i started atkins 2 weeks ago and wondering if the cravings will ever really go away. i understand how addicted i am to sugar and am willing to keep trying. i do know i need support so i am grateful for finding this board. this week i am committed to getting more exercise in, i want to see more movement on the scale. i keep reading about how this diet isn't restrictive. but i feel like i am depriving myself all the time.. is that just my addiction talking? also, i get bored easily because there are a few foods i just won't eat... i hate eggs! so breakfast gets boring. and my other concern is the expense of buying atkins food. i am going to be unemployed as of june 6 and the cost of the mixes is starting to feel prohibitive. any suggestions? i don't want to give up.

Hi anais...

Yes, there are things you can do. First of all, those mixes are WAY too expensive for most of us to bother with, so I don't know too many who really use them. There are plenty of other things to cook with "legally"...

On induction especially, you want to stay away from bars, shakes, mixes, etc. The real staples of this type of eating is meats, fats and veggies...and ZIP LOCK BAGS!! If you know lean days are comin', get ready... you can make this very inexpensive. (I'm a starving student, I can relate!)

I usually catch chicken breasts on sale and stock up. Yesteday I found a HUGE beautiful cauliflour for $1.59 and cut it up and froze it. When fresh hamburger goes on sale, look out...I have it wrapped in one pound packges, and I get 3 big burgers out of it.

Burgers with a little blue cheese dressing is often a late breakfast for me when I don't feel like eggs. It can be tossed around the pan with leftover veggies and some butter and spices, etc. Be creative...no one said breakfast couldn't be lunch meat!

Now CRAVINGS...yes they went away for me after a while, but it took a lot of detoxing because I'm a carb addict truly. My body went into shakes without that stuff!

You can make yourself some sugar free jello w/whipping cream, or when you're over induction you can make a LC cheesecake and freeze individual pieces, etc.

Just tell yourself that you are learning (slowly, day by day) how to turn your old menu into a new, healthier one... there are PLENTY of LC desserts you can eat when the urge hits. Recipes for sweets and fun foods are all over this forum!

But for me, I try to keep them to a minimum because it's also the emotional eating and reaching for a "treat" that I"m trying to discourage.

Stick around here as much as you can...you'll find people (like me) whose first thought about Atkins was, "I can never eat like this the rest of my LIFE!!!"

It's so funny now, because I can't think of any other way I could possibly eat for the rest of my life...it's just taking some learning and adjustment...and NO frustration...just determination.

You're doing great....hang in there and find a way!!

Welcome, Anais!

My cravings for sugar and carbs are almost completely gone - after 3 months on Atkins I find I still "miss" some foods every now and then but the thought is fleeting - more often now I look at carby foods with disgust. The gnawing hunger for carbs is ancient history for me.

Before Atkins I was horribly addicted - 6 cans of Coca-Cola a day, plus one-two quarts of Gatorade, plus chocolate plus a pile of rice or corn at almost every meal. Sometimes for dinner all I ate was a whole loaf of garlic bread; other days I'd munch all day long on a bag of bagels.

As for the expense: the only Atkin product I tried was the Chocolate Shake and it was so wretched I threw them all out.

The most expensive foods as usually prepared foods, and since there are so few prepared foods suitable for Atkins we are spared that expense. Low-carb vegetables are key to this diet and usually not that expensive. Here in Dallas the stores have hamburger and chicken on sale regularly. Ethnic markets often have lower prices than the regular grocery stores.

Hang with it - things will get easier and you will get smaller!

i still have cravings!!! but as weeks passed.....they diminished.
I stayed true to atkins and was satisfied with the scale, so i completly restricted myself and i hardly had any cravings at all!!!
But it was all because of the bars and sf chocolate that i constantly ate!!
i ate a bar a day and at least 2 sf chocolate bars. Now, im in a stall......but before that, it was all good and i hardly had cravings
They'll go away!! just keep it up!!
GOOD LUCK~