[DoterrFor]

My best friend started Atkins a few months ago. She was pretty strict in Induction but still had Diet Coke, tomatoes, non-Splenda sweetener, some caffeine and even drank a few times. And she lost nearly a stone in those first couple of weeks. She's now lost 2 and a half and looks amazing.

So I went on it and did the same thing. But in two weeks I hadn't lost any weight, even though I exercised and the sticks said I was in ketosis. Are people just very different? V.upset by the injustice of it all... when I told people I was going on it, having seen the results my friend got it was a bit embarrassing that after 2 weeks I still looked the same. If I cut those cheat things out should I see a difference?

Also, I never ate that many carbs before... didn't like chips or crisps or potatoes or bread really and always used sweetener instead of sugar - could it be a factor that I've not really made that much of a big change?

[anxpuna]

It does seem unfair, doesn't it?

Could you post what you are eating and drinking? That would help us to point out any problems. It's really important to not cheat at all on Induction, even if your friend did and still lost weight.

The fact that you're in ketosis is encouraging. Are you exercising a lot more than you did before? You could be replacing fat with muscle, and muscle actually weighs more.

[DoterrFor]

Thanks for the reply! Yeah, I think possibly she made it look easier than it was. I'm exercising marginally more than before but I've done measurements too and no change.

I'd usually eat:

Breakfast:
2 pieces bacon, 1 or 2 fried eggs, mushrooms, mayonnaise. Sugar free squash (with only Sucralose sweetener)

Lunch:
Depends what I'm doing, maybe some cold chicken and a salad, or an omelette with cheese and broccoli, or tuna mayonnaise and salad. I use loads of chili powder with everything and probably too much mayo. Oo, and prawns. I eat many prawns.

Dinner:
If I'm at uni I'll have like mince and green beans, or fried mushrooms and roast chicken, or seafood fried in butter with chili powder. Or if I'm out and everyone gets a kebab I get just chicken and salad. But if I'm at home I have whatever my mum's cooking minus rice/pasta/potatoes etc., which always means dangerous sauces...

Snacks... maybe a bit of cheese or ham. Or a Babybel. Occasionally for a treat a square of this sugar free dark chocolate you can get from Sainsburys'.

Does drinking a lot of water make a difference to the speed of weight loss, or is it just general good sense? I'm never thirsty (perhaps because I never eat any salt) so I find it very hard - could this be the problem if cutting out sweeteners and caffeine doesn't help?