Help!! I want to start atkins!! But I am worried!

[Amber_Girl79]

Hi everyone, I have been looking at everyone's posts the last couple of weeks just to motivate me. I love seeing how eveyone is doing so great, the weight falling off withen weeks...it is SO awesome. I just want to start right now! And I have done atkins a few times before and always gotten great results. I just am worried I will start atkins again, and then stop withen a couple of weeks. I DONT WANT TO STOP UNTIL I LOSE ALL THE WEIGHT I NEED TO LOSE!! I do have motivation to start it, I just don't know how to stick to it for 6-8 months. The problem is eating yummie food, like my starbucks every morning, and pizza every now and then and tiramisu...it's going to be so stinklin hard! I know I know I am whining....I just need some support... Be mean if you want...just tell me how much I need to do this! I am going crazy being unhappy being overweight!

[rweeks]

Amber,
I am a newbie myself. I never tried Atkins before because I did not understand it. I was under the impression that it was all eggs, bacon, and cheese. Of course I was wrong. If you have not gotten the book......GET IT. It will help you to understand as well. I am a big dude with an ENORMOUS appetite. However, since I have been on board I eat MUCH less, MORE often, and feel A LOT more fulfilled. Oh yeah and I have dropped 40 pounds so far...... that is an added bonus. I cannot promise you tiramisu, but I can promise you that there are so many "creative" alternatives to our favorite meals that you will not miss too much. It is a LIFESTYLE change, so when you get towards your goals, you can have tiramisu every once and a while. You will have trained yourself NOT to eat 10 breadsticks, a plate of pasta AND a helping of tiramisu. By then you will have so much pride in your accomplishments that you will refuse to revert back to your former self. I wish you good, luck and participate often in these forums. We will help you succeed. Just my 2 cents

[APanthesilia]

Hiya Amber and welcome to ADBB! First of all, I second Rob- definitely read the book if you haven't already. You won't be eating just the induction foods for very long, you get to add in new foods! And like Rob said, there are so many creative ways to make the things you are craving more low carb. Cream cheese with a bit of sweetener comes to find for tiramisu and there are all kinds of recipes for crustless pizza- tasty!

But something that I wanted to comment on...this isn't really a diet and it is not good to think of it as such. This is a way of eating and a way of life. You can't do it until you reach goal and then go back to the pizza and tiramisu. Again, I think you should read the book. You'll see that this way of life teaches you better habits and gets you to your weight goal all at once and then when you are there you do not add in all the junk that made you big to begin with. You have changed your habits by then and you stay in the maintenance stage. That way you can stay healthy and thin rather than gaining the weight back again!

You can absolutely do this, it is amazing how much more healthy and active I feel now- the benefits of Atkins go far beyond the weight loss and if you start and stick with it you will not regret it! At the end of the day though, only you can decide if you are ready to begin. When I started I looked in the mirror and was disgusted and finally decided "enough". I think you have to get to that point before you are ready to do this- are you there? If you are ready to start then you can definitely do it and you will be so happy you did! Good luck and I hope you stay around the forum to let us know how you are doing and to get the support you need.

Also, you might want to drop by the Second Time Around Club, it is for those of us who have done this before and didn't quite get to where we were going!