Hello all,

I'm a newbie and have been doing the Atkins diet for about a week now. I weighed 165 on Monday, today (Friday) I weigh 157...yay! I did buy the latest Atkins book last night and will be digging into it soon. All the info I have received has been from the Atkins site and here. I've been following the induction rules carefully and I'm thrilled at the energy that I now have.

Over the last few days, (except yesterday) I've had the problem of being really hungry between meals. I'm learning how to spread my carbs out over the course of the day instead of using them all up in three meals. It seems, though, that after breakfast (usually two scrambled eggs and a couple pieces of bacon) that I'm still not satisfied and quite hungry. Probably four eggs and four pieces of bacon would have filled me up, but again, I'm trying to spread my carbs out throughout the day to include more snacks.

Sooo, yesterday, after my eggs and bacon, I also had an Atkins shake (1 carb). I was filled up for hours afer that! In fact, the rest of the day was a perfect food day. Between lunch and dinner I had deviled eggs for a snack, walked a couple of miles, and then later in the evening had a nice dinner.

I've already had my shake this morning to see if the shake alone would satisfy me and, well, it hasn't. So I'm going to have my two eggs and bacon in a few minutes. But what I want to know is: Is this really a good eating habit? Is it ok to have a shake *with* breakfast instead of replacing breakfast or drinking it as a snack later? I hate feeling hungry and I know that we shouldn't go hungry, but at the same time, I'm really trying to spread my carbs and fat intake out throughout the course of the day.

Here is my fitday for yesterday, the day that I felt the most satisfied. I think my calorie intake was too low the days before. I'm not quite sure what it should be, but I felt awesome all day yesterday.

http://www.fitday.com/WebFit/Public...&Month=2&Day=11

Thanks so much!

I don't agree with having shakes on induction, but that's just my opinion. You only have 1 pat of butter listed in your fitday account for added fat, how about instead of the shakes, you up, or add more fat? Fat is known to satisfy hunger for a good amount of time. You could add olive oil, butter, cream cheese, or 1/2 an avacado to your meal to make you fuller longer.

melissa

Hi Twilight,
Congrats on a great start! I looked at your menu on fitday and it looked good. I also like the Atkins shakes sometimes, though if you could make it through induction without them I think that would be better. Everyone is different and you need to do what works for you. The shakes are high in protein and have a decent amount of fiber so overall they are a good thing. I don't know how you do with dairy products, but you can have 3 to 4 ounces of cheese per day during induction. For my breakfast, I make a nice cheese omellete with bacon or whatever in it that you want. The cheese helps you stay full longer and also makes a good mid morning snack. Good luck and have fun losing.
Marie

Thanks for the comments!

I think I'm going to stick to the shakes for on the go meals as originally planned. (I have three kids and on some mornings, I'm doing good to get dressed before I leave the house!) I usually only have a couple mornings per week where I wouldn't have time to make my own breakfast. I'll try adding more fat to breakfast to keep me from feeling hungry.

Thanks again!

Hey Twilight,

I also had shakes early on. I guess it's just different for some people. If you're exercising a lot, maybe that's helping your progress... but be wary of these frankenfoods at first.

I didn't even introduce the shakes until 2 weeks after starting. I figured if I can get through the first 2 weeks totally clean, I'm good to go. Then I'd have a shake with breakfast every other day. I HATE eggs... so that's why I did it. I was eating hot dogs at breakfast and I needed something to break up my pattern...

Now, I drink one every day for breakfast. With either 2 little ham steaks or 4-6 slices of bacon. Gives me EXACTLY enough energy to go exercise and get my day started!!

Congratulations of starting ATKINS, losing weight, and
buying the book so you can start studing it.
I've reviewed your fitday from 3/9 to 3/11. What I'm going to say next is JMO. I'm speaking from my own personal experience. I too went thru this same thing you've talked about. I'd eat two eggs, w/cheese and bacon. Be starving in an hour to two. Started FITDAY, reviewed everything and found just what I see in your post.

So here goes.

I don't think you are eating enough good fat each day. I'm wondering if you're in ketosis.

(And please, I know every post about why ketosis isn't that important and isn't necessary. But, for me, if I'm not turning purple, I'm stalled, because I've gotten some hidden sugar in something.)

Why? Because I see hidden sugars in your diet. Where?
First go to the top of the FORUM and click on LC Tips. Scroll down and read about Sweetners. Now, I think you're getting sugars from possibly your salad dressing, the deli ham, the pepperoni, tomatoes and onions. Lastly, anything breaded and fried like the chicken breast, even though the skin wasn't eaten, is a no no.

