Good Morning to all,

Today is my first day on CAD, I'm excited , but also a little nervous. After reading the Atkins book, I thought for sure it was the diet for me and that I was finally going to get t his weight off. I did so good for a month or so and then it just went down the drain. I was getting really discouraged because I wasn't loosing. Changing my eating habits so drastically, I thought for sure that I would lose. After reading CAD, it sounds so easy to do. I just really hope this is my answer.

What about caffeine on this diet? In the book I read that you can have as much coffee or tea that you want, Atkins book said that it should be limited because it can stall your weight loss. I really like my cup of coffee in the morning, if I didn't haveto give that up I would be verrry happy!
Bye for now,
Shelly

Welcome!!

Glad you found us. I hope this is the answer for you.

You can have coffee. If you take coffee with cream, you can only have it once a day at other than your reward meal and it has to be drunk within 15 minutes. Black coffee can be taken in unlimited quantities during the day depending on how caffeine affects you. Sugar replacements must be limited to 3 a day at other than the reward meal.

Hope this helps.

Good Luck!

Shelly, I had exactly the same thing happen to me. I did not lose very much weight on Induction, tried the Fat Fast and lost a bit, then it just stopped cold. 3 months on Atkins and I lost a net of 3.8 pounds. Pretty danged discouraging for all that deprivation!

I switched to CALP at the end of October, and have lost a total of 2.4 pounds already. So, I'm pumped!!

On the caffeine issue, IMHO this is something you must work out w/ your body. Some appear to be able to drink it w/o stalling, others are not so lucky. For some it depends upon whether they drink it black and w/o sweetened, while for others that doesn't seem to matter. So play it by ear, and see how you feel. If you have not been craving and have been losing, CAD is working for you. If you add some caffeine and that changes, you have your answer. Take other factors such as TOM, etc. into account as well, but you should be able to figger out your reaction to caffeine in a couple weeks or so.

I have a caf/decaf blend coffee w/ heavy cream inside of the 15-minute limit nearly every morning. It seems ot matter to my body whether I use CoffeeMate or cream. I would probably lose faster if I gave up my coffee, but I have to do this for the rest of my life and dang it, I ain't gonna do it w/o my morning coffee!

So glad you have joined this bunch.....keep us in the loop of your progress, okay? We like to celebrate the losses and problem-solve the gains...take care!

Take care....

Speaking of coffee... That is the one positive thing that the Atkins plan did for me - it got me off of caffeine. I had a headache for three days, but after that, I was done. It has been wonderful - I feel generally calmer, I sleep better, and I am less grumpy in the morning.

I now drink mate instead (pronounced mah-tay) which is a South American tea. It has a wonderful "picker-upper" affect but no caffeine. It did take me a while to get used to drinking it instead of coffee, but my husband's family is from Argentina so I had had it before.

It's now becoming more popular too. I have found a place online where I can buy 1 Kilo (2.2 lbs) packages for about $5. So it's even cheaper than coffee!

Sometimes I still want that coffee taste though - so I just drink decaf then.

If anyone's interested, I can post some links to information about it.

Lisa

Hello! Thank you for your replies. I had quit drinking caffeine for a while, now I only drink one cup w/splenda and heavy cream in the morning. It was really nice to see that I'm not the only one that had problems with Atkins. Thank you sooo much for the encouragement, it means a lot. So far everything is going well, I had breakfast and around noon I started feeling hungry which was about right because I had breakfast at 7:30 and I had a salad with a diet coke. I can't wait until dinner its been sooo long since i've had potatoes.

Hi skyspinner, that is so good that you've lost that much already. I will be very pumped too if I have that kind of success!

Thanx for the info Zule, I've read a lot of your posts. You seem to know a lot about this program. How long have you been on it and did you also start out with Atkins?

Redlisa, congrats on giving up the caffeine, its a hard habit to break. I could probably get by on decaf, I think I like the taste more than the picker upper. I like cold tea unsweetened, do you add anything to the mate or do you just drink it plain?

Hope everyone has a great day!

Shelly

Hiya Everyone

Well after posting the other evening and thinking about it most of the night - I decided to jump in with both feet first. I took an hour out of work and was in the book store by 9.15am.

I bought the CAD book by the Hellers. I have read it as best I could in order to be able to begin today - so I hope I've grasped the basics until I can read it all.

I would appreciate if I can post my menu's for a while until I'm comfortable with what I must do and would appreciate honest and frank comments - or hints and tips to help me.

Todays menu stands as this:-

brekkie
2 fried eggs and 3 slices of bacon
herbal tea

herbal tea X 2

Lunch
1 scoop of carrots ( sorry no good selections at school )
1 scoop of cabbage
1 burger with no bread
water
herbal tea

herbal tea X 2

Dinner
2 pieces of roast potato
slice of turkey
slice of beef
slice of gammon
brocolli
parsnip
cauliflower cheese
yorkshire pudding and gravy
ice cream and chocolate syrup
brandy and diet coke

Now when I look at that dinner - it looks like a mountain - but honestly it was not. I actually put 3 pieces of potato on my plate, but the taste was funny to me, so only ate the two. I have to say though the icecream and chocolate syrup I adored, but I felt so guilty while eating it and I thought people were watching me. Which is silly considering that no one knew I was low carbing to begin with.

