SHould I be afraid that I am taking in too much? Because of past eating disorders, i am not in touch with my hunger. I am not eating until i am stuffed but i am hungry most of the day so i eat eggs with cheese or bacon, or ham or celery and cucumbers and hamburger patties. but i see people's sample induction menus and i am eating same food but double!! when does this hunger go away? I am on day 3 and afraid and I am going to balloon on this diet!!

Hi Eattoomuch,

Congratulations on choosing a healthy way of eating!

I truly wouldn't worry about overeating at first. Despite your history of EDs, you'll almost certainly find that your appetite settles in the next few days.

Are you eating plenty of fat? Butter on your vegies, mayo with salads and so on. Fat is the best way to sate apettites.

How about starting up a journal here so we can check how much you are actually eating? Don't be shy, we won't be shocked, I promise.

Happy low carbing!

Rosebud

Thank you so much for the response. I am putting olive oil in just about everything I cook and eating the yolks (big deal for me!!) Today I ate:
3eggs and 2oz cheese, 1 sausage
1 meat patty and 2 eggs
2 meat patties and celery and cucumbers with oil
Cheese and brisket and 1 cup of greens with oil
tuna with mayo, egg, and bacon (4 pieces)and last oz of cheese
2 glasses of crystal lite
1 cup of tea with splenda

That doesn't sound like too much at all!

Just keep going and you WILL lose those pounds. Do bear in mind though, that because you don't have a huge amount to lose, it may take longer than you think.

Remember too, that this is a WOL (way of life) not a diet. You are improving your future health immeasurably by eating this way.

Do you know about www.fitday.com ? It's a free site where you can keep track of your carbs, calories, fat etc.
This thread Fitday.com How To's gives some hints on making it a bit easier to use.

Cheers, matey.

Rosebud

I'm on my fourth day and have a history of ED's so I know exactly what you're talking about. My hunger triggers were gone when I started... But I seem to be slowly getting more into a routine about it and figuring out what works for me. I think this will happen for you as well. Also, you're probably just used to eating so much as well and you don't have much to lose so it's going to happen slowly no matter what.

Good luck with this new WOL!

I mean <b>not</b> used to eating so much!

Thanks for the great support. I have been in other chatrooms and they are so unsupportive because i dont have too much to lose, but i have gone up and down (by ALOT- both anorexic and compulsive overeater/bulimic) and want a way of life, not a diet. i know where I look and feel healthy.. so thanks for not ridiculing me for that.
as for not enough- well, i actually just went down and had an omelette as well. So most of you say you eat, say, an omelette in the morning, salad and chicken with cream at lunch, and for dinner maybe a steak and veggies.
I had like 6 of those meals, and they arent small. do you still think that i will be ok??? i feel satisfied now but none of this made me overstuffed. i really want to feel comfortable with this, i am terrified of ballooning (like I said, i have gained 2-3 pounds since I began..i know it cant be all fat..but not the way the scale should go). thanks.

WOw!! fitday is so cool . thanks for the recommendation. sure enough, i am eating close to 2600 calories!! 1000 over what i should to keep where I am . so i guess i better start paying attention to calories and not just eating .. although i am at 21 carb grams..and most calories are from fat..

hi
i'm just starting out 2 trying 2 find a healthy way of eating. i was anorexic 4 3 years (4st at my lowest) and then turned 2 bulemia which has progressively taken my weight up 2 9st. i wish u all the luck in the world and hope that this woe works 4 both of us. today is the first day in 8 months that i havn't made myself sick and i feel really proud.

Hi eattoomuch!

I totally relate... my first attempt at Atkins I over ate & gained weight... too much meat, mayo, cheese etc., then I discovered fitday.com and some helpful tips like only eatting 6oz of protein per meal with 1 serving of fat. And while on induction I rarely have cheese. So far, so good. I'm on day 17 & I lost 2 pounds.

The best part about LC living is now I force myself to eat 3 meals a day & I'm eatting between 10 - 12x my weight in calories... which beats the "lets only eat 800 calories & drink diet coke diet!"

I dig LC living! viv

Ok, so really we do have to watch our calories. I will make a point of trying to keep it closer to 1500 calories. I will cut out my cheese and stay with smaller servings of protein, but you know this is alot how i used to try to eat ( i am in fitness and understand the importance of protein for the muscles) I just thought this diet would help me stop counting calories and enjoy life..im starting to wonder. my hunger is still there. the three pounds are still there..

You dont have to make your protein portions smaller if you are eating lean meat. Its the fatty meat that will make the calories so much higher. You are right, you do need lots of protein if you are weight training and some extra carbs too.... you probably wont be able to do it on 20g carbs.

Akiwican

Hi eattoomuch!

How's the hunger going? Try eatting more fat. I try to keep my fat % at 60-70% and that pretty much takes care of any hunger pains.

viv

Hi eattoomuch! I agree with Rosebud that the appetite will settle in a few days. I entered into this WOE after 25 years of bulemia and it is mind-boggling how much it has done for me! After the initial 'eat everything in gross quantity' stage there does come a point when the ravenous hunger goes away. I personally haven't had a binge day since I got started seriously LCing - and I never thought I'd see the day I said that! Like Akiwican said, don't cut the lean protein - you need it for the weights. Don't panic - things will settle down for you and I'm sure you'll be as thrilled with this WOL as I am!!! And while the weight does come off VERY slowly when there's not much to lose, with the weight training you'll be seeing new muscle definition that will make that worth it! Getting rid of fat deposits and gaining muscle definition is (sometimes) even better than losing weight. I'm getting muscle definition now that I never achieved even though I've been doing the same type workout for 8 or 9 years - LCing made all the difference

I second what others say and want to add that it's too early to start counting calories. Atkins is not a calorie counting diet, and though it's not wise to eat way above the recommended amount for your body, doing it for a few days while your body changes the way it processes food is FINE.

I remember insatiable induction hunger and urge you to eat good protein, fat, and veggie snacks and tough it out. I'm pretty sure it's likely to go away. Your body is very confused and just needs some time to sort it out.

Hope you're doing better.

Angela