Newbie- Need help!

[Pumababi]

Good morning everyone!

I just wanted to introduce myself and say hi. I am hoping to gain support and new friends here! I have been having a hard time lately. My friends/family are not being quite as supportive as I hoped. (Oh, she's doing that low carb crap, blahblahblah. ::rolls eyes: It can be discouraging because then they try to give me cookies or pizza or any other no-no.
3 years ago, I reached my goal weight of 107. I'm 5'2 and 22yrs old lady. I maintained happily for 8 months, and then my step father died... he dropped dead in front of me... (he was saying goodbye to me at the porch and apparently had a brain anuerizm?) so... I gained back 50+ pounds in 4 months after that. I've been struggling to get it off since then. My boyfriend and I just broke up last sunday. We've been dating for almost 2 years, and I'm heartbroken.


I started Induction on 7/29/06. I am extending induction further. I was losing pretty well up until last week... which was 1 pound . I weigh myself once a week (or should I be switching to daily?). I haven't weighed this week, so I don't know my total loss yet to date. Anyway, 2 weeks ago now, I injured my right knee and tore ligaments. i haven't seen a knee doc yet but my doc says it could take anywhere between 3-6 months. I have set a goal to lose 50 pounds by January. January 2nd is my birthday, and I will not, absolutely NOT go through another birthday/year feeling unhappy about how I look and not being my true self. (if that makes sense). It keeps me back from enjoying life the way I want to. And, I'm tired of wearing sweatpants and hoodies! I'm trying not to get discouraged about my goals, but I"m afraid that I won't lose on a weekly basis because I can't exercise. Inside, I feel strong that it won't stop me, because I am just determined to see this through no matter what. But yet, i'm a little uneasy about it. Any thoughts??


I have a few questions about things I'm doing right now. I hope you guys can stear me in the right direction, if i'm off the path!

1. My appetite has been crazily reduced since starting this. I've read abotu starvation mode, BMR, ect in your stickies and I'm confused. Do I allow my body to naturally eat however much it needs/wants from being in ketosis? Or do I eat a set number of calroies....ie I read somewhere that Dr.A said that you can eat 12x your ideal body weight for cals.

The past three days I've been getting two meals. either L and D. or B and L. Any thoughts? I also, read dont eat when you're not hungry- help! I'm learnign from this how much I eat out of boredum, sadness. Night time is the hardest from me (i love to sit in front of the tv and watch a movie and eat... thats a huge thing I'm tackling now). I also will randomly get very very hungry, i don't know if that's true hunger or not though.


2. Here has been my menus so far. The first 3 weeks it was...
B- .5 advantage PB bar- large coffee with cream
L- .5 advantage PB bar- D.Pepsi
D- Chicken/Pork chop/ Fish with 1c raw veggie and 1 cup salad.

(I have crazy schedule in the morning, hence the franken food. I was drinking alottttt of d. snapple or soda. I've cut back to 1 a day, if i have it).

After that I've changed it to (Note: because of my injury I cant drive or get to university or work, so I've listed what I've been eating while staying with my brother. i should stay with him for a few weeks).

B- pork chop or chicken with 2 tbsps butter, large coffee with 2 tbsp cream, 1 splenda or (when I'm at home)

At Bros: 2 slices of oscar myer bacon, 3 egg whites, 2 tbsp whipped butter (that ran out, which went to country crock).

L- (At Home
Tuna with mayo 1/4 cup chopped celery and pepper 2 tbsps hellmans mayo (this kept giving me crazy cravings/ and increased hunger... i looked at my hellman's mayo and it has sugar in it! so i stopped having mayo and sub it with 1 tbsp olive oil or whipped butter. Or Egg white omlette with 1cup raw mushrooms and 1/4 cup chopped peppers and 1-2 oz of hard cheese,or 4tbsps grated Parm.

this past week- I've been having lunch at my mother's so... its 6oz grilled Salmon with 1c mushrooms, 1/4 chopped celery- 2 tbsps whipped butter (or smart balance light- i was at my mom's that's all she had. that's probably a no no right?)- 1-2 oz of hard cheddar or the egg white omlette if she's out of fish.

D- Chicken, Chop, Steak, or Fish with 1c. shredded cabbage,
1-2 oz of cheddar (if I didnt have it at lunch); 2 tbsp whipped butter.

