I am so pissed, I just don't know what to do anymore! I have absolutely no self control. It's like I will just think about a food and keep thinking about it until I actually eat it. I won't be able to concentrate on anything else. I try to keep busy and I try to keep bad foods away, but I will actually get in the car and go buy an atkins bar or something. I just don't know what to do anymore. I have always been like this. I will also just keep eating until I'm stuffed!! I was doing so good yesterday and then after dinner I wanted something sweet and it was down hill from there. tried eating some penuts, but I just kept eating them, it's like I need a damn babysitty to pull the food out of my hands. I don't think I will ever be able to get some will power. Sorry, I just needed to vent.

Pandora, try the Adkins candy bars. My parents have lost 100+ pounds a piece and they say the candy bars have been a god send in keeping them on the diet.

How long have you been doing Atkins?

The more you cheat, the harder it is to stay on the diet because your cravings and blood sugar swings will sabatoge you and eating carbs will make that worse.

If you're just starting out you REALLY need to not cheat. If you feel like you're obsessing on a particular food, try to find a 0 or low carb substitute for it. A lot of people will tell you not to have artificial sweeteners but if its a choice between going off the diet or having the AS, have the AS by all means!

I think you might be mentally rebelling against the restrictions of the diet. I think the way to solve that is to not get to the point where you feel deprived by the diet. That means eating meals that you find are extremely yummy. Substituting in artificially sweetened things you enjoy. If you start feeling deprived then perhaps that is when you obsess over something to eat. But the longer you stay away from sugar, the less your cravings and obsessing over carbs will be.

The longer you're on the diet without cheating, the easier it gets.

Some people have used supplements and said their cravings were less.

Poor Pandora

Just some thoughts:

Are you eating/drinking anything that could be causing cravings? Dairy, frankenfoods, coffee, and diet soda can cause problems for some.

Are you drinking enough water? Sometimes when I want to EAT in the evening, I keep a big glass of water next to me to keep my mouth busy.

Are there any foods that are more likely to satisfy you? Deviled eggs often kill my cravings, because they're SOO yummy, but very filling.

Finally, are you taking any supplements? L-glutamine is supposed to help with carb cravings, and there are others that also help, but I don't remember what they are.

Don't get too down on yourself -- we all struggle with wanting to eat more than we should! Good luck to you!

Did you guys used to get horrible cravings and be like me? I just feel like I am always going to be this way and never beat it. I am so miserable. I just feel absolutely disguseted with myself and can't even stand to look in a mirror. You think that would be enough to keep me on track but it isn't.

If you're cheating, you may not be ready to lose the weight. I am a big Dr. Phil fan, and his recent book Weight Loss Solution, really gets to the nitty gritty of determining WHY you are overweight and dealing with the issues. You really have to be ready to make a lifetime change, and this book is excellent for that. I highly recommend it.

LL

I agree with this, I went through this when I quit smoking. When I finally made up my mind I WANTED to quit (before that I just knew I needed to, but deep down I really didn't want to) I wrote on the back of a business card my top 5 reasons for quitting. My kids, my health, money etc. I had it with me always in my wallet and it helped as a crutch to pull out that card and read it instead of smoking.

Pandora23,
Your post brings back memories of my relationship with food. I thought of nothing else and could never leave food on my plate, in the bag, etc... I was constantly hungry and never satisfied. I was thinking of my next meal before I was done with the one I was eating.

Atkins has helped me learn what works for me over the last year. It has taken a long time of experimenting and also learning from this chat site.
1. I drink water all day long.
2. I take vitamins.
3. I exercise every single day.
4. Every day my total food intake is 70% fat, 25% protein and 5% carbohydrates (I use fitday.com to get the calculations).
5. I count calories and eat only my Basal Rate (can be calculated on fitday.com - Note:it also changes as one loses weight).
6. I don't eat sugar alcohols because my body treats them as carbs and I get ravenous for food. It took me about 6 months to face up to the addiction and give them up but once I did my life became so calm because food was no longer controlling me. If I want something sweet I drink Diet Rite or a little heavy whipping cream with some Sugar free Davinchi syrup.

Keep experimenting to find what works for you and good luck.

