By the way the recipe site I linked to is the best to me, especially for Atkins induction. They are simple recipes with lots of variety and Linda Sue works extra hard to make sure all the nutrition information is accurate.
Will I just ruin everything by chewing sugarfree gum?
So far I’ve managed to cut back on everything (incl. diet soda!!!) but splenda in my coffee . . . and sugarfree gum. It just is a great breath freshener and also an anxiety reliever. It’s a bit of a crutch for me to get through daily periods of high stress.
I know in a perfect world I wouldn’t chew it, but . . . thoughts?
You went from high-carb vegetarian to low-carb meat eater… you’re allowed to take it slow and have some ‘treats’, it shouldn’t hinder or halt your progress. Get gum with xylitol, it’s good for oral health.
Thanks for that link. Always looking for new recipes.
I’m a 6’ tall male. I started low carb diet in early February. I weighed about 380 lbs at the start and weighed in this morning an 354. My goal is 220. I plan on increasing my carb intake beyond induction levels once I get below 300. For now, I try to keep it under 20 grams a day.
I did cheat on the carbs once for my wife’s birthday and my weight loss stalled for roughly a week. I would really love it if I could go two meals a day no carb then a carb-rich dinner, but I don’t dare do that until I reach my target weight.
The diet is working great so far. It helps that the wife has bought in and been losing weight pretty quickly, too. The biggest complaint I have is that I do miss breads. I’m not too fond of pastas, but I’ll really enjoy being able to get some whole wheat whenever I start adding carbs into my routine.
A typical day for me involves eggs/bacon for breakfast, a low carb tortilla wrap or salad for lunch, and a high protein meat and salad for dinner. When we have to eat out, most places offer eggs/sausage/bacon for breakfast and a bunless burger, grilled chicken and/or salad for other meals work out pretty well.
I’m sure I won’t be able to keep this pace up, but if I can average a pound or two a week, I’ll be pretty happy.
Happ, I find it interesting that one day of indulgence stalled your weight loss for a week . . .
Has anyone else noticed something like this? How much “slippage” does your diet allow?
I find I get lots of two week plateaus followed by two weeks where I lose over two pounds a week. It’s very streaky. I take measurements, so I know that my body composition is changing even if my weight is not.
Drain Bead, is your body composition steadily changing even if your weight loss is “streaky”?
Another bread-like substitute is the Dukan Pancake.
Beat one egg. Add three tablespoons of oat bran and 2 tablespoons of zero-fat Greek yogurt. Add sweetener/Cinnamon for a sweet pancake, or spices for a savory pancake.
Creates a batter a bit thicker than pancake batter. Cook as you would a pancake.
They are delicious!!!
I find I lose weight in the strangest places. My stomach won’t shrink for weeks, but all of a sudden my rings start falling off my fingers and my shoes are all too big…even though I’ve always had thin hands and feet, and I still have a big belly. Great.
I did Dukan last summer and fall - I lost about 30 pounds over the course of four or so months, and I’ve kept it off so far.
Really, it taught me portion control more than anything. I was putting things in little containers, and really paying attention to how much I needed to eat to be full. Now I know that one of my medium leftover containers is a good meal for two out of three meals a day.
The thing for me about the low-carb stuff was that it was super easy if I didn’t substitute. I did baked chicken and veg - I marinated a three-pound bag of chicken in one bottle of marinade, and baked that. Dumped about four bags of frozen veg med into a dish and baked that… chopped up the chicken, mixed, and portioned. As long as I picked the right veggies, I didn’t even have to think about what I was doing. It’s made maintainence a breeze, too - I still do the same dishes, just with higher-carb veggies now (carrots, peas, beans). I can eat “normal” for a few days (usually when I’m out of town or busy at work), and I know that if I go back to my chicken-and-veg for a week or two, I’ll drop right back to my target weight.
When the diet was hard was when I was trying to substitute - making or buying low-carb versions of other foods (fake breads, pastas, etc.) They’re just complicated and they don’t taste as good.