Later If I start to get an urge to eat in front of the TV... Large Tea with 1 tbsp cream and 1 splenda.


Snack: I wasn't snacking at all before. Yesterday, I found a recipe on here
for induction friendly gummy worms with SF jello... so I've made those and I'll have some at night when I'm wanting something to eat.

Total H20: 1 gallon of purified water a day.

At Bros- so it's usually without the veggie and with the country crock. and half and half. He's going shopping so hopefully i can get him to get a couple of things for me.


Wow, this is really long. I appreciate anyone who has taken the time to read it! Feel free to speak freely, as honest communication is important to me!


Have a great day everyone! Thanks again for reading.

-Pumababi

[G-Mom]

First of all, welcome!!

Ok, about your weightloss, after Induction, many folks will slow their pound loss way down. This is your body adjusting. It will pick up again. DON'T weigh daily, weekly is fine, monthly is better! Are you measuring? This is a much better gauge of fat loss than weight.

About your family and friends: You MUST get them to support you. Try to educate them by having them read the book or read about Atkins on this site. Sabotage will not help you.

Now, at first when you listed the Atkins bars, I wanted to stop reading and start posting. Then, you started listing sensible menus. I DO NOT care if you are busy. If you have time to plop yourself in front of the BoobTube at night, you have time to prepare proper Atkins foods at night and refrigerate for the next day. STOP the bars NOW! They are bad for your progress!

Now, about your hunger...eat to just satisfy your hunger. Don't worry about cals for now. You worry about those on the later OWL rungs.

About your exercise...do what you can. Can you go swimming? Lift weights on your upper body and do crunches, just don't stress your knee. I know how you feel about injuries. I broke my leg and needed surgery in February, then needed knee surgery in June. I still lost 40 lbs since April, so you can too.

Some folks will criticize the coffee drinking, I'm not one of them, unless you find that it impedes your weightloss.

Keep drinking that water!!

Good luck, and happy low carbing!

[Kent]

First sorry to hear about your recent breakup and injury -- emotional stress and being injured are certainly some of the leading causes of diet problems. Getting injured was one of my great fears while I was losing weight and wondering what that would do my weight loss attempts. I would suggest you do what you can during those 3-6 weeks. Certainly there are weight lifting exercises that you can do while sitting down or off your leg. I will attempt to answer your questions below:

Originally Posted by Pumababi

Good morning everyone!

But yet, i'm a little uneasy about it. Any thoughts??

1. My appetite has been crazily reduced since starting this. I've read abotu starvation mode, BMR, ect in your stickies and I'm confused. Do I allow my body to naturally eat however much it needs/wants from being in ketosis? Or do I eat a set number of calroies....ie I read somewhere that Dr.A said that you can eat 12x your ideal body weight for cals.

About starvation mode, it is certainly a real thing. I would figure out your BMR at a site (http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/ is one example), and eat within 25% at least of that daily. You should eat as you are hungry, but if you think starvation mode is really an issue, i.e. your exercise performance has dropped, you are unnaturally tired, etc., you should start measuring your Calories. You are doing this not to LIMIT them, but to increase them.

The past three days I've been getting two meals. either L and D. or B and L. Any thoughts? I also, read dont eat when you're not hungry- help! I'm learnign from this how much I eat out of boredum, sadness. Night time is the hardest from me (i love to sit in front of the tv and watch a movie and eat... thats a huge thing I'm tackling now). I also will randomly get very very hungry, i don't know if that's true hunger or not though.

You should at least try to eat three times per day. They all don't need to be official big meals, but just enough to eat to fuel the body. Your metabolism in the lack of food can plummet too. Don't eat simply to treat a secondary cause (grazing or comfort), but to make sure your body is properly fueled.

2. Here has been my menus so far. The first 3 weeks it was...
B- .5 advantage PB bar- large coffee with cream
L- .5 advantage PB bar- D.Pepsi
D- Chicken/Pork chop/ Fish with 1c raw veggie and 1 cup salad.

(I have crazy schedule in the morning, hence the franken food. I was drinking alottttt of d. snapple or soda. I've cut back to 1 a day, if i have it).

After that I've changed it to (Note: because of my injury I cant drive or get to university or work, so I've listed what I've been eating while staying with my brother. i should stay with him for a few weeks).

