Hi! I am new to LC way of eating. I just started a week ago. The Atkins plan. I am also a fairly newly diagnosed diabetic (Type 2). I was 227 pounds one week ago and am 220 today. I think most of it was water weight. I lost most of it the first 3 days. Now I have not lost anything else. I am also craving sweets and bread. Not as much today as last week, but still...Any suggestions on how to get over that? I am on 2 oral hypoglycemics, a blood pressure medication and hormone replacement therapy. Dr. Atkins says that those will slow down the weight loss. HELP! I am the kind of person that I have to see results fast, and steadily, or I start straying. Any hints on snacks that might help get rid of the cravings? My blood sugar has done much better in just the week I have been on it, so I do have the "want-to" to stick with it. I get the most cravings at work. I have a fairly high stress job and I have always eaten when I am either stressed, bored, or depressed. So, any suggestions that you can give me will be very much appreciated. Thanks!

chromium picolinate with meals may help with cravings and may even help with blood sugar levels; l-glutamine taken between meals also can help.

Drink plenty of water.

Keep many legal treats at work--your four ounces of cheese, sliced meats, boiled eggs, celery and cream cheese, pre-cooked bacon to warm in the microwave.

"results" mean other things than scale loss. Sizes lost, blood sugars improving, feeling more energy, skin improving, vision improving: all these are positive results. Log all the positive benefits you experience and anticipate (like perhaps living an extra ten years) in your journal, and then when you have stalls--and I don't care how old, how overweight, or what meds, I promise you you will have stalls that last far longer than four days!--you'll be able to easily remind yourself why you have switched to this way of eating and why it's worth continuing.

We didn't gain the weight in a month, and we certainly will not lose it in a month. If it makes you anxious or depressed or ready to give up when you weight often, cut back to weighing only once a month. Welcome to the board.

Cravings can go on for a very long time and the best way to deal with them is not to feed them. If you feed them with artificial sweetener or bread substitutes, you will start craving these things. What you're doing is retraining yourself.

Meditating, praying if you have a Higher Power, breathing excercises, yoga and general excercise all help to relieve stress. You'll find yourself wanting to eat over certain things and instead of taking that first compulsive bite, examine your thoughts and feelings.

I went through a horrible time when I realized that there was nothing anymore to stand in between my feelings and the rest of the world. That thing that soothed was always food. I would take a breather whenever this happened and just let myself feel angry, or sad or whatever the feeling was. Then, it would pass.

When all is said and done, you will have accomplished a very wonderful thing, and be a better and slimmer person for it.

Karen

Thanks for the information and support Razzle and Karen. I am at work right now and the urge to grab a handful of the jelly bellies that my worker next to me has is almost overwhelming. I know it is because it has been a very stressful day and the day is not even half over! But I have my water with a little lemon in it and I am sucking away on it! I know that I will feel better doing this way of eating, and although I do want to lose weight, my ultimate goal is to be a better me overall. So, I will continue and persevere! Thanks again. I will keep checking for more inspiration.