Hi Buffy, Congrats on the 5 lbs, that is great! I'm glad you are sticking with it & feelin' good. I still get urges to eat some junk food, but not as often. I just have to distract myself and it goes away.

Hello

I'm on day 2 of my low carb plan. So far, it's been rough - massive withdrawl headaches!

Holy temptation. It's amazing all the stuff I want to eat now that I "can't". Every two minutes I want to just chuck this whole thing, stuff my face, and maybe tomorrow will be better. But I know that I am a good chunk of the way through the withdrawl stage, and I DON'T want to do that again.

I sure could use some daily (hourly, minutely...?) encouragement. I'm going to start by being accountable.

I could use some help and hints from anyone out there - fave dishes or fave distractions from cravings...

I would also really appreciate any PM's - I'm rather a private person, and even though I need some help, maybe the whole world doesn't need to know? I'm looking to connect with someone who can give me individual encouragement.

Boy, do I sound needy or what?

I wish everyone all the best in their success.

Hi Laura, Welcome to the board. The first few days are HARD but you'll get over it. It's amazing how we crave things we wouldn't normaly eat. Anything you can do to distract yourself is good, whatever your hobby is, or even house work. Going for a walk always helps. I do stiching or read something. And get lots of sleep. I find the evening is the worst for me, but it realy gets easier the longer you stick with it. I think cutting out high carb foods is the best thing I'v ever done for my health. You can do this. We have a great supportive bunch here.

Thank you Puncezilla for your support.

Can I ask any low carb-ers out there a question? Does this diet style actually work? Weight loss for me is worth the effort, but I don't want to put the effort towards nothing. I'm still new at this, and I really can't believe that this is healthy or good for me, or that it will produce results.

Any testamonials?

I have been doing it since Jan, and have had some off plan days / weeks in beetween, and have lost over 30lbs. I also feel beter. I have done a lot of reading about why it is healthy, and realy beleive it is great. What is your plan like? I think the atkins book, south beach, and "Living the low carb life" all do a good job of explaining the health benifits. I also found reading these books to be motivating. I do think you should make sure your plan is sustainable, and made to suit you personaly.
Even though I havent been perfect the whole time I have still lost more than I have on any other plan before.

Also look at jerseygirl and lilybelle's Photos and storys, they have both lost a lot and are very motivating to see.

Ok, thanks for the encouragement. You better believe I'm going to look up those pics. I got on the scale today, and I"M A BELIEVER! I know, it's water at first, but at least it's something.

Welcome Laura!!!

The first few days are really hard - they were for me too. And expect to have some more hard days here and there but they definitely subside and as you see the results, you are more apt to stick with your diet. For me, I too wanted everything and everything those first few days. I even wanted to eat things I don't normally eat. Strange but then I told myself how much I needed this diet because I was really addicted to all of those bad foods and had really bad habits.

I have slipped up a bit here and there but it hasn't hindered my progress. When I slip up, I eat a slice of an apple. There's nothing bad about that in the end so I'm always keeping a watchful eye on what I put in my mouth.

I'm here all the time and will check in with you from time to time. I'm not a pro at this but I've read the book and am happy to help wherever possible.

Thanks Buffy - it sure is nice to have a place to come and get the support I need. I have weighed myself 3 times today - I am obsessing. This is usually where I start to give up -the days don't go by fast enough for me, so I keep checking in, and of course there's no difference in two hours.... I think my reward at the 10 lbs mark will be to put the dang scale AWAY! I need to get some sort of fail-safe plan in place so I don't worry about every ounce. Does anyone else have this problem, or am I OC?

When I firs got my new scale I was on it a few times a day. which is realy not a good idea since your weight will fluctuate so much during the day. so now I only weigh once a day. First thing in the morning. I know if I step on in the evening It will be higher and I will get discouraged. It is hard not to obsess about things in the begining. Try and distract yourself and remember we're here for ya. your doing great.

hey you guys! i started induction on monday, and have only lost 2 lbs! i have eaten a lot less than normal, mostly just boiled eggs, and drink plenty of water. is this alright/normal to only lose 2 lbs for the first week? i know it's mostly water weight at first, but i normally would always drink a lot of water anyways, so im not really drinking much more than i was used to. could this account for not losing more water/fat weight? i never really ate much candy/junk food at all, i guess my downfall has been more of things like bread, and other high carbs, but mostly healthy foods. i've been around this weight ever since puberty! and i've always have felt "fat" since then. my mom never told me to watch my weight around puberty or to try to be more active back then... it's horrible going through middle school and high school and even college always feeling as though you are fat! I've been sticking to the "diet" very well, but im happy that i have at least lost some weight, it's better than no weight loss! also, for the ketosis, i started the diet when i was still sick (b/c i didnt want to wait longer to start), so i was already feeling miserable, and didnt notice any withdrawl.

