[Larry H]

I have been calorie counting with no success. Even though I was absolutly strict on it and very low calorie (1400) for my weight and activity I had almost no weight loss. (4 lbs in seven months). Time to shake my body up and I think Atkins is the way to do this.

I downloaded the book and read it and have it foir frequent referance. It has been so long since I was on this program that I forgot almost everything about Atkins. Today I am starting the induction phase. I am already in the habit of recording everything I ate to track calories so the switch to tracking carbs should not be difficult.

A hard thing for me is to cut back on coffee and switch to decaf. My normal day has been anywhere from 10 to 25 cups of high test coffee.

Any hints for an old man would be appreciated.

[TripSwitch]

Welcome...

Atkins '72 allowed regular coffee, than DANR didn't, than NANY did... Are you drinking all that coffee black? I drank about 3 cups a day of regular when I did Atkins and I lost weight just fine... I used 1 tsp of HWC in each cup and no sweetners, artificial or otherwise... I'm not a fan of them, so I try to just pretty much avoid them, but I know people here do just fine with them and they don't seem to affect their weight loss...

The most important thing for me when I was doing Atkins was getting the 12g to 15g of carbs from the "foundation" veggies in each day... AND NOT overdoing the protein... So I weighed and measured the meat, chicken, and fish that I was eating and kept it to 6 to 8oz per meal, which I think are the recommendations that are in NANY... And keeping the cheese to 4oz or less a day... So I HAD to measure and weigh that and for me keep it to 2 to 3oz a day...

Here's what a typical day looked like for me...

Breakfast: Coffee with 1tsp of cream
2 eggs scrambled, cooked in 1tsp of butter
2 to 4oz of smoked salmon

Lunch: 8oz of chicken or tunafish, usually with 1 to 2tbsp of mayo
3 cups of salad greens with 1 to 2tbsp of dressing

Dinner: 8oz of meat, chicken, or fish
2 cups of cooked veggies, usually streamed brocoli with 1 to 2tsp of butter
And another BIG SALAD as well...

I limited heavy cream to 4 tsp's a day... I limited butter to about a tbsp a day... that's 3 tsp's... 1 tsp to cook my eggs in and the rest to put on my cooked veggies... When I got hungry or felt really tired and weak I had some chicken broth.... And if I absolutely felt I had to have a "snack" I had 1 to 2oz of cheese...

All of that was good for a 12lb loss over a month... But the scale bounced back up 2lbs... So for that month I wound up with what amounted to a 10lb loss... Which was great, but it WAS NOT EASY... keeping my carbs under 20g a day was easy eating that way... just by eating all those salads and low carb veggies... But the "low carb flu" or "keto flu" as its sometimes called that I experienced was pretty intense... to become "keto" adapted takes weeks, not days... The reduction in my overall appetite from being in ketosis was very helpful and it seemed to cure me of sugar cravings and my bad habit of eating at night which I'm very grateful for... But unfortunately one of the side effects of that way of eating for me is rather unpleasant constipation... And even with added fiber and Mg supplements it still required the use of laxatives which I wasn't happy about...

But I do really like a lot of Atkins and I think lowering carbs is a very good idea for most overweight people...

[Larry H]

I retired as a Navy Chief Petty Officer and in the Navy learned to drink coffee black with nothing else added. I am sitting here typing this with my first cup of decaf in a long long time. Breakfast was three extra large eggs scrambled in two tbsp of real butter and one ounce of sliced jalapenos. I have to go grocery shopping today for protein and induction veggies. My house is full of processed carb products. I can get rid of some that my wife does not eat but not all because she is not on Atkins. Another challenge will be to bring my fat consumption up. I was of the low fat mentality for a long time.

[Candy In Alabama]

Welcome back larry.. Ive just came back recently myself... when it comes to coffee, i dont limit myself. I drink all i want, and i also drink leaded and black...its never hurt my weightloss... when it comes to counting carbs, i eat all the o carb meat i want, and i get my 20 carbs from vegies.. i have lost about 15 lbs so far and been at it now for 6 weeks... good luck to you on your weight loss journey.....