AngelaR,
Thanks for input here and in my journal, nice to know I'm talking to people close to my age, don't know exactly why but feel more comfortable, I have a 21 year old that swears she needs to lose weight and I'd give anything to look like her, heck I looked exactly like her at 21 I think that has been my kick start it's eiry looking at a young you and remembering...
I'm at work and it's slow so I can visit, I probably will have weird hours. I'm the boss i can visit anytime.
So sorry to hear about your migranes never had one don't even get headaches unless I'm sick, which doesnt happen very much. Dark, quiet , no one around is what I hear everyone needs with those! I'll pray for you!
I brought a salad today, almost always eat one large salad a day but this is serious induction, gonna do it right, & really must be the Atkins supplements! I've NEVER eatten so little!
Ketois is at moderate already! that is the highest I went into Ketoises since starting so if I go past that I will really start to get the hang of it, I hope.
thanks for writing me. Hubby will probably start when I really start losing weight but right now I feel all alone. I'm really doing this for me so it's okay but look forward to interaction. Never used the computer for a chat or anything, I'll ask my 17 year old to help with some of this stuff. She's even takin a computer class in college this semester, one of those have to classes. She has taken all the stuff she's good at Eng. & History and now into Algebra & biology. so and easy computer class will be a no brianer for her.
thanks again Lynn ( ps is it more confusing signing my name, LYNN verses my "call name tanmasters"

Angela

So sorry to hear about the migraine. DH & DD's used to suffer with them. Lucky for them they all outgrew the problem. The nausea just made it all so unbearable.
Still doing OK and at 140. Been counting carbs and added atkins ice cream. It's OK, but I didnt check the price before I got it. Way..... too expensive. Over a dollar a serving. won't do that again. My sweet cravings are back too. Guess i better stay straight, because I don't like the cravings.

Lynn- thanks for joining us. congratulations on the weight loss. Maintaining is excellent proof you are committed to changing your lifestyle.
Like you I'm getting better at maintaining, but now I want that scale to start moving down. My immediate goal is to break 140 by next Friday. We are going for an overnight this weekend and I will really have to watch it. Probably will share some wine with DH, but can't let it loosen my resolve. I'll just have to make sure there is no junk food in the room and no change for the candy machines!!!! Maybe I'll pick up an Atkins candy????

Have to head off to work.. so good luck to you all today.
Connie

Dear all,

Welcome, Lynn (tanmasters). Nice to have you here.

Connie, Congratulations on reaching 140 lbs. You worked hard and you got what you deserved...in a good way! Fantastic!! BTW, thanks for the tip on the flaxseed and physillium powder or husks.

AngelaR, how did your salmon loaf come out the other night?
I can sympathize with you on those headaches--my husband used to get extremely bad migraines. Right now he's coping with RSD, which is a chronic pain condition -- an unbelievably painful and unrelenting condition. Most pain medication even in megadoses is not effective at all for him.
I may not be stalled in the technical interpretation but for me I am. Usually I can lose about 1 lb. a week -- and that was on a regular diet with just smaller portions.

Hi, Weimom! How is it going for you?

I have to be a bit brief or maybe the word is "breezy". Last week I was speaking to a woman at the swimming pool. She was interested in "food" and its affect on cholesterol and reads everything she can but she does not have a computer at home. I promised her I would print some of the articles we spoke about and promised to give it to her tomorrow. Now I have to refind them.

Food, food, food--I am not doing as well as you all in keeping carbs down to 40 grams. I am finding that impossible. I will try a bit harder or perhaps I will exercise harder.

You are welcome to review my past post with my fitday address.

You all take care....talk to you soon!

Happy LCing!

Jeanne48

Hello ladies! I would have joined you sooner...but I just found this thread. There's a lot of stuff on this forum to browse thru!

I'm 47 years old and just started Atkins about 3 weeks ago. To give you a little background, I used to be pretty active physically and that kept most of the excess weight at bay, but about 5 years ago I remarried and my lifestyle changed and the pounds started creeping on and in 4 years I went from 140 to 180 . I finally said enough is enough and got real serious this past year and took off almost 20 lbs... but I did it the hard way. Low fat, low cal, didn't eat anything after 6pm, and excercised my tail off (literally!) Drawbacks were I was still hungry all the time, and all that exercise has taken its toll on my joints. Torn cartilidge in my right knee and either arthritis or bursitis in my left hip. Most days it hurts just to walk across the room let alone around the block...forget 30-45 minutes of cardio. I've also been taking all the above-mentioned supplements to try to treat that...Glucosamine-Condroitan, MSM, fish oil, etc...with little effect. Anyway, I decided to try Atkins after my sister-in-law lost 25 lbs in 10 weeks on it.

