Low Carb Archive - 1st week on Atkins

Just finished my first week of Atkins and so far so good. I've tried to this diet before but I wasn't ready for it and failed after only 3 days. However, I willed myself through the tough times and it's gotten much easier. I lost 10 pounds this week though - not complaining - but is this normal? I was a 302 lb male and I weighed in at an astonishing 292 this morning. I'm also feeling more energy than before. I just wanted to ask if the 10 lbs in a week thing is normal or should I eat more and also I wanted to throw out a sample menu (from today) that I have been using and see if this is correct. Thanks!

Breakfast:
3 egg omelet with shredded cheese
water
multi vitamin and essential oils supplement

Lunch:
grilled chicken breast with slices of low sodium bacon and cheddar slivers on top
1 cup of steamed broccoli

Dinner:
8 oz turkey burger
dinner salad with leaf lettuce, green peppers, onion, and a little bit of tomato


This is pretty close to what I have been eating all week but I mix in some chicken stir fry, spicy sausage, and homemade cobb salads as well. Any suggestions or ideas for me? Thanks a million!:)

Wow! What a good start! Ten pounds is great. Menusually drop weight faster - but we love them anyhow.
It's obvious to me that you did "RTFM" as we used to say when I worked on the help desk! :lol:

Great start!!!

It looks good if you find that youare stillhungry do not be afraid to eat. that is one of the bennies of this diet. EATING!!! I have to stock up on the chromium (just decided that today) As I seem to fall towards the evening. But 10 lbs is a wonderful start. It will slow down and you should see a drop almost every week. Just do not weigh every day nor take the weigh as gospel. there is so much that can influence that such as how much water you have onboard.

If that were me eating those meals I would increase the amougn of meat you are eating just to make sure you do not get hungry.

I Just put your numbers into fit day and here is what I cam up with.






Today's Foods
Food Name Servings Serving Size Cals Fat Carb Prot
Egg omelet or scrambled egg, fat added in cooking 3 large 284 20 4 19

Cheese, Cheddar or American type, dry, grated 1/4 cup 140 12 0 9
Chicken, breast, with or without bone, broiled, skin not eaten medium breast (yield after cooking, 265 6 0 50
Pork bacon, smoked or cured, cooked, lean only eaten 3 medium slice (yield after cooking, 22 1 0 3
Broccoli, cooked, boiled, drained, without salt 1 cup, chopped 44 1 8 5
Poultry food products, ground turkey, cooked 2 patty (4 oz, raw) (yield after cooking) 385 22 0 45

Lettuce, salad with assorted vegetables including tomatoes and/or carrots, no dressing 1 cupside saladQuantity not specified 13 0 3 1
Totals 1154 51 18 131

Cals/ Fat /Carb/ Protien

Total: 1154
Fat: 61 549 49%
Sat: 21 189 17%
Poly: 11 96 9%
Mono: 22 198 18%
Carbs: 16 40 4%
Fiber: 6 0 0%
Protein: 131 524 47%
Alcohol: 0 0 0%
source/grams/cals/total

You need to add more food. Try cutting the bacon (empty cals/per protein unless you enjoy the flavor) add more food like tuna salad for snack.

Not knowing much about you I pluged some numbers in as if I was you

43yo male (my age) 300 lbs sitting work all day no activities

Total: 3677
Basal: 2536 69%
Lifestyle: 1141 31%
Activities: 0 0%

This means that your basal calories you would burn would be 2536 daily that is if you laid in bed all day lifestyle would be working of 1141 caloriesfor a grand total of 3677 cals a day burned and with your intake of 1154 you are burning about 2500 cals daily. 3500/lb now this may sound very exciting but if you are burning that much daily then where will your body get the energy to continue???

