Wanting to start, some questions.

[BiggyB]

Sorry to bother, i have been reading the site most of the day and i am very interested, i really want to start this diet and i am starting to understand that its going to be a big change, a lifestyle change which is a little scary to say the least.

I am currently 24, i don't have the best income and i would estimate i am around 320 lbs at the moment (of course i would get weighed and measured when i started) i just have a few questions that i can't seem to find answers to and I am sure some of these can be found in the book, but i have to wait for the weekend to go buy it.

1.) Meals

This is the biggest concern for me, although i am a large size, i am actually not eating all day or picking, i have just made bad choices in food i eat, and not been exercising, with living with my family my food choices are pretty limited, they shop for a entire family so usually i have to eat whats available and i will have to set some money aside to start buying my own food so this is where i will need the most help.

After reading over the Induction portion, i can see the on the Vegetables list which you may consume 2 to 3 cups per day of the following, these are the ones i can list which are cheep enough for me to buy frozen or fresh, and i could enjoy eating every day without feeling stale.

lettuce, cucumber, peppers

On the Vegetables listed as 1 Cup per day i can see the following.

broccoli, spinach, tomato, cabbage, cauliflower, onion

And in General my family would have Chicken, Eggs, Cream Cheese.

Given this list, what would a typical "3 large meals" look like, and can i use the same meals over and over every day, i don't worry about being stale cause it doesn't effect me, i just need to know what i have to eat however basic it is.

2.) Exercise

I don't have the money to visit a gym, but i can walk and do things around my house, but if i don't go to the gym will i have saggy skin everywhere ? its one of my biggest concerns for losing weight and one of my excuses i try to use when i confront my self.

Sorry about the length, and thanks for the help.

[12YearsofBabyFat]

Hello BiggyB,
Welcome to the board! This is a great place to get ideas and encouragement!
I am only on day 10 of induction, so I am also new. I did lose weight on Atkins years ago and I am back to it, because it is in my opinion a very healthy and effective way to lose weight and keep it off.
A tight budget is a concern for many of us, so you are in good company.
I am sure other more experienced Atkineers can add to these ideas, but here are a few ideas for meals, given the foods you listed.
For breakfast, eggs soon become a staple to many of us. I am starting to buy them by the 24 count cartons, in fact. So you can always have eggs by themselves or with some spinach or another vegetable to mix up the menu a bit. I find that cream cheese or regular cheeses, (if I have them), add a lot to the versatility of my meals. Just adding a bit on top of chicken really adds a lot of flavor.
Another idea, if there is mayo available is an Atkins friendly chicken salad.
If you can get them, they are usually about $1 for a bag, pork rinds are also extremely useful. You can crush them and use pork rinds as a breading for chicken.
You can even add butter, Splenda, and cinnamon to them and eat them as a snack.
For vegetables, I usually just eat them raw, boil them or saute them in butter. Cauliflower is a treat for me because it can be mashed like mashed potatoes!

Here is a favorite website called Linda's low carb for other induction friendly ideas:
Linda's Low Carb Menus & Recipes - Home
I have found tons of ideas there , as well as our very own never-ending induction recipes.
http://www.atkinsdietbulletinboard.c...n-recipes.html (Never ending induction recipes)

If you spend some time, in my case-hours, searching through just these 2 links, I believe you will find more than enough info to keep your diet interesting through induction and beyond. Over time you become more and more creative with the available foods and will amaze yourself with how many things you can make with a limited set of ingredients. You will get there!
Very important is to stick to 20 or less carb strictly, eat your veggies, drink your water, excercise in whatever way you are able, and check into this site daily! We are here for each other and we are all in the same boat!
Saggy skin? I am not there yet, so we will learn about this together. Since you are 11 years my junior, I suspect I will have more trouble with that than you! I have heard that lifting weights and excercise definitely helps reduce this problem, so even using 2 soup cans as your weights will work.
I hope this helps.

