Hi everybody,
this was supposed to be my 6th day of Atkins induction, but as soon as i woke up, i was in a bad mood, i found myself running to the fridge and ended up bingeing on 4 slices of pizza and it's only 8 am. I don't know why i did it or how fast it happened, all i know is that i feel sick and nauseous.
This is my 3rd consecutive retry of the induction phase, yet at some point i start over eating again and gain back all the # lost plus some more.
I guess my question is: what do u do when u fall off the wagon in the induction phase? do u restart? or do u give ur body a break and then restart some time later?
You may ask why am i keep trying Atkins? well i need to lose weight as fast as i gained it before and Atkins seems to be the fastest approach. besides i dont exercise at all (i know there;s no excuse for it but i'm never in the mood for exercising). Moreover, if i'm on a low cal diet, i always tend to sneak in some unhealthy, high cal treats. On the other hand on Atkins i have a bit more control over my cravings.
Any help is appreciated, thanks

Hey, doudou,

Atkins is tough because it is so low on carbs to start. Maybe you should post your question in the Atkins forum or Low-Carb forum to see what folks there say. I would say, yes, you have to start induction again, but I haven't really done that program. I do know that if you stop now and "give your body a break," you'll just eat more and regain weight. The point of a plan is that it's something you do without a break for longer than a week.

You might also consider a different plan--like Sugarbusters or South Beach.

I am a calorie counter, myself. I've tried other plans, but this is simplest for me.

Obviously, running to the fridge when you wake up in a bad mood isn't helpful. I can't remember whether you are seeing a counselor or not--you might want to look into that. Your doctor should be able to give you a referral.

Good luck! Hang in there! Keep your resolve!

Jay

I think you should get rid of any of the pizza that is left if you intend to stay on any type of diet.
For me it was no more cream puffs, no more ice cream and no more loaves of fresh french bread. I cleared alot of stuff out of my kitchen and put some things in non clear containers so I wouldn't see them.
But the big picture suggests that over and over you attempt and then set yourself up to fail by eating. I understand wanting to do Atkins as you think it is the best approach for losing the weight- but with your eating habits is it the best diet ? Would you consider yourself a yo-yo dieter ?
Have you thought of trying Southbeach ? Do you think you might do better with a support based diet such as Weight Watchers ?
I was never in the mood for exercising. Walking my dog a quarter of a mile was exercise. In order to really drop the weight I figured out that I needed to move. You have the chance right now to not only lose the weight but to tone up and buff up while you don't have 50 pounds to drop.
Nope I am not an Atkins person- but 4 slices of pizza is like the amount of calories I eat maybe in an entire day. Please consider carefully your choices and look at what you have done in the past as far as dieting.

I can understand your reasoning about why you're trying atkins, because you want to lose fast, but if you can't stick to it more than a couple of days then you're not losing and it's not working, hence you're not losing fast! Sort of counter productive.
I tried Atkins once and did it for 2 weeks, and it worked for those 2 weeks, but I couldn't keep sticking to the plan no matter how hard I tried so in the long run it didn't work for me.
If you really want to lose weight you need to find something that works for you, I agree with the others about trying a different plan, one that you can stick to, and I've heard of people losing just as quickly on other plans as some people on Atkins.

Thank you all for your support and insights. I think it's more of a mental thing, since atkins worked miracles for me before, it is the only diet that i see myself doing. On the other hand i know i do most of my eating out of simply being bored or stressed out. With regard to the counselor, next week i'll be meeting with one who is an expert in eating disorders, maybe they'll be able to help.

No matter what plan you are on you can start over as often as necessary.I agree you should not keep foods in the house that are not on plan. The oher question is , how motivated are you? And by the way exercise does not mean that you have to bench press 100 pounds, you can walk more, take the elevator less.

I am very much motivated but i have no patience. the thing is the more often i binge and diet again the more weight i gain and not lose. I tend to go from eating a lot to restricting and back and forth. I do walk around a bit from home to school and on campus. I am lost, the weekends are the hardest since food is all u think about. Even if i have nothing at home, i would go to the nearest grocery store and buy whatever i can lay my hands on. you would think that after eating those slices of pizza i would stop eating but i haven't stopped ever since
i feel desperate and lonely. sorry for all the whining but i have no one to talk to

Hi there,

What I'm hearing you say, over and over in this thread and others, is that you have bad habits with food, and that you have no ability to change those habits. The truth of your diet, as well as everyone else's, is that you have to change those habits and exert control over your eating in order to lose weight and keep it off. Your way of speaking about food and dieting is quite self-defeating, because you seem to be assuming from the outset that you have no power to change any of these things about yourself. And with that attitude, you *won't* change any of these things, and, as a consequence, you won't be able to lose weight and keep it off. This is not an abstraction--if you keep trying to lose weight on Atkins because Atkins is the only diet you believe in, and yet you're not able to stick to it and lose weight, this is a sign that you need to rethink Atkins and your diet plan, or at least, to make some mental changes that will enable Atkins to work for you.

If I were you, I would seriously reconsider Atkins. It doesn't seem to be working for you because you wind up sabotaging yourself by bingeing on bread products. Any decent diet will enable you to lose weight if you stick to it. Atkins, calorie-counting, South Beach, whatever. And any low-calorie diet (Atkins included) will enable you to lose weight quickly. But you have to be prepared to stick to it. Instead, what I hear you saying is, 'well, I binge on the weekends, so I'll never make it all the way through induction, but I'll keep trying and setting myself up for failure again and again rather than consider other options.'

