hi there!!! just wanted to give you my own $.02 cents...
like everyone else has said, PLEASE don't give up. from someone who has been "obsessed" with her weight for YEARS this is the ONLY thing I've finally found that WORKS that I
like doing. I've done low-fat for so long - as well as weight watchers - and even lost a LOT...but I ALWAYS ended up gaining back. why? well because i never knew "why" i was eating low fat.
granted - i was always told by "them" (the so-called health experts and the gov't) that "fat is bad" "carbs are good" blah blah blah...
I've been doing this now for 6 months and can't tell you how INCREDIBLE life is! I no longer OBSESS over food or points or calories...and I've lost 26 pounds!!!! Now, granted, that's NOT a lot compared to
some people - specially those who lose that during induction alone - but the way I look at it? If I'd have given up when I kept getting frustrated, I'd have not only not lost 26 pounds - but more'n likely I'd be UP a lot of pounds from where I started at 196 instead of being at 170 where I am now.
There've been weeks upon weeks throughout this when I didn't lose an ounce - but then I WOOSH and it's gone.
Do you want that? You want to stop living healthy - go back to eating processed junk and end up weighing even MORE?!!!! I know I would never do that.
Look - it DOES get frustrating at times - it DOES get hard - but nothing worth it in life has EVER been easy.
Low carb / no sugar truly IS the way to live. and i'm not saying you're not allowed to treat yourself in the future - but for now you need to learn to do the rules of atkins the way they're written and realize WHY you're eating this way.
check out Jimmy Moore's websites (i'm obsessed with his podcasts!!!)
The Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Show With Jimmy Moore and you'll learn WHY our bodies don't need processed junk food and WHY fat IS good for you.
You HAVE to change your perspective on this and realize that you're NOT doing this
just to lose weight. Whole unprocessed foods (yup - even those / ESPECIALLY those with FAT) is how humans were meant to eat. SUGAR while it is "natural" has soooooooooo many ways to be processed - and I don't get now why a 100 calorie pack is "a healthy snack option" when an avocado - which is naturally grown on a tree is NOT! ???
That's what gets me through this and keeps me going is realizing that all that JUNK food out there taughted as "healthy" is just junk in disguise. WHOLE NATURAL UNPROCESSED is the way we need to eat - and when you start eating like that for life the benefits are INCREDIBLE! Lower cholesterol - lower triglycerides - and yup - eventually weight loss. To me - weight loss is like a "side effect" of this healthy lifestyle - but it's not the TOTAL reason I'm doing it. Don't get me wrong, it's def. the reason i STARTED...but now I know that i need to keep going because there is no other option. going back to "low fat" or eating all those junk carbs will just make me fat, unhealthy and unhappy.
My rule of thumb - even if i lose only 1/2 pound a week - this time next year I'll have lost 26 pounds! In fact - I'm averaging just that...I started on January 03 - this is now week 26 of 2009 and I've basically lost about 1 pound per week on average.
You CAN do this - you ARE worth it and IT is worth it!
As far as finding foods that are perfectly sugar free - while some people may not agree with this answer - I'm going to tell you it's close to impossible (not totally though). If you are lucky enough to have a whole foods or a trader joes or any other type of health food store near you - start there for meats that don't have nitrates and sugar in them.
BUT if you've
only got walmart - just make sure then that your ingredients absolutely do NOT include "high fructose corn syrup" "corn syrup" "hydroginated oils" "modified corn starch" and there's a couple others I can't remember (maybe if someone else does they can add to that list).
Those are the main things I stay away from.
In my own opinion (i'm not giving this out as advice, i'm just totally saying this is my opnion)...I take the lesser of the evils. if I can't find something "perfect" as far as sugar free / nitrate free / completely whole/unprocessed...then I find what has the absolute LEAST amount of sugar in it and use that. For example - T. Marzetti's blue cheese does have 1 g sugar per serving. I use it - no issues for me.
But anyways - sorry this was long - I'm just so very passionate anymore about this way of life and don't want you to give up because it IS worth it!