Why Am I Not Losing Weight on Atkins Induction?

Not losing weight on Atkins Induction?
Here are 12 metabolic areas you can explore.

If you're on Atkins Induction, but not losing weight, you might think that the Atkins Nutritional Approach isn't working this time around. While you might feel like you're wasting your time depriving yourself of carbs, low carb isn't a crash diet. 

There are specific, metabolic reasons why it works faster for some people than for others.

Unlike a typical, low-fat, low-calorie diet, Atkins Induction was created to help you enter the dietary state of ketosis easily and effortlessly. As such, it works best for those who are insulin resistant.

But even those who are insulin sensitive and suffer with carbohydrate cravings or are prone to binge can benefit from the hunger reduction that occurs when burning fats for fuel.

Burning fats doesn't guarantee that the fat being used is coming from your body. The liver will use the dietary fat you eat for fuel as well.

Since watching the number on the scale can drive you crazy, I never recommend weighing yourself when you're on Induction. 

It's better to wait until Atkins Phase 1 is completely over. 

That way, you won't be tempted to let daily water fluctuations and other biological processes and adaptions control your mood or attitude for the day. 

Getting from a high-carb diet to being fat adapted, where dietary fat is efficiently oxidized for fuel, takes a few weeks. You need to be patient and let your body do what it does best.

If you can't do that, and you feel frustrated and worried because you're not losing weight on Atkins Induction, there are 12 metabolic areas that you can explore. 

However, you first need to rule out the possibility that you're trying to push the weight-loss process faster than your body wants to go.

Even though the Atkins Diet uses a different metabolic pathway than other diets do, all weight-loss programs work by forcing the body to use its fat stores for energy. You have to supply less energy than your body needs.

In addition, the number on the bathroom scale doesn't reflect how much body fat you're losing. It simply shows you the total weight you have of:

• water
• bodily fluids
• body organs
• muscle
• undigested food
• stored body fat

If you can't stand not knowing how well you're doing, the tape measure or how your clothes are fitting are better standards to use than the scale. 

Make sure that you aren't losing inches, rather than pounds. It's the inches that matter most. If you're not losing pounds or inches, you can then check out the following possibilities:

1. Not Following the Atkins Diet Correctly

Believe it or not, this is a biggie.

Many people try to implement Atkins Induction without ever having read an Atkins book. 

If you don't understand how the diet works, you're likely to approach the program in the same way you would approach a low-fat, low-calorie diet – as a temporary solution to achieve some ideal.

I actually see this a lot. 

People get frustrated when they don't lose weight within a couple of days, but they don't even know what foods are allowed on their plan. They are either eating off-plan foods, or they are implementing cheat days before they are fat adapted.

Atkins Induction is not a typical low-calorie diet. Eating more carbs than your body can use completely destroys the metabolic process the diet sets up, so when you don't follow the program as written, you won't get maximum results.

While everyone has different metabolic issues and will respond differently to carbohydrate restriction, your maximum potential is only possible when you follow the plan correctly.

According to the ANA, Diet sodas fall under the
3 servings of sugar substitute restriction.

And that includes sticking with the following daily food restrictions:

• 4 ounces of cheese
• 2-3 cups of salad vegetables
• 1 cup of cooked vegetables
• only sugar-free spices
• 2 carbs per tablespoon serving of salad dressing
• 2 to 3 tablespoons heavy cream
• only diet soda sweetened without aspartame
• 2 to 3 tablespoons lemon juice or lime juice
• 3 packs of sugar substitute (Atkins Shakes count as 2 pkg)
• 10 to 20 olives
• one-half an avocado
• 1 ounce of sour cream (2 tablespoons)

Any convenience foods you use must fit within the Induction rules.

For example, the sugar substitute rule limits the amount of Atkins shakes you can drink in a day to ONE and also limits the amount of diet soda, especially if you are a coffee drinker or enjoy diet gelatin.

