alright, for the past few days (about a week or week and a half) i've been nothing but a non-stop pig!!!! ive been eating all low carb foods, but i mean.... A LOT OF CALORIES!!! maybe 5,000 cals a day (ive been chowing everything with mayonnaise, LOTS of mayo!!) ive been so bad!!!! do you think im going to gain from this phase??? help me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you have been keeping your carbs low enough to suppress your insulin production your probably won't gain much.

Any idea why you are eating so much?

Question for you - what's your goal weight based on? The Met Life Tables indicate that a woman your height, even with a small frame, should weigh between 120 and 133 pounds. These tables have been assembled over the better part of a century by people that have a real and serious vested financial interest in you living as long as possible. Now, certainly that's a range that is appropriate to "most" people - not "all" people, but if you don't fit into that category you want to know WHY you don't. My concern is that you might have an unrealistic and unhealthy image of what your weight should be based on what society and everyone and their brother (sister, usually) has been feeding you since before you can remember.

It maybe feels like more calories than it really is.

If you really are sticking to low carb and it is mostly protein It really is difficult to get to 5000 cals.


5000 cals would be

Tw0 16oz steaks +
Two 2lb chickens +
1/2 lb cheese +
10 tablespoons of mayo!

Could you really be eating that much?

One way of checking is to look at http://fitday.com

This is a free site and does all the counting for you. Just plug in what you eat.

First check TOM? PMS? Pregnant? No? Then consider:

Environment
Feelings
Colors
Sounds
Smells
Touch

I'm not saying to YOU TO STOP EATING, of course not, but other than during induction, Atkins is not an eat unlimited food way of eating. It is a eat enough food diet of protein with fats and low carb veggies at your CCL way of life. Atkins is supposed to be a HEALTHY change for the better. Overconsumption is never healthy even in Atkins...man cannot live on fat alone!

The fat should be making you feel full, that is why I suggest that your hunger is much more psychological or environmental than physical. But first:

IT'S YOUR BODY? What is hunger?

http://www.csun.edu/~vcpsy00h/students/hunger.htm

Here's a trick. Eat a tablespoon or so (if you can) of fat 10 minutes before every meal. Fat needs about 10-25 minutes to get to that place in your body that triggers the signal that you have eaten something and you begin to feel full. I think this is the physiological reason (if there is one) for serving a salad with fatty dressing on it before a meal is served (traditionally and in restaurants?) I'm guessing on that one, but makes sense to me.
AND
In light of the above, are you eating really fast? Slow down. Get your food and go to someplace away from where you got the food. Enjoy the food and something else at the same time. When your meal is done focus on the something else. 1-20 minutes later you'll either be full from the fat you ate. Most likely.

IT MIGHT BE YOUR ENVIRONMENT
Look around your environment. Triggers. Watching more TV than usual? If you are, you may be receiving "eat" signals during commercials! Most commercials are designed to make you hungry (commercials for food of course!)...look around you.

Check FEELINGS
Stressed? Angry? Sad? Bored? Worried? Fearful?
Here's an eating out of emotion that is never discussed...
Lonely? Unloved?

Change your environment and your mind will follow.

Colors
http://www.colormatters.com/body.html

Put on your favorite color, it might get some serotonin flowin!
But not BROWN or ORANGE...these colors are the most used colors in fast food restaurants -- studies show they make you HUNGRY and eat more! VIOLET and the blues and purples result in less food eaten. Find a violet sweater and get out of the house!

Sounds
Are you playing really fast music? Studies do show (though I can't recite which right now) that people who hear music with a high bpm (beats per minute) eat MORE in less time...and people who listen to slow bpm, like jazz or new wave music eat less during a meal (the reason for types of music in different types of restaurants for sure!).

SMELLS
Are you spending time where food smells are always around/work/mall/shoppping center? Does your house smell like last nights potroast? Clean. Food smells that linger in your home may trigger you to continue to eat. Food smells from cooking should last after the meal, but if they last into the next day you need to clean the surfaces of your kitchen. Grease does get into the air and permeates everything.

TOUCH
If you are physically uncomfortable, in pain or too hot or too cold, instead of solving these, many people reach for food. They know "something" is wrong, but don't know what and reach for food. Check that out too.


-----------Again, I know Atkins says if hungry eat, and you should, but if you really KNOW you are overdoing it, consider the above...might help. Thanks for reading all this. Maybe it helped someone else too. I'll try to find a link for that color information.

And finally - what you don't want to hear. I can see your body in the photo - you are at a healthy weight for someone your age. I know you don't see it, but I invite anyone here to disagree. Not that I'd tell you what to do or anything - it's just my observation.

Nsmith4366

NSmith....great information there! Thanks for going to all the trouble to do that much typing.

You seem to be a good size to me. That's my opinion though.

I will have to agree that you are at a good size to begin with. I don't think that you need to lose any more weight. But its not what I say or what anyone else says that will make you comfortable. You alone are the only one who can determine why you have so much discomfort. Perhaps if you excercise you will start to feel alot better. Good luck