Scared
 

Ok, for the past couple weeks I've been thinking, I'm getting closer to goal. 16 (or 17 this week) pounds from the highest weight I would want to settle at (22 if I want the lowest of 125 pounds). So I've been thinking it might be time to add more things in. But I'm actually afraid to. I mean, I'm secure in this level because I pretty much know what I can and can't eat. I know anything chocolate I've been having isn't on the induction list--but I'm working on that one. I'm afraid if I go to the next level and losen up some of the eating habits I'll go overboard (kind of like I did a few weeks ago--for 3 weeks) and not lose anything. And that's not the object of the next level right?
So any advice????

I am going to stay how I am eating until i get to goal then I will loosen a little. That is what i decded for me. You don't have to add right now if you don't feel comfortable.

Brenda: If you are getting bored you could start adding in about 5 grams per week like for OGWL and see how you do. I, like Theo'sgirl am staying on 20 per day until I hit 145.

Maybe you could just have a "higher carb day".

Well, I would say "read the book again" and add ONE thing in and see how you do. If you just stay on induction until you reach your goal, you're not really learning how to eat for the rest of your life... you're just eating to lose weight.

I know it is a concept that is hard to grasp when you've battled a weight issue for several years.... but you will want to learn how to eat to MAINTAIN your weight.

Read all of the phases and you will see how Dr. Atkins slowly reintroduces healthy foods - grains and fruits included - so you can slowly learn what your tolerance level really is. You may be able to eat as many as 80 or 180 carbs a day and not GAIN the weight back IF those carbs are healthy as in whole grains and fruits and veggies. Even a baked potato isn't ALL bad if you eat the skin (Gasp! I can hear the the cries now!)

Just my $.02 worth...

Oh, Brenda, I'm right there with you. I'm 14 pounds away from my 'high' goal of 125 or 19 from my ultimate 120 goal. So now I'm trying to learn how to maintain. So here's what I'm trying.

Be bold. I'm very aware of my semi-hostile relationship with food as well as the fact that I'm an 'all or nothing' kind of girl. So I'm working on a different kind of control. Instead of worrying all the time about what I eat, I'm paying far more attention to how I eat. What triggers me? What do I eat without thinking about or enjoying it? When do I finally stop eating?

I've started eating the ZCarb bars once in a while because I'm historically no good with control when it comes to sweets. But, I don't eat the whole bar (even though it's only 4 carbs counting the sugar alcohols). Instead, I eat half and then put it away.

I also made a list. (big big list person, here). On one side I put all the good, whole foods that I can eat as long as I'm moderate about it. It includes berries, melon, the occasional apple, orange, nectarine, whole wheat bread or pasta, a REAL beer (Guinness)..... you get the picture. On the other side are the things that I am committed to not eating - ever. Things like white bread, an extra value meal, potato chips, refined sugar, white rice....etc.

I'm thinking that's the key. Understand portion control and have a very clear resolve about what you will and will not allow into your body. At least that's what I'm focused on right now.

Let me know what you end up doing. Moving from losing to maintaining is a little strange. I've never gotten this far before!!!

Ooo, Star, I am going to make a list like that. Can I copy you??? :D

Except for the beer part - can't stand the stuff. IF I am going to drink something with alcohol, I prefer a Mike's Hard Cranberry... or really good champagne. :P

Copy away! I'm really a wine, scotch, or vodka girl, but every once in a while I just want a good, chewy beer!

You and my dh - he likes a good chewy beer once in a while, too. LOL! That is a great description.

I tried vodka, but couldn't get past the antiseptic smell... so it stayed in the little bottle and did not go in my mouth. Blech. I do like a good sweet wine once in a while, though, but we stopped having it in the house because dh is anaphylactic to it now...

But, I drink something with alcohol about twice a year... lately a little more because I'm finally not pg or breastfeeding. LOL!! Once I get pg again, off I will go for another few years. Wow!

Funny you should mention that since pg is what I'm really scared of! DH and I want to have a munchkin or two, but I'm now terrified of undoing all my hard weight loss work. I'm trying to counter it with lots of exercise since I'm told that it's much easier to get your body back if you stay in shape. But still - scary! :fr:

Well, this thread has changed topic, but let me tell you. You CAN stay "controlled carb" while being pg and it will help you. Don't be scared of it - really... you already have control of your eating and as long as you continue with that throughout pregnancy, your weight will just go back to normal or very close to it. At least that is the theory.

But, you won't completely undo it because you've already gotten over the biggest hurdle - controlling your eating. I lost weight while pregnant because I was so sick all the time and then didn't gain more than 10 pounds total until the day before she was born and I started retaining tons of water... so that doesn't count.