I've followed induction pretty faithfully for about 3 weeks now and am pretty disappointed that I've only dropped about 3 lbs. Well...maybe the first week wasn't too "clean". I kept finding hidden carbs in stuff I thought was OK to eat, but basically I did pretty good. (I'd estimate under 30 carbs the first week, but well within the 20 for the past 2. Is it common to get off to a slow start? The only thing I can think to do different is somehow get back on the exercise wagon more regularly. I'm hoping now that I'm getting a lot of fat in my diet, that maybe that will help the joints heal up. I also have high triglycerides and cholesterol, and hope this diet will correct that as well. Although I must confess I'm having a hard time with the concept that eating lots of bacon and eggs is good for my cholesterol

Joan

Welcome aboard. Your weight loss is actually pretty well on schedule according to the guidelines hat folks here talk about. You have about 30 pounds to lose. The guidelines say during induction you can expect to lose 10% of your total...that would be 3 pounds. Congratulations!

After induction, a safe rate is 1-2 pounds a week. BUT if you don't have a large amount to lose, it will come off slower. I'm happy with a pound or 2 a month right now.

Sorry to hear about your joint problem. That's going to take a bite out of exercise. How long have you been taking the glucosamine-condroitin? They say it can take up to 2 months before you feel relief.

We all seem to wrestle with the idea that this way of eating can lower cholesterol. I had mine tested about a year after I started and it had gone from borderline high to well within normal.

I'll pop over to your journal later today.

Jeane
Welcome aboard too. Glad you found us.

The salmon loaf turned out pretty terrible, so I ended up tossing it the next day. I'll have to look around for a real recipe. Thanks for asking.

I'll go hunt down your fitday and see if I can make some suggestions. When you think about it thought, 40 gr carbs is way lower than you were doing before. It's got to help, even if the loss is slower

Lynn
We can call you by whatever name you want...screen name or other name. It's not confusing signing with a name different than your screen name. People do it all the time here.

Ketosis is ketosis, whether it is light or moderate, so no need to work on getting a darker colour. In fact, dark may not necessarily be good or accurate. For some people it means they are not drinking enough water. For others, they will register dark when taking a reading after a high fat meal. I personally don't bother using the sticks anymore because I hardly ever registered on them, even when I was eating clean.

About your hubby not LCing. You might just find that after he sees how wonderfully you are eating, that he will switch. My hubby didn't start with me, and he had about 30 pounds to lose. After a while when I was cooking dinner, I'd ask if he wanted a potato and bread, and he'd just ask for what I was having becuase it looked/smelled good. He ended up losing about 25 pounds just by doing LC dinner and cutting way back on bread and potatoes. Go take a peek at the recipe section here. There are wonderful things that even your hubby might enjoy. I hear that the cauliflied rice is really good and even yummy for non-LCers. The deep dish pizza quiche is also excellent...no bread pizza with a thick quiche bottom...and when done properly can even be picked up and eaten by hand.

Connie
I'm in awe of how you can juggle so many things at once and still stay on track. You are doing great. Congrats on getting down to 140!!!

Gotta go scoot and finish up making the LC cabbage rolls. Catch you guys later.

Good Morning Angela!

Thanks for the comments. I'm glad to hear that the slow pace is normal, even though that's not exactly what I was led to believe. There's a guy at work that started 2 weeks ago and he's already lost 10 lbs, but I'm hearing more and more that guys lose faster too. At this rate I think I'll just stay on induction a few more weeks until I get at least the first 10 off. So far I haven't had too many cravings and my willpower has been good, even when I eat out.

I've been taking the glucosamine & MSM for a couple of years, and just recently added the condroiton, but most of that had been pretty sporadic (from once a day to a few times a week to nothing for a whole week). Since I started Atkins however, I've developed a much more consistent schedule for all my supplements, and am now getting at least 1500mg of the gluco-cond and 2000mg MSM every day. I do the whole regimen of supplements with breakfast, lunch, and sometimes dinner. I'm also taking fibers supplements with this mix and am concerned that the fiber may be hindering the absorption. Do you know where there is any good info on this subject?

