Need advice on breaking a stall...

I've been lurking here for about a month, and have discovered that a 'stall'
is common around week 3 or 4 of Atkins. What I'd like is advice on how to
break the stall I'm in. Oh, and since I *have* been lurking... just for you,
JC, 879 calories, 8 carbs today, with an average of *about* 1200 calories
and somewhere between 12 and 22 carbs a day & walking 10+ miles a day on TOP
of being a very busy mother of 5, one of whom is handicapped ( burning
*roughly* 6000 calories a day ), and trying to fit in 30 minutes of Tae Bo
and 30 minutes of an old Tony Little Target Training tape every day too.
Sorry to everyone else, and I don't know if it's my imagination, but that
guy REALLY jumps all over people for no decent reason.

Anyway, I don't take aspartame, I don't take Splenda, I have the tip of a
toothpick worth of Stevia in a cup of herbal tea once a day, I don't drink
coffee, 'real' tea, or sodas of any kind. I'm an absolute tee-totaler, I
don't even use wine in cooking. I'm drinking *roughly* 100oz of water a
day. I've cut out the nuts that I added when I finished the two weeks of
official induction, and now I'm guessing that I'll have to cut out cheese as
well.

Still, I went down to 263 on the 10th and ever since then I've been
'bouncing' between 268 and 263 - today I'm 265, which was really
discouraging after finally getting back to 263 yesterday. It could be
building muscle bulk, which stinks, but which isn't all that surprising
since I threw shotput in high school and know bulking up that way definitely
*CAN* happen to me - plus I don't exactly have 'supermodel' willowy bones -
more like I-beams for a skyscraper, but honestly body fat SHOULD be dropping
off me like crazy and even my tape measure says nothing's changed. Advice
on breaking this stall would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

5'10"
300/265/160
19.25" lost from bust-waist-hips.
Since 2/17/04
--
Melissa Robitille

If you're in a hurry, try a fat fast. Otherwise, wait it out for a little
while and see what happens.

Btw, you're not burning 6000 calories while taking in 1200 and staying at
the same weight. You are mistaken at some point.
--
Most of us probably aren't in danger of eating too little.

Becky P.

"Rev. Melissa Robitille" wrote in message
...
I've been lurking here for about a month, and have discovered that a
'stall'
is common around week 3 or 4 of Atkins. What I'd like is advice on how to
break the stall I'm in. Oh, and since I *have* been lurking... just for
you,
JC, 879 calories, 8 carbs today, with an average of *about* 1200 calories
and somewhere between 12 and 22 carbs a day & walking 10+ miles a day on
TOP
of being a very busy mother of 5, one of whom is handicapped ( burning
*roughly* 6000 calories a day ), and trying to fit in 30 minutes of Tae Bo
and 30 minutes of an old Tony Little Target Training tape every day too.
Sorry to everyone else, and I don't know if it's my imagination, but that
guy REALLY jumps all over people for no decent reason.

Anyway, I don't take aspartame, I don't take Splenda, I have the tip of a
toothpick worth of Stevia in a cup of herbal tea once a day, I don't drink
coffee, 'real' tea, or sodas of any kind. I'm an absolute tee-totaler, I
don't even use wine in cooking. I'm drinking *roughly* 100oz of water a
day. I've cut out the nuts that I added when I finished the two weeks of
official induction, and now I'm guessing that I'll have to cut out cheese
as
well.

Still, I went down to 263 on the 10th and ever since then I've been
'bouncing' between 268 and 263 - today I'm 265, which was really
discouraging after finally getting back to 263 yesterday. It could be
building muscle bulk, which stinks, but which isn't all that surprising
since I threw shotput in high school and know bulking up that way
definitely
*CAN* happen to me - plus I don't exactly have 'supermodel' willowy
bones -
more like I-beams for a skyscraper, but honestly body fat SHOULD be
dropping
off me like crazy and even my tape measure says nothing's changed. Advice
on breaking this stall would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

5'10"
300/265/160
19.25" lost from bust-waist-hips.
Since 2/17/04
--
Melissa Robitille

