Hello all you lovely people out there!

My name is Jenny and I am new to low-carbing. I have tried it for a few weeks and liked the results: Fewer cravings, weight loss, less hunger... just great! However, I have had a few weak moments to many and am back at my starting weight, which is 71 kilos (I'm from Australia, don't know your lbs. system). Here in Australia low-carbing isn't very wide spread, which is quite sad.
I didn't know where to turn to before I found this forum. And what can I say... this is wonderful!!
I am very determined to make it this time. I want to get rid of about 10 kilos, they've been bugging me for years! Still, I'm a bit scared. I've never been much of a meat eater and I find it hard to imagine a life without carbs. But I can feel that it will be good for me, I'm certain it will be! The only thing is, that I'm scared I will run out of ideas on what to eat. Meat, eggs and fish... that's ok. but everyday!? How do you guys handle that problem?
I've thought about having a protein shake for breakfast instead of a meal. Does that work or will I be hungry afterwards?
Oh, I totally forgot to mention that I'm doing the CAD. I should switch to CALP, I know, just haven't bought the book yet!
What else can I say... I'm looking forward to meating some of you brave low-carbers and maybe even hear about your success or disappointments. I'm just so excited to have so many people around me, who all have the same goal: Lose weight through low-carbing! WOW!!

Hi Jenny, and welcome to the forum. You have come to the right place to share ideas and get/give support. I'm new here too, and to low carbing - this is Day 7 for me. I'm feeling fantastic, and already I know that this is the lifestyle I will keep for the rest of my life.

I know what you mean about not knowing what to eat, I had the same problem. I've never been much of a meat eater either, always carbs, carbs, carbs. So needless to say it was a drastic transition for me! For the first few days all I ate was chicken, turkey, tuna and salads....bleh. But now I'm getting a little more creative, and eating steaks, spinach, sausages, ham, bacon, of course eggs, cucumbers, on and on.... Just watch the carb content, especially of prepared foods like sausages - some of them have fillers. This site has a fantastic new carb counter, hopefully someone here can give you the url, it's a big help!

Best of luck to you in your LC journey, stick around here and these people will inspire you to keep going!

Wendy

Here, I found that URL for you. If you're not sure of the carb content of a food, you can look it up.

http://www.lowcarb.ca/low-carb-tools/carb_counter.html

Wendy

Welcome to the forum Jenny!

You have probably realized that this is a life-style change and it is all strange, confusing and wonderful. Just stick with it. Everytime you leave, just come right back. It takes a while to change a lifetime of eating habits and you shouldn't beat yourself up over it. Just come back! It is a great way to lose weight, but what is most important, is that you are creating a new, healthier life for yourself!

In my most humble opinion, learn how to eat real food. I would save the protein shakes for emergencies only. There will be others of course, who will advise you to have protein shakes! I often have a salad for breakfast.

Once you have a handle on carb counts, it becomes much easier to cook tasty food. You don't have to eat big slabs of meat all the time. Stir-fries can be very tasty. Take the concept of stir-frying and (it doesn't have to always turn out as Chinese) create combinations you like.

• Chicken with asparagus, a touch of cream and lemon zest
• Beef, mushrooms, tomatoes and peppers sprinkled with a little feta cheese
• Eggs scrambled with shrimp, bean sprouts and green onion
• Cabbage, pork and tofu

Big salads are great too...

• Belgian endive, radicchio, fennel and goat's cheese
• Spnach with mushrooms, salmon (or some other fish) daikon radish and soy-wasabi and lime dressing
• Romaine (I think you call it cos) lettuce with beef, a bit of fried onion and blue cheese dressing
• Leaf lettuce with chicken, roasted peppers, tomatoes, fresh basil and garlic dressing

You just have to think a bit differently about what a meal is.

You have a fantastic cookbook author in Australia named Donna Hay. Many of her recipes are or can be adapted for low-carb.

Have a look at the Journal section. Read other peoples and keep your own there too.

Keep posting. It works if you work it!

Karen

Hello Wendy!