While it's true that packets of sugar substitute contain carby fillers, which is why you count each packet as 1 carb, switching to a liquid form of sweetener does NOT erase the sugar alternative limitation.

If you don't want to follow the Atkins rules, that's fine. Just pick another plan. There are plenty of low-carb programs you might be happier with instead.

2. Unrealistic Weight-Loss Expectations

Setting up expectations of how quickly you think the weight should come off will only set you up for:

1. disappointment
2. unpleasant emotions
3. looking for blame

It brings a lot of unnecessary suffering when your expectations don't play out the way you believe they should. 

Weight loss is not a straight line leading to goal weight. You won't lose weight every day, nor even every week. For some people, you won't lose weight every month. 

I didn't.

There is a limited amount of body fat that can be pulled, processed, broken down, and used on a daily basis. There is no way to override that limitation.

More importantly, a low-carb diet is meant to be a permanent way of life, rather than a temporary diet, so how quickly the pounds come off during those first two weeks really doesn't matter. 

The aim of Atkins Induction is to get you into the state of ketosis without a lot of effort. The aim isn't to lose a lot of weight.

Most of the weight you do lose in the first few days is glycogen and water, which are replaced once you reach maintenance, anyway. The amount of weight you lose on Atkins Induction is insignificant when you treat the Atkins experience as a long-term project for better health.

3. You're Already at a Healthy Weight

Another cause might be that you're already at a healthy weight, but you still want to diet down further because you're not happy with how large your thighs or hips still are. 

If your weight is appropriate for your height, Atkins Induction can help you control your appetite and reduce any cravings for sugary foods, but it can't carve off body fat that isn't there.

If you're trying to reshape your structure or eliminate a few stubborn fat pockets, consider going to the bodybuilding community for help instead of Atkins. 

The Atkins Nutritional Approach isn't designed to get rid of odd fat pockets. It's designed to eliminate viseral fat, liver fat, and fix metabolic disturbances that make low-calorie diets too difficult to sustain long term.

4. Prescription Medications

Many prescription drugs and therapies inhibit weight loss or come with a potential side effect of weight gain. Some of these medications include:

• estrogen and synthetic hormone replacement
• birth control pills
• anti-depression drugs
• anti-psychotic medications
• insulin or insulin-stimulating drugs
• anti-arthritis medications
• steroids like cortisone treatments
• diuretics or beta-blockers

The easy answer, of course, is to have your doctor switch you to something that won't interfere with your low-carb diet, but that isn't always possible. 

For some medications, your doctor might be able to lower the dosage to something minimal, but if not, you'll have to be patient and accept a much slower rate of weight loss.

5. Prior Dieting Experiences

Each and every time you go off a diet, the body becomes more and more resistant to weight loss. 

A low-carb diet is not something to play around with. 

It was not designed to be a crash diet. It was designed to be a permanent way of life.

Since low-carb eating uses the alternative metabolic pathway, going off the diet over and over again will eventually cause your metabolic rate to permanently slow down. In addition, yo-yo dieting itself increases your body's ability to adapt to whatever diet you're following. 

Quick adaption can make it virtually impossible to lose weight on Atkins Induction without resorting to severe calorie restriction.

Similar adaptions can also occur from doing a number of low-fat diets. Health issues that place the body into a situation that's similar to starvation will also affect how easily you can drop the pounds.

If you have a history of dieting, the weight is going to come off slower than last time. You're older, and you probably have additional metabolic damage you didn't have before. 

You also might not be doing exactly what you did last time. There is no way to side-step the fact that Atkins doesn't always work the same way.

Since the body is primed for survival, anything that your primal instincts perceive to be life threatening, such as carbohydrate and calorie restriction, will be considered an emergency condition. Your body will react by adapting to the situation.

The body doesn't want to give up its fat stores. 