If you're in a hurry, try a fat fast. Otherwise, wait it out for a little
while and see what happens.
****** I've heard a fat fast mentioned, but I don't know what one *IS*. Two
or three people have said something about them, but haven't said what they
are - so.... What's a fat fast? ( I'm definitely in a hurry - I'm aiming for
160 by New Year's Eve, and that's a bit slower than I'd *like* to go )

Btw, you're not burning 6000 calories while taking in 1200 and staying at
the same weight. You are mistaken at some point.
******** *shrug* That's what Fitday says when I enter in what I do. Make the
bed, get dressed, clean the house, endlessly chase the kids, haul 30+lb
toddlers around, take care of my 3yo's medical needs, walk 10 miles, do Tae
Bo, do 'weight training' ( that Tony Little thing - I figure, I use weights,
it's weight training, if light effort ), cook, clean some more, do laundry,
usher the kids through homeschooling, cook, clean some more, do dishes, do
the kids' NYC Ballet Workout with them ( hey, they've got to have Phys
Ed! ), grade the kids' papers, put laundry away... Beyond that there's
dealing w/ my 3yo's various therapists ( speech, physical, occupational &
his deaf mentor ) and that kind of thing.

5'10"
300/265/160
19.25" lost
Since 2/17/04
--
Melissa Robitille

Rev. Melissa Robitille wrote:

Btw, you're not burning 6000 calories while taking in 1200 and staying at
the same weight. You are mistaken at some point.

******** *shrug* That's what Fitday says when I enter in what I do.

fitday's calculations for calories burned are waaaaaaaaaaay generous.
take them with several ginormous grains of salt.

also, please learn to quote properly.

"Rev. Melissa Robitille" wrote in message

I've been lurking here for about a month, and have discovered that a
'stall' is common around week 3 or 4 of Atkins. What I'd like is
advice on how to break the stall I'm in. Oh, and since I *have* been
lurking... just for you, JC, 879 calories, 8 carbs today, with an
average of *about* 1200 calories and somewhere between 12 and 22
carbs a day & walking 10+ miles a day on TOP of being a very busy
mother of 5, one of whom is handicapped ( burning
*roughly* 6000 calories a day ), and trying to fit in 30 minutes of
Tae Bo and 30 minutes of an old Tony Little Target Training tape
every day too. Sorry to everyone else, and I don't know if it's my
imagination, but that guy REALLY jumps all over people for no decent
reason.
snip
5'10"
300/265/160
19.25" lost from bust-waist-hips.
Since 2/17/04

You weigh 265lbs and do all that exercise and you only eat 1200 calories a
day?? If you're sure that's all you're eating........eat more food. Aim for
10x your current body weight. You shouldn't be eating below your BMR.
--
Jeri
265/189/120
Atkins since 11/5/01
"Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right."
--Henry Ford

A fat fast is where you eat 1000 calories or less per day of 90% or more of
fat. For most people, the mainstay of the fast is macadamia nuts. Google for
more specifics.

--
Most of us probably aren't in danger of eating too little.

Becky P.

"Rev. Melissa Robitille" wrote in message
...
If you're in a hurry, try a fat fast. Otherwise, wait it out for a
little
while and see what happens.
****** I've heard a fat fast mentioned, but I don't know what one *IS*.
Two
or three people have said something about them, but haven't said what they
are - so.... What's a fat fast? ( I'm definitely in a hurry - I'm aiming
for
160 by New Year's Eve, and that's a bit slower than I'd *like* to go )

"Rev. Melissa Robitille" wrote in message
...
I've been lurking here for about a month, and have discovered that a
'stall'
is common around week 3 or 4 of Atkins. What I'd like is advice on how to
break the stall I'm in. Oh, and since I *have* been lurking... just for
you,
JC, 879 calories, 8 carbs today, with an average of *about* 1200 calories
and somewhere between 12 and 22 carbs a day & walking 10+ miles a day on
TOP
of being a very busy mother of 5, one of whom is handicapped ( burning
*roughly* 6000 calories a day ), and trying to fit in 30 minutes of Tae Bo
and 30 minutes of an old Tony Little Target Training tape every day too.
Sorry to everyone else, and I don't know if it's my imagination, but that
guy REALLY jumps all over people for no decent reason.

