Hi,

I have been on induction for three weeks (mostly because of two cheats - family functions)...

I feel better each week, and feel I am eating healthier than I have in a while, but my family is negative. I wouldn't say that they are unsupportive...just negative...

I was at my brother's fiance's house last week, and he said that it's ok to do atkin's to get the pounds off, but long term it's bad. Of course he is only basing his opinion on his opinion, not fact. He says is bad for cholesterol, like many do who have not truely read up on a low carb diet.

Second, my cousin who is anti atkins is like "it is all water weight". I told her I was aware the first 5-7 pounds were water weight, but it didn't matter...she lectured me on the food pyramid. She said I would get dehydrated...I told her I drink almost a gallon of water a day and am not dehydrated...

Truth is, I can't rebuttle them because they don't listen. People have their opinion about it regardless of the "facts".

It just insults me that they think I haven't done research or anything...and all I eat all day is pure fat from animals...

Just needed to vent...thanks for listening....

Jennifer

Hello Jsiefert....vent away anytime. I used to get the same thing from my family too. DH said I would have a heart attack. He has High Cholesterol and his doc put him on a low fat diet. Said eat anything that flys or grows from the ground. He is doing terrible. DH shut up about my diet after he saw how the weight has been coming off....LOL Now he say's maybe he should go on LCing. But he won't give up his Pepsie, bread and mashed potatoes and gravy. He does not like anything new.
Keep to your guns and let it go in one ear and out the other. Please do not let anyone talk you out of LCing. I tell people that it is the combination of High Carb and Low Carb foods that cause the cholesterol. That is what they are eating and since you know now the truth about HC food, you are not going to put all that junk food in your body like they do. No one lessons to me either, but it does shut them up.

Stick to your guns Jen !!! I think there are few people on this forum you will find that haven't gone through what you are. That's the problem with any kind of weight loss program...EVERYONE is the expert on what THEY think is right or wrong.
The point though is that you are doing it, you know what feels good for your body, and heck girl...show 'em all how great it works for you!....

Well good for you on putting in 3 weeks so far, and all the best in your future weightloss!!!!!

~Dawn~

Thank you for the responses! I'm so thankful I have found this website, and am doing atkins with four other ladies at work...

I do feel a lot better!

jennifer

You are welcome, any time.

Hi Jennifer,
I had the same problem when I started on Atkins.
Everyone is so negative yet they are totally ignorant about the whoe process. Yes it is a WOL forever but it would be the same with Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig and all the other fads.
Atkins has been around for over 20 ys and I don't see the nightly news broadcasting "1st person dies of heart attack from Atkins" "News at 11"

WHATEVER!!!!!
You sound like you are doing GREAT -(Congrats by the way )
Keep it up and believe eventually the nagging and negativity will stop'
Once people start seeing real results then they will think differently!!

BYE!!!!

Try to ignore those who have closed their minds and won't listen. Try to educate those who will listen. Lose your last 20 pounds, let them be dumbfounded!

Key is....Make fun of yourself. ...maybe before they do if you think they are about ready to sling the tongue. It also helps to make sure someone sees your results on the scale so you have back up proof.

I have to add to this discussion the unhappy fact that opposition to your dieting efforts isn't just a concern for your health. It is very much a CONTROL ISSUE.

Even your nearest and dearest will often try to trip you up out of a desire to maintain the status quo. Yes, that's right -- they don't WANT you to change. People don't like change; they don't like the unknown. What will happen if you lose weight? You may feel sexier and get more compliments -- maybe your spouse or significant other feels threatened by the possibility that you might find someone else.

What if you no longer can be controlled by feelings of inadequacy and low self-esteem? Your family has gotten used to pushing certain buttons that make you jump this way or that, but once you start controlling your eating habits you start controlling other phases of your life, too -- and you start cutting the wires to those buttons.

What if your success shows up their lack of effort to better their own health and appearance? Their insecurities become intensified when you accomplish what they haven't.

It's hard to face the fact that people who love you, and whom you love, are the ones who most frequently sabotage you. They may be unconscious of what they're doing; they may tell themselves they're only looking out for your best interests by counseling you to abandon "dangerous" eating habits. Or they may be fully aware of what they're doing and why they're doing it, whether or not they admit it to you.

Whatever, you MUST realize what's at the root of their opposition and stop trying to explain yourself to them. When they ask you about your diet with an attitude of, "I want to know so I can repeat your success," then it's appropriate to discuss the particulars. But you will never convince people with logic when their minds are made up, particularly when they have hidden agendas they're defending. In that case, you're wasting your breath and giving them a chance to plant doubts in your mind.

YOU CAN'T AFFORD TO LET THAT HAPPEN!!! Remember always that you're not just doing this for yourself; you're also doing it for them. To show them what can be done. To keep yourself healthy so you can be with them for a long, long time. To be happy and confident and at peace with yourself, which makes you a better person to be around and a more successful example for your children, your loved ones, your friends.

