Hiya all!

I love low carbing. I think it is so damn spanking fabulous. Except for one thing... I can't get past day 3!

Pre-Atkins I have always been the kinda gal to have unstructured grazing of chocolate, crisps, ... etc. I always felt tired and depressed after all my carb blowouts, so have been trying to do atkins.

The first three days is always a mighty success, the first time I tried was last thursday. I got through to saturday, feeling so smug thinking "hey this is a sinch!" doh! Saturday night came and I went to my friend's dinner party (of course he'd made lasagne, my favorite...argh, and everyone was drinking... so I blew it.) The morning after was awful! I think I woke up with the hangover like I'de never had before and my head felt like it was run over by a steam roller for two consecutive days!!!!

So I said..ok, back on the horse monday. I've been so so good, eating lovely scrambled egg for breakfast, prawn salad for lunch and chicken wrapped in cheesy bacon with veg for dinner.. a low carb angel practically!

Then this afternoon struck!!!! I suddenly felt all weak and tired and thought I would relax at home and have a nice supper. When I got home my chocolate and bread cravings kept banging me on the head like a steel drum. I even got to the point of pouring out some sugary oat cereal and then throwing it in the bin at the last minute before eating it.

I thought my craving was over after that, but it came back again 10 mins later and I ran (literally! ) to the shop, bought a whole packet of maryland biscuits and two chocolate bars and stuffed down the lot. I feel so hyper now (As you may tell!) because of the sugar rush, but I know I will feel sleepy in about half an hour and then sad. I just don't know what to do!

I'm not a huge girl (155lbs at 5ft3) and though I do want to loose about 35lbs, to get down to my "skinny jeans" (aka sex in the city!). But I seem to be finding this sugar craving block so much harder than I should be. I know it can be done, there are people out there much bigger, who have lost much more weight than I want to , so I really want to know how to get past the first induction weeks.... is icecream the solution??


Please help!!! am so desperate to stay on atkins, because the first few days are the most controlled and unstressed (about food) days I've ever had!

please respond!!

my only suggestion is WILLPOWER

Yeah I have trouble sticking to it too. I am pretty much the same as you, weight wise compared to height wise and no we are not huge. I am on day three and I am hoping I will get through this day. Crossing my fingers. It is hard. You kind of have to fight the cravings. Perhaps find some sweet treat on here you can make. Might not be induction friendly but itis better than gorging on real junk. I like the mock danish. Do a search for it and you will find the recipe. Yum. And it is sweet and helps with the cravings. Good luck. You can do this!!

induction the first time around was easy! But I can't get into it the second time. It was so easy to NOT cheat the first time, but very hard once you have fallen off. Good luck and keep your chin up. Everytime I want soemthing, I eat a piece of hard cheese. It seems to satisfy even a sweet craving for me at least.

Ok. How about this:

1. Clean out your fridge and cupboards and throw away non-legal stuff. You can't eat it if it isn't there.
2. Drink LOTS of water. It helps keep you feeling full.
3. Prepare by having legal snacks on hand. Keep cheese, cream cheese stuffed celery, nuts (I know these aren't induction, but they are filling and at least it will keep you from bingeing on REALLY non legal stuff), smoked salmon slices or sliced luncheon meats, olives, sugar free jello, and other legal stuff on hand. Eat those when you start craving.
4. You might be better off eating more smaller meals a day rather than the traditional three. If you spread out your eating more evenly, then maybe the crave monster won't hit you so hard.

Hope this helps!

You have to tell your self you are worth it.
Ice cream?????? I don't think ice cream is the solution to anything. That is just about the worst food you could have. I agree with the other post willpower!!!! You don't have a lot of weight to loose but you shouldn't use that as an excuse to cheat. You can do it. Go for a walk take a hot bath get your mind off that craving it will go away! If it does not go away have a bit of home made cream with splenda or a more leagal cheat. Please just don't have biscuits and chocolate bars. LOL. You just have to tell yourself that you are not going to give in and just do it. Good luck!!!!

I agree with all of MaggieP's suggestions. Another one you might try: whenever you feel the need for chocolate, biscuits, cookies, ice cream, etc., take off all your clothes and look at yourself in a full length mirror. Works for me!!!! lol

The first few days are hard, but if you get thru it, you will be so happy to have that "craving monster" sleeping instead of constantly on your back. Hang in there. When you are dying for something sweet, get a couple of tbsps. cream cheese with splenda, the fat really helps curb the craving. Go to fitday.com and open an account, it really helps to keep you on track. Water, water, water. I promise once you get past the cravings stage you will feel such relief to not have them. Now, I rarely cheat, because I hate when the cravings come back. Hang tight and stay on this board, read old posts, look through the induction recipes on the atkins site, ask for help, its here for you .... Jan

well first things first.