Well - I'm sure he probably has his reasons. If nothing else, acting as an
irritant can still provide motivation - along the lines of "oh yeah? I'll
show you..." g. Some people do well with that kind of motivation.


Anyway, I don't take aspartame, I don't take Splenda, I have the tip of a
toothpick worth of Stevia in a cup of herbal tea once a day, I don't drink
coffee, 'real' tea, or sodas of any kind. I'm an absolute tee-totaler, I
don't even use wine in cooking. I'm drinking *roughly* 100oz of water a
day. I've cut out the nuts that I added when I finished the two weeks of
official induction, and now I'm guessing that I'll have to cut out cheese
as
well.

I really haven't heard anyone definitively say that coffee (caffeine)
stalled them. More often what I've heard is that it makes people feel
hungry, not that it actually stalls their loss. Maybe someone here has
heard/experienced differently, though. The only foods I've heard people be
certain they could attribute stalls to, were foods with sugar alcohols
(probably because of getting more carbs than the 'net' they were counting
per the label), or soy foods (thyroid slowdown can be attributed to too much
soy). I'm sure that as with everything, YMMV - those are just the ones I
have heard the most about as causing stalls.


Still, I went down to 263 on the 10th and ever since then I've been
'bouncing' between 268 and 263 - today I'm 265, which was really
discouraging after finally getting back to 263 yesterday. It could be
building muscle bulk, which stinks, but which isn't all that surprising
since I threw shotput in high school and know bulking up that way
definitely
*CAN* happen to me - plus I don't exactly have 'supermodel' willowy
bones -
more like I-beams for a skyscraper, but honestly body fat SHOULD be
dropping
off me like crazy and even my tape measure says nothing's changed. Advice
on breaking this stall would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

No, a gain of 2 pounds over a single day is going to be fluid (water). I
would think it would be pretty difficult to gain that much muscle _or_ fat
over a single day, even if you were exercising [muscle gain] or eating [fat
gain] like a fiend. And fluid gain/loss is normal, especially for women.
I've varied as much as 7 pounds over a three-day period, just in water
weight. I also usually see a water gain of a couple of pounds right before
I see a good loss. It's very hard for me to tell what part of my 'cycle'
I'm in (no periods, hysterectomy 4 years ago - but I still have functioning
ovaries so I still have cycles), so I can't tell you at what point this
happens for me cycle-wise (i.e. just before my period, just after it, etc).
But it does happen pretty regularly.

I'm confused by your .sig below, though. You've been on this WOE for a
month, have lost 35 pounds, and are worried about a stall? Even if 300 was
your highest weight and you weighed less when you started this WOE, if
you've lost at least 5 pounds (not including Induction water weight loss)
this month overall then I'd say you've done pretty well. Losing 10 pounds a
month consistently doesn't seem realistic to me for a woman, especially once
you get under 200 (some men seem to be able to do that much monthly without
too much problem, though. See Jenny's page at
http://www.geocities.com/jenny_the_bean/dietpage.htm for the group averages
from Carol Ann's monthly challenge). I would think that'd be pretty hard on
your body and would also tend to leave behind undesirable results, such as
saggy skin. And you'd have to lose 11 per month to get to your goal by New
Year's - and that isn't taking into account that people's loss almost always
slows when they get near goal. I was losing on average 5.5 pounds a month
until I got to 151, hit a three-month stall, and since that broke last month
I've lost 4 more pounds.

YMMV of course, and if you can lose that much per month without negative
effect then I'd say go for it. I just wouldn't want you to get discouraged
and give up entirely over not losing as much, as quickly, as you think you
ought to be. Losing weight isn't a race, it's a destination - and nobody is
giving out awards for making a speed run and finishing 'first', g.