Its now 8.21pm in the UK and its nearly two hours since I've eaten and I still feel really bloated. God I hope I dont put any weight on tomorrow.

is it correct that I have to weigh myself every day?

Also would like to say thank you for welcoming me to this part of the forum and have just realised that really I should have posted my menu in my journal - silly me. Its all these carbs I've had they have confused me lol

Some one was asking earlier about the carbohydrate addicts test - well I took it and I'm a severe carbohydrate addict according to that. So hopefully I will settle into this WOE better than the atkins. I have to say that it did work for a time - but for three months now I have repeatedly lost and regained the same few pounds or not lost at all.

Right I will go look around now - thank you again for your help in advance. Happy LCing

bye

Julie

Welcome to CAD/CALP. Here's hoping it's your way too. You should know very shortly.

Looking at your menu the only thing that stands out is the carrots. They are not an allowed CM food. If you were a bit hungry that night, that's why. Think Atkins induction foods. Those are the foods you are allowed at CM. I have a cheat sheet if you would like me to send you a copy. You can PM me your email. It helps to have a list to refer to.

We'd be delighted to help you with your food. We love food here.

Good Luck!

Welcome to the family.

I have also been thinking about CAD.
My problem is that I love my low carb breakfast which is:
Natural wheat bran 2 tbs= 5
psyllium seed husk 1tbs =2
Sci-Fit protein Powder =3
2 oz cream =2
= 12 carb minus 5 fiber = 7grams of carbs.
I have a big supply of these ingredients and would like to use them.
This has saved me on Atkin because I cannot face eggs or meat in the mornings.
Is there anyway I could eat the same breakfast as a CM and have my CM lunch then my RM at supper?
I have a bad feeling about this question.
I do not have the book yet .

Thanks

Shelly,

I add a tiny bit of Splenda to the mate in the beginning, when it is a little bitter. As I keep filling the cup with water, I stop adding the Splenda.

The mate is drunk from a small cup (mate is cup in spanish) using a little silver straw with a strainer on the end, called a "bombilla". You keep filling the cup with water until it is "lavado", or literally, washed out. By then I've had enough anyway.

Lisa

Hi Penelope,
I can relate to your question. First I did Atkins, then Zone and now CALP so I have all these different foods from the different plans. Does your protein powder have/or do you add sweetners of any kind to it? That is something you reduce on CALP but I think 3 pkg are allowed. I've been using up my zone vegetables that have carrots, beans etc. I used all the AS I wanted this week and I used teriyaki sauce on my veges. Most of my CM meals probably have at least 15 net carbs. When you first start there are 3 guidelines that you follow and then you can become more tight (insulin controlled) as you go. That's how I look at it, because I can't stand to "waste" food. You probably won't lose as fast with these things in your diet, but you can try it. Also (maybe the weekends?) you could make breakfast the reward meal and just use those foods then.

I have had some cravings and not done well the last 2 days of this week but my averaged weight loss was 3.9 pounds.

I also have 3 large containers of artificially sweetened protein powders and 100 pkgs of meal replacement shakes that are 20carbs each. Even though its a lot I figure the reward meal is the best place for that stuff.

Let us know what you decide.

Nancy

I haven't been able to read this entire thread YET, but I surely will!!! Could it be my answer as well??? I initially lost 9 lbs on Atkins 8 months ago. Gained half of it back and now bounce up and down in a 5 lb range, HAVE done that for 4 months!!!
Something's gotta happen!!

Could be. You sound like a lot of people here.

Hi Zule,
I saw your light on. I was wondering when I get to the options of CALP where do you think I should start? My 'bad veges' should be gone by then. Do you think I should try to get my CMs lower carb. I love the teriyaki sauce but I could try stirfry or something else to give the veges some flavor. Or I was thinking of relaxation. I am such a stress eater its unbelievable. My AS consumption isn't too good either but I feel like I need the crutch right now, coffee isn't any good to me without it.

Do you have any ideas?

thanks Nancy

Nancy

You have to read through the options to see if they apply to/affect you. One of the first things I would do is limit MSG and sugar replacements but again, these don't affect everyone.

Keeping your CM's on the low side is key. If you need all three CM/snacks it's usually a sign that something is not working right and it's usually a sign of hidden carbs. If you are losing 1-2 pounds a week, I wouldn't worry. If not, check the teriyaki sauce for MSG, it usually has it in it. If so, I would find a replacement.

See carb addicts react to MSG with cravings and to sugar replacements as if they were real sugar. For a CAD, if it tastes sweet, your body reacts as if it's real sugar. Some people don't understand how this can happan but believe me it can. At the same time, as I said, it doesn't particularly bother some people. To be safe keep your sugar substitutes to 3 total a day. That means count all used in coffees, sodas, and otherwise.

Hope this helps.

thanks very much Zule- I guess I need to get my carbs lower on my meals first, maybe that's why I'm hungry and you all have no appetites.

nancy