Hi All;
I have a headache...I am feeling "mean" as in irritable.

I am tired of the things I am having for lunch...I am HUNGRY still, most afternoons...an STARVING RIGHT NOW...I am fine with breakfast and dinner, but LUNCH is causing me problems.

I do NOT want to COOK lunch.
I do NOT want eggs for lunch as I have them for breakfast.
I am sick of Tuna and chicken salad...can have them once each per week for lunch but after that do NOT want to repeat. So, I have 5 days where I need LUNCH!

PLEASE give me some lunch ideas!!!
I am on strict induction (will be one month Saturday) and I am BORED about lunch.
I want "EASY"...no hassle...like in the "old days" you could make a peanut butter and jelly sandwhich and grab a glass of milk...EASY...or you could make a Salami Sandwhich..EASY...

I need EASY LUNCH, no cooking...no hassle...no eggs, tuna or chicken salad (already have them).

I am SO sick of LUNCH that I have been very hungry well before dinner and now I am ready to BINGE!!!!
What are you all eating for INDUCTION lunch?
Best to all;
STARVING Jake

hi mammoth,
Lunch for me is a big pain because I usually just get home and the last thing I want to do is cook! What I do is cook up a huge batch of chicken wings early in the week, and then just come home grab a buncch and my blue cheese dressing. I sometimes pop them in the microwave for a few minutes but I really like them cold. I also do the same with meatballs.
I have no problem eating them cold.... I don't know about anyone else though??
lots of luck, hope you get great ideas

Go to your nearest deli. Buy some sliced roast beef, slices of cheese, and roll them up. YUM! You can even put some mustard on. But I guess if you're on strict induction you may need to watch the amount of cheese. Do you happen to have leftovers from dinner - or make extra at dinner - that you can bring for lunch? No extra cooking required.
I also like to get those shrimp cocktail rings from the store and have those minus the cocktail sauce provided. I use either sugar free ketchup or mayo mixed with a little wasabi to dip them in. Also try one of the pre-prepped salads - should be able to at least find ceasar, chef, or greek as options.

Do you have a bento place nearby? Get some chicken or beef bento (Meat on a stick) minus the rice.

Other ideas:

-Smoked salmon and cream cheese roll ups.
-Celery sticks dipped in ranch.
-meat and cheese wrapped in a LC tortilla (small ones are 3g net usually)
-sashimi
-do a BK or McD's drivethru and get a bacon cheeseburger or two minus the bun.

Hope that helps.

Meatballs...GREAT...I will make some tomorrow...a HUGE batch using pork rind breadcrumbs...

Shrimp cocktail is a great idea too...but it won't come close to filling me up.

I HAVE GOTTEN MORE AND MORE HUNGRY as time has passed...I am doing OK...losing weight slowly etc...but I am VERY aggrevated about being hungry. I kow I am NOT supposed to be hungry...but the days of suppressed apatite have come and GONE...and I do NOT cheat on my induction.

Dailey calories average 2250...about 70% from fat...I am geting in my 3 cups salad/veggies...doing it ALL the right way...but STARVING.

I am just so damn sick of the "usual" tuna etc....
Today for lunch I had:

1/4 lb burger patty COLD...YUCK
1 deviled egg (yum)
1 oz baby swiss
big glass of water.
THATS IT.
MAN...I have been HUNGRY and need ALOT more to eat then that.
I eat a snack mid afternoon...but again...same old same old...usually another damn egg w/mayo...

I want HAM, Salami, Roast Beef....but ham is too much sodium for me...salami has sugar and nitrates....roast beef I have to make my own (soon) but them I don't have a deli-slicer and it is just NOT the same....

I AM BORED with lunch.
I can tolerate breakfast being passee' and I LOVE dinner, as there is so much room to be creative and have your dailey "meat" so to speak...damn lunch....
Best to all;
Mean Jake

LOL, Jake you remind me of me when I have cravings for stuff I can't and shouldn't have!! At least I can blame it on pregnancy, hee hee.

