Y'ALL!!!! This is only my 4th week of Atkins and I am soooooooooo tired of it!! I went out and bought a low carb cookbook but it has all these really strange ingredients listed in there (like I have tons of money to go to the health store and buy all of it!!!!). I soooo much feel like giving up and eating normal food again!! How in the world have some of y'all kept it up so long?

Please help! I NEED to keep going and keep losing!!!

His,
MrsTU

I have my days when I just want to chuck it all myself!!! I've been on about a year and a half, so I guess I can offer some insight!
I have a cookbook, too.. gathering dust on the shelf! I found most of my recipes online, both here and on a great site called lowcarbluxury.com

Look at the weight you've lost!! Sometimes that doesn't even do "it" to keep a person motivated, but find some pictures of yourself at your top weight. (I had trouble even finding any, I usually hid from the camera!) I tried keeping a journal, and it helps, although I lack the organizational skills to keep it up! Looking at the "old" you and a few new recipes might help.

I think all of us have felt this at times, I know I have. The thing that keeps me going with this WOL is that I don't want to look back 5 years from now and be 50 pounds heavier and think that it would have been so much easier to do this back then. I take one day at a time and think that each day I stick with this the closer I come to my goal. I also imagine myself at my goal weight and think of how good I will look and feel. I hope I have encouraged you to keep at it.

Remember each day is a day closer to GOAL!!!

What we can eat on Atkins is normal,Fresh veggi's, meat, dairy, fruit later in the plan, all that processed, dump out of a box stuff/bag is not normal food. Most of that is what gets people fat.

Well all I can say is check out the recipe threads here to get some ideas,
I have been on atkins for 8 months and I'm still not bored yet Good Luck, Kathy

I agree with Kathy54 - this is normal food! But, if you look at both of our stats, we are down to our last 5 pounds. I would assume that both of us have been doing this long enough that white flour and chips don't seem normal to us.
Check out the recipe section. There is lots of stuff that doesn't require exotic ingredients. Console your perceived boredom with those 20 pounds you have already lost - you are off to a great start!

Have been on Atkins since July and, because I am the one buying, cooking and cleaning up, (not to mention the time spent trying to plan enough variety so H won't get bored and quit), there have been times I, too, have wished I could just quit it all and go back to fast, pre-packaged food. Talk about quick and not much of a cleaning up process! It isn't the "food" I miss as much as just not having to give it a lot of thought...and no real messy kitchen to clean. THIS is the way I cooked while we had children living at home...our eating habits have really deteriorated since I don't worry about children's nutrition anymore. All the "no no's"...junk food, soda, ice cream...slowly appeared after they left home and it wasn't till we started Atkins that I realized how far down the slippery slope we had gone! I wonder how much the "convenience" of all the pre-packaged stuff makes when the frustration of this WOE sets in. Just a thought.

I, too, lately, have gotten a bit bored, but I'm going to look up some new recipes on the www.atkins.com site and in DANDR.

The key to this WOL is consistancy and learning new things and keeping yourself interested in good foods.

I guess the best thing to ask yourself is what would you be eating if you weren't low carbing and think of substitutes.

Cheesecake - made exactly the same except with splenda instead of sugar and a crust w/ crushed pecans, splenda and butter

Mashed potatoes - try turnips which also make decent fries and hash browns

Spaghetti - I love speghetti squash sauteed w/ some feta and chicen broth or with heavy cream, garlic and parm cheese

There are so many things that are easy to make and keep your diet fresh.

WOW what have you lost?19lbs in 4 weeks, boy that would be enough for me welldone.

Breakfast I can have flax meal cereal, pancakes or crepes from Atkins bake mix,but following recipes from here not the box. For syrup I mash up strawberries with butter /splenda for my pancakes or cream cheese ,strawberries and splenda for the crepes. I made zucchini lasagna 2 days ago and it was really good. I didn't even follow a recipe just made it up. So, that made it easy. I liked it better than the pizza quiche. The spaghetti squash spaghetti is delicious ,my mom came up from florida and she thought it was the best thing ever. For dessert I used to make peanut butter cups,now I just mix peanut butter ,cream and a packet of splenda ,whip it really fast and its like fudge ,you can add cocoa or vanilla. Whatever you want .That way I don't have to wait for it to freeze. It's quick and satisfying. And if I need that twice in a day ,I eat it again. I am also allowing for a cheat meal once in a while. During the Power Outage I had to cheat , now the scale seems to be moving again. But I can control myself , I got right back on track.
I think I will try the turnip fries . Are they any good? I have never had turnip in my life. But I am alway game to try something new.
Cindy

Never had a turnip until I went to see my sister in England. We went for "Sunday Roast" several times and the pub used roasted (maybe boiled) turnips instead of potatoes. I was surprised at how good they were. Texture is a little different and they are sweeter.

Well, I am gonna try them. Thanks.

Re: Turnips
Time of year, soil and variety may have something to do with flavor/texture. You know, like some carrots are woody and bland and some are light and sweet.

I think if you experiment with recipes youll find that you can come up with some pretty good ideas yourself. I find its hard for me to always cook from a cookbook. Usually its "lets see whats in the fridge that I can make into a meal"

I do more food preparation on this WOL but it is worth it. I was addicted to junk and now I am not. I don't miss the high carb junk. I am not a big meat eater so I eat more vegetables. I consume more carbs that some and my weight loss is very slow. It is OK with me. If I ever get bored with the food and want something high carb, I am committed to having it be quality, not junk. Whole grains, fruits, vegetables are OK even if the carb count is high--cookies, candy, ice cream, refined flour, white rice are not OK.

If you really need to increase your carbs, try a food plan that allows more carbs than Atkins does but be aware that all the LC plans say the only carbs that are acceptable are whole grains, fruits, vegetables, dairy without sugar, no refined sugar and flour.

Atkins food is real, normal food and the variety is truly endless. Atkins says to add more vegetables, fruit, nuts, etc as you progress on the plan. Some folks stay on induction level carbs for a long time but for many that is very difficult to do. We need the variety that a few more carbs per day allows.

Good luck to you whatever you decided to do. But please don't go back to all the junk that made you gain the weight in the first place.