No one hates you...they are just concerned. You have a problem with food and you need to address it or it will only get worse. Trust me, I speak from experience.

I only read the first 2 pages of this thread but one thing I wanted to say, if its not already been said is that its NOT unreasonable for a girl 19 years old and just 5 foot tall to want to weigh 107, in fact many girls that age weigh even less than that at a healthy weight...that being said...she does go about it all wrong and appears to have not even read the book or else she would know to eat about 20 net carbs a day on Induction and not try to do a 'no carb' diet....not to mention the only eating once a day thing.

Luvely, I think you may be operating under some misconceptions here that need to be cleared up:

The first one being that eating a little bit only once a day is a guaranteed way to lose weight. It's not. Doing this sends a clear message to your body that a famine has begun and that it must do everything possible to hold onto what it has; to do this it will quickly turn down your metabolism to survive on less and you may find that once you reach your goal weigt doing this that you will have to eat less than before to maintain that weight. Eating regularly (at least once every 5 waking hours) signals your body that there is plenty of food available even if the calories are lowerd.

The second one seems to be that any weight loss is good weight loss. Again, that's not true. If you are not getting enough nutrients (protein, fat, vitamins and minerals) your body will take what it needs from wherever it can find it...usually your own body. You need to ask yourself if being thinner is worth having dull, dry hair (and less of it), dry sallow skin, less muscle tissue and less calcium in your bones and teeth. If it isn't, then you need to eat in a way that at least meets your minimum requirements for all of these things which means eating protein, fats and vegetables in a good variety and taking a multivitamin. If you lose eight pounds, but most of that is muscle because you weren't getting enough protein, you will be lighter but probably not look noticeably different. Several people have provided you with links to websites that spell out specifically what you need to do to follow a low carb plan in a safe and healthy manner. Please read those links and follow the very good advice you've already received.
Contrary to popular thinking, low carb is not a crash diet to lose weight quickly. With only 8 pounds to lose, it may take a few months to reach that goal. Trying to do it in 2 weeks is counterproductive and unhealthy.

Luvely, while 107 pounds is not an unreasonable goal for someone who is 5 feet tall, I'm very concerned about your comments about hating your body at 115 pounds and being disgusted when you look in the mirror in the morning. You appear to have some issues with body image that would benefit from being addressed by a trained professional; your reaction to your body at 8 pounds over where you would like to be is extreme for the small amount of weight that you would like to lose. It's this kind of thinking that can and does lead to eating disorders, if you are not there already, and your extreme limiting of food in attempting to lose weight tells me that you may be headed down that slippery road already; your boyfriend and dad have good reason to be concerned. Please see if there are resources in your area that are available to help you develop a healthy self-image that is not tied to a clothing size or a number on the scale. Your school counselor might be a good place to start. Otherwise, check your local yellow pages for free or reduced-fee counseling services.

People here are more than willing to give you advice and support, but you also need to do some homework yourself since you are the one that needs to apply it to your menus every day. The links to the Atkins website should be able to provide you with the basic information that you need, but the book gives you far more detail and a good explanation for why you need to do certain things (like not eat zero carbs, for instance).

Hi, Luvley!

I don't know if you're still going to come back to this thread but I read it all the way thru and wanted to just let you know that we care.

If you decide to start today, how about posting any ideas of what you're going to eat today and ask for some feedback? That might be helpful to you in the first few days or else you could visit people's journals and just look and see what people are eating on Atkins.

FYI: I eat 3 meals a day and usually some kind of snack. Breakfast is usually bacon and eggs, lunch is a big, big salad with romaine lettuce and spinach, leftover meat like chicken or steak or else tuna, cucumbers and full fat dressing. Dinner is usually meat and a veggie like broccoli, cauliflower or green beans with lots of butter snack is usually nuts, sf jello or a piece of cheese, diet coke...

Take care and a big HUG out to you, honey!

Nicole

Hello..and good Morning everyone!...

I am starting over today...i am actually eating my breakfast right now..i am eating scrambled eggs with candian bacon, and a glass of crystal lite...how does that sound?

Sounds lovely Luvley (:lol

You can do it!
Beebuzz

Good news, Luvley!

What's planned for lunch and dinner? and snacks in between?

Don't count calories right now...if you are doing Induction, the first three days can be an adjustment, and calorie-counting can make it harder...just eat when you are hungry...be sure to eat every 3-5 hours...you'll soon teach that metabolism who's boss!

