May 2012 Atkins Newbies & Chat
 

Hey All,
I wanted to start this thread for all who are interested in general Atkins chat, friendly encouragement and those that are just joining Atkins and want to get to know eachother so that we have a unified place to find eachother.
I restarted Atkins 6 days ago. I have a story very similar to many of you I'm sure. This isn't my first diet. I have battled with my weight for most of my life but finally discovered the true secret for me several years ago... CARB CONTROL! THis is truly what makes the difference for me. I lost 68 lbs on Metabolic RC diet 3 years ago and had to quit before reaching goal weight because I found out I was pregnant. I have a sweet 22 mo girl now and need to get off the weight I gained with pregancy and the residual weight from before. MRC is so restrictive that I just couldn't imagine going back to that plan. I tried calorie counting for a while but couldn't lose any weight because my sugar cravings were just out of control. I realized that no plan but a low carb one would break that craving cycle and get the lbs off so I ofcourse thought of Atkins. I purchased the book (again - who knows whre the old copy is, moved twice since then) and started reading. I started the plan and have already lost 5 lbs... I AM Psyched!! Anyways, I want to lose 60 lbs, possibly 70, depends on how I feel when I get there. Either way, I haven't felt this confident about getting there in a long time and it sure does feel good to finally feel in control of my body and cravings!! Since hitting ketosis, I have stopped craving the sweets and carbs that were killing me and I am so thankful. ANyways, looking forward to a successfull journey... hope to hear from some of you and your journey along the way!!

Hi
 

I've been trying to start Atkins but always give in by the 3rd day :( I don't know why...well maybe it's cause I feel so sick i give in and eat 2 bowls of cereal maybe you can help me i really would like to get on Atkins I read the book ...thank you for any advice :hug:

The beginning is always the most difficult, your body is withdrawal mode. You need to hold on, it can only get better! :) Once you've passed this and your body finds an other source of energy i.e. your stored fat you'll be fine.... But you know all this if you've red the book. At this point you have to tell you it's a mind thing.

Originally Posted by Deadlydame13:
I've been trying to start Atkins but always give in by the 3rd day :( I don't know why...well maybe it's cause I feel so sick i give in and eat 2 bowls of cereal maybe you can help me i really would like to get on Atkins I read the book ...thank you for any advice :hug:

That's exactly what it feels like when your body runs out of glucose from carbs and needs to switch over to burning fat resulting in a state of ketosis. If you just drink a bunch of water that day, especially when that feeling hits, consume some extra ptotein with some fat, take two tylenol and head to bed early that night you will turn the corner by morning, i promise! Once you are in ketosis it all gets better and a miracle happens.... your cravings disappear snd you start dropping the lbs. Stick with it, its so worth it!!

So I'm on!!! Started this morning so I said bye bye to all my carbs and sweets :'(....

I expect to be really tired for the next couple of days so I'll make sure I take as many nights I need!!! :^:

Can't wait to be in ketosis and start to see the pounds melt away ;)

@DeadlyDame: how are you so far? Hope you were able to hold on...:^:

Are you taking your supplements? That's one thing I have to make sure I take, last time I didn't at the beginning and paid for it BIG TIME!!!

I'm taking:
B Complex
Full Spectrum Minerals
Vitamin C
Cod Liver Oil
Have L-Glutamine in case

Need to get:
Chromium picolinate
Primrose or borage oil

Will not take a form a fiber because I never do well on it, I have a smooth move tea that I will take if necessary, but for me, at the beginning anyway, if my water consumption is good I don't seem to have constipation issues...

What about you girls what are you taking?

@Skinny Girl in Me; good job in starting this thread it's really a great idea!!! How are you doing on day 1?

I just started today. Not quite sure what I'm doing but I'm learning. I have around 120 pounds to loose. I've been sticking to low-calorie type diets since the beginning, so this one is way out of my comfort zone. I absolutely love my carbs, sweets, and fruits, they will be sadly missed! The only thing I am really worried about is getting in all the calories.

Happyrunner - so far all I'm taking is my daily mutivitamin and fish oil.

Originally Posted by dandk0204:
I just started today. Not quite sure what I'm doing but I'm learning. I have around 120 pounds to loose. I've been sticking to low-calorie type diets since the beginning, so this one is way out of my comfort zone. I absolutely love my carbs, sweets, and fruits, they will be sadly missed! The only thing I am really worried about is getting in all the calories.

