I started low carbing in Nov 2001 (but totally wrong and without having red anything-bad I know). I lost almost 15 lbs. and then put back on 6. So now I'm ~ 127 and am 5' 1'. I know that's not huge, but I've been as big as 140 so I need to change my eating lifestyle and thought this might be good. My question is, is it like other diets (dare I say the word) where if one is smaller, the lbs. take longer to come off. Obviously, I probably won't lose 5 lbs. a week or I'd be at my goal in 2 weeks. Can this still work for me? Also, I've been geeting reciepes off the internet (although I hate to cook) and tried to make cookies w/ soy flour. Yuck! Is there a better alternative? Are there any sites that have taste test reccommendations? There are so many low carb brands, I could go broke before figuring out which ones actually taste good. thanks so much for your help.
ps. I'm not very savvy. This website alone is overwhelming!

Hi Della

I can help with a couple of your questions:

1. You have done Atkins before, so dont expect the dramatic results the second time around. It will be slower but never fear... it will still work.

2. You dont have much to loose so YES it will take longer than someone with 100 lbs to loose. You can expect to loose around 10% of your weight in the first 2 weeks {induction}

This web site has ALOT of information, but take your time and ask away..... Make this a way of life, not a diet and you'll be happy with the results.

Akiwican

Go to the Forum Jump at the bottom of the page and look for the Low-Carb Products Discussion Forums, which is where people post their reactions to low-carb products. Soy flour is pretty yuck; you might do better with a recipe that uses ground nuts.

Susan

I think I'd go one farther and recommend staying away from low carb desserts and sweet things for a while to break the carb addiction. Once you've been following low carb as a lifestyle for a while (for sure past induction), then cautiously add some low carb sweets back in and see how you react to them. I prefer not to use the term "diet" when referring to low carb. A diet is something you do for a little while to get to a desired goal, then quit. This is really a lifestyle change that you will always be doing in some form if the weight is to stay off. The weight will probably come off more slowly as you have much less to lose, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. You need to take time to really learn your new lifestyle and work through the different phases so that by the time you get to maintainance, it will be effortless and second nature to you. I assume that you have already done this, but if you haven't, GET THE BOOK and read it as often as you need to and you can always feel free to ask any question here. There are lots of really great people who can help here. Good luck!

Thanks so much for your replies. I definitely understand it's about an eating lifestyle change. Since I don't have that much weight to lose, I want to learn how so I can avoid gaining the next 25lbs over the next few years, etc. (I really am proned to put it on and I have such bad eating habits). When I first started (even though it was all wrong-no water, all cheese & meat) I had no problem sticking to it for about 4 months. Then I started to slip. I was desperate for a piece of bread! That's why I wanted to make sure I could get some decent baking down, just so I know in the future it will be availible. As soon as I get my book in the mail, I'm gonna start over with induction and do it right this time (should come w/in a week). I'm getting started on the water today. Thanks again and I will look for product recs on the site!