[jrgonz454]

The main thing to focus on is your net carbs (total carbs minus fiber carbs) fiber carbs dont count. If you keep it under 20 grams the first two weeks, month, whatever you can handle youll see results. I also suggest you buy some ketostixs. Buy them at your local pharmacy for about 13 buck. The darker it shows the more fat your burning, but there are many reasons this wont show dark (lack of water, you exercise enough to burn fat floating around etc,etc) I would read up on it. Also as far as your skin goes, youll have "some sag" but your young enough to were you can reduce this enough. I been on for month and a half and lost 30 pounds. starting weight 287 now 257. Oh yeah get FIBER PILL and DRINK LOTS of water. The fiber pills will help you stay feeling full. The water also will help excelarate your weight loss, but youll be able to poop with ease ;-)

[Georgiana]

Wow, for someone who doesn't have the book, you've done a great job informing yourself. We don't see this very often.

Originally Posted by BiggyB

Given this list, what would a typical "3 large meals" look like, and can i use the same meals over and over every day, i don't worry about being stale cause it doesn't effect me, i just need to know what i have to eat however basic it is.

There are some Induction menus on Linda's website. This is the link to them: Linda's Low Carb Menus & Recipes - Induction Menus

You can also buy canned tuna. It is pretty cheap and tuna salad is quite filling.

I don't have the money to visit a gym, but i can walk and do things around my house, but if i don't go to the gym will i have saggy skin everywhere ?

My second "wow" for the day... and you'll see I don't say this very often. Many people would use this as an excuse for not exercising, so good for you for not doing that. Walking is a great exercise. As your fitness improves, you could also try running. What about playing basketball or some other sport?

Lifting weights will help with saggy skin, but it is also a matter of genetics. Even if you don't own weights and don't afford joining a gym, you can still do strength training. Instead of weights, use your own body weight (e.g. push-ups, squats, crunches, etc.) or improvised weights (e.g. bottles of water filled with water or sand, food cans, bags filled with stuff, etc.

About the ketostix, I would say don't bother buying them. If you have those money, better buy a steak. The color of the ketostix does not indicate how much fat you are burning or how fast -- the only thing it tells you is the concentration of ketones in your urine. The ketones could just as well come from the fat you ate. There are other ways to "test" for ketosis and they are free: http://www.atkinsdietbulletinboard.c...g-ketosis.html (What are the physical signs of being in ketosis?)

One thing you should spend money on are some vitamins. I would say a multivitamin without iron is the minimum. If you can save some money, chromium and essential oils would also be good.

Other than that... just drink plenty of water and follow the rules of Induction.

[tuttifrutti]

Hello BiggyB,
I myself am on a tight budget but I have had no problem shopping for the foods I use with this way of eating. If you can buy in bulk and package up smaller packages to put in your freezer, that helps alot. Like I buy a family pack of ground beef and then package it off into about 1.5 lb packages. Same as steak...I look for a big family pack that is on sale and then pack the steaks up in smaller bags, also I do that with country style pork ribs and chicken. If you like eggs I suggest one of those 5 dozen pallets (cost way cheaper then buying a dozen at a time). I have been doing Atkins for 5 weeks now and I pretty much stay to the same veggies. I find it easy to stick with it if I use my favorites. I don't seem to get bored with it. It is usually 2 cups romaine lettuce salad with blue cheese dressing and then 1 cup of veggies off the other list. I usually pick broccoli, zucchini, green beans, or cauliflower. Spinach is very low in carbs so its great to add with your 2 cups salad. I tend to eat like this: breakfast 3-4 eggs sometimes I throw in some of the spinach and 1-2 oz chedder cheese, lunch is 2 cups salad with chicken burgers or beef burgers, and dinner 1 cup of zucchini, or broccoli with steak or country style pork. If I get hungry inbetween I nibble on cucumbers or deli sliced turkey breast. I found it easy to follow that on induction and to get in my proper ratios of fat/protein/carbs. But like stated earlier your main concern is to stick to 20 grams of carbs. Some people would say net carbs (fiber minus the carb count) but I stuck to it the Atkins original way. I count carbs before the net carbs, but that choice would be up to you. The links that were provided for you for recipes are great ones, definetly check it out. And you don't need any money to excercise. I fortunetly had a great person send me a walking video and I am using that, but if the weather is nice, walk outside around the block a few times, you can even mall walk. And as the weight melts off you, you can play sports you like or even start jogging. Loose skin? Sometimes no matter what one does it will all factor out to age and genetics. Best thing is to do toning excercises. You can find some on the web I am sure of it and purchase an inexpensive toning band. And the last very important thing to do is drink your water. Plenty of water. It helps flush that fat out of your body and keeps you from retaining water too. And I have found with the support and daily check in here at ADBB I have been able to feel accountable and stick to it. Hope to see you around more often!