Happyrunner - so far all I'm taking is my daily mutivitamin and fish oil.

Dandk0204, do you have the book? You can find most of what you need online but I thought it was a great thing to read the book and really understand the whole process, unless you're already familiar with the diet.

happyrunner - I have the book, I am reading through it right now and learning a lot from it.

Day 1 is almost over and I think I did great. On to Day 2.

Thank u all! I jumped my start day to Monday due to mothers day :) I will enjoy going out to dinner just not over do it ...but Monday get ready here I come!!!!! Once again Ty for the advice!

Welcome on board DeadlyDame!!

So I tested negative for ketones this morning... I know it's a bit early but I was wondering. So I'm gonna try to empty the stored sugar in my muscle by going for a run tonight....if I'm not too tired.

I started Atkins 10 days ago and I'm loving it so far. I just don't get hungry on it. I've lost 3.8 pounds in my first week of Induction. I may stay in the Induction phase until I lose 10 pounds - just to give me a jump start.

I cooked Mother's Day Dinner yesterday and adjusted the recipe for me. It was cheesy chicken rollups. I could have everything except the crescent roll part. So I took the other ingredients and put into some ramekins and cooked it along with the family casserole. I was able to eat along side them with that and fresh green beans. They had apple dumplings for dessert and I had an Atkins candy bar.

I was tempted some but not hungry. I think I can kick the bread/pastry addiction but I am really missing fresh fruit. But I will be able to able that back in a few weeks.

It's my lunch break now and I'm going to search for some good Atkin recipes so I won't get bored. You can only eat so many eggs and cheese, right?

Good luck to everyone. Come back and post your successes and tipes and your trials for all of us to share.

Today is Day 3 for me and I am loving it. I've lost 7lbs already but I do have ALOT to lose to I'm going to chalk it up to that. I was worried it would be too hard but I've adjusted alot. I just keep thinking why haven't I done this before.

I need advice on how to get my calories up. Right now I can't seem to eat more than 1000 without going over my 20 net carbs.

Today is my day one so far so good!

@Dandk0204 congrats on your 7lb loss!!! :carrot: That's great! Can't wait to weigh myself on Saturday!! To boost your cal and keep you carbs down you need to add more fat: mayo is always good!! I'm not really counting my cals for the moment, I'm going with the food list in the book and make sure I don't eat too much of what is allowed. I don't really want to think about cals at the moment it can be so overwhelming...:^:

@Deadlydame: the first step is the hardest on, soon you'll be at day 257!! ;)

@Lose30: welcome and congrats on your weight loss. About the cheese and eggs...It's day 3 and I'm already getting fed up :dizzy:

I have 'traces' of ketones!!!! YEAH!!! Let's get rid of that fat once and for all!!! :devil:

Hello to everyone!

Jumping in again to the Atkins way of living... went to second hand book store and bought another book so I can refresh my mind to everything. Just finished 6 weeks of de-tox and cleanses, very restricted foods allowed, been in Ketosis too, and monitored by Naturopath Doctor... lost 29 pounds! Now I am doing Atkins style eating and checking for food allergies, for the next 5 weeks as food families are added back. And my body learns to maintain at this weight and accepts that this is the "new normal" weight.

The biggest bonus from all this is that I am off Insulin now. From 80 units a night to nothing...WOW!!! Still taking the Metformin pills a.m. and p.m. but believing that as my weight goes down so will my need for the meds. Monitoring my sugars 6-8 times a day right now and they are good.

Looking forward to getting to know you all!

Originally Posted by lilywinsit:
The biggest bonus from all this is that I am off Insulin now. From 80 units a night to nothing...WOW!!! Still taking the Metformin pills a.m. and p.m. but believing that as my weight goes down so will my need for the meds. Monitoring my sugars 6-8 times a day right now and they are good.

Lilywinsit, I just wanted to say :bravo: :cb: :cp: AWESOME JOB!!! That is great news!

