Hi there,
My name is Carrie (see: username) I am 25 years old and have been married almost 6 years to the most incredible person I have ever known. Incidentally, we met on the internet. We have two GORGEOUS daughters; Devynn who will be 5 on Wednesday and Grace who will be 2 on April 14th. Surely, you will be seeing pictures of them soon!

I went on the atkins diet after our second daughter was born along with my husband and I lost 45 pounds! I looked great but *I* didn't see it. I was let down that everyone wasn't commenting on how good I looked (Although sometimes people DID say that and apparently that wasn't enough for me) so I went off of it and gained it back...now when I say that I mean I went OFF of it, we are talking nightly ice cream visits here with chocolate cake on the side and even then with my picked up metabolism it took a while to put it all back on. Then...I looked at pictures of me 45 pounds lighter and I felt like I made one of the worst mistakes of my life letting the Atkin's lifestyle slip away...

Recently I was hired on as a 9-1-1 Operator "9-1-1 WHAT is your emergency?" and I start training on March 4th at 7 am sharp! Having been a Stay at Home Mom for so long I don't know what 7 am even looks like much less the 5:30 am it's gonna take to get me to work on time! So I started my diet today and also started the early morning waking up (zzzzzz). We have struggled for years now financially, barely paying bills and rarely having enough food (My husband receives 100% disability from the Military so he will be a SAHD) NOW, this new job of mine makes plenty of money (wha hooo!) and our whole family is in for an entire life change and I thought there is NO better time to make a diet change and so here I am with you!

QUESTIONS: In moderation Cucumbers are "legal," are Dill Pickles also legal?

Artificial Sweeteners...I use Splenda and having used Splenda I lost that 45 pounds. Do you think it's necessary I cut it out this time around?

I have a mid-day CRASH, I just feel exhausted, even after exercising. Any pick me up ideas?

Personally, do you think decaffeinated tea and coffee are ok?

THANKS! I look forward to getting to know everyone!

Greetings. Welcome aboard!

If Splenda didn't interefere with your earlier success, it probably means that you can tolerate it without problems and that is probably still the case.

My guess is that dill pickles are OK. Check the list of ingredients for any of the 'oses (sucrose, fructose, dextrose...) and starches but I don't think there are any. Vinegar is obviously OK given the predominance of oil and vinegar dressings in the WOE.

As for the midday crash, I would see how much just going LC does for you. After I got through the first week I have found that I can get out of bed in the morning surprisingly easy and the midday crash that used to be real bad is now either mild or, on a fair number of days, missing altogether.

Hi, Carrie -- welcome! Congratulations on your new job and your new Way Of Eating. I think they'll be a good match.

The midday crash should go away after the carbs are out of your system and your body has figured out it's burning protein for energy and not carbs. (It will be very happy and reward you with more energy.)

Can't answer about the pickles except to say, check the carb count and avoid anything with sugar.

As for Splenda, I agree with wbahn. If it worked for you and you have no reaction to it and you need it (can't drink tea without it, say) then use it, especially at the beginning. Many people, though, want to get away from all sweeteners, artificial and otherwise.

Good luck and please keep us posted on your progress!!

The midday crash might be helped by a helping of water. that tiredness or lack of concentration is probably dehydration. make that water at the optimum temperature that makes you the most energized. my ideal temperature is just above freezing so I laden my water down with ice.

The crash will probably go away or diminish a great deal during the first couple weeks of dieting, but may slowly return.

If you are not addicted to nuts, I'd suggest packaging up some nuts of your choice for a snack with water. yeah there are carbs in nuts. pick almonds, walnuts, or macadamias, and you'll find a good balance. say no to peanuts, please (they are not nuts). if you particularily like cashews, pistachios, or pecans, then only take a few (you know, 3 or 4 nuts). 20 almonds is roughly equal carbs to 4 cashews.

Drinking ice water also has another benefit - it burns Calories!

One calorie is the energy necessary to heat one cc of water one degree celsius. A dietary calorie is actually 1 kcal (one thousand calories) and is enough to raise 1 liter of water one degree celsius. If you drink ice water at 0 C your body has to heat it to 37 C so you are pulling 37 kcal of heat out of your body which has to be made up. Water at room temperature only has to be heated about 8 C. So, if you drink 4 liters of water ice water a day, you would consume 100 additional calories a day compared to drinking ice water. That would correspond to about an additional pound a month.

Now, having said all that, I think there are some occasions when it is not true - namely when your body is already producing so much waste heat that it is having to cool itself through sweating. But I think that as long as you are in a typical room environment (or cooler) and not undergoing physical exertion that this will be the case.

When you think about it, this extra calorie burn would be boosting most peoples' weight loss anywhere from about 5% (for the real lucky ones that are already losing 20#/mo) to 20% (for someone losing 5#/mo) or more.