Thanx for your reply. I remember getting really confident after the first week, too. It is a great WOE in many ways, I hope this one lasts. Have you tried low carbing before?
For me, this really is the last chance. If this fails I will give up and learn to live with my curves. I know I should do that anyway, but I just miss being my skinny old self. The memory of me with 62 kilos is just so sweet... I don't want it to stay only a dream.
I think I can get over eating all the meat and eggs, since I've noticed how good I feel during the day. I've still got a few troubles with my reward meal, though. I'm on the Carbohydrate Addicts Diet and really enjoy those carbs I get during this special meal. Sometimes I just feel it gets out of hand. If only I had a more specific plan, like with the other two meals. 1/3 carbs, 1/3 protein and 1/3 low-carb veggies is a bit vage. And I'm not good with controlling these portions. But enough about me, what sort of a diet do you do. What does your diet day look like?


Jenny

Hi Jenny! I did do a low-carb diet before, but it wasn't a WOE, it was just a "diet". Meaning I lost the weight, went back to eating carbs, and gained the weight back. That was years ago though, and it was one of those diets you see advertised on infomercials on television. LOL

Now I'm on the Atkins Diet, Day 8 of induction. I've lost 12 pounds already, and I'm feeling fantastic! I also read the Carbohydrate Addicts Diet book, and thought about trying that, but to be honest, I wasn't sure I could trust myself having carbs at one meal a day! I was sure I'd start cheating and carrying it over to the rest of the day, LOL. So I decided to go with Atkins because it's stricter, only 20gms of carbs allowed each day. What's amazing is that most days I don't even reach 20gms. I usually end up eating 12-18 gms. Which is fine by me, I feel wonderful. I might try the CAD once I get closer to my goal weight (which is still a LONG way off, lol), but I'm not sure. I'm afraid it will trigger more cravings in me. We'll see.

I eat eggs and bacon or ham for breakfast usually, then have a salad and tuna/chicken/turkey for lunch. Dinner is usually some meat (like steak) and some sliced cucumbers or spinach, etc. If I get hungry during the day I'll snack on dill pickles or cheese. These foods do have some carbs though, so I just make sure I count them in. And after dinner I allow myself a small dish of sugar-free Jello with some cream on it. It has aspartame in it though, and it's one of the sweeteners that's least recommended, but so far it isn't affecting me. I'm keeping an eye on it though.

I'm finding that this WOE doesn't have to be boring, there are alot of great LC recipes available! Every day I discover more and more that I can eat, foods I've always loved but forgot about in my obession with carbs.

Wendy

I am beginning to get into this WOE and I was soooo motivated at first because I lost 10 pounds right off. Now I haven't lost anymore and am frustrated!!!!!! How long do these blasted plateaus last?!? In fact - a confession - I blew it this morning and ate a bagel for breakfast but now I feel stuffed so I know I won't be doing that again (at least for a long time). Oh well, I will be good for the rest of the day (one day at a time!!!)

welcome jenny! maybe a plan like atkins or protein power would be easier on you. by lowering your daily carb intake, you'll really lose those carb cravings! post often here! we'd love to hear more from you!

Hi, Jenny:

I'm on CAD, too, and it's working for me. I pretend that my reward meal is a "restaurant" meal and start it with a salad. I eat the entire salad before I move onto the food on my plate.

I eat whatever the rest of my family is having [I try to keep their meals within some realm of reason with respect to carbs] but I make sure that my portions are equal and even try to keep the carb portion at a tad less than 1/3. I use the reward meal to incorporate the fruit that I miss so much - oranges or grapes in my salad or fruit as a dessert. I don't do bread or "real desserts" as its just not worth it - they will send me into a carb feeding frenzy and then a carb hangover [which is worse than a cheap wine hangover for me!].

Do you have the CAD Lifespan book? It's a little different than the original book and you might find it helpful.

Hang in there! I went through a two-week "bump-in-the road" and - suddenly - three pounds dropped off when I wasn't looking! Keep up the water and the vitamins as I see a big difference when I remember both those items. And - don't give up!

Good Luck!
Sandy

Dear Sandy, Debbie, Iteachea, Wendy and Karen!

