Help!

[liv]

I suggest using fitday and perhaps keep an eye on your ratios. You want to have about 65% of your calories coming from fat. Like Georgiana I am thinking that you may have a bit trouble getting in enough fat as you are used to such a lean diet.

Here is another thing to think about: Even if products say 0% carb, it does not mean zero carb always. If it is under one carb in the serving size they list, they round it down to 0. So lunchmeat very often does have carb.
I do eat some sometimes but I am weary of the stuff. You can roast your own roast and cut it into roast beef slices. That is pretty good.

Good luck. And don't be too hard on yourself. Most of us started with a few screw-ups.

[evervescent]

I do get your point, but you may also not stick with it if you're not given some leeway with your food choices. I myself do eat primarily whole, organic foods. (As I just finish off my daily Chocolate Peanut Butter Bar).

But if you tell 90% of the obese people out there that they have to switch over and stick with the regimen that was just advised, they simply would not do it. I have a difficult time telling people its not so bad and that I'm never hungry and I do allow myself a daily sweet. There is positively NO way my teenager would do this without a daily treat. No amount of discussion about her future health and happiness would make her do it.

I totally agree that everyone's metabolism is different. That's why I mentioned that you might partake of the "fake" sweets and if you're not losing anything then kick the sweets to the curb and see what happens.

As Dr Atkins did state, he did not want dieters to be puritans or they won't stick with it.

[liv]

Originally Posted by evervescent

I do get your point, but you may also not stick with it if you're not given some leeway with your food choices. I myself do eat primarily whole, organic foods. (As I just finish off my daily Chocolate Peanut Butter Bar).

But if you tell 90% of the obese people out there that they have to switch over and stick with the regimen that was just advised, they simply would not do it. I have a difficult time telling people its not so bad and that I'm never hungry and I do allow myself a daily sweet. There is positively NO way my teenager would do this without a daily treat. No amount of discussion about her future health and happiness would make her do it.

I totally agree that everyone's metabolism is different. That's why I mentioned that you might partake of the "fake" sweets and if you're not losing anything then kick the sweets to the curb and see what happens.

As Dr Atkins did state, he did not want dieters to be puritans or they won't stick with it.

Hmm I think our definiton of what would constutie whole food differ a bit. To me a packaged bar like that which is full of chemicals does not qualify. But that is my way. If yours is different that is cool.
The main thing that I would say about those bars is that they should not be used by people on induction. Because
1: They contain illegal ingredients
2: they are sweetened with sugar alcohols and some of us actually absorb those sugars like we do normal sugar. So while the label says 2 carbs we are actually eating closer to twenty when we have one.

If it worked for you and if you want to continue them fine. But don't recommend them to new inductees without all kinds of warnings attached.

I do agree about your point about puritans though.

[evervescent]

I would never make a recommendation, I am neither a doctor nor a nutritionist. This is only my opinion based upon my experience.

Neither am I a puritan. I eat mainly whole, organic foods. "Franken-foods" as you term them are merely a supplement to the healthy diet...a treat. Like a diet coke. Also not good for you. Potentially full of excitotoxins and caffeine. But if it gets you through the day and its not impacting the weight loss you need to be healthy than go with God as they say.

5% of people who lose weight can actually stick with it. Unless something is actually impeding an individuals progress than everyone is allowed to make their own choices. Try it. If it works great...if not working than change it up.

[LLCS1206]

Thank you everyone for your advice I truly appreciate it.

[LCer09]

Originally Posted by evervescent

Merely to offer up a different opinion/experience when using the Atkins bars/shakes. I have used them since the beginning and have been very successful. I don't know if I could have stayed on the plan without the shakes as I am not a breakfast person and they are the only things I can stomach in the morning. My D14 just started Atkins less than a week ago and I allow her one bar a day. She is down 6 lbs.

Everyone is different. Additionally the Dr. has us both on Metformin for insulin resistance. If you're losing with the goodies then fantastic. If you're not losing anything than cut the goodies out and see what happens.

