Hardest food to give up forever?

[KatyDee]

I am in maintenance now and have been for a while, but I am still dropping a pound or so every so often. I haven't figured out how to do maintenance yet. I am so scared of gaining the 23 lbs back.

Are there foods you miss and just can't imagine never eating again?
For me it is Lay's potato chips and pizza with the crust. We live near a Greek restaurant that makes the best pizza I have ever eaten. One night we ordered one and ate only the top. It felt so awful and wasteful that we have never done it again.

Fruit is another hard one to give up as I ate grapes every day for a year before the diet.

It is scary thinking of trying these favorites for fear of 'losing it'. How have you handled this once reaching a below goal weight? Did you try any of your old favorites?

Katy

[box948545]

I miss french fries from In-n-Out, the only thing I can have there is their protein style burger :P

[Kathy54]

just can't imagine never eating again?

Well the good news is............. once you are maintaining, you can eat many of those forbidden foods, However.......... Controlled servings is the key.

Yes even french fries, just once you have them and I mean "some" not a huge honking order :>). then just don't have any other high carb that day.

Read through some of the other threads here to get a idea of how maintainence
works.
I eat 3 servings of fruit aday and have for a long time. Now here is where the controlled servings comes in , a serving to me is one of the following 1/2 apple, 1/2 orange, gratefruit, 1/3 cup berries, 1/3 banana. Not the whole thing :>)

Cheers Kathy

[rose7]

Hi KatyDee, :p
Congratulations on making into maintenance! :cheer:
It’s great that you decided to go into maintenance phase early on. I’m with Kathy on this. You don’t have to give up your favorite foods forever. While it is important to try to abstain from them during weight-loss phase(so you can pick up healthy eating habits), I think it is OK to have your favorite non-LC foods once in a while. Otherwise, the cravings may build up and you may ‘binge’ one day.

Like Kathy said, on the day you really want your pizza or potato chips, go ahead and have some, but remember portion control. Stop after one, and keep the rest of the day relatively low carb. I used to love chips but now I don’t care for them much. What I do love are those pastries and cakes! :lol: I don’t like LC version so I just eat a cheese danish every now and then, have a slice of cake for special occasions. So far, I've not gained extra weight from those indulgences. IMO, allowing yourself to eat what you want will prevent you from going all downhill one day. Good luck! :p

[KatyDee]

Thanks for the support,Rose and Kathy. I could do that with the pizza, have one whole piece and the top off the rest. But to just have one potato chip? Not possible! :)
When I have them in the closet, I can salivate just thinking of them. But I will start trying some of the other things I miss in small quantities.
Katy

[Kathy54]

Make it a hand full, one and lock up the bag!
I could'nt just eat one either! I had some 3-4 times over xmas, and I kind of allowed my self 2-3 small hand fulls each time.
But if my kids are eating them, I would take one handful and thats it no more, get em out of here! Thankfully my teens don't really care for them that much, Taco chips are there choice, the plain ones, so I can handle them far better.
kathy

[Kristine]

Hi Katy. Congrats on being in maintenance! :thup: :thup:

You'll find compromises for those foods you're afraid to give up completely. Pizza is my big one, too. So I compromise: my pizza place makes a fantastic whole wheat, thin crust pizza with pesto instead of tomato sauce. I get that loaded with veggies, and a slice or two is really filling. If I want more, I eat the toppings and toss the crust.

That's still higher in carbs than I like to go, but I only have it every now and then. :thup:

[Anleigh]

Welcome. I have truly learned to enjoy the top off of my pizza. Also, have you tried the lowcarb pizza's they sell at Sams? They are really good and not bad for a splurge ever now and then. Only 20 carbs for the entire pizza. Being on Maintenance I feel like I can afford that about once a week. Now for my weakness, those fresh bakery products, sweets in particular, are my biggest problem. I may start having just one piece of something once a week to see what it does for my Maintenance. I have such a high CCL that sometimes I think I could get by with it if I can just use "portion control" and stop at one piece or serving per week. Doing without my favorite foods for the rest of my life is hard to take sometimes. I really believe portion control and frequency of eating them is the key. I get afraid also, that eating something, not legal, will only create some bad cravings. I hate cravings.

