Dr. Atkins mentioned in the book psyllium husks, course wheat bran or flaxseed meal. The psyllium husks should be mixed in water. The bran can be sprinkled over your veggies and the meal can be mixed into a shake. Although its derived from grain, course bran is pure fiber and therefore it contributes 0 to your carb count (from the book):)

One of the beauty's of Atkins is butter....glorious butter!!!
http://www.westonaprice.org/Why-Butter-Is-Better.html

Its pretty normal to have a post induction stall. Keep to the plan and you will get back to losing once your body readjusts. Hang in there!

Mmmm....butter....its good for ya! ;)

Hi Jason.:wave:

I've stayed on induction the entire time....the ONLY variation being the addition of a handful of almonds for breakfast several times a week.
I am NOT a breakfast person so decided a small handful of almonds was better than just my usual 2 cups of coffee (which I still have, of course). But like Kim, I would have a great deal of difficulty with portion control and this is why I only use almonds. While I love pistachios and cashews, I'm not exactly madly in love with almonds....so I limit it to them.

Nuts can also be a good option if you're out somewhere and hungry and need to find something Atkins-friendly. You can usually find a small bag of nuts, even if you're limited to just snack machines. All convenience stores have them too. Just limit it to one small bag.

I also think I will have to do what Kim is doing to maintain my weight loss when I get there......keep the net carb count low, regardless. From past experience, throwing caution to the winds regarding carbs was always a bad idea when I maintained the last time. I always ended up back on induction to remedy the results of this. As far as the rungs go, because I find induction so easy for me (I happen to love all the allowed foods on it).....I plan to treat the fruits, etc....as the treats I will deserve for reaching goal....but within my allowed carb restriction. I like the plan Kim wrote up there....sounds like a great plan to me.
So basically.....reaching goal will NOT be when I can finally go off this "diet". I will continue with this WOE but reaching goal will allow me some foods I've not had for a long time...but within my daily carb allowance. THAT will be my reward. Strawberries, here I come! Soon, hopefully. :D

Back in the early 90's, when I had to cook for a whole family, what I would do was to make things that I could make several versions of to suit everyone but still stay within my own program. For instance, make chicken stir-fry (without any sort of sugar) but not have the rice everyone else was having. Make chicken salad but not put it on the bread the others were having. Make chicken/veggie soup, set aside some for me, and then add the noodles for the rest of the family....etc. Make the same basic meal, but a different version for me.....something along those lines....using the same basic ingredients but either adding or leaving out certain ones that the rest of the family might or might not have.
I might even make spaghetti but then when I made the browned hamburger meat for the sauce, set some aside for me and use that to make some sort of meal...add some cheese or add it to salad greens/veggies, etc.

It's too bad (though not sure if you even get this channel in Canada) but on the Food Network a few years ago, they had this chef/cook whose wife and children had lost weight (he had also lost quite a bit of weight himself) and he prepared and cooked all sorts of low-carb meals.

But it's amazing how creative you can be...not only with meal planning...but also with figuring out what sorts of things you can find when you're not home and need to find something you can eat. And there are a whole lot of things you can eat out there, if you really think about it.

deena :)

Jason, congrats on the continued weight loss - and I'm certain that with perseverance you'll break the stall (in my view 3 days isn't NEAR enough to call it a plateau! You're too impatient! -- and I'm a slow loser).

Like I said I don't consider myself an Atkins adherent, just very low carb and overlapping a lot w Atkins, and I don't really force myself to eat if I'm not hungry. I find that coffee or tea with cream in the morning is enough to get me to early afternoon most of the time no problem. But I only do that if I'm certain I can get a good healthy low carb lunch. If lunch is riskier (if I'm eating out or on the run) I eat breakfast (usually 2 eggs cooked in butter) just so I know I have more of a cushion during the day. I rarely get hungry between meals now, but if I do I try to honor it, but I'm also trying to learn to be more attentive to how I feel about eating & not just eat by the clock.

honeybjones : Hang in there. I'm a slow loser too. If I compared myself to others I'd have given up a long time ago. Instead I've just stuck with it and lived it as a lifestyle I can live in maintenance (forever and ever) and let the weight come off at the pace it's willing to come off. Slow weight loss knocked 30 pounds off my body in 2009. If I get 20 off this year I'll be satisfied. More would be nice, of course, but I'm learning to be more realistic. Since my goal is to be actively managing my weigh all this year, and all next year (and probably after that too) it doesn't really matter when the pounds fall off if I'm committed to the lifestyle for the forseeable future.