I started Atkins on April 30th. I've lost about 6 lbs so far. About 3 lbs a week, and I can't really complain about that. The first 2 weeks were hard. Really hard. I tried to stay in the 20 net carb range, but sometimes wandered closer to 30. This week so far I've been doing much better, so hopefully I'll lose more. I plan on staying with induction until the end of May. I'm not really missing the food I can't eat, and I'm doing well, so I'm afraid to change anything. I had a double foot surgery in March, so I'm not back up to exercising yet. I think once I can run again (hopefully June 15th), I'll add in the Phase 2 food because I'll need more calories. At the end of the month, the hubby and I are going on our first trip by ourselves since our oldest was born (she's 6). We'll only be gone 3 days, so I'm not worried about binging. I'm pretty sure my stomach capacity has shrunk, anyway! I've never done Atkins before now, and I was really afraid of how restrictive it is, especially during induction. But it's not so bad! Good luck to everyone!

Hey there, I'm still on. Not too difficult but just need to create new recipes. Getting bored a little bit... Still testing ''traces'' on my ketostix, a bit disappointed, was wishing for at least ''moderate'' at this time but I'll do with traces for now.

Will start adding exercises this weekend in the hopes to accelerate my weight loss.

Short on time tonight, will chat tomorrow!

Yeah, the meal options can be a little boring. Last night I had tacos, shelled in a bell pepper that I cut in half. Pretty delish!

I've really wanted to try making flaxmeal muffins. I happen to love muffins more than cupcakes, cookies, and cake, so I'm really counting on this recipe. Next week I'm going to try baking them for the 1st time. I'll let you guys know how it turns out.

Kurbain: I started induction 1 day after you. :D Way to go on the loss! I haven't lost any yet (darn stubborn tummy!). But I'm hanging on. My family has collectively lost 300 pounds on it so far, I can't lose faith now.

So finally got to exercise a bit this morning! Good for me, only for 25min (run/walk).

Will try to go for another walk this afternoon....

Happyrunner - that's great that you got a workout in.

I'm still on plan, tomorrow makes a week and I have to say that it is easier than I first thought. I agree with most of you about the food getting boring. I need to look for some recipes to try when I have time. Weight loss is awesome, weigh in is tomorow. I'm looking foward to it.

Kurbain - Great weight loss :)

I've just finished week 1 of induction and lost 4.2lbs :) My colleagues said I've turned into a viking though what with all the meat snacks and meat breakfast :p

Ayesbiggerthanbelly - congrats on your loss!


Week 1 weigh in today for me and I lost a whopping 14lbs. Soo happy and ready to take on week 2.

@Dandk0204: 7lbs WOWOWOW :carrot::carrot: That's great!

I didn't weight myself because I don't really feel like I've lost weight and I don't want to get discourage... So I'll give myself another week. I figure that it's just a number anyway, sure I would love to see an nice number but I'm afraid I'll get obsess with the scale. Every two week should be fine... I hope :^:

I'm not counting my carbs, I just follow the book. I didn't see any purple on my ketostix, that is sad but at least there's still traces of ketones!

Went out for a jog/walk again this morning!!! It's much more difficult when you're pushing a stroller (had to go with my boy). Working my arms and shoulders as I'm jogging that's GREAT!!!

Hope everybody is doing well!

Ramra - Good job to your family! That's a lot of weight! Like losing 2 smallish people...or a few toddlers. Lol.

I haven't really weighed myself since Wednesday, and I was down to 205.6. Hopefully when I weigh in on Monday, I'll be down another couple of pounds! I don't have a scale at home, so I have to do it on days when I go to the gym.

I just ordered some Ketostix. Are those really helpful to people? Does anyone really notice more weight loss when it says the Ketones are high?

Happyrunner: I'm with you on not being too obsessed with the weight loss thing. I used to be super obsessed and weigh myself everyday. It could be really discouraging. I think once a week is best. But I've been taking measurements this time, which I haven't done in the past. I measure my neck, waist and hips (more near my belly button than actually the hip area) every week and have been a lot more satisfied with those numbers going down rather than the scale moving!

Originally Posted by kurbain:
Ramra - Good job to your family! That's a lot of weight! Like losing 2 smallish people...or a few toddlers. Lol.

I just ordered some Ketostix. Are those really helpful to people? Does anyone really notice more weight loss when it says the Ketones are high

Thank you!