You would have to eat some fruits and veggies to keep it balanced and DEFINITELY take a good prenatal vitamin but other than that, Atkins Maintenance phase is just fine... I was allowed 15 carbs (any carbs) per snack/meal eating 5 small meals a day and it worked GREAT for me. 15 carbs sounds like a lot to an Atkins person, but it isn't when you're pg.

I was also addicted to milk while pg. Couldn't get enough and then had to stop cold turkey after 28 weeks when I was dx'd with GD. That was the hardest part.

Okay, enough about me. You'll do great at pg, I'm sure. :D

Just the thought of going to the next phase is weird. I'm actually ok with the way I eat right now. Most people would think it's boring. But I've never been an adventurous eater anyway. I'm not fond of spaghetti. Pizza's ok, but I'd much rather have a hamburger. And I don't miss the bun. I DO miss an occassional sandwich. But not to the point that I want to spoil what I've done. I don't miss the chocolate candy bars on the market, or the chips. Ok, occassionally I want something I can crunch. But the only time I really seem to have a problem with the way I eat is when TOM comes around. That week it's like I've GOT to have chocolate. It's one reason I've looked into the low carb recipes. Found the brownies and the chocolate whipped stuff. Is it bad to want those just a couple times a month? As long as the rest of the 95% of the time I'm on program?

I think I'll stay on induction for a few more weeks (or month). I want to see what happens after TOM leaves. I want to see if more weight drops off. But I do plan on eating different veggies (boiled broccoli and cauliflower instead of my usual salad). And I plan on adding sausages to my breakfast of eggs. Still allowable stuff, just see if I can tolerate changing my menu w/out throwing me into a tizzy. lol
List. hm. I'll have to work on that!!! I'll let you know how that one turns out!!!!

Star, don't be afraid of getting preggy, the end result is sooo worth it ;) I gained 45 lbs with my daughter and lost 38 in about 6 weeks, its a weird weight, if you tackle it right away, it seems to drop like water. At least for me it did. I would suggest eat normally, lots of veggies, fruits and healthy choices and you'll be just fine. Unless there is something medically wrong, I don't think and this is my opinion, women should diet while they are pregnant. The body calls for all sorts of things (cravings) and you should listen to them (okay not the banana split or bags of chips, although fun lololol) you know what I mean. Babies need lots of folic acid and all sorts of stuff AND while they grow inside you they rob your body of nutrients, so just eat. Its only a few months of your life that will pave the way for your baby for the rest of their lives. Your doctor will be the one to advise you anyway.

Now how did I blow up like a blow fish, it was the getting up all hours of the night, thats when I did damage, I started picking, one feeding for the baby, one for mama... OY!

Brenda,
My hubby reached his goal, what he did was go a few pounds below his goal and add things slowly back in, once he was at his weight (his actual goal) he knew what he needed to eat.

Get this.... now that he's at goal, he watches like a hawk all week and on weekends he pigs out at night, yup b/4 bed he eats like an entire bag of chip ahoys, no lie. He jumps right back on the band wagon on Monday and poof the water weight he gained from the weekend is gone. He's in heaven lol.. Me WAAAH!!! lolol I get to watch and drool heheheheheheheeeee.

You'll do just fine, and congratulations to everyone for being so close...bravo my hero's.

I'm not even as close as you guys and I'm scared!!! I actually was doing kind of a semi-induction. I was allowing myself some berries and nuts. I've still been losing, but stalled in the last week or so. I'm back on strick induction now. I like Star's idea of a good and bad list (I'm a list person too). I also second someone else's remark...go back and read the book. I decided to go back to strict induction to get past this stall (probably not really a stall since I get on the scale WAY too much). So, anyway, I picked up the book again this week. I can't believe how long it has been since I've read it...there are parts I dont even remember reading!!

Good luck to you. Keep us posted, because we will all be there one day!!!

Star - I have to tell you this story.

When I was Pregnant with my first child, I was so good about my diet. The doctor gave me a poster I had on my fridge about what were good foods to eat and the amount of vitamins and minerals I should watch that I was eating in addition to my suppliment.

Well I was so sick the first 5 months I couldnt hold food down for the life of me. My doctor was gone after the 1st visit because hse had surgery and then her hubby died. THe Midwife inthe office was very Anti-meds and would not give me ANYTHING for the nausea and told me it was all in my head. then at 5 months I thought I was having a heartattack at firs, but I was with some experienced moms at the time that told me it was "gas" LOL.
The next day I still really sore and called the office and was thrilled to hear my doctor was back. she took the phone, listened to my symptoms and sent me to have an ultrasound. I had a gallbladder attack! So I was put on a VERY VERY strict diet. Following that diet to a "T" I ended up comeing home from the hospital after Tyler was born weighing in at 25 pound LESS than I did when I got pregnant!

