So I registered 3 weeks ago and today 2/10 is my 1st day to actually try. I used the 3 weeks to eat WHATEVER was in my sight. So, now what I need is ideas and suggestions to get thru today and then the rest of the week.

I drink A LOT of soda (coke), so i am going cold turkey today. Someone told me I could have diet? Is that true? I dont like diet coke or pepsi, but I can handle diest dr. pepper.

I have water but need drink suggestions, no coffee or tea.

Also, I eat out for lunch everyday I need suggestions.

And breakfast I usually grab something off the counter or pick up something on the way in, need suggestions there also.

When I tried this once before I would eat salami and cheese for breakfast.

I am going to be posting a lot this week, thanks in advance!

Kris

Kris,

I just recently started on a low carb diet. like you, I drank quite a bit of coke and other soda pops. I used to switch between coke, diet pepsi and diet sprite or 7-up so I could drink those if I wanted to now. Surprisingly though, I just haven't had the cravings for them. I am drinking a lot of water and that seems to satisfy me. In the past 5 days I think I have only had 2 or 3 cans of diet soda pop.

As for breakfast, if you want something quick, why not cook up some sausages and hard boil some eggs the night before. If you like cold sausages grab a couple of them and a hard boiled egg or two and you are set. You can also heat up the sausages in the microwave if you prefer that over eating them cold. So you aren't spending all your evenings cooking, cook enough for 3-4 breakfasts and keep them in the fridge. They also make good snacks.

For lunch, try salads. A a grilled chicken salad or something like that would probably do perfectly.

Some of the more experienced LCers might have more/better suggestions.

David

Hi,
Do you like to cook at all? Or you just dont have time? If the answer is yes you like to cook. You could try taking one day a week and cooking for the whole week. Breakfast lunch and din din.
If you must eat out you could always get a salad of some sort with chicken on it. Like a ceaser salad but put Ranch on it. I heard ceaser has the most carbs. Or you could get a sandwich of some sorts and just take off the bread. (I find it hard to waste bread like that.)
Now about the coke. I hated diet pops they were always too sweet. Do you like vanilla coke? If so they have a diet Vanilla Coke It's great. I dont have one everyday though maybe once in a week or so. In fact i havent had one in about a month.
Hope this helps! If not i am sure there will be someone along with more suggestions.
Toodles,

You're quitting Coke? Excellent!

Prepare yourself for withdrawal symptoms - headache, lethargy and just feeling crappy! Watch out for wanting to eat stuff with sugar. When you remove one form of sugar, eating another form can take it's place.

May I suggest that you pick a low carb plan to get you started on the right foot? Which low-carb plan is right for me?to the right of the page has all the most popular plans. It gives you a boost to understand why it's better for your physiology to low carb. You may also find this article helpful: A Bad Case of Sugar Addiction

You can do it! I used to drink gallons of Coke a day. Now the only thing I drink is water and green tea and lived to tell about it. You'll be amazed at how your tastes will change. Remember that you still have to drink water.

It seems really hard in the beginning when you think about what you are giving up, but if you shift your thinking to the benefits you'll receive - energy, fat loss, better health - you'll find it easier.

Donald's Deep Dish Pizza Quiche is great for a grab and go breakfast. HAve a look through the recipe Forums for things that appeal to you. There's plenty of things that are easy to make and great cold.

Karen

I stayed home today....

I have to give up the Coke (it is crack!), not just for health but I see how much I drink and cant believe I drink that much. I enjoy water but KNOW it wont be enough so I need to find other items to drink.

So far and it is 8:48 I have started a bottle of water and had a hard boiled egg.

I am a HUGE snacker... I see that being a problem... I snack at work and at night while watching TV. Cheese popcorn, Chex Mix, Chocolate, and Coke of course. I made sure I had all of those last night since I knew I was starting fresh today.

I read the Atkins Diet book. That is the one I am trying to follow. So I am starting the 2 week induction today. For me it sounds like a salad lunch everyday and like I said I eat out does anyone suggest a certain place and item?

Sausage was suggested am I supposed to be worried about processed meat? That is what I read and like I said last time I was eating packaged salami a lot and am not sure if that was okay. Thanks, you are all great!

2 Part Post...

I hope to heck I am not supposed to be counting carbs cause I havent been and dont want to

Celery - Can I have it during induction? I was reading a post and it mentioned celery and cream cheese

Sausage - At Safeway what do you suggest... I will read the labels but wanted to know if there was one already that everyone knew of and suggested.

Thanks!

Yes, you should be counting carbs, especially when you are starting so you get a good idea of what you are eating and how many carbs are in it. A lot of people here are using fitday.com and I reccommend it, even if all you do with it is to find out how many carbs are in various items. For instance, it says celery has 1.46g of carbs per 8" stalk, 0.68g of which is dietary fibre. So, it is not too bad to have (celery is something like 95% water anyway).

As for sausages, you'll have to read the label. Many of them have bread crumbs added. It is best to find ones that don't. Read the label to find out how many carbs are in it. Be sure to look at what a 'serving' is defined as as well.

If you want to be successful with this, yes, you do need to count those carbs, at least until you get comfortable with knowing how many carbs are in a serving of the foods you eat most often. It's also going to be important as you progress through the different phases so that you know how many grams of carb you are adding or can add as you go and eventually know what level of carb intake you can maintain at.

Celery is permitted on induction; it's listed in the list of allowed veggies and it's delicious with cream cheese although cheese is limited on induction to no more than 3-4 ounces a day.

Click here for what you are allowed

Re: breakfast you can adhere to what you think you should have and if running on the go and picking up food only eat the insides of the breakfast sandwiches OR omelettes OR you can as stated before eat anything you prepare for any meal.

Re: lunches out... salads are awesome and so good for you like chef salad (w/lunch meats and cheeses and often a HB egg), High fat dressings are allowed during induction if under 2 carbs per TBS serving - the lowest carbs are usually caesar, ranch or blue cheese or you can always have vinegar (as long as not balsamic) and oil yourself, caesar salad w/ grilled meats are good too OR burgers OR steak sandwiches (just no roll or ketchup is allowed).

Re: snacks as you can see by the link you can have a multitude of veggies, raw dipped in dressings or dips are good, pepperoni (I enjoy microwaved until crispy...

Re: diet sodas and coffee... diet sodas are ok but make sure you drink enough water which is mega important with this WOE and coffee - decaf is better because you don't have to worry about an insulin spike and cravings (but a lot of folks don't have issues with it). Just make sure you need to count the carbs with this (8oz=1 carb, half and half or heavy cream is 1 carb per oz, each artificial sweetner packet is 1 carb).

Ok... sorry for the novel.