Now...I just ate Atkins Pancakes (which I was keeping for emergency)...and now I feel like I cheated as they are not exactly INDUCTION food. They were GREAT,,,I made the serving listed...but I am STILL VERY HUNGRY. I am about ready to go make the whole damn bag and load it with BUTTER and Atkins crap syrup.

Man...I am mean when I get this hungry.

Maybe my problem is NOT so much lunch...but that I need to raise my calories to around 10,000 per day?

Best to all;
Bad-Mean-Hungry-Jake

I most often have salads for lunch.

I cook up a pound or two of the little chicken tenders (tenderloin) each week and put them on top of spinach, caesar or mixed salads.

You can get really creative with salads - some people seem to think salad=lettuce. Mine have romaine or leaf, cucumber, radish, cauliflower bits, thin slice of onion, red pepper, etc.

I also cook up sausage meat and keep it in the fridge (like Italian or chorizo) and then put it on top of spinach salad with sauteed mushrooms, onion, olives, sun-dried tomatoes and asiago. You can cook the mushrooms in advance too - but that and the sausage is best warm so use your microwave. A delicious dressing can be made for the top by mixing a bit of mayo, and the olive oil from your sun-dried tomatoes. So yummy.

I know salads can seem like a pain in the butt, but if you get some Ziploc bags with veggies cleaned and prepped once a week they actually go together really fast. I can make a big salad (using prepared veggies) in the time it would take to make a P & B sandwich -- no problemo!

Chicken wings cooked in advance with some celery sticks is another option.

I switched from eggs to protein shakes (1 scoop of Whey protein, .5 c plain, full fat yogurt, bit of frozen berries, ice) in about week 3 for my breakfasts. That freed up eggs for other parts of the day, when for some reason they are more palatable. Don't like eggs first thing in the AM! (Did all this while remaining at Induction levels, by the way. Nearly 4 months in and still losing great!)

Karen's Vegetable Cream Soup from the recipes page is also a good lunch, and can be made in advance. Very low carb. Easily reheated in the micro.

Leftovers from dinner are good, too. Just make extra the night before.

Hope that gives you some ideas. You're doing great! I love your attitude -- it's the key to your inevitable success!

K.

what about things like hotdogs? they are usually 1 g carb each, though they are salty. try spicy foods- pepperoni and slim-jims may not be a whole lot to eat, but i find that the spice really supresses hunger. i know you'd like to avoid chicken salads- but try adding some variety to even that- so you dont abandon it forever. Bacon chicken salad is one of my faves. also, try deviled egg salad, or other versions of egg salad. when you have your bland breakfast, boil some eggs up so you can make egg salad for the next days' lunch. if you ahve steak with dinner, cook up some extra, and maybe sautee onions and green peppers- add a little cheese and mayo, and you have a steak sub (minus bread)
or try steak strips dipped in light vinegar with cucumbers.

i hope some of this helps.

Meant to add, Jake, maybe you SHOULD up your calories. Dr. A says never go hungry. You're at the minimum 10x your goal weight. I'd go up to 12 x your goal weight.

Some people even use the 10-12x current weight and still lose well, though that was not my experience.

I didn't really think about calories at all in the first month. Focus on keeping carbs low, and eat until you are satisfied. Otherwise, it will be much harder to stick to plan. You have time to assess calories later if you feel you are not losing as you would like.

K.

Oh -- and re: the salami, etc. If you eat it in moderation (due to nitrates) the sugar contained in it likely won't do you any harm.

I eat landjaeger (dry salami) frequently with no cravings or adverse affects. Ditto pepperoni, which is good sliced and baked until crisp as is kielbasa and other sausage. These make a nice, satisfying lunch. Not every day as the salt can add to weight retention, but still enjoyable. Kielbasa and canned sauerkraut is a quick lunch, easily done in the micro.

Best of all . . . for me, intense hunger ALWAYS precedes a loss. Keeping my fingers crossed for you!