I use the Ketostix also and they are pretty discouraging. I think I've been eating really "clean" but most I have been able to register is "small" and that was only for a day or so...the rest of the past two weeks all it says is "trace"

I really don't have anything in the journal yet. Not sure what it's best purpose is. Mostly I'm here looking for info that is not in the book. For example, there seems to be some confusing info on sweeteners. Splenda is supposed to be on the "good" list...but only in limited amounts??? The most common artificial, aspartame, is "no-carb", but also a "no-no"?? Sacharin is preferred, but commercial food producers don't use it, they use aspartame. What about stevia??? I use it and think it's great, but there's no mention of it anywhere. Is that because people don't know about it, or is it a FDA thing because it is only approved as a "supplement" and not a "sweetener"???

Enough for now...I have to go to the grocery store and get more eggs and bacon! Talk to ya'll soon!

Joan

Joan

There's just been a recent post in the newbie section on supplements. Here's the link

http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?p=1344019

Nat, who knows a lot of supplements, has some good advice about how and when to take them

Splenda is good because it is made from natural sugar, not chemicals. It should be limited though, like any other sweetener, to help stop those sugar cravings. Stevia comes very highly recommended. It's not mentioned a lot because it can be hard to find, and because it does not measure like Splenda. Splenda can be used cup for cup like sugar (in baking etc), but Stevia needs only a scant drop of the liquid.

Don't worry about registering trace ketosis on the sticks. Ketosis is like being pregnant, ..you are or you aren't. There's no such thing as deep ketosis and light ketosis. I wish those darn ketostix only had two readings...yes and no. It would save people a lot of heartache.

Angela,

I don't know about Canada, but down here (Texas) we have a huge health food chain called "Whole Foods" where you can find all kinds of specialized nutritional products, organic foods, etc. It's great! They have stevia in several forms...bulk powders, prepackaged powder, tablets, liquids, etc. Granted, it's not useful for baking, but I use it to sweeten pretty much everything else...coffee (when I used to drink it), tea, Kool-Aid, protein shakes, etc. Some people say it has a little aftertaste, but I don't think it's any worse than any other artificial sweetener.

Even if you don't have a major health food chain, most of the little independant health food stores carry it too. Personally, I prefer the liquid just because I think it's easier to use, but if you buy the powder version, get the white and stay away from the green. Stevia is actually an herb, and the green is the closest to raw form, but tends to be a little bitter. The white is more refined and much smoother. Measurement-wise, stevia is pretty comparable to sacharin (Sweet-n-Low)... a little pinch will do ya!

Joan

Thanks for sharing that Joan. It's useful information.

I actually (normally, mostly) don't have a sweet tooth, and rarely make sweet things. I drink my coffee black, no sugar, and eat my plain yogurt unsweetened. In fact, I still have several boxes of Splenda that I purchased in Nov 2001 when I first started LCing. They were really hard to find here (I live in a small town) I think I may have seen Stevia at the Bulk Barn, which is a large chain bulk food store up here.

Thank you Connie.

If you hadn't posted this challenge, I wouldn't have had the incentive to eat clean for a week. The results of this hard work..... 1 pound gone. Doing the happy dance!

Congratulations Angela!!! Good for you, staying clean and making progress.

I was clean until last night. got 60 of 90 pages of heavy medcal stuff read, and then relaxed with a glass of wine (vacation started) That led me to the chips DH brought home for a treat (he always does that) I also finished off the chicken wings I made. The wings are so high in calories. Anyway I put it all into fit day and had 3000calories with 61 net carbs. won't get on the scale today, but I'm going to follow my appetite today and eat only when I'm hungry. That's enough calories for 2 days for me. I'm not upset, maybe a little disappointed, but that 140 will be there in a day or two and I still intend to make 139 by next friday. We are heading up to a favorite vacation spot this morning. Taking our bikes along (hopefully I won't fall off again). DH will definately bring his HC snacks and wine. I'll have to steel my resolve or maybe pickup some veggies and dip for late night noshing.
Hi Joan... great to have you with us. We need all the help we can get. Just know that we thoroughly intend to succed even if it is 1# a month (in the downward direction of course).

I will be back tommorrow night so have a wonderful weekend and keep up the good work.
Connie

Hope you are all doing well. Thought I'd pop in to bring our thread back to the top.
Mini vacation was great, tried another bike trail and didn't crash into anyone. It was nice seeing the courtesy displayed by other riders, walkers and runners. Lot's of families with small children and inexperienced bicyclists (like me).
Had an incredible dinner of roast duck on spaghetti squash with a red pepper/olive/artichoke salad.

