Ok, I guess I can't PM you? Weird I have never seen that before lol.

I have never done atkins, but Dukan is basically a diet that is low carb, low sugar, and high protein. There are different phases, attack is the first phase where you kind go cold turkey for 5-10 days and let you body adjust to you eating differently. It's all protein, except for oat bran which you can have two tbps of everyday. Here is a sample of what I would eat one day on the attack phase.

I should also mention that I do a modified version of Dukan, but I'm still losing which is what I love!

Breakfast
-Oat bran pancake
-1 egg white
-fat free milk
-1 tbsp fat free greek yogurt
-occasionally will use agave syrup no more than a tbsp if I want the sugar

lunch
-tuna with fat free mayo

snack
-fat free cottage cheese
-i will add agave syrup on here too if im craving something sweet

dinner
-grilled chicken

I also drink a lot of water, def more than 8 cups a day. I feel like it gets rid of any water weight I'm retaining and quite honestly sometimes ice water can make my hunger pangs go away.

It is difficult in the beginning, but trust me it gets better! I only did the attack phase for 5 days (got bored and not a huge fan of meat either), I lost 8lbs which isn't a lot but it gave me some confidence in myself that I could do this. The next phase is called cruise which is where you stay the longest, and that is where I have lost the other 20lbs! I can eat all kinds of veggies except things that are starchy/sweet (potatoes, yams, corn, peas) but almost everything else is fine! season them and eat them with chicken and slowly but surely after you're away from the carbs you really won't want them anymore.

It sounds crazy but it's true! Anyway, let me know if you have any other questions! :)

Tossing in my 2 cents worth.

Rather than looking at this as a diet, you might be better off, to experiment with limiting or eliminating certain foods, and see how it affects your health and headaches.

Commit to small changes in diet, and commit to small changes in activity. Track it, and observe what works and does not.

While it seems on the surface to be a bit of a backwards approach, from a weight loss perspective, getting a handle on your health and how food and exercise affect how you feel, is important.

This may take a bit of time, but will be worth it in the end.:hug:

So sorry
 

NeedChangeNow:

I'm so sorry to hear that you're feeling blue. I think probably everyone on this forum has been there at one time or another. I think you should do everything in your power to be happy at the weight you're at NOW (I believe it was 239). Only when you become happy with who you are in this moment will you gain the power to change.

Remember, the weight is just a symptom of what's going on inside your head. It's not the cause of your problems, it's the symptom of them. As a recovered binge eater, I once felt also that there would be no possible way out of my misery. I'm 29, and only in the past year has my disease subsided. That came with doing a lot of work on finding out who I am and making myself happy in other areas of my life. So the point is that often what will make you have a more normal relationship to food, is removing your focus on food entirely.

Have you tried Overeater's Anonymous? That helps a lot with taking the edge off of the stress surrounding any sort of disordered eating.

I think that would be the wisest place to start, rather than jumping in head first with diet and exercise. You can only really succeed in dieting when your head's in the right place.

Wishing you all the luck in the world.

Love,

Lauren

How do I get a PM? lol Will it just pop up?

Thank you all for your input! I have been trying a little bit of everything the past few days. I'm just trying to eat healthier less processed crap, which ends up being tons more veggies, a little bit of protein, fruit, and whole grain...we will see. My boyfriend ordered chinese last night and I made myself a really good avacado and chicken salad. His food smelt soooo good, and I was tempted, I even convinced myself it was OK to have one crab ragoon because that was better than having a whole meal right? But by the time he was done cooking my chicken on the grill his chinese was cold so he put in in the oven, then by the time it was warm I was done with my salad and pretty content so I wanted nothing to do with his chinese. I never had that crab ragoon. Victory for me. I think I just need to stay one step ahead of my hunger.

As for Dunkan...those pancakes sound great! I use to make these oatmeal, egg white, cottage cheese pancakes before that were yummy and healthy too. Dunkan sounds really similar to Atkins, same idea. I know it works. I just got caught up in using the Atkins bars and shakes with all the fake sugar stuff and I'm sure that put my weight loss on hold. I work in healthcare, and have recently seen a huge spike in cancer, it breaks my heart. I can't help but think it has to do with the chemicals in our food. Even if it's not from that, it can't be good for us, and who knows, maybe cutting all that out may help my headaches too. Time will tell. Sounds like you just stuck to real food on Dukan right?