At the same time, I think your 'I gained weight quickly therefore I have to lose it quickly' mindset is not helping you. You were saying the same thing two months ago and you haven't lost the weight! Why not start a diet that works for your life and take it moderately-- 1-2 pounds a week, instead of telling yourself over and over that you have to lose all your weight NOW.

It's time to get serious about changing your thinking and your habits. You need to know that you CAN control your eating and you CAN lose weight, but you also need to acknowledge that this will mean changing the way you think about food and dieting, and opening your mind to the suggestions of people on this board. Reconceptualizing your relationship with food is, of course, the most difficult task, and it might be a constant struggle forever. But you must at least start from the position that IT IS WITHIN YOUR POWER to control this relationship.

Oh Doudou25- This is great Please go your appointment and talk to her about your eating.
You are so lucky that you have a chance to figure it out now. Whether it is mindless eating, eating because you are bored or emotional eating you are still at the point don't weigh 231 pounds and move around like a three legged cow(in other words like I was last winter).
I see your motivation in your post which is another plus in your favor. Those few pounds to you are like the forty I still have to lose. It can be downright frustrating because one day we woke and realized that we were fat. We should be able to just wake up skinny just as easy.
The problem is nothing worth doing was ever that easy.
I remember being in school and everyone left campus over the weekend. My roommate worked at a fast food fish place. We ate hushpuppies and fried fish all weekend long. I had a discount coupon book to eat out. All the week I ate at the salad bar in the dorm and then pigged out on weekends.
You need to find something to do that helps you fill that time that you normally sit at the house. Even if you take up something like knitting it can help fill the time,take up some energy and make you hands so busy you can't snack.
Check back in again- I will be looking for you !

hi Baffled111, i totally agree with you in that i need to get more serious about weight loss. I need to admit to myself that it's not an overnight achievement neither an easy one. Last summer i dropped more than 22 lbs without dieting and in a short period of time (but i wasn't eating much because of emotional problems) After a few months it felt so good because i dropped all this weight without even noticing it. Anyways i guess what i'm trying to say is that i'm still looking to do the same thing this time around, but given the circumstances and since this time when i'm stressed or bored i binge instead of restricting, i need to start taking things more seriously and reconsider my goals. and like you said i need to know that i CAN DO IT instead of just wishing and praying and binge eating.

Sirak, thank you for you encouragement, i would like to congratulate you on ur 50 lb loss. like u said i need to figure out something that would keep me busy for some time (all i do is read but there's so much u can read at one time)
Thanks again everyone, i sure hope this is my last whining and discouraging post. I wish you all the best of luck on your journeys of weight loss. Keep it up!

doudou, I'm glad to hear you have an appointment!

Hang in there, stay with it, stay positive! You can do it!

Jay

Many of us here are calorie-counters. Have you tried that yet? I've lost over 80 pounds and I still eat pizza. I just eat it in moderation and make sure it's counted in with my calories for the day.

Believe me, I too tried Atkins, along with numerous other 'diets'. And I 'dieted' my way to 220 pounds. Don't follow the same path I did. You're at a decent weight right now, so get ahold of it before you end up in the same boat that many of us here put ourselves in.

I don't even diet anymore. I don't consider myself to be on a diet. I consider it to be a lifestyle change. I don't eliminate ANY food groups, I just eat everything in moderation.

Atkins can work for some people and some people have been very successful on it. But it's obviously not working for YOU. I agree with baffled's post as well, that was very well written and made good sense.

You can do it. You just have to find what's best for you and it doesn't appear that Atkins is the way to go.

You simply can not expect to lose the weight if you keep to your old habits. Old habits have to be replaced with new and improved ones. But the most imortant thing to keep in mind is that, yes there are going to be sacrifices. You simply can't have it both ways, you can't overeat on the weekends and expect to lose weight. You can't eat 4 slices of pizza and expect to lose weight. You must decide which you want more. You will have to do without certain things at certain times. It IS a sacrfice. But, IMO, the rewards greatly outweigh the sacrfices. By an awful lot. It's took me more then 20 years to figure that out. It's not only a matter of control, but one of discipline. Sometimes you just have to say no.

I agree, you can do it. You just must first decide to do it. Good luck.

oh yeah, i tried counting calories and unlimited number of times and i can never keep it up. either because the weight loss rate is slow or simply because i can sneak in some unhealthy or rather unwise treats and then every thing turns into a binge again.
I feel like something is missing, like a piece of my diet puzzle is missing. I know how to diet, what to eat and what not to eat but it's not registering in my head. It's hard to explain but i feel like i am a student who's equipped with all the knowledge he needs in order to take his exam. yet when it's time to take the test, he fails! don't know if any of this makes sense maybe i'm just rambling but that's how i feel like at the moment. I am not enjoying life maybe that's why i keep failing in whatever i do. Don't know ... i hit a point where i don't care anymore ... sigh

Only you can change that, hon. Believe me, I know EXACTLY where you're coming from. I've been there, with the way you're feeling. But you know what? I finally decided I was TIRED of feeling that way. I was tired of being depressed and tired of hating myself and tired of having no control.

And yes, the weight loss can be slow at times. But, again, it's NOT going to come off overnight. I'm sure you're aware of that. But listen, you don't really have that far to go. Get a hold of it NOW before you gain even MORE weight and make your journey an even harder one.

Please. Take it from someone who wishes I would have followed this same advice years ago. I spiraled out of control and went down a steep hill and the further down I got, the harder it was for me to climb back up. It took me over 2 years to get back up to the top of that hill.

You're not heavy right now. But you DO sound concerned that if you don't get a hold of your eating habits, you're going to put on weight. So do it! Start now. Find your balance and just find the determination. You've got to find it within yourself. Determination and willpower isn't going to be handed to you or come in a package. It's there, it's IN you.

So find it!