Neither does it like having to shrink it's fat cells if it thinks that carbohydrates might be coming in again within a few days. By yo-yo dieting, this is exactly what you've taught the mind: I'm going to quit in a while, so just be ready for that event.

Your body responds by waiting for you to do that -- again.

In the meantime, the resistance to weight loss often manifests by stuffing your fat cells with water to keep them plumped up and full.

As long as you're eating at a calorie deficit, your body has no choice but to use some of your body fat for its energy needs. If you give in to your frustration and quit, it will be even harder to lose weight next time around.

6. Extreme Carbohydrate Sensitivity

The average low-carb dieter can enter the state of ketosis and lose body fat at an acceptable rate while eating 20 net carbs per day. At this level of intake, triglycerides drop, hunger goes down, and the body learns to burn fat for fuel over glucose.

However, there are some people who are extremely sensitive to the carbohydrate in their diet and must lower their carbs to what Dr. Atkins called biologically zero before they can enter the blessed state of ketosis.

These people are often sensitive to the sugars in certain vegetables and must eat less produce than the ANA recommends.

Everyone cannot handle 20 net carbs on Induction.
For those who can't, Atkins 72 can help.

In 1972, Induction offered about 10 full carbs per day, or less, for the first week, with a little salad the only vegetable content allowed. 

Another 5 to 8 carbs, in the form of cottage cheese, was added for week 2. 

This was quite a bit less than 20 net carbs, so depending on your particular level of sensitivity, you might have to eat 5, 10, or 15 carbs a day instead of the normal 20.

This doesn't mean that if you are not happy with how fast you're losing weight on Induction that you can simply lower your carbs and miraculously speed up weight loss. 

The tactic of switching to Atkins 72 only works if you are extremely metabolic resistant to weight loss, such as those who have been diagnosed with PCOS. Lowering carbs further is about getting into ketosis, and not losing weight at a faster speed.

If you are not severely resistant, but just unhappy with how slow the pounds are coming off, going too low in carbs can cause your stress hormones to soar. The higher your stress hormones go, the more resistant to weight loss you become, due to a higher level of insulin.

Dipping below 20 carbs a day consistently can backfire if you don't need to do that. 

For example, when I tried to implement a zero-carb diet several years ago, I started to really pack on the pounds. The same thing happened again when I tried Jimmy Moore's version of Nutritional Ketosis. Within only a couple of months, I was well on my way to my old weight.

At the time, I didn't know that I had Grave's disease along with the celiac disease, so drastically lowering my carbs and protein invoked a starvation response, especially, since I was eating far too much fat. But this is not true for everyone.

A lot of people with severe insulin resistance feel better eating fewer carbs. 

This is because high insulin is provoking stress and lowering insulin reduces that stress in some individuals. 

Eating below 20 carbs a day might be a temporary situation you need to endure until your body heals, and sometimes, the drastically reduced carb limit needs to become your new way of life. It all depends on how your body reacts to carbohydrate restriction.

7. Food Sensitivities

Low-carb diets are high in dairy products.
They can also contain wheat like low-carb tortillas and bread.

Although I personally gained weight on a high-fat diet, there are some individuals who have found success eating LCHF. 

My metabolic issues won't be exactly the same as yours, so if you're not losing weight on Atkins Induction, you might want to check out the possibility of food sensitivities.

Too much fat or protein can interfere with fat loss in susceptible individuals.

How do you know?

If you're sensitive to fats, the body will have a problem efficiently burning them for fuel and will be more likely to store them instead. The easiest way to tell? You'll get digestive issues after heavy meals and gain weight. 

This issue has to do with defective enzymes and is genetic. Temporary issues might be gall bladder dysfunction or temporary starvation conditions.

If you think fats might be problematic for you:

Try cutting down on the more calorie-dense fatty foods you're eating, like heavy cream, cheese, and butter. See if your weight loss picks up. If it does, then keep restricting your fats. 

Cutting down on fat is the easiest way to restrict calories on low carb.