Thanks again for sharing info! I sneak 1/2 a dozen almonds (2g net carbs per 1/4 cup) once or twice a day as needed. I picked up psyllium husks to try out. Lastly, it was a short stall...I lost 3lbs over weekend. I am now down 25lbs in 3 1/2 weeks...loving it!

I do have a couple more questions (should I start new thread?) for you. First, this is the first place I lived where pork rinds are nowhere to be found...any alternative? For snacking and breading for chicken.

Last, I keep reading negatives about butter and margerine and how bad both are for arteries and heart. My guess is that the benefits of not being 50-70lbs overweight has to outweigh the downside of butter useage. Any thoughts on this? Thanks!!

- for those pork rinds ... check out truck stops (that's where I found some)

- remember, a serving of butter is 1 tsp, so 1-2tsp/day is okay (everything in moderation)
... point to ponder ... prior to eating healthily, the average person would consume foods fried in way more than 2tsp butter! ie. chips, cheesies, onion rings, french fries, processed dinners

/cheryl

Thanks! And great point...

Another curiosity of mine...if cheese has zero carbs on it's nutritional information, why is it limited (other than it's constipation effects)?

How much is an ounce of shredded cheese? I measure 1/4 cup into my eggs when I scramble them. I use maybe 1/3 cup when I make taco salad like tonight. I have the occasional portion (Beemster Minis) and sauce on broccoli. Of course I am not eating all of this in one day. I rotate them throughout the week.

Ok...I've been on induction for six weeks and intend to move onto owl since I'm 13lbs from my goal. As long as I stick to 5-carb increments and experience no bad cravings, would it be ok to start at any rung I desire? During the last few weeks, I've already been eating almonds (1/4 cup per day) to curve appetite and occasionally extra salad...perhaps I have been unintentionally already in owl...lol.

Hey Jason!

Congrats on your success! (guys are so lucky when it comes to losing weight, darn it!) :D

I also added almonds in several months ago, but other than that, stuck with induction. As far as the rungs go, it would seem to me that you'd be pretty safe incorporating about the first half of the list.....and then it could get tricky on the second half, especially the starchy veggies, the additional fruits (beyond the berries and melon) and the whole grains. I would definitely go slow when it comes to the second half of the ladder. The extra veggies, the nuts/seeds and the berries...would probably be fairly easy.....but as far as the others go, I would definitely only do one at a time and take some time to evaluate how each one affects your weight....before thinking about adding in a new one.

When I maintained for about 12 years in the past...I basically added in more veggies (didn't even worry about how much low-carb veggies I ate), the nuts and low-carb fruits. For the other items....I only ate them on rare occasions (higher carb fruits, starchy veggies and whole grains)......and never incorporated them in on a regular basis. BUT, I'm 1) not a guy and 2) VERY sensitive to carbs....so I had to be really careful. I also had to be careful about the amount of cheese and other dairy, even on maintenance. I think being a big guy, though.....you will be able to incorporate these other things rather easily. You may have to be a bit careful while losing the remaining 13, but on maintenance, you should not have difficulty going up the rungs, as long as you don't get carried away and have any sugar-fests.:D

deena :)

Forgot to add....for pork rinds....do you guys have convenience stores in Canada? (7-11, etc.) Those little mini-marts connected to gas stations are also pretty good when it comes to carrying pork rinds. Seems to be easier to find pork rinds around here in the convenience stores and the gas station mini-marts than it is in the grocery stores (though some of the grocery stores do carry them). Also...most sub shops and sandwich shops have them too.