I'm frustrated. I've been trying to do atkins for about 2 or 3 weeks, and i'm starting to find it very difficult. I don't have all that much weight to lose, but nothing I do seems to be working. I exercise regularly, nearly every day, but I fear I may be eating too many calories...I'm sure I still often eat too many carbs too, because I tend to eat things like sugar-free peanut-butter a lot, and i'm sort of addicted to those "low-carb" bars (that technically have around 14 g of carbs..) Another problem is where I work...I'm a student, but I work part-time as a waitress, and i'm literally surrounded by delicious food all the time, including breads and desserts. It's often kind of stressful working there, and I don't really have many options as to what I get for meals (i'm usually there for dinner so they feed us). I try to hold off and only eat meat or vegetables, but I almost inevitably eat some of the desserts or bread, even if it's just a few bites. Tonight I was so hungry by the time I got to have a break and eat dinner that I ate a few bites of risotto and chocolate cake. It was pretty good, though...i'm afraid I will never lose my sweet tooth, and thus never lose weight, and sometimes I find even being on a diet in general to be really depressing. Sorry this post is so long - i've never posted anything before, but i guess i need to vent. Thanks.

Welp.

In order for the Atkin's diet to work, all the stuff you are "just taking a few bites of" needs to stop. He makes a statement in his book of "the one little bite won't hurt attitude will be the kiss of death on this diet" and how right he really is.

To the right of the forum is a quick link list and the first one on that list is "Which low-carb plan is right for me?". There you will find various other low carb programs that may suit your needs and life style a little more comfortably than Atkin's will.

I wouldn't give up on low carbing, but I would highly recommend one you can live with and not feel deprived or feel the need to eat rice, chocolate cake etc etc.

I wish you nothing but the best of luck in finding a diet plan that you won't feel you are on a diet with

Hi there Glittergrl,

Well the first thing I have to say is that at 5'7 and 145lbs, you are not overweight, which leads to my next question, why exactly do you want to be lighter? Don't get me wrong, when I was your weight I was never happy either. However I wish now that somebody had pointed out to me that I looked just fine!
Still, you are not going to be harming yourself by losing a little weight.

Maybe you could improve your body shape by joining a gym. Have a look at our exercise forums here, and maybe ask some questions of Fern and Trainerdan - our exercise mods.

I think you already know the answer to the real question you posted which was how can I lose weight while eating whatever I like? The answer, of course, is that you can't.

For a low carb WOE to help you lose weight, you need to commit to not only keeping to it now, but to always eat low carb. Yes, I know that may sound terribly difficult, but once you really get into it, it gets easier and easier.

How about starting up a journal here? Personally, I find it incredibly helpful to post all that I eat - keeps me honest.

Are you keeping track in any way of your carbs and calories? I use www.fitday.com It's a free site, and I find it to be tremendously beneficial.

One more thing: I find L-Glutamine extremely helpful in fighting those sweet cravings.

Cheers.

Rosebud

Ever see the movie, "The Karate Kid"? It's sorta like that.

Either you do LC yes or you do LC no. You do LC "guess so" and squish - just like grape.

It will take a lot of commitment and willpower for the first few weeks - they are by far the hard part. After that - IF you have been true up to that point - then it gets MUCH easier.

Keep the Faith!

thank you guys for all your input, I didn't expect replies so quickly...Basically what I've gathered is that I just need to make a more solid commitment if I want this to work. I think that subconsciously I already knew that, but it helps for other people to actually tell me. I did try Sugar Busters for awhile, a long time ago, and then did the Schwarzbein principle, but I didn't find myself losing any weight. However, I did stop gaining (Rosebud - that's basically why I am dieting, because a year ago I weighed about 25 lbs less) so maybe that's a more reasonable plan for me; either that or a compromise between Atkins and the others. Thanks for your support, and i admire all of you for your own will power and success.
by the way, wbahn, the karate kid references really helped - I don't think I'll forget your advice anytime soon.

Sorry for this long-winded message...

I know you're going to hate seeing this. But, you ONLY need to lose 25 pounds. I know, I know, losing just one pound is a great accomplishment. But, here's my point. It's well known that as we get closer to our goal weight, we're going to lose weight slower.

So, even if you were doing everything perfectly you might not see huge weight loss. I haven't checked your profile, but I'm also assuming you're a female. Women are notorious for losing weight slower than men. So... again even if you were doing everything perfectly you might lose weight slower than you expect to lose weight.

Okay, now that we have that covered. Commit. Commit to this way of eating. One too many carbs may throw you back into a carb addiction cycle of eating. Tired, cranky, big hunger pangs. Who wants this?

I've been doing this diet for a little over two weeks, so I'm relatively new to this thing too. But, I've found that there is never a reason why I should feel hungry. If I feel hungry before my next scheduled meal then I know I either skipped a scheduled meal or I didn't eat enough at my last meal. So, I pop some meat and cheese (or olives and cheese) and make adjustments to my next meal. That's how I handle hunger. And it seems to work so far.

Okay, lastly. So, you might not lose weight as fast as you want when you correct your eating habits. Even though I'm not to this stage yet and have quite a few pounds to go, I imagine, before I get there. I'm already practicing my inner voice for that week where I jump on the scale and I'm up a pound or haven't lost any weight at all.

Here's what I've been practicing:

"Alright, John, no weight loss this week. But, look at the weight you've lost already. That's an accomplishment. And you feel so much better eating like this. Never in your life have you been able to eat until you feel satisfied at every meal without guilt of gaining more weight. Never in your life have you been able to make it through the day with no hunger pangs. And you haven't slept this well since you were a kid. Going back to your old eating habits because of a number on a scale isn't going to accomplish anything. Only destroy what you've worked hard to build."

So, take it one day at a time. Be creative. And, don't be too hard on yourself. If you eat the way you're suppose to, all good things will come.

John