- Joined
- Feb 8, 2003
- Messages
- 10,626
Hi,
I have been asked in PM quite often lately how I did Atkins or do I have any tricks or will I share my menus/etc.- because of the success I have had so far with Atkins. I want so bad to help anyone who asks me questions but:
I tend to give late answers if they happen to ask when I'm not around for a few days or whatever.
I can't say all I want to say because of the limitations of PMs.
When many ask- I'm afraid I'm giving only a portion of the answer to each- and missing things I meant to say to this person and that.
So I decided to write this thread and then I can just direct them to this thread when they ask. I hope that is okay!
Basically I started out just using atkinscenter.com (searched for induction foods and went by the induction foods list) and used fitday.com to put everything I ate/consumed on there to know the true total on carbs. I never counted anything as zero carbs- no such thing. If it says zero carbs it could mean up to .90 carbs but they can still put it at zero if it's less than 1 carb.
I stayed on induction for almost 2 months- no cheats, never straying from the induction list.
Now I eat less cheese (instead of 3oz- usually about 1oz per day) and add more carbs with more veggies- because I'm on ongoing weightloss- and occassionally strawberry or peach slices- and sometimes SF treats but they might stall me sometimes so I still keep those to a minimum.
My meals basically consisted of:
Breakfast:
2 fried eggs or 2 deviled eggs or 2-3 boiled eggs
2-3 slices bacon
1oz mozz cheese
Lunch:
4-6oz of either fish, chicken breast baked, steak, tuna, crablegs or lobster
2 cups salad with 1 tbps cheddar cheese, 2 slices cucumber, 1-2 tbsp ranch dressing
Dinner:
4-6oz of either fish, chicken breast, steak, tuna, crablegs or lobster - or sometimes tuna or other "meat" on the induction list
.5 -1 cup veggies (usually one of these: broccoli, asparagus, spinach, fresh green beans, cauliflower -sometimes mashed with butter and heavy cream to make like mashed potatoes, eggplant casserole)
The only difference NOW is my favorite breakfast is:
2-3 romaine leaves torn off the hard center with 2-3 slices bacon, 2-3 thin slice small tomatoes, .5tbsp per each - rolled up like BLT. Delicious!
And my veggies are usually 2 cups salad and 1-2 cups other veggie.
Sometimes having SF treat OR strawberry sliced up or 2-3 peach slices with heavy cream whipped on top of that.
(to make whip cream I use heavy whipping cream, 1 pkt splenda, dash of vanilla extract and whip it up good. LOL)
That's basically it. I still use fitday.com everyday to see how many carbs I ate for that day or to plan ahead for that day- and also to TRY to keep as close to possible to the fat/carb/protein ratio Atkins says- which is 60-60%/5-10%/30-35%
And I must say that I have also cheated a couple of times recently. My results might have been better if I hadn't. Both times really slowed down my weightloss that week after- I cheated on Easter (planned cheat if I got to 30lbs lost by then, which I did) and on Mother's day.
I drink a lot of water but didn't the first few days on Atkins- I had to work my way up to drinking water at ALL, much less as much as I'm supposed to! But now I seriously do crave it and only drink water every day. I have only occassionally had a diet hansen's or diet rite drink- but not often. Splenda seems to stall me. Cream cheese seems to stall me also- but I know it doesn't do that for most people.
Oh and my supplements started out as 1 Men's one a day vitamin per day, and 2 other "oils" pills per day (omega 3 oils, borage oils, flaxseed oils pill). I found I had better weightloss results as well as more "regularity" in the bathroom (if you know what I mean LOL) when I switched to Atkins Essential oils instead of those oil pills.. when I ran out of those and bought ATkins Essential oils instead. I now take 1 Men's one a day vitiman and 2 essential oils pills TWICE a day- once in the morning after breakfast and once at night after supper. I also sometimes take Atkins Dieter's Advantage but not very often. Since you have to take it 1hr before eating or exercising- and it's hard for me to know an hr ahead of eating or exercising. So I don't take that often at all. That's it on supplements. I tried the liquid flaxseed oil once and it was so gross and didn't help constipation anyway! Just my personal experience- I know others swear by it.
I did not start exercising until recently. The first 2 months I had only walked about 1.5mile.... twice in 2 months! But now I have a stationary bike (purchased cheap at a yard sale LOL) and WATP tapes (purchased $19.99 for 3 tapes plus resistance belt at Target) and some Pilates tapes ($6.99 each at Target). So far I do mostly the stationary bike and 2 mile WATP about every other day or sometimes every day- but really more like every other day. LOL
I tried the Pilates tape only once so far- it made my muscles hurt so much that I didn't exercise at all for like 3 days.... so I figure until I'm in better shape it's not worth it to do that and then not exercise at all for awhile.
I believe measuring is important. It's what keeps me motivated on weeks when the scale isn't budging, or isn't budging much! I almost always lose inches every week- and more inches when the scale isn't going down that week. Weird huh? I measure my neck, upper arms (started measuring lower arms only today), chest, under chest, waist, abdomen, hips, both thighs, & both calves. I regret not measuring that first week... I lost 8lbs that first week so I'm sure I lost some inches then too!
Also going by fit of clothes keeps you motivated when pounds aren't coming off right then. I wore my clothes big to begin with- so when I lost weight I HAD to get more clothes, they were all falling off of me! But I quickly learned to only get a few things in that size- because I'd be down another size soon. I don't like to waste money on clothes not worn very long. LOL
I started out at size 14 but some size 16's were starting to fit me! I am now in size 10 (and some 8's fit me depending on the brand).
I am 5'2 and my goal weight is 120 to be realistic since my body is much different after having 3 children, 2 s-cections, hysterectomy, etc. I'd be happy being in a true size 6 though.... so just a couple sizes to go.
