Hello,
My name is Abby and I am 21 years old. I started Atkins yesterday! It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be since I am soooo addicted to carbs! I was an athlete in high school and had no problem staying thin, but my freshman year of college I started gaining and I am now a Junior and haven't stopped.

One of my best friends is getting married in a three weeks so I decided that I do not want to be fat in her wedding pictures that everyone is going to see for a looong time (hopefully!).

I have tried WW, but didn't really like it cause it took forever to lose any weight. I do enjoy exercise it is just a mattter of making time to do it!

I have a boyfriend of almost 5 years. He loves my body (so he claims) lol...but I am not doing this for him I am doing this for me!

We have one fur baby named cleopatra. She is a 3 year old black cat.

I have a few questions about induction
1. Is it ok to eat those atkins advantage bars? I know the book says stick to the foods listed, but was the book written before they had all these low carb options?
2. Is salt ok to eat?
3. Are you supposed to eat no sugar at all? The lunch meat i bought has a little bit of sugar in it?
I think that's all for now!

And here are my stats..
5'8"
Start Weight: 230

Welcome!

Check out the FAQ posted in the stickies at the top of the forum. There's lots of valuable info there.

Short answers to your questions:

1. Stay away from the 'frankenfoods' until you're at least on OWL. That included the Advantage bars. Partially because you need to learn to eat properly and while bars are convenient, it's not real food. Partially because those things are chock full of sugar alcohols which are not our friends and known to cause stalls and digestive issues.

2. Yes, eat salt. Don't go overboard, but our bodies need sodium.

3. In the beginning especially, it's important to stick as much as possible to whole, unprocessed food. So avoid the lunchmeats as much as you can. No, a little bit of sugar won't kill you, but the point is to re-structure your eating habits.

Hope that helps!

I have that problem (the sugar). I keep thinking I need to avoid it TOTALLY. ANd for the most part I'm doing a good job but there are just not a lot of choices for "on the go" foods that don't have sugar. Good thing I'm usually able to come home for quick lunch before running off somewhere again.

WELCOME!

Yeah, avoid sugars when ever possible, you don't need something funky like that to trigger you. Try to get Boars Head cold cuts, go to their website and see which ones have 0 carbs or >1. http://www.boarshead.com

Stay away from any bars/shakes/candies, etc while on induction (actually stay away as long as you can). I ate carb options ice cream the other day and my stomach is still churning and sick over it. Those NASTY @_)&%@#$&% sugar alcohols, they are no good I tell yah

Salt is okay but watch out for to much like anything.

Good luck !!!

And definitly read the FAQ thread, its got lots of great tips from the ladies here.

First of all, Welcome!

I called the Atkins hotline and asked them about the Advantage bars and the Endulge bars. They said that they have sugar alcohols. During induction, your body starts burning fat for energy instead of glucose. If you eat sugar alcohols, your body burns that instead of fat which stalls weight loss. Also, those Endulge bars taste great, but If I didn't know any better, I would think they were coated with EX-Lax!

As far as the lunch meat goes, I would get lunch meat from the deli at your supermarket. That usually isn't as cured as the packaged deals.

Good luck