Ask yourself why you want to lose weight. And write it down. Keep it. Write how it makes you feel being the weight you are.

Also if you can remember to a time when you felt and looked your best and be as descriptive as you can and write it down.

Reading back on these things really helps!!!!

The other thing I always think is this:

Being thinner is going to feel so much better than how good this cake, bread, candy etc. will ever taste. (Did that make sense? )

Also you might want to look at self sabotage(ing). Is there some reason you (deep down) don't think you are worth the time effort and energy it takes to get to your goal? A lot of people just give into cravings or give up because they think 'I've tried before and failed so whats the difference if I do it now or do it later.' Thing is you can do it. A craving will pass. Try to find something else to do that you physically can't eat while doing, like take a shower or brush your teeth. Check the mail....whatever you have to do to get through it, usually it won't last past your activity.


Good luck, you can do it. I know it. If I can turn down cake 5 times in my first two weeks I believe anyone can do this. I LOVE LOVE LOVE cake I never thought I'd see the day I could cut one up and serve it to a room full of people and not even have a taste, but I did and YOU CAN TOO. And you will feel great for it too.

Jenny

I totally agree! I had no problem the first time and stuck to it like glue and lost a total of 30 pounds. Then I went to Hawaii for 2 weeks! Ugh! Who wants to watch what they eat and exercise daily when you're in the Islands? Not me!

I figured I'd just get back into my routine when I returned home. Yeah, right! Hasn't happened, yet, and I've been home since January 1st!

Don't go off this WOE everybody, unless you want a real uphill battle getting back into the swing of things. I'm gradually getting back into it but it ain't easy!

I had the same problem. It took me over a month to get over cheating. The thing that worked for me is when I see all the carb food I tell my self that I will get to it once I am done LCing. It's not going to go any were. Then I can walk away from it.

I can't believe I'm doing this!!!! I'm actually going to quote Dr. Phil ( I personally can't stand the man) but on this he is right. If you find yourself unable to control yourself in certain situations, the only way to stop it is to stop putting yourself in those situations. You may have to take a hiatus from certain friends, or certain things if weight loss means enough to you. I know it sounds horrible, but you have to decide what is more important to you personally.

Getting through induction is only two weeks of your time, and then you can incorporate things like alcohol (hard liquor doesn't have carbs....but watch what you mix with it as that stuff can have carbs). You may have to give up certain foods for a while that you love ( I'm sure after you have lost and your carbs are slowly increased to maintenance level you will be able to include some of the items you like back in your diet). Or you may consider (don't get mad at me Atkin's dieters) changing your diet plan to Carbohydrate Addicts. They allow a reward meal, that when done by the rules, allows you to include bad carbs in your diet. If you aren't willing to give up the parties, then it too is a healthy diet that can help you reach your goals.

But no diet, no matter how good it is, will work until you are ready for it to. You have to give yourself totally to these "diets". I hate that word, because really they are a new way of eating. Atkin's clearly explains that you will not keep your weight off if you return anywhere close to your normal eating habits. It's all basic chemistry and biology.....you can't alter how nature works, you can only alter how you work with nature.

Good luck to you! Come to the board for support....these people are great!

http://atkins.com/helpatkins/newfaq...AndWhatCan.html

The link above explains a lot about why you are going through what you are feeling during cravings. And your impulses of giving in.

Some just have a harder time than others..I know you can do this..maybe you just need to read more about what you are going through to get a grip on you WOE.

There is a lot of good advice on here to help you..one thing I can suggest is to get a journal to keep track of your foods and how you feel. Just a suggestion that helps us on Low Carbing.

Good luck to you.
Anna

You have to plan for the cravings and what you'll do when you hit them. It means going through all the existing food in your house and throwing out everything you can't have. Put some sweet treats in the house that are induction legal. Like whipped cream with splenda on sugar free jello. Make yourself some root beer floats with heavy cream and diet root beer. Plan, plan, plan!

Think ahead when you're going over to a friends house. Find out what they're serving and if you can't eat it, join them after dinner or bring your own food and snacks.

Drinking alcohol is bad because your judgement over what you should eat will get impaired and you're likely to make bad decisions.

But the secret to getting past the cravings is planning on what you'll do when you get them. Eventually the cravings WILL go away, but you have to make it through induction.

Don't forget supplements; if I take L-glutamine when a craving hits, I'll have forgotten about it within 10 minutes. I think some people use L-cartinine (sp?), but I'm not sure what it is or what it does specifically. If you just need a different taste in your mouth (happens to me a lot), try some herbal tea with stevia, or Fruit 2 0 (splenda sweetened!).

Good luck! As others have mentioned, it gets soooo much easier once you get over the induction hump and your blood sugar level has stabilized.