10 Things I'm going to try to Remember this Time on Atkins

[bigdave]

My friend and I are having a little weight-loss contest (he's using Weight Watchers and I'm on Atkins second-time-around). Today I wrote a post about 10 things to remember whenever you feel like cheating/quitting whatever for myself and I thought I'd share, love to hear other tips you guys have for getting past though tough times.

Check out my blog here: http://duelingfatsos.com (funny domain name huh)

I’m starting out on a diet/weight-loss journey as I’m sure many of you out there are. Nothing is as exciting as the first few days of a new diet, you’ve just read the book or attended a class and all the ideas make sense. You’re going through forums and everything you read is preaching to the choir. It’s easy to look at things that are diet-killers and shirk off any desire to even touch them. You see immediate success (especially on Atkins where water weight is shed pretty rapidly) and you’re already planning on the size pants/dress you’re going to wear by the time bikinis and shorts start showing up at the beach. How do you keep this motivation going? What happens in two months when your colleague brings in Krispy Kreme donuts? Why can’t you remember all the excitement you had at the beginning later on during your journey. Here I’m going to put down 10 thoughts I have now so I can review them later should I feel tempted to stray. Also, please note that I am writing this at the beginning of the journey (though I have been pretty far before) so don’t view it as the words of a wise mountain man.

10. Visualize yourself thin. Perhaps once you were thin or you have an idea of what you would look like if you were. When I was a kid, I always visualized myself in Superman’s body. The superhero body with the broad chest and ripped obliques and abs. Fortunately, I have the build to look like that. Unfortunately, I have 50 pounds of additional fat hanging over it. One thing I love to do when I’m discouraged is look at Before-and-After photos of people who have been successful with the Atkins diet. Atkins Diet Bulletin Board has a great board for people to post them.

9. Food is only temporary happiness. Now I find it easy to turn down something I see because my willpower is at a high-level. Remember that food is something you enjoy for just a few minutes, while good health is something that will last you your entire life time.

8. Don’t let boredom turn into eating. Most of the time I find myself walking to the refridgerator just cause I have nothing else to do. As a programmer, this is particularly problem-some because even when I am doing something, I often take breaks to think and I (like many I’m sure) associate thinking and eating as a joint activity. One thing I’ve found that helps is to just do some small ab exercises or take a short walk (at work I go play some foosball or ping-pong).

7. Remember the penalty for cheating. On Atkins, your body is converted to a fat-burning engine. Sugar does roughly the same thing to your body as it does to a real car engine, it will cause it to stall and stop running. It then takes several days to get back into fat-burning mode and at the same time your body is getting more resistant to changing back and forth.

6. Keep drinking water. I read about the importance of water in many places but I always stop doing it. A couple reasons: 1) water makes you feel fuller 2) water lubricates your body. When you’re losing weight, a lot of toxins from fat decomposition are piling up in your system, water helps you flush that out and 3) Thirst often masquerades as hunger.

5. You will plateau. This is what gets me a lot. I plateau, lose confidence in Atkins and then stop. I think starting out you should just admit that you will plateau and be psychologically prepared for it. When you do plateau, think about a few things: 1) are you letting carbs slip into your diet? 2) Are you getting enough exercise? 3) Are you drinking enough water? 4) Are you getting the right nutrients?

4. Keep yourself well-supplemented with vitanutrients. I know some people don’t believe in Vitamins (*cough* fortylove *cough*) but I think they really do help in weight loss. First, when you either restrict calories or carbs you’re going to reduce the amount of nutrients overall that your body was previously using. Vitamins fill in that gap and get enough into your system so that your body can run at optimum efficiency. For engineers out there, think of fat burning as your critical path and vitamins as a prerequisite. Yeah, you get enough vitamins to have some stuff go down the tube but with a fully stocked supply of them you can keep everything else running as smoothly as possible.

3. Don’t beat yourself up for cheating. This goes along with plateaus. You will cheat, it’s inevitable. The trick is to not turn cheating into a binge and then turn that binge into your old habits again. Cheat, acknowledge what you’ve done, and get back to the diet.

2. Exercise!! I personally exercise quite a bit so I don’t think this will be a problem for me. But I think exercise fills you up mentally so you feel less desire to eat throughout the day. It’s strange how it works, but if I work out I find myself wanting less late night snacks.

1. Remember why you started your journey, write it down and refer to it constantly! That’s what I’m doing here and I will be printing this out for carrying around in my wallet. Write down your goals, visualize yourself healthy and keep on keepin’ on!

[iantheace]

Good ideas, what really worked for me (and i know this sounds weird cus im a guy) is i would find a new pair of jeans or whatever, that would be about 2 - 4 inches off of fitting me, then whenever i thought about high carb foods thought about what id prefer, to be slim enough to fit into those trousers, or something sweet in my mouth for 1 minute... theres no comparison.

One thing i could NEVER give up on atkins though was having milk in my decaf earl grey, i love my tea.

[ValidRouge]

Thank you, Dave. These are all great things to think about.

It's a MUST that we prepare ourselves for the long haul. This is my second time around on this WOL, and while I've enjoyed my short term, intermediary successes, I have spent FAR more time thinking about the long haul. Visualizing what goal looks like. Learning to like exercise...and it is something I have had to learn...I've had to work hard at it, and it's taken time and effort.

I've been 'plataued' since July, taking off and putting on the same 7 lbs. I had to use ideas that I had seen on ADBB since my beginning to help cope with this. I had to prepare for the long haul, and that means sticking this out, no matter how long it takes. This is how I'll eat for the rest of my life. I had to visualize that too, how would I behave, what actions would I take. We have to be prepared.

[sallyseachange]

Nice one Dave!

[Elizellen]

Great points to remember and review throughout our Atkins journeys, Dave

[zencyn]

Great list, if you don't mind, I think I would like to write it down in my diet journal.

[julirama723]

Dave, great list!!!! This is something to hold each and every one of us accountable.

[janecasler]

I printed your "10 list" out for myself and also sent it to a friend who is having trouble staying motivated. Thank you, Dave.

Cazzi