2 pounds a week is considered a good weight loss. 2 pounds a week is really all anyone should aim for. You are starting at a pretty low weight to begin with, so it isn't going to come off as fast for you as it would for me (at over 200 pounds). But although Atkins usually starts people off with a much more rapid weight loss, 2 pounds a week is really what I'm aiming for, because if it will be slow and steady like that, I have more confidence that it will stay off and not come pouring back on as soon as mess up a little.

You really should eat something more than eggs though. That isn't balanced. You should eat a variety of foods, and include some salad. Eat meats and green veggys. Enjoy the types of foods you are allowed on Atkins or you will become too bored to continue.

Laura
As far as does this diet work? I went on it I believe it was back in 2000, at that time I didn't stay on it perfectly, but even still by focusing on mostly low carb eating I lost 50 pounds over 8 months time. I kept that 50 pounds off and sort of plateaued at that weight for the next two years but over those years managed to take off an additional 10 pounds. I went up and down after that (not staying completely on plan), but managed to keep the weight off mostly within a 20 or so pound range. By that I mean, I would lose or gain 10 pound up or down from the original 50 pounds off weight.

The low carb mindset is something you can instill into yourself so that you simply don't eat certain foods at all any more. OR you can give up entirely and go back to the kind of eating you did before. I think for me I spent a lot of time telling myself certain foods were off limits and others I ate. So I eventually began to gain it back. I never gained all of it back although at one or two points this year I came within 12 pounds of being back at my starting point.

It DOES work if you work it. If you consider it to be a lifestyle and "this is how I eat now" you can lose the weight and keep it off. If you go back to old bad habits, the weight will obviously come back on. But if you catch yourself and climb back to low carb, you can keep the weight off (or most of it).

Puncezilla - thanks. It's good to know that this is normal behaviour, and that I shouldn't obsess - I guess limiting myself to one weigh in a day is my next small goal.

Sherry - I really appreciate hearing your story and how you struggle to stay OP. I 'm actually kind of glad I had such bad withdrawl headaches, because I never want to go through those again - so, I won't eat carbs.
The changes I've seen so far have been amazing. My belly shape has changed - I don't look pregnant anymore (very important to me since I'm a bridesmaid this summer and she chose empire style waist dresses!) My blood sugar is under control - I'm still taking my metformin, but I've had to cut way back on my injections. I still can't beleive the success I've had so far. I've been OP for 5 days now, and I've lost 11 lbs! Ok - most of it was water weight, but I've been rereading Atkins, and he said that after the first 4-5 days, all the water is gone and you start losing primarily fat! I can't wait. I'm so pumped about this. I'm not hungry often anymore, and resisting treats is getting so much easier. I'm going to enjoy this ride as long as I can. I know it won't always be this easy to cope with, but that's what the site is for, right!

Bunnyluffs - I once heard the effect atkins has on a person described like dominoes - the first few fall down slowly, but pretty soon they speed up. Keep going - even 2 pounds is 2 less you have to lose to get to goal. You can keep going and have a chance to get there, or give up and have no chance at all. Stick with it, we're here for you!

Hi Laura, that is amazing. I love the way Atkins works at the beginning. Yes, your belly shape does seem to shift quickly as I recall. I tend to lose the upper bulging, then the lower belly is all that still sticks out.

I think what I love most is how quickly my face looks thinner. To me the face is the most important part. If your face looks lean, you look leaner all over. Plus I always notice how quickly the fat on my back seems to go away. I wind up looking more pear shaped, fairly quickly.

When I first started I weighed 282, I lost 4 pounds prior to starting Atkins, and within a week and a half after I started I was down another 13.5 pounds. I loved that! I've known people who've lost about 5 pounds a week by staying at straight induction. I've never lost it that fast, it always slows down for me, but maybe because I have a hard time sticking to straight induction.

I hope you keep on succeeding and keep on loving it. It really works so well for some of us. I think for some people low carb just doesn't really work all that well, but for us carb addicts it is great!

Hey Sherry - I'm sorry it took me so long to get back, I've been away for a few days visiting family. I managed to stay OP the whole time, and I was really excited to come back and weigh myself - going 2 whole days without a scale nearly killed me! Imagine my distress to find out that after all the temptations I avoided, I didn't lose a single pound? So before coming to this website, I went to Fitday - oh how quickly the calories and fat grams add up. Oops. Ok, i think I'm going to have to modify my eating again. I think I've got the low carb licked, now I need to go a little more low fat/low cal. I'm actually a little disappointed - I was hoping that it was less of a DIET and more just changing out the carbs. I know - silly me, I was dreamimg. I bought three new diet books, all describing low carb-ing and there were some really amazing recipes and ideas. I can't wait to start cooking for myself again - there's only so much of Subway salads a person can eat.

Thanks for your help and support.

All the best in your success.