If you're protein sensitive, you might be triggering an excessive insulin response by eating too many protein foods. This is not common, but it does happen. 

If fats are not the problem, Dr. Bernstein recommends cutting back by an ounce or two of protein per meal, depending on how much you're currently eating, and then evaluate the results in a couple of weeks. 

What you don't want to do: 

Drop down to severe limits, all at once, as you need adequate protein to avoid muscle wasting. You just want to find the level of protein that works best for you. 

Blood glucose levels are often higher in low-carb dieters, but if your fasting glucose is above 100, then you need to try cutting down on protein a bit and see if the number comes down. 

Blood ketones will also be on the low end of the scale, closer to 0.5 mmol/L if your protein is too high. 

However, keep in mind, this is for those who are already fat adapted.

When new to low carb, the body will produce more ketones because your entire body will be using them for fuel. This will give you a lower ketone blood level. 

Ketones begin to build up in the bloodstream once the muscles become insulin resistant and begin using fatty acids instead, so don't rush out and buy yourself a meter if you're brand new to low carb diets.

Give your body the time it needs to adjust and begin burning fatty acids efficiently.

Bloodstream readings over 3.0 mmol/L mean you aren't eating enough protein. Dr. Phinney calls this level of ketones: Ketone Starvation. In this case, you need to up your protein intake, rather than limit it.

If you're sensitive to sugar substitutes, dairy products, soy, or gluten, eating these foods can interfere with the weight loss you'll see on the scale. 

Food sensitivities and allergies cause systemic inflammation, histamine release, and water retention. The inflammation also interferes with the way the body functions metabolically.

You can also be sensitive to individual foods like coffee, avocados, flaxmeal, coconut, or tomatoes. Just because a food is low in carbs, that doesn't mean it's a healthy food for you. 

A low-carb diet is not automatically gluten free or soy free, and quite often is extremely high in dairy products, so food sensitivities are worth looking into if you're not losing weight easily. There are extra precautions you will have to take if you have food sensitivities.

Keep in mind that chemical sensitivities can also stop progress. 

Over the years, I've known people who are sensitive to citric acid, the glycerine in Atkins products, sulfites, and other food additives. Since the liver is heavily involved in producing ketones and metabolizing fat, anything you can do to make its job easier will give better results.

8. Thyroid Problems

The main purpose of your thyroid gland is to regulate the speed of your metabolism, so if your thyroid gland isn't functioning appropriately, it's going to be quite difficult to lose weight, even on a low-carb diet. 

Hypothyroidism can make you extremely resistant to weight loss. Some of the signs of low thyroid function are:

• inability to lose weight
• intolerance to cold
• hair loss
• severe fatigue
• depression
• dry skin
• chronic constipation
• poor nails
• memory issues
• elevated cholesterol levels

If you have any of the above signs and symptoms, you might want to have your thyroid checked out by your doctor.

In addition, the thyroid will automatically slow a bit with age, which is why older people can lose their tolerance for colder temperatures. The estrogen swings in pre-menopause or menopause can also slow down thyroid function.

If your doctor won't treat you because your TSH isn't high enough yet, that's going to influence the rate at which the pounds come off, as well. The only way to counteract age without hormone replacement, is to lower your calories to the point where your body fat starts coming off.

Oddly enough, if you have hyperthyroidism, a condition where your thyroid is putting out too much hormone, you'll also be prone to weight gain and have difficulties losing weight on Induction. 

Going too low in carbs will create undue stress on the body. 

In this case, you'll need to start with a higher carb level and then play with the numbers until you find the carb level your body can tolerate best. Personally, I function best at 60 carbs a day.

9. Candida and Small Bowel Overgrowth

Candida is a yeast that is normally found in the body, but under conditions of stress, or when you take antibiotics, it can inappropriately spread to other areas. 