Originally Posted by LaurenM427:
NeedChangeNow:

I'm so sorry to hear that you're feeling blue. I think probably everyone on this forum has been there at one time or another. I think you should do everything in your power to be happy at the weight you're at NOW (I believe it was 239). Only when you become happy with who you are in this moment will you gain the power to change.

Remember, the weight is just a symptom of what's going on inside your head. It's not the cause of your problems, it's the symptom of them. As a recovered binge eater, I once felt also that there would be no possible way out of my misery. I'm 29, and only in the past year has my disease subsided. That came with doing a lot of work on finding out who I am and making myself happy in other areas of my life. So the point is that often what will make you have a more normal relationship to food, is removing your focus on food entirely.

Have you tried Overeater's Anonymous? That helps a lot with taking the edge off of the stress surrounding any sort of disordered eating.

I think that would be the wisest place to start, rather than jumping in head first with diet and exercise. You can only really succeed in dieting when your head's in the right place.

Wishing you all the luck in the world.

Love,

Lauren

Hi Lauren,

Aww your so sweet. You know I watched this show the other day about these plus size women who are super confident and would never change a thing about themselves, and they were a good 100lbs more than me. I was thinking good for them, but I am not comfortable being this big. I was however comfortable at 200lbs, which still makes me pretty big. These extra 40lbs just put me out of my comfort zone. I don't feel good, I'm tired, I feel heavy, I have little energy, I can feel how heavy I am in my legs. I felt ok at 200lbs. I could run and make it up a few flights of stairs without feeling like I was going to pass out. I can also see the heaviness in my face now, which really bothers me.

So I don't know if I can be happy at this weight, because I literally feel awful, physically awful. I'm only 5'2 so going from 200 to 239 is a lot on a little frame. But I do get where you're coming from. Removing the focus from food is a huge problem. Being on a "diet" the focus is COMPLETELY on food. Constantly making grocery lists and thinking about healthy recipes.

What did you do to take the focus off food?

Saw this yesterday but had nothing to add to the good advice you received. Just wanted to say hi & glad you seem more upbeat. Hugs to you. Don't worry, you'll get where you want to be. It really doesn't come from other people, it really is that little click inside our own head. When you hear that, nothing can stop you. Be well. :wave:

Originally Posted by needchangenow:
Thank you all for your input! I have been trying a little bit of everything the past few days. I'm just trying to eat healthier less processed crap, which ends up being tons more veggies, a little bit of protein, fruit, and whole grain...we will see. My boyfriend ordered chinese last night and I made myself a really good avacado and chicken salad. His food smelt soooo good, and I was tempted, I even convinced myself it was OK to have one crab ragoon because that was better than having a whole meal right? But by the time he was done cooking my chicken on the grill his chinese was cold so he put in in the oven, then by the time it was warm I was done with my salad and pretty content so I wanted nothing to do with his chinese. I never had that crab ragoon. Victory for me. I think I just need to stay one step ahead of my hunger.

As for Dunkan...those pancakes sound great! I use to make these oatmeal, egg white, cottage cheese pancakes before that were yummy and healthy too. Dunkan sounds really similar to Atkins, same idea. I know it works. I just got caught up in using the Atkins bars and shakes with all the fake sugar stuff and I'm sure that put my weight loss on hold. I work in healthcare, and have recently seen a huge spike in cancer, it breaks my heart. I can't help but think it has to do with the chemicals in our food. Even if it's not from that, it can't be good for us, and who knows, maybe cutting all that out may help my headaches too. Time will tell. Sounds like you just stuck to real food on Dukan right?

Yes, I do! This is completely personal, but being a student I hated diets where I had to buy certain foods, it was costly, and I felt like I would gain weight once i stopped buying them.

To be honest, I do a "modified" version of Dukan. I follow the guidelines, like the protein days I will eat all protein like tuna, chicken, but I will add a little soy sauce, chili sauce, something so my taste buds are satisfied lol. Eating bland food makes me crave more sometimes!