Been off the scale for 2 days and I'll try tommorrow. My 3000calorie blowout on Saturday may still be there, but it will pass if I hold on.
Didn't eat a whole lot yet today, but have dinner planned and tommorrow's lunch packed.

I still hope to get some excersize in today.
How's everyone else doing???
Connie

HEY everyone, glad to see new people here. I was off for the weekend and didn't go online at all.
lc was not my cup of tea this weekend... hubby made butter popcorn. you know my veggie count had been down and it was a good excuse to use some carbs... i ate a bowl FULL..... 2 nights in a row. not a cereal bowl, but thankfully not that big GREEN tupperware bowl either.... you know the one you share with the family. it was more a veggie serving bowl.. 2-3 cups but everything else was great.
went to dinner, actually late lunch w/ hubby 2 times Sat. had hamburger w/ cheese lettuce, tomato, pickle mustard NO BUN and gave hubby my fries. I ate his salad!!!
sun. when to steak house and had lunch size steak 6 oz. with salad ble cheese and veggies. more than enough food. i haven't weighed yet. trying to stick to 1 time a week. i used to weigh 3 -4x's a day. It's been hot here so water has been going down.
reading about the curse of drinking diet soda's and how it can affect your lcing so bbought DIET RITE tangerine, and grape .. helps with sweet cravings. plus i read a recipe for wings marinaded in orange soda. maybe i'll make them this week.
need to go to fitday.... i have no clue how many calories i'm eating but i bet if i measured and really paid attention the weight would melt off. gees i might have to stop eating after breakfast!!
Made a quiche w/ out crust this weekend with asaigo cheese and sausage gravy to be able to pack for breakfast at work. and grilled chicken for the week. great for these all day schedules!
angela WAY TO GO! A POUND IS A STICK OF BUTTER!! i love reading your post you are so encouraging and remember everyone. and know a little about everything. THANKS!
You know i think the pounds come off slower because were older and not as active but OFF is OFF

Hi ladies,

Just popping in for a quick check up.

Connie, glad to see you are getting the hang of that bicycle. Just think, every time your turn those pedals that means calories are being used!

Lynn, hmmm...that big GREEN bowl? I think I have the same one! It used to be a popcorn bowl. Now I use it to make salads. Does yours have a lid? Mine does, so I throw in the salad fixings and dressing, put on the lid, give it a few shakes and eveything is all mixed up nicely!

Things got really hectic at work and I'm way to busy for my liking. Will need to be putting in a lot of extra hours til the end of the month to meet a deadline. Spent Saturday and Sunday working, but spent Monday cooking all day to make the freezer full of quick grab and goes. Did LC cabbage rolls and some browned up ground beef stroganoff spooned over broccoli and cauliflower. Both are yummy for breakfast, lunch or dinner. I had to do something because I had a little encounter with my hubby's chocolate bar stash. I do that EVERY time I hit a new low. I know it's my weakness, but for some reason I feel like I need a reward. There was some stuff in the T4G book about using food for a reward. I'll have to go back and read it to see if I canget myself out of this very bad habit.

Hang in there ladies. We need all the help we can get to see this to the end. I want to say "I'm done and now officially on maintenance"

*LOL* I may know a little about everything, but not a lot about anything. It comes form the type of job I have. I llke to learn new things.

CAtch you folks tomorrow.

Ladies? Where are you? How's everything going?

I had a rough week work wise...a ton of extra hours and long days. It was very difficult to get motivated to cook anything significant. Thank goodness for the stash of cabbage rolls and ground beef stroganoff in the freezer. I had a couple of nights where dinner for me was just yogurt, berries and protein powder.

Last night hubby decided to help me escape from the kitchen. Friday nights around here are difficult restaurant nights. Because this is cottage country, many people on their way thru to their summer places stop in for dinner. We had to go to 3 places before we found one without a long line. It was a chinese buffet. It used to have a great selection...good pickings for an LCer, and "real" food rather than battered shrimp, chicken balls, gooey red sauce and rice. It's gone lazy now and had very little quality buffet selection. We would have been better off ordering from the takeout menu. I picked around what I could, but that also included a few spring rolls. There must have been a lot of msg and salt in the food, because this morning I'm retaining a lot of water. My rings are tight and ankles swollen.

Have a clean start today, and hopefully will be able to do some more freezer cooking.

How's everyone else coping?