I wish I would have followed that with #2!

So what I am trying to say is that if you eat properly for the baby and what your doctor tells you if your blood work shows some abnormalities, you wont have a problem! Truely!

You guys are great! DH and I are planning on buying our first house this year (hopefully). It's a prerequisite to having children in my book. So assuming that works out, I'll probably be pregnant next year. I'm definitely going to need the advice of all you experienced mommies. :)

That one leaves me out. I had my children while I was eating junk food & um...smoking (I know, no lectures please). My oldest is 11 and youngest is 9 so I'm not qualified for the pregnancy while watching weight club. But I'm in here for support so that I can give :)

Star: Found some zcarb bars. I'll try the 1/2 a bar thing :)

You'll be a good Mama :cloud9:

Brenda - they're sooooooooooo good!

Thanks, Leenie, now my uterus hurts ;)

lol. If you think it hurts now..you just wait--it's not going to be the only thing that hurts :lol: Sorry, couldn't resist.

I agree with Leenie Star! You will be a great mommy! :)

DH and I did the same thing.. bought the house first.. then the kids. Of course with all my issues it took me longer than we thought.. but hey... it was worth the wait!

Well for my little 2 cents, I think it's very important to start to add stuff back, induction is a safe place but adding things back once you get close to goal is so important to learning how to do this for the rest of forever. If you wait until goal then add stuff it's far more likely that you'll go back to the old ways, you're brain can't flip a switch like that. Adding things doesn't have to be scary if you have a plan. Make a list ;) of the foods you want to add back and add one at a time. I added a new food a week so I could see if there were any carb rebounds. I'm all the way up to 45gm now and still losing at 2 lbs a week, now that's amazing to me, no wonder I was taking off tons in induction. So please try to remember that eating this way is supposed to be forever and it's better to slow down near the end, if it takes a extra month to lose the last few pounds, what is a month in the rest of your life if it means you get to be thin for the rest of it?

Ok 2 cents done!
Tummy

You know, I'd really like to add sunflower seeds back in full time to my menu. Mainly becuase it spruces up my salads. I'm going to have to figure out the carb count before I do that though.


Thanks everyone for you advice :)

I had a good pregnancy w/my dd. Nothing hurt, just got tired at the end. Never even barfed :encore: When I finally left work just b/4 she was born I would lay in bed and either eat burger king or buckets full of pnut M&M's with my dog. She misses those days, so do I lol.

Oh that's so UNFAIR!!! Instead of barfing at the smell of food I'd barf if I HAD no food. So it go to be where I constantly was eating. And we won't get into birthing pain ;) The 2nd was worse, but faster birth. BBQ potato chips were my friends w/the first. I couldn't eat enough (Still love them to this day-well, BEFORE Atkins anyway. lol)

Oh Brenda lol,

The doctor wanted to take the baby 3 weeks early b/c my blood pressure was a little high (150/85) so they didn't wanna take a chance.....They tried to induce me for THREE (3) days and from word go I begged them to just do a C section, they wouldn't listen, so finally they said okay this isn't working DUH! so when they went to give me my spinal they stuck me in the back 7 times and I begged them to just knock me out b/c I have DDD in my spine, another DUH!!! they finally did and I was in the hospital for another 4 days after that, so it was 8 days total.

Talk about being a Guniea Pig...sheesh, when I got the bill from the hospital it was $49,000.00. YUPPERS! but thank God I had insurance, I only had to pay $750.00. Can you imagine. Another major rip off. The only good thing was the cheesecake ;)

AND my little baby girl I came home with.... I would do it all over again if I had to.

YUPPERS ALL 9 LBs OF HER :bb:

OMG!! You poor thing! I won't complain about my childbirth experiences because compared to yours mine was a cake-walk!

Holy Cow Leenie! You and I should write stories about childbirth go-wrongs. :lol: After Eric was born, all said and done from birth day to the day he came home my hospital bills totalled over 100,000.00 :eek: It is soooooooo worth it though isnt it? He is 2 years old now and I look at him and marvel at the miracle. I mean we create, inside our own bodies, a PERSON. How in the world does it happen? I mean from eyebrows, to vital parts, to fingernails. Isn't it amazing???

Ok im all gushy now. :lol:


Brenda just keep faith in yourself. I can't really offer advice because I haven't even started yet. :lol: I like what everyone else has said though and I am keeping it for future reference. You know when I got done with the book, I went through and stuck post it notes with the "objectectives name" on every chapter that I thought I would have to refer back to.