Lucy

Is it okay to eat a good breakfast and a good lunch but only eat a jello for dinner?.....im not sure what ill eat for lunch..maybe some chicken peices with broccoli?..is that okay??

Chicken and broccoli is perfect - you could even dip the broccoli in ranch dressing if you want

Why skip dinner? You could have something smaller/lighter - it doesn't have to be a big dinner but you should have something. Remember that starvation thing that was talked about? In order to make your metabolism work properly it needs to know that there's a steady supply of nutrition and calories coming in. Otherwise, your body will think you're in a famine and food isn't available so it has to hold on to every calorie you take in. If your body knows, thru habit, that you're going to feed it on a regular basis it's more likely to go ahead and burn those cals because it 'knows' more will be coming so your body will have fuel to burn Does that make sense??

You're off to a great start, Luvley! Congratulations on loving yourself enough to work on healing yourself

Nicole

Hi Luvly,

You don't know this, but your body eats your muscle tissue for energy if you don't keep enough protein in your system to satisfy its needs while in a ketogenic state. Since your body cannot store protein like it stores fat, you need to replenish it in your meals. It will keep your fat right where it is, because the body does not like to give up its fat stores, especially if it thinks there's no more food coming (starvation mode).

Jello is not a meal. It is a snack, and a poor choice because it has absolutely no nutritional value. It's like asking if a glass of air is OK for a meal.

I'm also not going to address your emotional issues any longer. If you take this as an attack, please understand it is not. It is your damaged self image that turns all these posts into attacks on you. We're not therapists, and some come off sounding harsh. This forum is full of folks who care, but some of us don't express sympathy well.

Just my 2c (again)
Vicky

Luvey;


It is okay to eat breakfast, lunch AND DINNER, limiting you food does not equal weight loss, please go to Atkins.com and read the method behind this woe, if you don't follow the methods, how can you expect to benefit from this woe.

Well, Luvley, it depends...what are your parameters for this plan? I mean, are you trying to do Induction (to get into ketosis to begin weight loss), or OWL (slower weight loss), or pre-maintenance? or even maintenance? You need to decide how many carbs you plan to eat in a day, and try to aim for that number. It is not a matter of "the fewer carbs the better." On Induction, the goal is 20 carbs. For OWl, you increase your carbs by 5g/d a week at a time, adding certain food groups in order (see DANDR)--it's called the "carbohydrate ladder," until you reach a point where your weight stays stable, and then you back off 5 g/d. People have very different carb levels they can tolerate and still lose; men tolerate more in general, and exercise hikes it up a lot. Some folks skip Induction and just reduce their carbs--they pick a number that might work for them and go from there--if they don't lose weight after a couple of weeks, they lower the carb level...it would be good if you told us what your plan is.

Broccoli is fine on induction, but limited to one cup (if you have not had more than 2 cups of lettuce during the day).

Jell-O is not a good meal. It is more of a snack. Try to get into the habit of three meals--even if they are small--I know that you are adjusting from the "food is bad, calories are bad, the less I eat the better" mentality--we all had to do that too!

How about a hard-boiled egg or two for dinner? Or if you are sick of eggs, maybe some cold cuts (not prepackaged, they are filled with starches and badness--from the deli counter)--a roll-up of roast beef and lettuce, for example. Or you can roll up RB and cheese--Induction specifies hard cheeses like swiss or cheddar. Or you can have a small piece of meat (steak, chicken) or fish.

Embrace the fat! in your food. It is your friend on a low-carb diet. Also, try to eat your carbs. It can be hard--but how about a salad for dinner? With strips of RB and cheese and bacon bits, mushrooms and tomato? You can put regular dressing on it--NO "lowfat" dressings, they are full of carbs to replace the fat--try carboptions dressing or I use Hidden Valley Original Ranch--it is has one carb and I find that 2 tbs is too much!

A nice meaty salad is a good way to get your carbs in. And it is not so heavy at dinnertime that you feel "weighed down."

Lucy

okay then... this is just so hard to adjust already but im going to take all the advice i can....maybe you are all right maybe im not sure what this diet exactley means....i will get the book..i do have atkins for life..is that a good book?....

DANDR (Dr Atkins New Diet Revolution) is better, IMO.

Good girl, Luvley! The more informed you are the better!

Lucy

I would recommend the Dr. Atkins New Diet Revoultion, too. Please read it. It will tell you a lot, hon!