Personally, I don't like how people will lump the shakes and bars together. The shakes don't contain the sugar alcohols necessary in the bars to make them a solid food product. I never had any problems with the shakes, but wouldn't touch the bars, only because of the ingredients. They are not the same, at all. But either way, I wouldn't live off the shakes either!

[not2late]

Our collective experience on ADBB is that the bars and shakes have a tendency to stall or slow weight loss in some people. That's why we don't recommend them during the 14 Day Induction----the results of your weight loss help you determine how your Atkins will proceed, so the less you do to screw up your results the better idea you will have of your metabolic resistance to weight loss the better you can plan your Atkins.

[LCer09]

Originally Posted by not2late

Our collective experience on ADBB is that the bars and shakes have a tendency to stall or slow weight loss in some people. That's why we don't recommend them during the 14 Day Induction----the results of your weight loss help you determine how your Atkins will proceed, so the less you do to screw up your results the better idea you will have of your metabolic resistance to weight loss the better you can plan your Atkins.

That's all true. But "bars and shakes" as if it was one word and they were at all, in any way similar is just not true, no? Catch phrases tend to get overused until everybody believes them. I've been on a LOT of LC boards over the years, and I see a lot of ideas become gospel. Like "If your ketosticks turn purple, you're dehydrated!!" (oh my god, we're all gonna DIE!)

[not2late]

Originally Posted by LCer09

That's all true. But "bars and shakes" as if it was one word and they were at all, in any way similar is just not true, no? Catch phrases tend to get overused until everybody believes them. I've been on a LOT of LC boards over the years, and I see a lot of ideas become gospel. Like "If your ketosticks turn purple, you're dehydrated!!" (oh my god, we're all gonna DIE!)

Well how would you write that some people have difficulties with certain low carb products without identifying them? I see what you mean, but as I wrote in the collective experience of this Board, bars and shakes cause difficulties in some folks, so we advise them not to use them in the 14 day Induction.

As for the ketosticks turning purple - dehydration, that's more of a misunderstanding than anything else. It's based upon the fact that the ketostix does not measure urine specific gravity, which tells you how hydrated a person is. If you look on the "stix" hospitals and some doctor's offices use, urine specific gravity and a whole bunch of other things like red blood cells, protein, etc. are on that stix. The urine specific gravity gives you an idea of how concentrated the urine is. Since the ketostix reagent measures the concentration of ketones in the urine sample, knowing that specific gravity can give you a better idea of the ketotic state of the person. I work in a doctor's office and I have dipped my urine with both the ketostix and the Chem 10 strips (the ones that have the specific gravity) just to compare the results. Usually, if the specific gravity is higher, signifying more concentrated urine, the keto color is darker, as opposed to when I have a less concentrated urine. But as Dr. Atkins wrote, the ketostix are just a tool and the goal isn't trying to turn them color.

[Georgiana]

Originally Posted by LCer09

That's all true. But "bars and shakes" as if it was one word and they were at all, in any way similar is just not true, no? Catch phrases tend to get overused until everybody believes them. I've been on a LOT of LC boards over the years, and I see a lot of ideas become gospel. Like "If your ketosticks turn purple, you're dehydrated!!" (oh my god, we're all gonna DIE!)

Maybe fewer people experience a stall in their weight loss from shakes than from bars because of those sugar alcohols missing, but many are still stalled by ingredients that are in the shakes. If this had not be the case, then Atkins Nutritionals would not have set a limit of 2 per day for both the bars and the shakes and instead they would have said you can eat only 2 bars, but 3 shakes.

Ketostix. Many people do not drink enough water at the beginning of their Atkins and then their ketostix may turn dark purple. This is why we remind people that dark ketostix are often a sign of dehydration and we tell them to make sure they drink enough water. Also, many people get very excited from seeing purple thinking "OMG, look how purple this is!!! I'll lose a bunch of weight in 2 weeks!", when in reality the color registered on the stix may have nothing to do with the results one sees at the end of the 2 weeks---you can have dark ketostix from eating butter all day or you can artificially darken the color by consuming coconut oil or other short- and medium-chain triglycerides.