Hi everyone!

OK, I have read the atkins book, and I know we are not suppose to
drink coffee...can I still have one cup of tea a day with cream?

Also, if I jog at least 3 times a week outside for a min of 30 minutes, is that enough durnig induction phase?

Any tips out there....God I am really hoping this will work. I have starved myself twicein the last 4 years and have lost 30 pounds each time....only to gain it all back plus!

Oh wish me luck

LOVE MY TEA!
Kel

The tea will be fine. Learning to live with a new way of eating is the goal. Giving up EVERYTHING doesn't help. But that's just me.

3x30 minutes of jogging is great. The first week or so of induction, you might not feel like doing even that much. Walking is fine, too. Just get into a regular exercise routine, and keep going. A little further down the road, you can add light handweights (1 lb or less) to boost your upper body work a bit while you walk.

Don't starve. Eat when you're hungry--but choose low-carb foods from the allowed list. Follow the plan, be patient, and figure out how simple it can be to NEVER "diet" again.

Best wishes.

Thank you so much. Need all the advice I can get!!

Kelly

Tea doesn't have nearly as much caffeine as coffee. I lost 103 pounds in 10 months while drinking green tea nearly every day. How much you exercise is up to you. Some people don't exercise at all at first and that's fine. If you are used to exercising, then do what you feel you can to start and steadily increase.

You can have regular coffee if it doesn't stall you, decaf is okay by the book, and plain tea is too. Count the carbs in the tea and cream, though!

I never gave up my morning cup of regular coffee and it never did me any harm.

I read your story....amazing!!!! I am sooo impresed and inspired!
Thanks so much for the reply.

Just as an aside, your problem seems to be with maintenance... You can lose fine but then you end the "diet" and gain back tons of weight... Want a solution?

When you reach goal, go ahead and eat what you want. WEIGH YOURSELF EVERY DAY!!!!!!! When you have gained maybe 2 or 3 pounds (as you will by eating "normal" for a day or two) then simply "diet" for a day or so until you're back to goal. You will lose that 2 to 3 pounds of fake weight in no time and then can eat "normal" again.

The bonus is that as you maintain that way you actually correct your metabolism and your eating days get more and more frequent while your dieting days get fewer and further between. Because you weigh every day, and diet when you're just 2 to 3 pounds over, it's mathematically impossible to gain enourmous amounts of weight back.

Hey, it worked for me. Maybe it's a better approach for you too.

The best tip for losing weight and keeping it off so never having to diet again would be to follow the stages of Atkins, so by the time you reach goal you will know how your body reacts ot various foods and have learned how many carbs you can eat and not add weight!

So follow the rules of induction strictly for the first 14 days then move on to OWL and start adding the different 'rungs' in the quantities and order given in DANDR.

I drank tea from the very beginning. I think it's fine, I remember reading something on this board about how when atkins was testing caffeine, he was using soda and it may have been the citric acid in the drink and not the caffeine that was causing a problem. So I don't worry about it, especially as it doesn't affect me personally. I think it really helped my weightloss in that when I had really bad sugar cravings I could have a hot cup of tea or creamy coffee or cocoa in lieu of sweets. It helps me not overeat...for example, if I've just had a full meal and I still want to binge, a cup of coffee takes that feeling right away. And tea is even better for you than coffee, I've heard it boosts the metabolism slightly but I have no idea how that works, or if it's only green tea. Lol...sorry for the muddled post, but you get the gist, I'm sure.