I would personally change the bar approach in favor of real food. Luncheon meat or cheese is certainly a better option than the bars and just as portable. It certainly does look like you were not getting food intake you need.
B- pork chop or chicken with 2 tbsps butter, large coffee with 2 tbsp cream, 1 splenda or (when I'm at home)

At Bros: 2 slices of oscar myer bacon, 3 egg whites, 2 tbsp whipped butter (that ran out, which went to country crock).

L- (At Home
Tuna with mayo 1/4 cup chopped celery and pepper 2 tbsps hellmans mayo (this kept giving me crazy cravings/ and increased hunger... i looked at my hellman's mayo and it has sugar in it! so i stopped having mayo and sub it with 1 tbsp olive oil or whipped butter. Or Egg white omlette with 1cup raw mushrooms and 1/4 cup chopped peppers and 1-2 oz of hard cheese,or 4tbsps grated Parm.

this past week- I've been having lunch at my mother's so... its 6oz grilled Salmon with 1c mushrooms, 1/4 chopped celery- 2 tbsps whipped butter (or smart balance light- i was at my mom's that's all she had. that's probably a no no right?)- 1-2 oz of hard cheddar or the egg white omlette if she's out of fish.

D- Chicken, Chop, Steak, or Fish with 1c. shredded cabbage,
1-2 oz of cheddar (if I didnt have it at lunch); 2 tbsp whipped butter.

Later If I start to get an urge to eat in front of the TV... Large Tea with 1 tbsp cream and 1 splenda.


Snack: I wasn't snacking at all before. Yesterday, I found a recipe on here
for induction friendly gummy worms with SF jello... so I've made those and I'll have some at night when I'm wanting something to eat.

Total H20: 1 gallon of purified water a day.

At Bros- so it's usually without the veggie and with the country crock. and half and half. He's going shopping so hopefully i can get him to get a couple of things for me.


Wow, this is really long. I appreciate anyone who has taken the time to read it! Feel free to speak freely, as honest communication is important to me!
The menu's here look better. I am wondering about the egg whites omelet. You are missing the best part of the egg for spurring weight loss.

Have a great day everyone! Thanks again for reading.

-Pumababi

Anyhow, I just wanted to wish you the best, and I hope this helps.

[Desertthorn]

Hi, the other folks have responded to your questions, so all I want to do is welcome you aboard and thank you for joining.

[Pumababi]

Thanks everyone for your advice, and sweet welcome!

[julirama723]

Welcome aboard...the only thing I want to ask about is the sugar free gummy worms and jello? Do they have sugar alcohol? Sometimes that can slow people because the alcohol has to be burned off before any fat can be. Also, if your jello is sweetened with aspartame, that might cause problems, too--it hasn't affected me, but it's affected others. Dr. A recommended splenda/sucralose rather than aspartame.

Just make sure you're drinking your water and eating enough fat! Fat keeps you satisfied, and if you eat too much protein, the body can change it to glucose. Are you checking your percentages at www.fitday.com? Your ratios should be 5% carbs, 65% fat, 30% protein.

With that said, keep up your food diary and your hard work. Welcome!

[Desertthorn]

Hi Julirama, those gummie worms are a recipe here on the board made with jello and they don't have any sugar alcohols but your right about the aspartame, although Jolly (something )jello is made with splenda.
Sugar Alcohol does worse than slowing weight loss, it can clean out your system better than any ANY laxative made. Ever hear "Explosive" LOL, I won't continue.

Originally Posted by julirama723

Welcome aboard...the only thing I want to ask about is the sugar free gummy worms and jello? Do they have sugar alcohol? Sometimes that can slow people because the alcohol has to be burned off before any fat can be. Also, if your jello is sweetened with aspartame, that might cause problems, too--it hasn't affected me, but it's affected others. Dr. A recommended splenda/sucralose rather than aspartame.

Just make sure you're drinking your water and eating enough fat! Fat keeps you satisfied, and if you eat too much protein, the body can change it to glucose. Are you checking your percentages at www.fitday.com? Your ratios should be 5% carbs, 65% fat, 30% protein.

With that said, keep up your food diary and your hard work. Welcome!

[Pumababi]

It is made with aspartane instead. I'll have to look for that splenda version in the store when i go. I poor some of the liquid into ice cube trays (i didnt have the mold to make the worms today)- and I'll only have like 4-6 cubes after dinner- if I really need them. But i'll keep the sugar alcohols in mind, thank you! should i count these cubes as 1 carb each, to be safe?