I just make sure I eat the oat bran every single day because it keeps me full for so long! I really like it this diet but it doesn't feel like a real diet and it's the only one I've come across that was cheap and I could keep up with. if you have any other questions let me know!:)

Oh and if you want to PM anyone you just click on their name and it will open a drop down menu that says "Send private message to -----" Hope that helps!

which migraine drug are you taking? depakote is known to cause weight gain. maybe ask if you can get switched to topamax. makes you cloudy, but weight loss is inevidable

I get depressed about my weight a lot too. And just recently I was in a huge downfall. I went to a gym for an interview and was the fattest person there..lol i went home crying cos of how I looked. But it was kind of a wake up call for me so
what I have been doing since that day was SRSLY breaking down on what I eat. I count calories and say NO to a lot of things. I drink only water and tea. And I go for a walk/jog around 6am when its just day out, cos it feels the most comfy and not a whole lot of people are around. So you don't feel as watched.
And just do a simple workout. Mix up the two.
I've actually lost a little bit already so it feels good~
Just take it one step at a time. Start with trying to eat less of what you eat now.

Most of us have been where you are! We eat our feelings, we are sensitive. First of all you have to believe that you are worth it and then just as someone said it "clicks" that you WANT this with EVERY fiber of your being and you DESERVE it, and if others can do it so can you! I believe that's the right attitude. A low carb approach works best for me but their are many fine programs, Weight Watchers, nutrisystem, ideal protein, etc. which will help you. But really, you can do it without all of those too. Become your own best advocate. Research your options and what works within your budget. There are many, many amazing success stories on this forum. Look at all the people who have reached goal, their pictures and their stories for inspiration!

Originally Posted by needchangenow:
Yes, exactly!! Everything you said I can relate to, the stashes of sweets, no exercise, telling myself I'll lose the weight "one day".

I lost 7 lbs in one week on Atkins about 2 months ago...then I quit and gained it all back plus 10 more. Low carb was really hard for me. Im not a big meat person and I found that the more I told myself I couldn't have carbs and sugar the more I wanted it. Ugh. It's going to be like that with any diet though. My mom just lost 20lbs on atkins too, of course she is probably 100lbs less than me, go figure, but she could live off of bacon, eggs, cheese and butter. Puke.

Dukan sounds a little bit like atkins? What'd you eat during the attack phase?

I have lost almost 50 pounds now doing low carb even though I generally do not dig low carb foods. I love bacon but only w some nice crusty bread and ripe tomato, or pancakes and maple syrup. In general, though, I'm not a big meat person, but I have made it work for me. My favorite meal, which I have several times a week is 1 1/2 ounces of cheddar (this is a really yummy cheddar, before I tried it I didn't even think I liked cheddar), 1 ounce mesquite roasted almonds and two little wedges of dark chocolate. So even though I don't generally love LC food, I have a few things that get me through.

I'm not trying to talk you into LC, but just saying whatever you choose to do, you can make it your own.

You sound to me a lot like how I felt when I started losing. I had just jumped up by about 15 pounds and all of the sudden I just didn't feel right. It was even harder to roll over in bed. And I just knew that I couldn't go on like that. I was also very scared of continuing to gain. Who knows where it would stop??? And like the others have said, something clicked. You may look back at this in a few months and see that something was clicking for you now.

I've lost 44 pounds since January 1st. I track everything I eat and drink in My Fitness Pal and it has made all the difference. I make sure I don't drink my calories like I used to.

I was diagnosed with depression when I was 14 but have struggled with it since way before that. I was not always fat, though.

For years I wanted to lose weight, but "couldn't." I thought I was doing everything. But turns out, I wasn't. I didn't weigh/measure my portion sizes. I would drink Mountain Dew like no body's business. My homemade coffees were at least 400 calories each, and I'd have 2 or more a day.

I have to agree that something just clicks and you get serious. It was like that for me for sure.

I think focusing on small goals is essential. Start small. If you tackle to much to soon you will set yourself up for failure.

I suggest you start by focusing on weighing, measuring, and logging every bite or sip you take. You will quickly get an idea of how many calories you may have been taking in.

Coming to this forum will help you tremendously. There is so much support here, and it also helps to have a place to come to and be accountable without fear of judgment.

Feel free to read through my blog below. And if you sign up for My Fitness Pal, I am RavenWolf1977 there if you would like to add me as friend.

I started in January at 229 pounds and am also the same height as you. My highest weight was a couple of years ago at 248 pounds! Just wanted to let you know I was in a similar place when starting.