5'10"
300/265/160
19.25" lost from bust-waist-hips.
Since 2/17/04

Stargazer
Atkins since Apr '03
192/147/140

You literally go for a 10 mile walk every day?
That's about 3 hours of fast-paced, non-stop walking.
If that is 10 miles while doing those other activities, then you are
double-entering activity.
If you are really doing 10 miles of daily walking in addition to those other
activities, how do you possibly have time?

Mark.

"Rev. Melissa Robitille" wrote in message
...
If you're in a hurry, try a fat fast. Otherwise, wait it out for a
little
while and see what happens.
****** I've heard a fat fast mentioned, but I don't know what one *IS*.
Two
or three people have said something about them, but haven't said what they
are - so.... What's a fat fast? ( I'm definitely in a hurry - I'm aiming
for
160 by New Year's Eve, and that's a bit slower than I'd *like* to go )

Btw, you're not burning 6000 calories while taking in 1200 and staying
at
the same weight. You are mistaken at some point.
******** *shrug* That's what Fitday says when I enter in what I do. Make
the
bed, get dressed, clean the house, endlessly chase the kids, haul 30+lb
toddlers around, take care of my 3yo's medical needs, walk 10 miles, do
Tae
Bo, do 'weight training' ( that Tony Little thing - I figure, I use
weights,
it's weight training, if light effort ), cook, clean some more, do
laundry,
usher the kids through homeschooling, cook, clean some more, do dishes, do
the kids' NYC Ballet Workout with them ( hey, they've got to have Phys
Ed! ), grade the kids' papers, put laundry away... Beyond that there's
dealing w/ my 3yo's various therapists ( speech, physical, occupational &
his deaf mentor ) and that kind of thing.

5'10"
300/265/160
19.25" lost
Since 2/17/04
--
Melissa Robitille

"Ignoramus28400" wrote in message
...

a good question.

Especially given that the OP is 265 lbs, which makes it a little
difficult to walk 10 miles.


I can believe that somebody very overweight can walk 10 miles per day if
they slowly build up to it.
I'm currently 252, and hike for 1.5 - 2 hours every other day, I love it.
That 1.5 - 2 hours is roughly 5-7 miles, and it took me quite a while to
work up to that.

What I was questioning was walking for 3 hours in addition to all those
other things EVERY DAY.
Some people wear a pedometer to measure steps/distance all through the day
in all activities. If she is doing that and counting it separately as 10
miles of walking and also counting the activities she's doing while walking
then of course the activities/calories burned are not going to match up to
reality.

Mark.

Right. I did not say that it was impossible, only that her numbers
seem to be fairly heroic.

*snort* I like that... I should tell my DH that. Actually, it's 15
steps around my kitchen table and island. SO, that's 1400 laps, or a little
less than 7 bursts of 200 laps - I wear my pedometer *ONLY* for walking
those laps, not all day long - I tried it all day long once and it came up
with something *crazy* ( If I recall correctly it was something like 18
miles ), and I'm not about to count the walking I do chasing after little
people, so I stopped wearing it *all* the time. As for basal lifestyle on
Fitday I selected 'sedentary' because that's what my doctor says I am ( my
doctor who has only 2 children, 8 years apart in age... ). So, I'm
*guessing* that hauling my 35lb
doesn't-walk-or-crawl-at-all-due-to-mobility-delay 3yo handicapped son,
which I have to do A LOT, counts for *something*. Anyway, it's not like I
walk the 10 miles all at once. Usually I'll do 1000 laps during 'naptime'
and fit the other 5000 steps in during laps during other 'slow' parts of the
day. *shrug* I used to walk 20 miles a day every day but Sunday, and I used
to be Varsity Track & Field before that. I still have the muscles under
there, it's just a year and a half of enforced inactivity after having
flesh-eating strep A really piled on the weight ( had it abdominally - 85%
of people die who get it in their gut, so I *should* be thankful to just be
alive, even maimed ) - though of course having 5 children certainly piled on
plenty of its own weight.

5'10"
300/263/160
Lost 19.25" ( bust-waist-hips - I don't measure that other stuff )
Since 2/17/04
--
Melissa Robitille