Yeast complaints are quite extensive among low-carb dieters, but some of the more common ones include:

• gas, bloating, cramps, heartburn
• frequent headaches or congestion
• bothered by odors like perfume and scented products
• feel worse on humid, damp days
• crave sweets and highly-refined carbs
• prone to hives and rashes
• easily retain water and feel puffy
• feel tired, even after getting a good night's sleep

Yeast infections slow down your metabolism, and thereby interfere with weight loss. Yeast also competes with nutrients, which sets you up for malnutrition.

To help correct the situation, many people restrict carbohydrates and eliminate dairy products, dietary yeast, and mold-containing foods. They take probiotics to help repopulate the gut. Low-carb and avoiding foods that feed the yeast will starve the undesirable strains.

If the problem is severe, or if it doesn't correct itself on a low-carb diet within 4 to 6 weeks, make sure that you see your doctor. You might have more problems going on than just Candida or small bowel overgrowth. You may need medical intervention to correct it.

10. Intense Vigorous Exercise Routines

This is another major problem I often see: people trying to do intense exercise routines when they start Atkins Induction, believing that the extra-vigorous activity will help them burn more calories and, therefore, lose weight faster.

Actually, the opposite is true.

Exercise is not negotiable on the Atkins Diet. 

But carbohydrate restriction and intense exercise performed by untrained, non-fat-adapted individuals, such as vigorous aerobics, fast bicycling, strenuous hiking, playing basketball for extended periods, or running several days a week, are not compatible for a variety of reasons.

Strenuous exercise combined with carbohydrate and calorie restriction places a lot of stress on the body, especially if you're entering into a new routine or more intense routine before fat adaption occurs.

Cortisol, adrenaline, nor-adrenaline, and other stress hormones rise when the body is under physical or emotional stress, triggering an excessive insulin response. Insulin works with cortisol to clear the bloodstream of any fats available, shuttling them off to the liver that will store them as triglycerides in your fat cells.

Any glycogen stores available will be immediately dumped into the bloodstream, in the presence of elevated cortisol, and the body will begin burning glucose for fuel again. If excess ketones are available, the muscles can burn ketones for awhile, but under normal conditions, extra ketones will be limited.

Atkins Induction works by clearing glycogen from the liver, but stress can cause the body to burn amino acids for energy at an accelerated rate, instead of fats. 

The lack of available fats and ketones in the presence of low glycogen stores will cause the body's metabolic rate to slow down, especially if the body begins stripping your muscles for the protein it needs.

In addition, microscopic muscle tears require extra water as well as extra protein to repair, so water retention can also mask any fat loss, causing even less-intensive exercise routines to interfere with weight loss on Atkins Induction.

All of this doesn't mean that you have to totally give up your favorite routines, but you will have to tweak your exercise to fit your stress level in the same way that a dieter must tweak the carb and calorie content of their diet. 

The average individual can handle a moderate weight-bearing exercise routine for up to 3 times a week without interfering.

If you're a heavy exerciser and not losing weight, start by doing just a little less exercise and see if weight loss starts up. If it doesn't, then cut down a little more until you discover the best level of intensity for you.

11. Eating Too Many Calories

Are you eating too many calories on Atkins Induction?
The calorie theory is not a myth. It's science.

For the average dieter, worrying about calories on Induction can be counter-productive, since the purpose of Induction is simply to get you into ketosis and on your way to becoming fat adapted.

That's it.

But since I'm talking about why you might not be losing weight, here's the truth about calories:

Low-carb diets are often thought to be superior to low-calorie diets by those who believe the calories-in versus calories-out theory is a myth. 

The energy equation isn't a myth. It's physics. It is a way of measuring the average energy potential of a particular food.

Calories matter. 

The faulty notion that the calorie theory is a lie is the number one reason why most low-carb dieters do not make it to a healthy weight. 

You must eat at an energy deficit to achieve fat loss. 

Every low-carb doctor I know will tell you that. You must take in less energy than what the body needs to maintain your current weight.