First it will burn fat. it does not like to burn fat so it can also styart to burn muscle. not good!! I know men have a higher metabolism and can burn fat more efficiently that n=women but you need your muscle. especially if you are doing anything more than sitting around all day!! up your protien that will help prevent the muscle wasting, up your calories that will help porevent hunger and help make the weight loss mroe even, (it also will give your body time to heal itself with the weight loss (flabby skin) take up weight training a bit that will also help tightne p some of the loose skin (but do not start that for a while give your body time to adjust to the changes of fat loss and using fat for fuel)

But up your food intake.

and start www.fitday.com once or twice a week to keep tract of the foods and caloris to make sure youa reeating enough

Thanks for the helpful responses everyone. I really appreciate it. I guess I should introduce myself and hopefully ya'll don't mind a guy hangin around here.....but if ya do just direct me to a different msg board.

My name is Sean and I'm a recent transplant to the San Francisco Bay Area....grew up in Wyoming/Colorado and went to college in Maryland....moved here when I graduated in December. Hmm what else...lets see....Oh...I've dropped 50 lbs last year....going from 340-290....but then I've been stuck between 290-300 for almost a year now. When I finally creeped back up to 302 thats when I said enough is enough and dove headfirst into a low carb plan. I'm a pretty logical person and the science behind it just makes perfect sense to me.

So anyways.....it's good to read and be inspired by everyone here. I found this place back in 2001 and lurked for a while, but haven't been back until now. It's nice to meet ya'll and I hope each one of you reach your fitness goals!

Oh and about my earlier post.....I am going to try to get more quality proteins in. Boiled eggs on salads, 2 cans of tuna in a batch of tuna salad....etc. Especially since my job now is pretty active (I work for the Humane Society/SPCA so I am walking dogs and handling them all day). Take care all!:dizzy:

Welcome Sean, we LOVE a rooster in the hen house! Even if you can lose weight faster than we can. for wonderful inspiration check out www.onephatman.com this guy was on the 100 club (not doing low carb) but did fantastic!! there is also a gent that I kow that started out no too heavy but was doing the PP, and well let me explain that this guy is a biochemest in sweden so that should explain much his site is very sientific down to looking at blood samples at how much clearer his serum became from regular to low carb.

but enough is enough. welcome.

Hi, Sean! Welcome! I really have found that www.fitday.com has helped me a great deal. I have also found (being on this diet for 6 whole weeks now) that the scale can be your friend and your enemy. Some days I weigh myself and it looks like I've gone UP when I know I'm taking in very few carbs, other days (like this morning) it will plummet 3 lbs and I'll be on cloud nine! The amount of water you're drinking will make a big difference, the more you drink the faster you lose the weight, but periodically it can artificially fluctuate. That's just been my humble, 6 week experience.

Good luck - nice to see a guy around here!

Welcome Sean!!!

Hey all, My name is Tonya and I live in Covington, Louisiana! and I have finally had enough and started the Atkins Diet today. So far so good, although I have had a headache all day, I am not hungry. I have done lots of research! I hope this works, I find it kinda weird eating all this fatty no no foods, coming from the great Weight Watchers, but I said I will give it a try. I mean considering my typical diet consists of carbs, how can I lose (weight I hope). I was just coming here for a little support and just looking to introduce myself a bit.
:p Perhaps I will post my sample menu for advice.
AM: Eggs and Sausage patty
Snack: stringcheese
Lunch: burger patty with cheese, mayo and lettuce
Snack: Slim Jim
Dinner: (Will be) grilled chicken with cheese, bacon and a side salad with blue cheese dressing

How does this sound. Man as i type it, i feel as if I am cheating! Let me know any suggestions would be great.

Thanks

Tonya--
My first day also, it is about 7:30 est and I also have a headache, but I have also cut out soda and that may be due to lack of caffine

Brekfast: 2 scrambled eggs, 3 slices bacon
Lunch: cheeseburger (no bun), and pepporoni slices
Dinner: 2 hardboiled eggs and 5 slices bacon

Yeah, I just decided this AM to start this out of the blue, so there is the bacon, only meat I had readily available to fix, and I am sick of it. Going to the grocery tomorrow to stock up on some chicken!