Okay, I'll stop now....

Kaillean: Thanks so much for all your suggestions! I will try it.
I am just surprised at myself right now...this is the first I have felt "down" about what I am doing. I guess I must be craving carbs but do not logically understand why. I have been like the perfect Atkins-ite, a real poster child for atkins...and I am angry that I would be hungry when I am not "supposed" to be...
I am angry that I would be craving carbs...but as I really want pizza, peanut butter, italian pastries etc, I suppose I am craving carbs.

I am having a VERY bad time right now. I would suppose I should just go EAT untill I am in a coma, but do it with STEAK which is at least allowed.

I am just bummed and not feeling like "Jake".

Best to all;
anonymous

Jake, trust me, we ALL have days like that. I had two weeks like that last month!

Just hang tough. It will pass. This is the time to allow yourself a small indulgence (with legal food) that will help curb those cravings. Your Atkins pancakes sound good. An early fave of mine was .5 cup of strawberries with devon cream. So sweet! I added that twice a week in about week 3 or 4.

You can also make a faux float with crushed ice, diet soda and a few tablespoons of heavy cream.

Fat is what curbs my cravings -- but in some delicious form! Nuts are good for this, especially macadamias.

I know that you plan to continue on Induction for a while yet, but you might consider adding in some new foods. You can do this and still stay at 20 carbs. I did, and so do many others on this forum. The extra variety really helps with cravings. And while veggies are reccomended first on the carb ladder, I was already eating veggies so I skipped to nuts and berries. And in DANDR, the Dr. said that they were often the first foods he told patients to add in.

The peanut butter cups in the recipe forum are also a nice treat once or twice a week. I get 8 cups out of the batch and so they come out to 2.7 net carbs each, using natural peanut butter.

Hope hunger means a whoosh for you!

Hey its going to be allright...
as a woman I have experienced the mad food craving at least once a month every month since I was 12 years old.
Here is a good strategy-drink a ton, I mean a ton of water-like 2 quarts. Try chugging it if you cant get it down!
And today I bought a big head of romaine lettuce for chicken ceasar salad- I decided to use the large leaves to make a sandwich and it was great!! They do that it Vietnamese restaurants-use lettuce leaves instead of egg roll wrappers and it totally works. It works on burgers too. Just need a large leaf which Romaine usually has a bunch of.
All will be well !!!

Prolonged induction is not necessarily good, especially if the lack of variety is making you hungry and mean to boot. Once you hit ketosis and stay in it - the time has come for a change.

Move on to OWL. Add nuts, berries, a bit more cheese, a few more tasty veggies w/ butter. Cream & cream cheese. Some low-carb beer. Treat yourself - you've done great!

This is not a "suffering" diet (that's for the low-fat folks, and they are welcome to it), and you can stay on OWL for a long time if necessary.

Jake....I still think you need to eat more. I am all for counting calories when needed (I do it)..............but, it appears to me that you are sticking to strictly to the 10X goal weight as your calorie limitation. You've been hungry for a while here, and I'd hate to see that your body is saying EAT MORE and putting you into starvation mode (no fat loss) because it's not getting enough.

Inevitibly, that will happen......so, I'd say, go with 12X your goal weight. You are a big guy and can definitely use more calories and still lose well. Don't put yourself in the position of having eaten too little for too long and going into starvation. Better to up the calories a little to stave off YOUR starvation (hunger) and your BODY'S starvation (mode---stopping fat loss)!!

As for hunger, I find that the best remedy is a very high protien snack. While chewing on a small bit of steak doesn't sound like a great snack, once eaten, you never know the difference and the high protien & fat truly quench hunger.

Oh, and I wanted to mention this to everyone....on a related note....I have been taking Adkins "Dieters Advantage" supplement. It's intended to quench hunger pangs. IT WORKS! The label says to take 2 tablets 2x per day. I take 3 tablets with each meal. Since I've had to lower my calorie intake (to 12X goal weight approx), it has been a life saver!

Hang on!!!