On Atkins Induction, the body does try to use sources others than body fat to get the fuel it needs, but these alternatives are only for the first week. By week two, you should be burning body fat quite nicely. But that will only happen, if you're eating to your new reduced appetite.

If you're coming to the low-carb table from a restrictive weight-loss plan, it's easy to start eating too much on Induction. Dr. Atkins didn't tell his patients to count calories, so a lot of people get the mistaken notion that they can eat all the protein and fat they want and still lose weight. 

That simply isn't true.

My own philosophy is to dump the scale for the first two weeks. Don't count calories. Just focus on getting yourself into a good, solid state of non-hungry ketosis.

But most dieters can't do that. 

However, weighing yourself every day and worrying about the water fluctuations is only making yourself miserable and raising your overall cortisol level. You don't lose any body fat on the first week of Atkins Induction, so why does the number on the scale matter?

The more you weigh when you start Atkins Induction, the more you can eat and still lose weight. 

The state of ketosis has a tremendous power to curb your appetite, and if you eat only when you're hungry, and stop eating out of habit or because something tastes good, you'll eat at a deficit automatically. 

This automatic hunger reduction can get you quite a ways toward goal before you have to start being concerned with calories and energy deficits, but that day will come. 

The closer you are to goal weight, the fewer calories you can eat and still achieve a decent fat loss. Many dieters don't realize this and continue to eat as much low-carb food as they did during Induction.

For those with only a few pounds to lose, to make Atkins Induction work best, you can figure out your maintenance level of calories right from the start and then track how much you're eating to make sure that you are not eating too much. 

Habitual eating and minor caloric deficits don't work well together.

To lose one pound per week, you have to eat about 500 calories less than it takes to maintain your current weight, but this is an approximation. It doesn't take personal variance into consideration and doesn't allow for odd ways your body might decide to try to adapt to the energy deficit. So the math might work out a bit different.

For some people, this 500 calorie a day reduction is going to drive your calories down quite a bit. That's the cold, bitter truth about weight loss and why controlling your calories and food intake at maintenance is so vital.

The deficit needed to shed even 5 pounds above maintenance is going to be quite uncomfortable, so it's better to get used to controlling your portion sizes now, right from the beginning.

On the other hand, accepting the odd idea that everyone needs to eat at a certain calorie level or that you can't go lower than 1200 calories a day without going into starvation mode will only stop you from reaching goal. 

That 1200 calorie figure originally came from Lulu Hunt Peters, a woman physician who popularized the idea of counting calories around the turn of the century. It was the number of calories that she needed to cut back to to lose 70 pounds.

In her first diet book, she never said that you cannot go lower than 1200 calories. That's a modern-day myth. 1200 calories was just the example she used in her book. Her advice was to do what you gotta do to get to a healthy weight.

12. You're Not in Ketosis

I saved this one for last because it's only for those who can't get into ketosis in any other way.

Insulinemia occurs when your basal insulin level is continuously high. When insulin levels are elevated all the time, despite a low-carb diet, the body uses whatever sources of glucose it can scrounge up to prevent the body from going into ketosis.

This only happens with those who are severely resistant to weight loss. The average low-carb dieter does not experience this.

Ordinarily, carbohydrate restriction drives ketosis, but since protein can be turned into glucose, if needed, a stubborn metabolism can strip your muscles for the glucose it needs to fuel the brain for a longer period, along with tanking your metabolism. 

It will fight against switching over to using ketones and fatty acids.

To curtail this tendency, Dr. Atkins came up with a diet he called the Fat Fast. The idea is to get rid of almost all sources of glucose and protein, so the body has no choice but to switch to using fats for fuel.

At the same time, the diet lowers your calorie intake to 1,000 calories a day (the level at which Dr. Atkins defined resistance to weight loss) to accelerate the need for the liver to start using body fat.