I think pounds are an incredibly poor measure of progress on a low-carb diet. I think measurements make much more sense. Or just buying new clothes when the old ones are baggy, and admiring the changes in the mirror.
happ’s experience is typical, as many people find that they gain/retain a lot of water weight when they overeat carbohydrates. One day with plenty of ‘cheating’ or one binge can bloat you up enough that your fat loss won’t show on the scale for the next week.
A nutrient-rich low-carb diet with adequate protein totally re-compositions your body. If you’re gaining muscle and bone mass but losing fat, you’re going to reduce dramatically in size, less so or even not at all in weight. This is especially true for many women with high bodyfat percentages, who are starting out with hardly any lean mass. Go to any low-carb message board - I’ve seen women go from size 14 to size 8 and yet weigh the same.
Yes. Pants get looser and my body fat percentage is dropping. I only take my measurements once a month, but they’ve been going steadily downward.
Thanks so much for the advice and anecdotes, everyone! I’ve been having a really hard time psychologically lately, and the idea that maybe several of my (non-psych) issues have been dietary-related brightens my day.
Definitely seen an improvement on the energy. Still tired around noon-3:00 PM but not unbelievably so. I can also sleep less at night and I’m not exhausted in the morning.
So, even when I was thin and running 7-10 miles/day, I still had a belly. I’ve vaguely heard from some ppl that low carb leads to less belly fat (cause insulin causes fat storage in the abdominal area), but I was wondering if anyone in this thread has noticed this with themselves?
Not sure if anyone cares, but I thought I would copy/paste my post from another thread about my current progress:
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I have always had trouble controlling my weight and felt like I was ALWAYS hungry. Having done modified low-carb for about a week, I notice that I’m significantly less hungry, eat fewer calories, and can control my hunger better. Example: I woke up around 6:30, it’s currently 10:30, and I had 100 cals for breakfast (1 egg + 1 tbsp full-fat sour cream) around 7:30 and while I’m hungry, I absolutely can sit with it and wait till lunch.
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A low-carb diet is of necessity high fat; protein is not a suitable macronutrient for a main source of energy; it’s only useful for providing amino acids.
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While my energy levels are more stabilized on low-carb, I kind of feel “catatonic” most of the time . . . that is, I feel kind of low-level tired/depressed a lot. Not sure if this is due to the food or other factors.
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While weight loss might be controlled by calorie intake vs. expenditure, fat (adipose tissue) metabolism is strongly regulated by insulin. I don’t think that’s controversial.
I’m a med student and our endocrine lectures are coming up soon. I’m really excited to learn more about insulin in a systematic way. That being said, I really have no idea why the conventional wisdom in medicine is that people with insulin and glucose regulation problems should eat a lot of whole grains. It’s better than straight sugar, certainly, but it seems like eliminating any food that’s insulinogenic would be better.
I’ll keep this thread updated with my personal experience unless there seems to be an extreme lack of interest 
Well, I lost (and have kept off) twenty-something pounds on the Dukan Diet. It is a protein-only fast for the first part of it, and I was not hungry (though a bit moody, etc).
In my experience, for the first month or so of eating low-carb, you tend to feel sluggish, and then you go through a weight-loss stall around 4-6 weeks into the diet, and then you start losing weight again and your energy returns. Not sure why this happens, but I’ve seen other people on other low-carb boards report this pattern, and it happened to me. I’ve sometimes seen it referred to as the “low-carb flu.”
I think I’m going to allow myself coffee (half and half and one packet of splenda) for about four more weeks, until the “flu” period has passed. I have the biggest test of my life coming up in less than four months and cannot allow myself to sleep a ton every day for a month
I never did quit the coffee. If you want a slightly sweetened coffee, try coconut milk instead of cream.
I did Atkins several years ago after reaching my highest weight ever (210# I think). I also exercised (cardio and lifting) at least five days a week. The weight came off at about two pounds a week for a couple of months and then dropped to one pound a week until I was down to 185 or so. I felt great, slept great and fit into some of my old cloths. I sure missed beer though. I still limit my carb intake and have put ten or so pounds back on. Getting older isn’t for the feint hearted. I’m toying with the idea of doing it again just to see if if I can and to lose a bit of a gut. It would be nice to wear 34" jeans again.