I have about 20 notes sticking out, but the quantity helps me remember that there are soo many different things that need to happen to make this work for a lifetime.

Plus it helps me remember that if Im stuck, chances are its covered "in the book" somewhere in those notes. :lol:

I know it sounds cheesy but believe in yourself. You know deep down that you have come to far to sabatoge yourself now, and you know that you NEVER want to go back to the beginning again!

$75,000 for the preg. of my first child....
$3,600 for the second one...

WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE?

I had gestational diabetes with both and I learned from day one of the second preg. to eat very low carb. With #1, I wasn't taught until week 24 and by then I was so worried and confused about the whole eating plan and all the blood pricks everyday that I went into pre-term labor..... AND I still couldn't control my blood/sugar because I listened to the dieticians too much compared to my readings. I would still have fruit in moderation and cheerios for breakfast.

Preg #2 I followed Atkins maintenance type plan - only adding in dairy and veggies as my carbs. I ate asprateme instead of fructose, sucrose etc. and I needed 1/10 of the meds that I needed with my first.

Star - we know that Atkins maint. is a healthy plan and besides adding in a little more dairy to keep your bones in healthy shape (because the baby will take whatever it needs) - you should be fine. We too are actually considering one more child as well - if I can get myself back into the swing of Atkins on a more consistent basis. We'll see what God has in store for us.... I told dh it's too early though (jokingly)...we had our first after 10 years of marriage, our second in year 15 and maybe we should wait for out 20th? ha ha ha - we are on 17 this year.

Geez, Kim! Were you 10 when you got married? You look so YOUNG!

Star - How sweet you are! I'll be 40 this year....Woo Hoo :lol: Honestly though when I am heavy I look younger than when I am at a healthy weight. Very strange.

Aw, man! Kim, you just had to call me sweet, didn't you? Do you know how much time I've spent building up a solid reputation as a *****? :lol:

....but a sweet *****! (how's that for an oxymoron?)

My two cents:
a) adding new foods! - a very scary thing to do, as I agree that sometimes it is too easy to go overboard...at least for me. I am an all or nothing kind of girl so either I'm "dieting/watching what I eat".....or I'm just going for it...so for me maintenance is much hard than losing weight! And the closer to goal the scarier it gets - almost like a fear of success thing - so this is something I really need to work on. I have been off plan for a while now, but "experimenting" in a maintenance kind of way - trying not to gain back the weigth I have already lost - this is challenging but a good thing for me to do.

I would agree not to wait til you get to goal to add foods - this is a learning experience and you should add some of the foods you plan to eat (the good stuff that is) so you can see how you handle it - even if it means not losing weight for a few weeks - no rush - better to learn it properly than rush thru and be sorry in the end.

b) pregnancies/weight gain: Star you are correct in saying that the better shape you are in before becoming pg the better off you will be during labor and afterwards. In my experience I have noticed that it is not so much how much you gain as to what you put in your mouth! Most women forget that eating for two does not mean you are feeding a baby elephant...more like a tiny bird (you only need 200-300 cals extra in the first trimester and if you add in some dairy products that's about it!).

Those women that gained a lot of weight by eating "junk" food I noticed had a harder time losing weight that those who gained it by eating "healthier' foods (fruits, whole wheat pastas/breads, yogurt, cheese, etc)...of course you do get some nasty "cravings"....hopefully yours will be for healthier munchies.

With my first I also had gestational diabetes.....only gained 18 lbs, 2nd gained about 22 and 3rd about 25......so losing the weight was not a huge issue - just all that flabby skin and muscle was harder to get rid of. I think with your "belly dancing" experience you'll do just fine!

Froufy:)

Brenda - I can totally empathize with you about add back carbs. I have pretty much stuck to induction for the last 2 and 1/2 months and am getting closer and closer to goal weight and think to myself well what the heck should I do? I can't stay on 10 to 20 carbs for the rest of my life, but I am scared crapless that I will revert back to old habits....

As far as pregnancy goes.....

I got pregnant very young 19 with the first and 21 with the second and well I went from 123 to 205 with my first pregnancy and from 140 to 215 with my second- I was full blown bulimic with my second pregnancy talk about not being able to understand why I was gaining weight and just kept getting more and more anemic- by the time my daughter was born I was about the point of transfusion. (Doctors were completely baffled and I wasn't exactly forthcoming with the information that I was puking and using laxatives by the pack) Do not recommend this for anyone the eating d.o. or the fact of trying to carry a pregnany thru with one flaming up. Both of my children were healthy despite the fact I was destoying my body. I haven't carried a pregnancy since then though. Such is life! Would love to have more guess I will have to wait for grandkids.

Amy