[red1cutie]

When I first started Atkins I never thought about having to give up stuff for ever but during this I realized that this was a WOE and not a diet. I was now trying to think of a food that was really hard to give up and you know what? I can't honestly think of one that was hardest to give up. After I did Induction and the cravings were over I did not really miss anything. I used to be adicted to coke but I stopped drinking it when I started Atkins and the couple of times I cheated I decided to steer clear of coke just because I remember craving it everyday.

I think I miss BBQ sauce alot. When I cheated (on a trip to Miami--not a planned cheat BTW) I had ribs and they came with BBQ sauce. I wiped off as much as I could. So I guess it's ribs with BBQ sauce. I used to love rice and mash potatoes too. :rolleyes:

red

[wefrf]

Hi Anleigh

I have questions about the low carb pizza. When you say Sams do you mean Sam's Club or somewhere else?

Is this a frozen pizza? Can you buy it elsewhere?

[Anleigh]

Sams Club is the only place I have seen it. It would only be good for someone in Maintenance. 20 carbs for the entire pizza which is

[Anleigh]

Sorry, last post got interrupted. Anyway, the pizzas are the size of a small pizza and very good. They are made by Michaelangelo. Also, some stuffed sandwiches which are also very good. They are a good size and make a wonderful lunch.

[wefrf]

Wow thanks for the speedy reply.

So they are in the frozen food section? Hope they have them here in AZ!

[wefrf]

Thank you so much for posting about this product. I am Sam's Club all the time and never noticed them before. We thought they were very good (wish they were lower in calories). Didn't try the sandwiches. Also found baked Eggplant parmesan that was 10 net grams a serving.

Sam's Club also had Carb Countdown milk, but only the chocolate flavor. And they also have the Carb Countdown yogurt which I haven't seen anywhere else.
I found the 1 carb Heintz ketchup at Super Walmart today too.

It is so helpful to network about new products.

[Anleigh]

Yes, I have found all of those same products. The Hood Carb Countdown Yogurt is not bad. I have just about gone through a 12 pack in the last couple of weeks. Walmart also has the Carb Freedom Yogurt by Blue Bunny which is about the same thing. Try the stuffed sandwiches sometime - the ham and cheese is really good.

[adkpam]

I've found I still have CONTROLLED servings of potato chips and I snitch fries off of friend's plates (they are glad!)

But funny thing for a former sugar freak, I don't miss sugary desserts at all. Or candy. There are plenty of low carb alternatives for this (if I liked pork rinds that would handle the potato chip thing, but no such luck.)

Even when faced with cheesecake I find a bite or two satisfies me. The food I routinely eat now is so flavorful I don't feel like I'm missing anything.

[Itty]

I miss volumes of ice cream, and it will be a sure struggle this summer not to pig out (and get those damn ice cream hangovers!!)

M

[rumdum]

I miss thai style basil fried rice from one of the best thai restaurants in orlando. but once i lose all my weight i know i'll get to have it again - there's no way i won't! + but i won't eat so much of it this time!

[Frederick]

Hi Katy,

Congrats on reaching your goal and welcome to Maintenance!

For me, it's chocolate. Not just chocolate, but chocolate in all of it's delectable and glorious forms. That in includes chunks of unsweetened dark chocolate, milk chocolate, chocolate ice cream, chocolate cake, chocolate sprinkles, chocolate milk, chocolate marshmellow, and even chocolate gum.

For me, chocolate is the single greatest flavor in the all the Universe.

On the bright side, at least it isn't low fat? LOL

Take care,

Frederick

[rachelratz]

My problem in the past was pasta. I loved it too much. Being thin now, I eat it once a week. Other than that, I eat pretty much everything . I never cared for junk food even when I was heavy. Now I can eat it, but I have no desire for it. Same thing with sweets. (candy, buns, etc)

[easylyvin]

This may sound weird, but I miss the Crazy Bread and dipping sauce from Little Ceasar's. I used to eat that stuff all the time. Someone brought some to work, and I wanted it so badly! I also miss eggrolls too.