Ketostix are great for motivation, but I don't count on them to show me a direct link to how much I'm losing exactly, since there are so many factors that play into it (such as water, sodium, hormones). But at times when I'm not losing, they're a great motivator to screw what the scale says and keep going. I find that when I'm losing weight, it doesn't always register on the scale right away. The body needs time to make it's adjustments. :)

I found that the Ketostix help me to know if I am burning my stored fat... even if it reads very light in colour, because of the amount of water that I drink. It makes me happy!

Who knew peeing could be so fun? :D

Ha. Thanks! If it's motivating, then I'm all for it! Usually I cave in to food after a week or 2, but I've been going strong since I started on April 30! By now, we usually would have had 2 or 3 pizza nights and a Sonic night, but not this time! I did have a piece of cornbread the other day because I had to go to a luncheon with work and it came with the meal. Couldn't resist!

I couldn't hold it and weight myself (again) today...since there were no change (0.3lb) between my weigh-in Wed and Sun; I hoped to see a little more change this time...and I did!!! I'm at 197.4lb so 4.6lb lost :carrot:

I'm not greedy anymore (not now at least :^:) I'll cherish the small numbers because it's an improvement from where I started! :cool: No more 200's!!!

I'm a bit perplexed, how come I'm still on 'traces' only on my ketostix??? What am I doing wrong? Or is it my water intake that's throwing my tests off?? I would love to see some darker pinkish color for once :(

Originally Posted by happyrunner:
I'm a bit perplexed, how come I'm still on 'traces' only on my ketostix??? What am I doing wrong? Or is it my water intake that's throwing my tests off?? I would love to see some darker pinkish color for once :(

happyrunner, congrats on your 4.6 pound loss! :) I wouldn't be too concerned with the Ketostix colors. Check out this link, "Whether Your Ketostix Show Light Pink, Purple Or Beige, It Has No Bearing On Your Low-Carb Diet".

Still waiting on my Ketostix to arrive, but I'm still motivated for now. After 3 weeks of doing basically induction, I've lost 9.6 lbs. Yay! Only 2.5 lbs to go until I'm back under 200. At this rate, I should be at least that in a week. Atkins is working as long as I can stick with it!!

Originally Posted by BerkshireGrl:
happyrunner, congrats on your 4.6 pound loss! :) I wouldn't be too concerned with the Ketostix colors. Check out this link, "Whether Your Ketostix Show Light Pink, Purple Or Beige, It Has No Bearing On Your Low-Carb Diet".

THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH BerkshireGrl :hug:, I really needed to see this article. I can finally put to rest my obsession with ''purple'' :D I'm in ketosis and that's all that matter!!!!

Hi lovely gals!!!!! Well all is good !! I won't weigh myself till the end of the month..how r u guys holding up ?

Originally Posted by happyrunner:
@Skinny Girl in Me; good job in starting this thread it's really a great idea!!! How are you doing on day 1?

Hey Happy Runner,
Did great day 1, day 3 was the hardest, like hitting a brick wall but took my own advice and drank my water, took some tylenol and took to bed and felt great the next day. What a blessing to be past that point and no longer battling my sugar cravings! That has been my struggle for years so I am thankful to have found Atkins. Just recently re-read his book and realized alot of things I could be doing better - taking supplements for one. I hate to do this but after reading that chromium is vital for metabolism and if you are low on chromium your metabalolism doesnt' work to its fullest, well now I've changed my mind. I will be starting this and a MV right away. Anyways, glad to see you here and looking forward to successful weight loss with everyone here!

@SkinnyGirlinMe: congrats on beating the sugar cravings, but watch out they will try again to get you!!! After a week and 3 days, I still have some ''wants'' not cravings...as if evil sugar was testing me :devil: ....don't know if you get me??!!

Supplements are a most. I make sure to take them everyday this time and I can already see a difference; no cramps in my legs!!!

Can't wait to be at this for 2 months to see where I'll be then....Never lasted that long on any program!!!

Happyrunner - I agree...after a while, the "wants" definitely come and go! I'm in my 4th week and I could definitely go for some serious sugar!! But I know I don't need it and that I'll feel like crap if I eat junk.

What supplements do people generally take? I haven't read the book. I guess I should, even though I'm doing fine for now. Multi-vitamins make me really sick, so I can't really take them. What individual things are really important? Chromium, from A Skinny Girl In Me's post. Any others?