So, I increased the fat, lost the hidden sugars, drink 10-12 8 oz water a day, stay within FAT 65%-70% CARBS 5% PROTEIN 25%-30%. And I am still VERY HIGH PURPLE on my sticks. And I don't do shakes, bars or other processed foods because they stall me immediately.

i had the shakes on induction. i am allergic to eggs & sometimes can get by eating a small amount of them but some days eating a little makes me itchy and break out in hives so i switched to shakes. some die-hard people will yell at you. but everyone is different and if it works for you then that is great. it worked for me :-)

Hmm, well, tomatoes and onions are on the acceptable foods list so I thought they were ok. The dressing has less than 1 gram of sugar and pepperoni also has a small bit of dextrose with sugars reading 0. Also, the chicken wasn't breaded and fried. It was just a boneless, skinless piece of chicken cut up and put in broth the other night and last night they were baked chicken wings with pepper sauce. I couldn't find skinless breast anywhere in Fit Day and I didn't realize that I had chozen the fried/breaded chicken from the available options. I haven't had anything breaded since induction. And the fresh deli meat contained 0 carbs.

So do you think that perhaps I'm not in Ketosis after all? I don't have weird breath but I do drink tons of water. Today was another day that I seemed hungry the entire day. *sigh*

Twilight,
You are doing great! You are losing weight and eatting your veggies so don't stress it. Have your shake with breakfast and remember - you aren't supposed to be hungry. If you are, eat something Again, cheese is good for making you feel full (3 to 4 ounces a day) is ok if you can do dairy, eggs or meat roll ups for snack is good too. Keep up the good work and have fun with your new way of eatting.
Marie

Think of this diet as a journey and a learning process. One of the great things about eliminating most foods form your diet and then adding them back slowly is you learn what foods you can tolerate. Some foods you identify as trigger foods. These are the foods that when you eat soem you get hungry, cravings, or just want more regardless of how full you feel. For me a huge trigger is cream, especially whipped.

Experiment. If you are losing weight and feel good, then don't barrow worry. If you get to a point you just aren't losing (remember soem small plateaus are normal) or you feel poorly, then see what changes can be made.

Fresh deli meat is often listed at 0 carbs per serving, but can have sugar. Something can have up to 0.99g of carbs and be listed as 0, so always read ingredients. Tomatos and onions can be fine for most people, but for others they are too high in natural sugars. Tomatoes are also a fruit, which is why some have problems with them.

I wouldn't worry ketosis either. If you are losing, then you are burning fat. The ketosis does have appitite suppression in some people. Alot of people find just before a period of weight loss they are suddenly starving. It's like thier body wants reassurance they aren't starving and it really is ok to let the energy stores go. For me a little broccoli and cheese mix with some colby jack on top would really help.

"Think of this diet as a journey and a learning process."

Yes, indeed! I'm just having such hard time getting it all balanced. It seems there were several comments saying that I'm not getting enough fat. So today I made sure I got enough fat but it looks like I got *too* much according to my ratios (77/3/20) for today, March 12. Between lunch and dinner, I ate 2 deviled eggs, pork rinds, and olives (spread out over a couple of hours) and I was still hungry. I had a nice big salad for dinner and a burger topped with sauteed mushrooms and swiss cheese. That filled me up, thank goodness! But now that I've upped the fat intake, the protein is low. I'm just going to have to learn how to get it all balanced. I have to say this is very frustrating to me but well worth it.

Does anyone use a bleu cheese dressing that contains no sugar at all? Or any other dressing for that matter?

Oh, and I have been forgetting to subract the fiber, so I guess I haven't been getting enough carbs in either. So today I ate extra veggies and then subtracted the fiber leaving 19.78 net carbs.

About the only oen I've seen is Annies NAturals Goddess Dressing. It has no sweetners at all, but it does have a small amount of carbs. You can always experiment with making your own.

This morning I bought some more extra virgin olive oil and also picked up some red wine vinegar to make my own dressing. Also, I found sugar free bacon since what I was using did have a small amount in it. As far as fresh deli meat, the only thing available that had no sugar was the oven roasted chicken, which is fine with me...it's very good I did notice that along with being hungry a lot yesterday that also felt less energetic than I have been. I did get in bed kind of late the night before but I have fibromyalgia and that is the primary reason why I've switched to this WOE. I may just be extremely sensitive to sugar intake.

Today already is a better day. I didn't have a shake with my breakfast, so that's good. I got up and had a couple of halved hard boiled eggs with whipped cream cheese spread on them before going on a brisk 1.25 walk. During my walk I had an 1 oz cheese stick, and when I got home, I browned four pieces of bacon and then scrambled three eggs with a tablespoon of butter. I added the cut up bacon in the eggs and topped with another tablespoon of butter. Voila! I'm full!!!! Good thing because I have whole lot of spring cleaning to get to today!

Thanks for the tips...I'm looking for ways to add more fat to keep me satisfied!

Twilight--You like blue cheese dressing, right? And you just bought good oil and good vinegar. In a jar that has a lid, make up an oil and vinegar dressing with whatever herbs you want to add, and crumble an ounce of blue cheese into it. Now, put the lid on and shake that jar until the blue cheese melds in with the rest of it. OMG yummy--and legal. Perfectly legal.

Jude