To accomplish this aim, the Fat Fast is divided into 5 meals of 200 calories each. These meals must be 75 to 90 percent fat, so sample meals might be:

1. two hard-boiled egg yolks mixed with a tablespoon of mayo
2. two deviled eggs made with 2 teaspoons mayo
3. 2-1/2 ounces of heavy cream, whipped
4. 1 ounce macadamia nuts or macadamia nut butter
5. 2 ounces of cream cheese
6. 3-cups lettuce with olive oil and vinegar dressing

As you can see from the examples above, this would be a dangerous diet to be on for more than a few days at a time, but it works well for those who honestly can't get into the state of ketosis in any other way.

Dr. Atkins reserved the Fat Fast for those who haven't lost any weight or inches by the end of Atkins Induction.

Atkins Fat Fast isn't to speed up weight loss.
It's only for those who can't get into ketosis
in any other way.

After the Fast Fast, you move to a typical Atkins Induction.

While some people manage to stay in ketosis once they use the Fat Fast for a single week, and transferring to a normal Atkins Induction diet from then on, others have had to use the Fat Fast for one week every single month to see any drop on the scales. 

For these severely insulin resistant folks, fat loss only occurs while they are on the Fat Fast. Atkins Induction is used to maintain those losses in between fasting.

If you find yourself in this situation, you might want to check out Dana Carpenter's Fat Fast Cookbook at the link in the menu above for oil and vinegar dressing. It offers 50 high-fat recipes specifically designed for Fat Fast dieting. 

(This is NOT a referral link. I have no financial interest in Dana's book. It's for extreme cases only.)

For extra-metabolically resistant individuals, Dr. Atkins increased the Fat Fast to 1,200 calories a day, instead of 1,000, which gives you room for four meals of 300 calories each. The adapted Fat Fast is a bit more tolerable for those who have to use it repeatedly, as you can see by the following sample meals:

1. 1-1/2 ounces of macadamia nuts
2. 1/4 cup chicken/tuna salad with 2 tablespoons mayo
3. 2 scrambled eggs with 2 strips bacon
4. 2 ounces beef chuck cooked in 2 tablespoon olive oil

The purpose of the Fat Fast isn't to accelerate weight loss. I cannot emphasize this enough. The Fat Fast is to show people who are extremely metabolically resistant that they “can” get into ketosis and lose weight following the principles that Dr. Atkins recommended. 

The most difficult part of the diet is the absence of regular meals, but for those who cannot lose weight in any other way, the Fat Fast offers a viable alternative to traditional low-carb methods.

If you decide to give the Fat Fast a try, make sure that you don't stay on it for more than a week at a time. It is severely deficit in nutrients, and is only meant to get you into the state of ketosis. Once you are in ketosis, you must switch to at least an Atkins 72 Induction diet.

WARNING: In rare cases, you can have a genetic abnormality where you don't produce "any" enzymes required to burn fats for fuel. This is a very serious condition and shouldn't be taken lightly. While those of us with Gilbert's syndrome have defects in these enzymes, and have to avoid high-fat diets, those who can't produce any of these fat-burning enzymes should not be doing low carb at all. It's extremely dangerous. 

Being a Slave to the Scale Defeats the Purpose of Induction

Calorie restriction takes a long time to see results, so expecting a two-week Atkins Induction to cause a huge drop in body fat isn't realistic.

Some people do see weight loss, but those losses are mostly liver glycogen, water, and muscle tissue. 

Liver glycogen has nothing to do with how fat you are or even your body's composition, so being a slave to the scale during the first two weeks only defeats the main purpose of Atkins Induction: To get you into the state of ketosis.

There's no sense putting more stress on your mind and body during Induction than need be. 

Why torture yourself like that?

Once you're firmly in ketosis, Induction over, and you're burning fatty acids to fuel your body's activities, there will be plenty of time to readjust your diet, exercise, and lifestyle to get the scales moving at an appropriate pace.