Would love tips on what else to throw in. I have already lost count of how much water I have drank.

Also, the milk concerns me. I am a 28 yr old female, I talk a multi vitamin, but should I take a calcium suppliment!

Thanks!!

I see no salads or veggies in any of the meals - You NEED those for a healthy diet - Dr. Atkins says! lol

Kel

And feeling pretty good.

I remember doing the original Atkins program back in the 70's and did really well (40 lbs) in too short a time (under a month). In retrospect, my big mistake was staying on induction the whole time and I think it was a lot more restrictive then.

But this time around I am making sure I take in the 20 g. of carbs each day and really using up my salad allowances.

The good news? I'm down 5 pounds in 6 days.

The better news? I feel great, energy is high, and cravings are pretty manageable.

The best news? My glucose counts are way down. I am a type II diabetic and by cutting out so many many carbs I have managed to get my evening count down to - get this - 111. :dizzy:

The weight loss has honestly become secondary to controlling blood sugar levels for me. I am thrilled! And have these visions of getting off meds dancing through my head at this very moment!

:balloons: :balloons:

I do have once concern though. I also was diagnosed with Osteoporosis almost a year ago. I am taking both weekly fosomax and calcium supplements. But the lowering of dairy products is a concern. Any suggestions?

Well Colann Congradulations on your decision. I decided yesterday and went shopping right away. But do ao being a weekend, it may be different. However, dinner went well, I realy enjoyed by Grilled chicken with cheese and salad! I know I need more veggies but honestly the only greens i like are green beans! so perhaps during the week. Anyways it looks like plenty of salads and chicken due to us eating out alot during the weekends. Well thanks for everyone's thus far! I still have this headache, hopefully that will pass.
oh and on the milk topic, I really have no idea. I am taking two vitamins right now. One i got from GNC and the other is prenatal vitamin (doctor's orders). Well I shall post on developments. Silly me I bought one of the ketostix and tested today (like i was going to see something!!) :dizzy:

Tonya

For now do not worry about the fat intake. after a while you will start to limit the intake many find they do not eat enough on this diet, within a week or two. so enjoy the food now and you will see that you will start to cut down. your stomach is used to eating a lot of food but it will realize that it does not need so mcuh, and cut back and the stomach will shrink too.

Headach will pass in about 1 week (sorry) and the energy will suddenly arrive at that time.

I am a person with high sugars during pregnancy (but not high enough to be called gestational diabeties 2 out of the 3 during the glucose tolerance tests.) I have problems with swings of high and low, But all clear with this diet, I even found a FS of 59 and was totally fundtinal and feeling great. (I work as a nurse and one of my coworkers did a FS as she was feeling yucchy and got 250+ so I did mine for kicks) I find i will run abut 80 - 90 normally nomatter what.

For dairy I would reccoemnd taking a Calcium, magnesium,zinc supp. theat should help. and with an increase of activity it should stay normal. If you do not exercise the calcium will not stay in the bones so exercise is imperative.

I had a bone scan 2 years ago (41 at the time) and came out much denser that a normal woman of my age. I am not a big milk drinker but do love milk but had cut it out due to expence and getting fatter) I also breast fed 4 kids and limited my milk intake dure to lactose intolerance in my kids (if I ate any dairly they would scream for 3 hours straight) nd if I took calcuim i would be sick to my stomach so it was 1 year each that I did take no calcium and breast fed)

So any ways bottom line I have no idea how I managed to be denser than most women of my age but I took my cal supps and exercised (with weights)

That must be why I weigh so much!!! ;)

Hi everyone,

I am all geared up to get on the Atkins plan tomorrow!!! (yes I overloaded on carbs today - a fond farewell for a while!).