First of all I really want to thank you for your postings. It might not seem much to you, but these encouraging words mean the world to me. I wish that one day I can be as focused and strong willed as you are. Right now I know I'm definately not.
Just this morning, after ONE day of CAD, I got week and ate a huge brownie. I just can't resist them and now I feel horrible. I really really want to change. My life cant go on like this. Carbs are destroying my good moods, my confidence in myself and my body feeling. Right now that's just what it feels like...

Treating the reward meal as a meal at a restaurante is a great idea. I should really try that. On the other hand I am not that convinced of reward meals anymore. They only tempt me. The fact that I can have carbs seems to weeken me during the day. I become soft and allow myself snacks here and there. Do you think a combination of both (maybe Atkins during the week and CAD on weekends) would be a good idea?
What does it feel like to do Atkins? Isn't it increadably hard? I just don't want to count carbs all the time. Too much stress.
And then the thought of not having carbs for the rest of my life, no more bread, no pasta, no chocolate, no more good things... it just frightens me. How could I, the weak willed dieter, ever be able to handle such a diet!? And how could I even eat like that for the rest of my life!?!?

I wish I just wouldn't WANT carbs anymore, ever. Thing would be so easy. But I need sweets, I love my ice-cream and chocolate... I don't think I could handle it. How do you guys only do it??

I admire you all!


Love,
Jenny

jenny, the beauty of lowcarbing and ketosis is you lose your cravings for those carby things. the cravings really do pass!

I agree with Debbie, Jenny! I've only been on Atkin's for a week, and already I've lost my cravings. The first four days were the hardest. I did crave sweets like crazy during those days. But surprisingly I had no cravings for pasta, bread, rice, etc. Those were what made up the bulk of my diet for most of my life! But all I thought about were sweets. But that passed after four days. For some people it may take longer, and for others it may take less time.

Don't look at this WOE as "giving up good things", look at it as an opportunity to feel better! Before you eat one of those sweet things, ask yourself if you want your blood sugar levels to spike and crash, which will cause even more cravings! That's what I do, and I don't want that anymore. That doesn't mean that you couldn't EVER have something sweet again. It just means you have to balance those occasional treats with a healthy diet - and be careful of being triggered into eating more carbs! Also, don't forget that there are plenty of low carb alternatives for your favorite sweets!! Check out the recipe section here, you'll find some yummy low carb treats.

I don't see why you couldn't combine the Atkin's and CAD diets. Different things work for different people. I might end up doing the same once I reach my goal weight. Just keep an eye on your weight and see how it goes. There's no harm in experimenting.

Most of all, don't beat yourself up for cheating! Just pick yourself up and get back on track. You can do it. It just takes a moment-to-moment committment!

Wendy

Hi Jenny,

The way you develop your will is to keep exercising it. Everytime you go off, just get right back on. Don't waste time feeling bad or using it as an excuse to go on a binge. The more you do it the better you get at it.

A lifetime of eating habits is not going to change overnight. You have to be patient with yourself and take it one step at a time.

Try to avoid areas where brownies lurk. They have been known to attack low-carbers on more than one occasion!

Karen

I've been on the diet for 4 weeks and have lost 14 lbs. I have about 10 more to bring me to my goal weight. I hope to do that by the end of the year. This next period will be more difficult since I'm on a rigid weightlifting regiment which I'm sure will add muscle weight.
I've never been considered obese, but I've always had to monitor my food intake. All my life! Chubby kid so the fat cells are there. Most of the "fad" diets worked at first but for one reason or another never stuck.
This diet is by far the most sound explanation of the way our body's functions. After reading the Atkins book and experiencing the diet, I'm convinced none compare. Plus, what other diet allows you to enjoy the foods we LOW FAT eaters have been taught are off limits but offer pure enjoyment to the palate?
The best advice I can give and as elementary as it may sound is to simply avoid stocking your shelves with those foods that are off limits. It's much easier to succumb to temptation with a delicious brownie staring you in the face. If you have other family members who refuse to give up the processed high carb starch laden junk food, it may be a little more difficult.
You can do it. We know you can.

Of course you are all right! There's no use looking back now. The future lies in my hands, I can change if I want to. And boy, do I WANT to! I won't forget all the things you told me, they were good tips. I'm sure you will here from me again soon. It's just so great to know that there are people who know what you are going through and who have good advice!


Jenny