My question more specifically re;ates to thing slike caffiene, carb-free alcohol once in a while, sugar alcohols. I know what Dr. Atkins says, I've read his books faithfully many times. I guess what I'm asking is, during induction what are some of the reasons you shouldn't relax? If you are still maintaing weight loss are there outside influence to be considered?

Thanks so much in advance for your answers, this site has been so helpful to me! I've lost almost seven pounds in the last week and I am so happy to have movement on those scales!

Seriuosly though, I want this to be a life-long WOE. I don't want to end up 300 pounds and diabetic like so many of the women in my family. Any and all advice you have is seriuosly appreciated.

Cheers-Emmsy[FONT=Palatino Linotype][COLOR=Indigo]

Caffine is a personal thing. Many on ATkins have continued using regular coffee with no problems. Others find caffine gives them unstable blood sugar and cravings. You'll just have to figure out how your body reacts to it.

Sugar alcohols I would say a definate no. They can make you stall in all stages of the plan. The main reason they are a no on induciton though is this is the period where you are riding your body of sweet cravings and retraining your tastebuds to enjoy different things. Giving it chocolate would defete the purpose.

As for the alcohol, in the carb ladder on the web site he lists it as one of the things to add back in on OWL. Regardless of what stage you are in, remember your body will turn alcohol into keotenes and use that for energy before fat. Anything eaten and the calories from the alcohol itself will be stored as fat for later use. Many on LC are also more sensative to alcohol and are cheap dates, so be careful

When you decide to add it back in, watch carb counts on the liquer and the mixers. Many Rums have high carb values (bacardi 151 and plain dark rum are 0 carbs). Mixers such as tonic water can also be high carb.

http://atkins.com/Archive/2001/12/15-770965.html

whole grains

Personally, I never gave up coffee on Atkins, but feel it's important to leave out the "extras" even if for just the two week induction period. It's only two weeks...

I have been drinking a little for the last couple weeks maybe two or three beers on Saturday and Sunday because my kids are playing baseball and basketball at the park. I use to drink wine coolers but because they are so sweet I was afraid of the carbs in them. So now I drink Micolob (don't know how to spell) Ultra. It only has 2g of carbs in on beer. So I guess it is ok. Well It is Saturday so I need to grab a beer.

You can drink but don't drive.

Are you doing Induction for more than two weeks? (Dr A, in DANRD, says one can if weight loss is slow.) I stayed on Induction for over a month but feel it is very restrictive to do for too long. I can see where people would be more inclined to "cheat" and feel deprived.

Other people do their own version of Induction v/s OWL. I did a "clean" induction for two weeks (hrm... not totally clean, some booze involved, since it was party season - but I lost a lot, nevertheless). Then I continued "Induction" by staying at 20g netcarbs for another 2.5 months, but gradually incorporating the OWL "rungs" of different foods. Worked pretty good for me. And it took the boredom out of Induction Menue, by offering more choices.

Oh, and coffee - I've had my hot lava throughout the whole of this LC:ing. (Cut it out the first week, got terrible headaches and wanted to mutilate my surroundings. Then reintroduced it and felt like a princess...)

As for sugar alcohols, since I never had a problem with sugar cravings (I'm the "beer & salty bread sticks"-type) sugar alcohols never seem to affect me, more than my belly that is. Enough said.

/gil

That is pretty much what I have done...introduced greater variety of foods from the OWL rungs but stayed at about 20-25 carbs daily. I also cut out the coffee and then, after weeks of really feeling p***ie and lousy, started drinking it again. Felt like a "new" person! This works for me. Some say coffee has a negative effect on their weight loss...others it doesn't bother at all. You will have to see what works for you.

This is really great advice! I love this site so much. I'm gona try and keep it clean, for at least another week. And enough people on this site seem to have negative opinions about sugar alcohols, that I think I'll just put that out of mind. What about splenda and stuff like that? That's not the same is it? Anyways one more week and then I'm gonna start to loosen up a little bit, cause hey! I'm still human...

Sugar alcohols are God's punishment for my overindulgence on chocolate for so many years...He is going to keep me on the straight and narrow and eating "good" foods! Splenda is another story...it is not a "sugar alcohol" and you can certainly use it. Just be sure you count the carbs in your total carb count for the day.

My DH is convinced that sugar alcohols are an Al Quaeda plot to take over America. His reasoning is that if we all eat enough of them, we'll be too occupied in the bathroom or doubled up with gas pains to effectively fight back.
Even if it's not an Al Quaeda plot, the government should seriously look into this stuff as a form of non-lethal chemical warfare! All you'd have to do is drop truckloads of sugar-alcohol filled candy bars behind enemy lines and then sit back and wait for those SAs to do their thing.

ROTFL!!!!

It's definitely a lifestyle change. I did Atkins a few years ago and drank Lite beer, before the new Micelob Ultra, and lost lots of weight during induction. I think it was more into the second week that I noticed weight loss. Everyone is so different! You just have to listen to your body and intuition. If you exercise then you have no problem. Just remember to drink lots and lots and lots of water when drinking low carb beer. I have been drinking a little during induction and have lost 5 to 6 pounds in the first week!! I usually drink 2 8oz glasses of water for every beer I drink all at the same time. Tolerance goes way up too, so be careful!

I also drink coffe in the morning....it's hard enough to cut out fruits, breads and pastas. I love my coffee, I would be more of a b---- if I cut that out too! I have switced to Splenda which is not that bad and takes a little getting used to. By the way it is really good when used to cook with! The recipes on the site ROCK!!! Check 'em out! YUM!

Good Luck and hang in there! It's really not that hard after the first 2 days

Ada