Why am I gaining weight???NO OT if you please.

I never said it didn't work, it does work, you starve your body of it's normal routine so it goes into back up. But you need carbs, they're good for you...but go ahead put your body through starvation, you'll lose the weight but you won't be as healthy. I also never mentioned cholesterol (that depends on what kinda meat you eat) I mentioned excess fat in your body (cholesterol isn't a fat). I didn't go by my gut, I said I had education in the matter (plus very well educated parents-registered dietician and Ph.D food scientist, pretty sure they know how the body works with food). I also meant the Atkins where they talk about slathering everything in butter and eating tons of fat...yeah eating good meats, eggs and salads is good for you but it's still a tricky area and people can get on the wrong end of it. Also there is such a thing as good carbs and bad ones, you have to learn to balance it all...but your body isn't meant to be in ketosis, it's a back up plan and that's what I'm trying to say is to do your diet and exercise healthily.

This is epic BS. I lost 30 pounds on Atkins and despite eating virtually nothing except meat, eggs, cheese, and salad for 6 months..in other words fat fat fat..and more fat. Unlike traditional diets, you don't feel deprived on a low carb regimen. I had my bloodwork done before and after the diet. In addition to losing weight, my "bad" cholesterol plummeted 40% and good cholesterol went UP around 20%. Do your research on it and don't go by your "gut" or what conventional wisdom would seem to indicate. People have been eating virtually the opposite of the Atkins diet for 50 years (since the carb-friendly food pyramid came) out and they are FATTER THAN EVER. Google "Atkins testimonials" and you will find very few people who have a negative experience with it. Follow the diet..make sure you get enough leafy vegetables and low carb nuts for fiber, and you will be fine. It takes discipline, because if you screw up and exceed your carb limit, your body leaves ketosis and it takes 2-3 few days to get back into "fat burning mode". You need to stick with it once you get into ketosis, exercise, drink plenty of water, and you will lose weight.

Back in late May/early June I decided to go on a diet. Not only to lose weight but to learn to eat a little healthier since my diet was consistent on a lot of fried foods and soda and junk. I tried NutriSystem and found their food was pretty gross and I couldn't eat it so I am currently doing a Lean Cuisine type of diet.

My menu consists of a Lean Cuisine breakfast, lunch and dinner. They're generally around 230-300 calories each meal. I have a small snack in between each one. Breakfast is fruit snack, and lunch is a Nabisco 100 calorie pack of some type and then my dinner snack is a Skinny Cow ice cream (150 calories, low fat). This puts me at a bit below 1500 calorie intake daily. I drink water all day and the only downside is that I don't have much time to excersize so I only do about 15 minutes a day.

In the beginning things were great and I lost 30 pounds. I am nowhere near my goal and I've slowly started to put back a pound a week or so over the past 3 weeks. I don't understand why my weight is creeping back up and why I'm not continuing to lose weight. I have a lot lot more to go and shouldn't have reached a plateau this quickly and surely shouldn't be gaining it back....

It's really stressing me out, since I started this diet I've been obsessing about my weight and feel like I'm failing somewhere but can't figure out where...Any thoughts would be appreciated so I don't fall off my diet and give up...

I would recommend that you start with the basics and determine how many calories you body needs per day. Start with multiplying your body weight in lbs by 12 (e.g. 150 lb person will need about 1800 calories/day). One lb of weight = 3,500 calories so for every 3,500 calories less than the number of above, you will lose one lb of weight.

One warning is that water weight gain can have a big impact on your measured weight. I have found that you can lose a lot of weight when starting a diet and this makes it look like you are losing a lot more than you should. Therefore you need to monitor you weight over a long period of time an average out the ups and downs due to water weight gains and loses. I have gained 4 lbs in a day by eating too much salt!

Studies have shown the most people underestimate their calorie intact so be careful of this.

If you monitor your calories you will lose weight guaranteed - you can't change physics! All the business about what types of food you eat have little effect. It is more of a mater of what foods make you feel full so you don't eat too many calories.

As with all diets, once you hit your goal weight the big challenge is to transition into eating "normally" with the proper number of calories to maintain your goal weight. This phase is just as important as the diet phase. You need to keep recording calories until and if you get a "feel" as to how much food equals the number of calories your body needs to stay at your goal weight. Good luck and stay with it!

My uncle is a doctor and he told me that if people been overweight for at least 10 + years, the chances of every losing weight and maintaining it is pretty slim...since your body have already adjusted to the condition of obesity...
Once people pass age 45, they can begin see a decreases in weight if they were overweight... But the chances of young overweight people losing the pounds and keeping it off is pretty slim in his opinion from all the people he seen at his work