I am excited to see others losing weight! (congrats doggz)...and I am hoping to lose some too. I have a lot to lose so it seems overwhelming at times...but even a little would be beneficial.

Any tips for a first timer? I understand you can feel pretty crappy the 1st few days or so? Is this true? I have stocked up on most of the permitted foods.....and am ready to lug it all to work tomorrow (we do have a fridge and microwave!).

I am actually afraid of eating too much and gaining weight! I am looking forward to steaks and chicken and beef and not obsessing about fat grams all the time. I have read labels and even found a couple of oil/vinegar salad dressings with no added sugar. Has anyone every gained weight on this diet?

Question 2) Are you all using the ketone strips? Any insights? I understand it will take a few days until I am in "ketosis"?

3) Is everyone taking vitamins and supplements? I visited the health food store today and found a vitamin mix close to what Dr. Atkins recommends, found the EFA's and will supplement with added chromium (already had that) and some Co enzyme q10...

I was using fitday (www.fitday.com) to count fat grams previously, and I guess it will also be a great way to keep track of my carbs.....only 20 per day on induction (anyone been on induction longer than 2 weeks?).

That's enuf for now....hope to hear from other Atkins followers. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Froufy!:cool:

Hi Froufy,

Good luck with the plan. I had a terrific first week... 5 pounds down (43 in total to go). Haven't budged this week, except to go up and down the same 2. BUT, my pants sure are telling otherwise!

I went to GNC and got supplements today. Am off Induction as of tomorrow. I haven't been using the strips. Wouldn't have a clue where to look for them, and quite frankly as long as I'm losing weight, that's ok.

I had a headache for two days, but by the third day, it faded away and so did the cravings! I can't believe this... I am a sugar fiend... as my many root canals and crowns will attest.

My daughter started this with me. She's just turned 15 and only has 18 pounds to lose (she's in competitive sports and wants to make a particular weight category... it's a reasonable goal tho I don't want her going lower). She's lost 5.5 in 2 weeks.

Tomorrow, I start back to Curves. I'm hoping the extra exercise will help move that stubborn scale... but like I said, I FEEL it in my pants!!!

Keep us posted!

Hi Judomom,

Congrats on getting thru the first week, and the great weight loss! I bet you are supremely pleased!

Were you overwhelmed with the supplements!!! I was shocked at how many different brands/types there are! I asked to be left alone...ha ha...so I could read all the labels (Had copied the list from the atkins book and tried to match them as best as possible!).

I am excited to use the ketone strips to see how I'm doing (a visual motivation I guess...)...and by the way you can get them from the pharmacist at any drug store as they are used by diabetics to test their urine....

I need to lose probably 66 lbs to be in a normal weight range...but if I can make it to 50 that would be great. Just setting mini-goals for now.....like 10% of my weight.

I am not looking forward to the "withdrawal" headaches..but then again I am already having headaches anyways (due to stress and poor eating and fatigue) so as long as it goes away....

Keep me posted on your progress...and good luck to you (and your daughter).

Frouf!:cool:

Hi frouf!!

I am reinduction my self. just got over the carving and headach area. I have done fantastic when OP and needed to learn that I could not eat like a pig when not OP!

I follow Protein power and it is very similar to atkins, but usually we stay on the "induction" intervention phase for up to when we get to withing 10% of goal weight which is about 30 grams of carbs (the latest PP book PPLP is a bit more lenient as the carbs to allowing about 50 per intervention)

Good luck and enjoy the food!!!

....I'll try and "enjoy" myself. Glad to hear you are doing well...I think I may try to stay on inducation longer than the prescribed two weeks as I have a lot of weight to lose... I guess it depends on how I feel and how I'm doing!

I will keep you posted!

Frouf:cool:

Originally posted by Froufy
I think I may try to stay on inducation longer than the prescribed two weeks as I have a lot of weight to lose...

As long as you feel satisfied and don't cheat, staying on induction for an extended period of time works wonders. :)