Strictgirl,
Your info is wonderful! Would you please post a menu of a typical day?
Thanks!

pandora honey, start a journal so we can all post in it and give you good morning hugs and such, it makes a huge difference to get the support you need here.. there are some awesome people here and if you have a journal... =0) we can keep track of you and give you support there.. it's a pretty special thing =0) huggs to you girl... you are ok... =0) start a journal today...

barbara

If it's physical, you need to stay away from the food so the blood sugar will stabilize. Whenever I experiment with new foods now that I'm on maintenance, I find occasionally something will drive me crazy with hunger and cravings, and the only thing to do is stay away from that food.

If it's mental, then you still have to stay away from the food, but one thing that helped me was to GO THROUGH THE FEELING. I'll explain:

I want XX (fill in your own blank next time you have a craving.) You imagine eating XX, and I want you to really enjoy it. Keep on imagining eating it.

Okay, you think this will make you jump in a car and drive to the nearest convenience store. (I've been there...I once cut a coin collection out of their little envelopes to get the food I was craving as a teenager. I'll never forget the cashier innocently saying, "Gee, these coins are so shiny.")

But you don't get stuck there, which is what makes you run off to the car. Just as easily as you can imagine how good it tastes, you have to GO THROUGH THE FEELING and follow it to the end.

Imagine eating it past the point where it tastes good. Imagine eating it until you've got that bloated, stuffed, headachey, fuzzy teeth feeling. Imagine how you'll feel afterwards,

GOING THROUGH THE FEELING means you are also imagining you sitting on the couch, with wrappers around you, and crumbs on your lap, and feeling lousy about yourself. Give this part of the feeling as much time as you did fantasizing (and that's what you are doing, goodies solve nothing) about the food you only think you want to eat.

Then decide, now that you've come to the end of this FOOD feeling that was only distracting you, what it is that is really on your mind. And then you have to deal with that.

The bars made me crave more bars - I had no cravings until I started eating those and then I found myself driving to the grocery store at night just to get a bar...which is odd because the don't taste very good. Here is some interesting commentary about the sugar alcohols. I think we should all be wary of these, especially if cravings persist and weight loss is slow:

"In the 1998 version of the book, Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution, it states:
" Sweeteners such as sorbitol, mannitol and other hexitols (sugar alcohols) are not allowed, nor are any natural sweeteners ending in the letters -ose, such as maltose, fructose, etc."

Where in the 2002 version this was eliminated and the recommendation now read: ..."Although it is important that you eat primarily unprocessed foods, some controlled carb food products can come in handy when you are unable to find appropriate food, can’t take time for a meal or need a quick snack. More and more companies are creating healthy food products that can be eaten during the Induction phase of Atkins."

Where prior to 2002 Atkins' specifically restricted any use by those on Induction of these ingredients - they were now allowed in the 2002 revision.....there was no new science to show properties of the ingredients to suggest they should be dismissed as having a carb value to count. The only real change going on was that Atkins Nutritionals and other companies (like EAS, Think Thin, etc.) were all growing their lines of controlled-carb products."


Here is the link:

http://members.shaw.ca/myatkins/sugar.htm

Not always, but often, cravings are caused by something you ate or drank earlier in the day. Is it possible that you are eating hidden sugars?

If you don't have it in the house, it's that much harder to eat. Keep a supply of GOOD snacks on hand--cheese sticks, deviled eggs, etc. That way when you get hungry you'll have the right foods to eat.

Well, I probably have a different way of looking at it then most. Before I started, I knew I needed to know what was out there that I could fall back on when I had a craving. I figured this was a life change but I also knew that I am the same person with the same cravings and those just don't disappear overnight. So I took a couple months and tried all the LC goodies I could find. Now that I know they're there, and if I need to I can buy them. I am not so tempted by it. It's there and if my TOM is coming then I may go for it. I always make sure I stay under 15gm sugar alcohols /day and I don't stall. That allows me to have some bites of this, and bites of that with a cup of coffee/whip cream and sugar alcohol free sweetner. The coffee fills me up/like a glass of water would, the cream helps too cuz of the fat. I savour each little bite and take it slow. It does the trick for me. Plus when I was craving alot I used the dieters advantage pills. Now they're in my cupboard and I don't use them as much cuz I don't need them. Hope that helps. Good luck, Annie