Hello and a few questions?

[corkman]

Hello,

I have just started Atkins diet today. I weigh 228lb and my goal is 170lb. I am very hopeful and positive because of reading other peoples posts that everybody seems to help each other. I think I can lose the wight now.

Also, I gave up cigarettes 4 months ago with the birth of my daughter and I have been useing a nicotine replacement called NiQuitin CQ lozenge.
My problem is i take roughly 10 of these a day but there is no information anywhere telling me how many Carbs are in them.
If anybody can help at all I would be grateful. I have tried kicking the losengers but that only made me go buy a packet of cigarettes so I will be sticking with the losengers for now.

Any help or info would be appreciated.

Thank you!!!

[Scooterjam]

Hey corkman....

I'm hoping someone else can help with answering your question about that carb count, being a non-smoker I know that I can't be much help to you there. I apologize.

But I wanted to welcome you to the board, and wish you a lot of luck and success. My sister is a heavy smoker, she's also working on losing a lot of weight as well. She was going to stop both, eating bad and smoking....she's smoke for many years, and I told her if she stopped both, she'd end up killing her husband. (he was quite greatful for this interjection.....) she agreed.

I'm not saying that you shouldn't do both....just voicing some friendly concern.

So......that being said, please friends, if anyone has been able to manage both, (VALIDROUGE - Joy) please give our friend here some helpful advice.

Best of luck!

[corkman]

Thats great. Thanks for the help and advice.

I would rather stay off the cigarettes to be honest as this is the longest i have been off them in 12 years of heavy smoking and I feel great off them but only when Im on these losengers. I tried patches, gum, ect but all that seems to work for me is the losengers. I am addicted to them now and would rather have them than cigarettes. I just dont want them to interfere with my weight loss.

Giving up beer will be hard also as its a ritual that every friday night after work my mates come over to my house and we all drink, play pool and watch films. I think I can drink whiskey after the induction if I read the book correctly. Dont get me wrong, I dont have a drink problem but i do enjoy a drink with my mates once a week.


Thank you for listening to me waffle on.

[Elizellen]

Hi corkman (does your nickname mean you come from Ireland?) Welcome to our ADBB family

The leaflet that comes with the lozenges should list all ingredients, from a google search it looks as if they are sweetened with mannitol and aspartame. Dr Atkins didnt mention mannitol in DANDR but did talk about aspartame

1. Avoid aspartame. Although the cause is as yet unknown, clinical observations show that certain individuals find weight loss slows with excessive intake of aspartame, the artificial sweetener sold as NutraSweet, and Equal®.

Mannitol is a sugar alcohol which can have a laxative effect if taken in large amounts.

So you might experience problems with your weightloss from the aspartame and 'bathroom' problems from the mannitol, but only time will tell. Hopefully you will be able to taper off the consumption of them in time.

As for drinking whiskey after induction, you will do better if you can resist adding it back in till you are at the relevant level/rung of the second phase of Atkins (Ongoing Weight Loss/OWL.

When you drink alcohol - even a 'no-carb' one like spirits - your body will stop burning fat and burn the alcohol, thus delaying any weightlosses, so you will need to decide whether to drink your whiskey and accept a slowdown or bite the bullet and avoid alcohol till you are closer to goal.

Hope this helps.

[ValidRouge]

I've been low carbing since January and have lost 77 lbs
AND
I quit smoking in July

I strongly suggest www.whyquit.com however, it is going to advocate you getting rid of the losenges for the very reason you state...they are just as addictive as the cigarette.

But, that's your choice. I think once you get your blood sugar stable (very easy to do on Atkins) it may actually HELP you get off the losenges too. So, maybe sticking with them for the time being is something to think about.

Then again, do some serious reading on www.whyquit.com and maybe start getting yourself prepared to quit the losenges and not go back to the cigarettes.

Those losenges are more expensive than the cigs! AND if the aspartame and sugar alcohols are just going to play games with your blood sugar it'll be a real b***h to get past.

I certainly applaud you for taking steps to improve your health. I soooooo wish I'd quit carbs and cigarettes a long time ago. I've spent years being unhealthy, fat, stinky and miserable and now I see it was just such a waste.

[Scooterjam]

Thank you everybody, I hope the gave you some info to ponder on corkman! Just like Elizellen said, you might want to hold off a bit on that whiskey.....a good shot of Jack Daniels is hard to resist....haha.....been there done that!!

[corkman]

Thank you everybody!!!

Was away in Dublin for the last few days and Im only reading all these replies now. That has really helped me and answered a few questions for me.

I am stopping whiskey and losengers until Im near goal weight!!!!

Once again, thank you and yes, Elizellen, I am Irish, which will probably make it harder to stop the whiskey.

[Scooterjam]

Hey Corkman....how's it going? Did you make it through the weekend??

[corkman]

I did great foodwise but I met up with a few of my friends that I havent seen in over a year and we ended up in the pub knocking back Guinness and Powers Whiskey.

I felt really bad today and I know Im back at day 1 so I have decided to give up drinking altogether until I get to near my goal. It will be tough this week as tommorow I am driving to Kerry with my wife and kid for a quick break and this weekend there is a big get together of family and friends for my daughters christening.

My brother brought home a few packets of mix from Boston called Kool-Aid and i think i can drink that if i use splenda so i might start drinking that.

I MUST BE STRONG!!!!