Hi, My name is Lauren. I am 43 years old. 5ft 3 in and started atkins this monday at 170 lbs......Who knows what happened to me. I was a cheerleader in highschool and slim and fit in the national guard til I turned 30.......then all of a sudden I just didnt care about my appearance. This last weekend I took a good look at myself and decided I cant drag this fat around anymore.
I'm wondering if I can eat grapefruit and berries on the induction diet. I havent yet..........mostlly ate proteins and salads..........Also should I quit drinking tea with nutrisweet and is one cup of coffee in the morning also off limits? Lots of questions here ..................

Hello Lauren, welcome to the board. I am newer here myself, but been doing Atkins on and off for the last two years. I find this forum to be very helpful and very inspiring.

First you should take all of your measurements and not put much emphsis on the scale. I measure once a week and am seeing some good results. I am heavier than you, so I am going to lose faster than you for a while.

Next, don't give up, we all have our up and down days, that is just how it goes. On the down days, find something positive about yourself to think about and focus on.

Next, you might want to try fitday.com to enter your daily food intake and see just how many carbs and calories your getting each day. Sometimes we are getting more carbs than we should and don't even know it. Same with calories, might not be eating enough.

Have you started an exercise program yet? This is going to really help to get the weight off. You can lose without it, but its not the healthy way to eat.

Next you might want to go to the boocamp/journal section and start a journal of your own. http://forum.lowcarber.org/forumdisplay.php?f=36

Be sure to read others journals as you go through the above link, some of the stories will get you so excited, you won't know what hit you.

Here are some other good links I have found here, I am sure there are many more though:
http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=28939

http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthre...?threadid=15909

http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=175492

http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=167955

I don't think there is any fruit allowed during induction. Its best to get the book and read through it. You can try www.atkinscenter.com, it has all the induction stuff there. Good Luck to you, feel free to stop in my journal if you need anymore help.

Hello Lauren!

Welcome aboard! This is truly the most fabulous board there is. I have been here now for 6 weeks and I cannot begin to tell you how incredibly kind, supportive and most of all informative the people here are.

No, unfortunately grapefruit is not allowed on induction. Please do try to get yourself a copy of the book, there is so much information in it. You can also review all of the acceptable foods on Atkins.com.

I forgot to check to see if you've started a journal - if you haven't, please do! I find my journal to be such an excellent place to chit chat with buddies and also to sit down and lay out my feelings on the day.

Please feel free to pop over to my journal and visit anytime - I sure love the company! You can find a link to each persons journal at the end of their posts.

Well, I've rambled on long enough! Welcome again and best wishes to you!! You're doing a wonderful thing for YOU!!

Pam

Hi Lauren,

Buy a book, buy a book, buy a book....it's a great reference and you'll be loaning it out to friends when they find out how successful YOU'VE been. I created the following thread to help people new to this WOE (way of Eating). It has some good information in it that is based on my own experiences as well as the experiences of others on this forum.

http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=175492