[chinadoll]

And don't worry about the ketostix. They aren't cheap and as long as you are eating as required it isn't necessary to confirm it, especially since they aren't always reliable anyway. You will know if you are in ketosis if you are losing, have bad breath, smelly urine,etc. The ketostix are nice, but an added expense.

[Jodes]

Hi BiggyB,
Welcome....Don't worry about eating the same thing over and over again - I do the same thing.

You can see what I eat in my fitday journal
http://fitday.com/fitness/PublicJournals.html?Owner=Jodes66

But basically for breaky I have a 2 or 3 egg omelete with 1/4 to 1/2 cup of mushrooms + 25g of parmesan cheese and a cup of decaf with 1 tablespoon of cream

Lunch is always 100g of chicken (with the skin) + 1 cup of lettuce, 1/4 to 1/2 cup each of cucumber and tomato and 1 tablespoon of paul newmans ceasar dressing.

Dinner is meat + 1/2 cup of veg or another cup of salad (to make up my 3 cups in total) and after dinner I have another decaf with 1 tablespoon of cream.

If I am hungry in between meals I have some cheese or a bit of salami (make sure that your salami has no added sugar or nitrates - I found a Hans one that is just perfect with less than 1g carbs per serve).

Plus I drink 2L of water a day + another 1.5L because I have 44lbs (20kg) to lose... I read somewhere that you need to drink 2L a day + another cup for every 25lbs you need to lose. I have noticed when I drink more water, my weight loss (measurements) go down faster... So that is what I do.

[2BME]

Originally Posted by BiggyB

2.) Exercise

I don't have the money to visit a gym, but i can walk and do things around my house, but if i don't go to the gym will i have saggy skin everywhere ? its one of my biggest concerns for losing weight and one of my excuses i try to use when i confront my self.

Sorry about the length, and thanks for the help.

In my opinion, exercise is the cheapest part of changing your life. There are hundreds of different exercises you can do from strength training to flexibility to straight up cardio that cost you nothing but the commitment to doing them.

Walking, jogging, sit-ups, push-ups, stretches. You can find charts online for free showing proper form and routines. If you have access to music.... Dance! Awesome cardio and lifts the spirits, too!

Regarding your concern about the skin. I lost weight very rapidly and I have to say that my skin or "outer layer" as it were, continued to shrink long after I had reached my goal. I think a good skin regimen, cleaning, ex-foliating, moisturizing; these will all help your skin to shrink and recover.

I hope you do start your journey and you realize how worth these changes you are. Please come back and tell us how things are going for you.

[not2late]

I agree with the comments about the gym and exercising. You don't need to join a gym to exercise. You don't need to buy fancy equipment to exercise. Remember those exercises in physical education class--push ups, windmills, lunges, sit ups, etc.? They are extremely effective, portable and cheap. The majority of the exercise videos just do modifications of the old-fashioned push ups, windmills, lunges, squats, sit-ups, etc. to make it easier for folks with limited mobility or limited strength to do.

[SunnySmile501]

You can do this! I think you are ready and willing. Healthy Atkins food does not have to be expensive. It may take a little money to switch over, but you know how much a bag of chips or Doritoes cost and they are pure junk with zero nutritional value. Most of the Induction veggies are the cheapest of all veggies. Frozen veggies are relatively cheap and are very good. As soon as you get into ketosis, your appetite will calm down and you will be satisfied with less food. That never happens with high carb foods--they make you want more and more.

About the gym. You don't need a gym to exercise and firm up. There is nothing you do at a gym that you can't do at home or in your neighborhood. Your own body weight is the best resistance exercise machine of all. Walking outside briskly and lifting weights, even if the weights are soup cans or water bottles, will do wonders for your muscles, skin and mood.

At your age having saggy skin is possible, but the one sure thing, the older you get while staying obese the more likely you will have saggy skin that will never firm up. After 30 the skin starts to thin naturally. The combination of eating quality protein, fats, drinking lots of water and exercise is the best way to avoid saggy skin. Your skin will glow like never before.

I third the "don't waste your money on Ketostix." Right now you need to spend your money on quality foods and supplements that you can afford.

I see a very slim and healthy body in your future.

Sunny!