Don't make the mistake of thinking it's a terrible thing to believe that your loved ones would intentionally sabotage you. Psychologists will tell you that it's almost universally true whenever you change in ANY WAY. Losing weight, especially a significant amount of weight, is a profound change. It would actually be abnormal if your nearest and dearest didn't feel threatened. But you're hurting them as well as yourself if you give in to their fears by going back to the old you.

Just stick to your plan, keep yourself motivated by coming here and if possible starting a low-carb group in your area, or at least find a low-carb buddy or two to support you. In time, your family will come around.

Gina

WOW...StarStuff ,,, nough said.

Join the club, I have this problem with my family as well. My mother is the worst. She is constantly telling me that I am overweight and this does nothing for my ego. I look at myself and think yuk, how can my husband love me. I don't think people realise that if you are doing something positive, all you need is a little encouragement and it will go a long way. Last night, after trying to explain to my parents how the atkins diet worked, my mother said to me, "Why don't you just stop eating so much." Not what I wanted to hear. I have polycystic ovaries and my doc told me that for every pound I have to lose, I would have to try twice as hard to lose it as someone without PCOS. This was quite depressing news to me as I have enough of a problem losing just 1 pound. Then another doctor advised me to go on the Atkins and here I am. Just five days into the plan and I have lost 5 pounds already. So basically I don't care a monkey's what they all say now, I am sticking with this, it seems to be working for me, if they don't understand that is their problem. I also have the problem that my sister is around about 8 stone and she wants to lose 3 pounds!!! She told me that her 3 pounds was just as important to her as my 3 stone??? I could have slapped her, she obviously doesn't understand what it's like to carry this extra weight. So the moral of this story is, Keep going and ignore what other people say, you know what is right for your own body and if you feel good, stuff the lot of them!!!!!

I have the same problem, even with my own doctor! It helps to mention studies published in the New England Journal of Medicine (see elsewhere on this and the Atkins site) - it impresses some people! My doctor was worried about my cholesterol etc, so I asked her to order the appropriate blood tests for me after 6 weeks on Atkins. She has done so, now I just pray that they come out well, or at the very least no worse than they were before I started!

Incidentally, it was a doctor who recommended a LC diet to me, as he had success on one. Admittedly he is a surgeon, but he is thus a qualified doctor and I doubt he would advise me to do it if he felt it would endanger me at all!

Good luck all!

I got the same thing when I first started. It just made me angry and more determined. After losing 38 lbs. and seeing how much energy I have and how much more I can do than I could before, they have shut up!

Use it to your advantage and just be more determined to show them it works.

Well, as I said earlier, I believe that opposition from loved ones almost always stems, at least in part, from a fear of a change in the relationship, whether they're aware of it or not. You have to realize that you CAN'T argue them out of that fear, or logically convince them of low-carbing's advantages, because they're not coming from a logical place AND their fears aren't really based on fears about the foods you're eating.

The only antidote is to work on your OWN self-esteem, which will short-circuit those buttons they've become accustomed to pushing to get you to do what they want you to do, i.e. feel guilty or frightened and go back to the old way of eating.

When you feel confident of your own worth and believe you deserve to feel good and look good, you won't be so vulnerable to people who try to control your feelings by telling you you're unattractive, weak, stupid, etc. Which is exactly what they're saying when they tell you in a negative tone that you're overweight and doing all the wrong things.

I highly recommend Dr. Phil McGraw's "Self Matters," which goes into great detail about the difference between self image -- your worth as a person -- and body image -- your appearance. They are NOT the same thing, but we who have lived as fat people in a thin-worshipping world have been brainwashed into believing that we ARE our bodies. NO!!!

We are the beautiful, eternal, perfect beings RESIDING in our bodies. Shape and improve those bodies as we will, they are still only vehicles to carry our perfect true selves through this life. They are no more us than we are our cars. If you don't wash your car and keep it well-oiled and full of good-quality fuel, it will deteriorate and look shabby and sputter and stall. But no matter what shape your car is in, it is still separate from YOU.

Gina

Once you get the point where people REALLY notice your wieght loss, your own pride in what you have accomplished will drown out any negative remarks. Just the way your desire for carb food is less and less as you reach your goal.
People can express their opinions all they want, but at the end of the day it is you alone who faces the results of your decisions.
I was leary about my annual physical, because I had been on Atkins two months and lost 30 pounds. I was afraid of his reaction because of all the negative opinions out there. Well..my doctor seemed as excited as I was that I had lost the weight, and has recommended it to some of his patients. All my tests came out improved from the year before..
Keep going girl, you can do it. All you have to do is want it!
Janelle