and I'm currently up a few lbs from when I started back at the beginning of the year after being off for the holidays. The scale is one way to measure your success but don't let it be the only way, it can miss all the good things that you are doing and be very discouraging.
  • JodehFoster
    JodehFoster Posts: 419 Member
    edited February 2016
    PeculiarLou wrote: »
    Waiting for someone to say 'low carb isn't magic'.....



    I already did.




    Besides the admitted discouragement and desperation (in only one week???), other reasons to consider a different diet is the fact that you've barely been on it a week & (if I remember correctly) Adkins requires a strict two-week induction, to which it clearly has not been followed. TWO WEEKS, that's a short amount of time and in less than a week you've already gone off the "approved" list...maybe not by much, but it doesn't sound like a committment.

    I think closely watching your calories, but eating the foods you enjoy would suit you. Low-carb isn't easy if your head isn't in the game.
  • Yi5hedr3
    Yi5hedr3 Posts: 2,696 Member
    May be eating too much protein and too little fat. Macros should be about 20/20/60.
  • organic_homestead
    organic_homestead Posts: 31 Member
    I started low carb last year (Feb 2014) and with a solid 4-5 day/wk workouts that were at least 30 min, some days cardio some days weight lifting, I lost 16lbs and 6" total over 5 months. I went from a size 12 to a size 8.
    I suggest that you start your two week Atkins Induction over and really commit to it. During induction, no fruit, no starchy veggies! Dark leafy greens of all kinds, bell peppers, mushrooms, eggs, whole milk/heavy cream for cooking, almond/coconut milk unsweetened for smoothies. Always read your labels. Once the Induction phase is over, then you can incorporate some berries. Stay away from other fruit until you are in a maintenance phase.

    I found a ton of resources on Pinterest and created an Atkins Induction board. Then I created another board for low-carb living. It has really helped in having quick access to recipes. Look for some blogs on low-carb/keto/paleo. I follow one who puts out links to free Amazon books.

    And finally, don't compare yourself to others. That's the easiest way to sabotage any success. Everyone is different. And weight comes off people differently.

    You can do this!
  • tns56364
    tns56364 Posts: 43 Member
    edited February 2016
    PeculiarLou wrote: »
    Waiting for someone to say 'low carb isn't magic'.....

    Hahaha true
  • johnnylakis
    johnnylakis Posts: 812 Member
    PeculiarLou wrote: »
    Waiting for someone to say 'low carb isn't magic'.....
    ok, I'll bite

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