I know I'm forgetting something- but I think this pretty much covers it. Hope this helps some!
I have been asked in PM quite often lately how I did Atkins or do I have any tricks or will I share my menus/etc.- because of the success I have had so far with Atkins. I want so bad to help anyone who asks me questions but:
I tend to give late answers if they happen to ask when I'm not around for a few days or whatever.
I can't say all I want to say because of the limitations of PMs.
When many ask- I'm afraid I'm giving only a portion of the answer to each- and missing things I meant to say to this person and that.
So I decided to write this thread and then I can just direct them to this thread when they ask. I hope that is okay!
Basically I started out just using atkinscenter.com (searched for induction foods and went by the induction foods list) and used fitday.com to put everything I ate/consumed on there to know the true total on carbs. I never counted anything as zero carbs- no such thing. If it says zero carbs it could mean up to .90 carbs but they can still put it at zero if it's less than 1 carb.
I stayed on induction for almost 2 months- no cheats, never straying from the induction list.
Now I eat less cheese (instead of 3oz- usually about 1oz per day) and add more carbs with more veggies- because I'm on ongoing weightloss- and occassionally strawberry or peach slices- and sometimes SF treats but they might stall me sometimes so I still keep those to a minimum.
My meals basically consisted of:
Breakfast:
2 fried eggs or 2 deviled eggs or 2-3 boiled eggs
2-3 slices bacon
1oz mozz cheese
Lunch:
4-6oz of either fish, chicken breast baked, steak, tuna, crablegs or lobster
2 cups salad with 1 tbps cheddar cheese, 2 slices cucumber, 1-2 tbsp ranch dressing
Dinner:
4-6oz of either fish, chicken breast, steak, tuna, crablegs or lobster - or sometimes tuna or other "meat" on the induction list
.5 -1 cup veggies (usually one of these: broccoli, asparagus, spinach, fresh green beans, cauliflower -sometimes mashed with butter and heavy cream to make like mashed potatoes, eggplant casserole)
The only difference NOW is my favorite breakfast is:
2-3 romaine leaves torn off the hard center with 2-3 slices bacon, 2-3 thin slice small tomatoes, .5tbsp per each - rolled up like BLT. Delicious!
And my veggies are usually 2 cups salad and 1-2 cups other veggie.
Sometimes having SF treat OR strawberry sliced up or 2-3 peach slices with heavy cream whipped on top of that.
(to make whip cream I use heavy whipping cream, 1 pkt splenda, dash of vanilla extract and whip it up good. LOL)
That's basically it. I still use fitday.com everyday to see how many carbs I ate for that day or to plan ahead for that day- and also to TRY to keep as close to possible to the fat/carb/protein ratio Atkins says- which is 60-60%/5-10%/30-35%
And I must say that I have also cheated a couple of times recently. My results might have been better if I hadn't. Both times really slowed down my weightloss that week after- I cheated on Easter (planned cheat if I got to 30lbs lost by then, which I did) and on Mother's day.
I drink a lot of water but didn't the first few days on Atkins- I had to work my way up to drinking water at ALL, much less as much as I'm supposed to! But now I seriously do crave it and only drink water every day. I have only occassionally had a diet hansen's or diet rite drink- but not often. Splenda seems to stall me. Cream cheese seems to stall me also- but I know it doesn't do that for most people.
Oh and my supplements started out as 1 Men's one a day vitamin per day, and 2 other "oils" pills per day (omega 3 oils, borage oils, flaxseed oils pill). I found I had better weightloss results as well as more "regularity" in the bathroom (if you know what I mean LOL) when I switched to Atkins Essential oils instead of those oil pills.. when I ran out of those and bought ATkins Essential oils instead. I now take 1 Men's one a day vitiman and 2 essential oils pills TWICE a day- once in the morning after breakfast and once at night after supper. I also sometimes take Atkins Dieter's Advantage but not very often. Since you have to take it 1hr before eating or exercising- and it's hard for me to know an hr ahead of eating or exercising. So I don't take that often at all. That's it on supplements. I tried the liquid flaxseed oil once and it was so gross and didn't help constipation anyway! Just my personal experience- I know others swear by it.
I did not start exercising until recently. The first 2 months I had only walked about 1.5mile.... twice in 2 months! But now I have a stationary bike (purchased cheap at a yard sale LOL) and WATP tapes (purchased $19.99 for 3 tapes plus resistance belt at Target) and some Pilates tapes ($6.99 each at Target). So far I do mostly the stationary bike and 2 mile WATP about every other day or sometimes every day- but really more like every other day. LOL
I tried the Pilates tape only once so far- it made my muscles hurt so much that I didn't exercise at all for like 3 days.... so I figure until I'm in better shape it's not worth it to do that and then not exercise at all for awhile.
I believe measuring is important. It's what keeps me motivated on weeks when the scale isn't budging, or isn't budging much! I almost always lose inches every week- and more inches when the scale isn't going down that week. Weird huh? I measure my neck, upper arms (started measuring lower arms only today), chest, under chest, waist, abdomen, hips, both thighs, & both calves. I regret not measuring that first week... I lost 8lbs that first week so I'm sure I lost some inches then too!
Also going by fit of clothes keeps you motivated when pounds aren't coming off right then. I wore my clothes big to begin with- so when I lost weight I HAD to get more clothes, they were all falling off of me! But I quickly learned to only get a few things in that size- because I'd be down another size soon. I don't like to waste money on clothes not worn very long. LOL
I started out at size 14 but some size 16's were starting to fit me! I am now in size 10 (and some 8's fit me depending on the brand).
I am 5'2 and my goal weight is 120 to be realistic since my body is much different after having 3 children, 2 s-cections, hysterectomy, etc. I'd be happy being in a true size 6 though.... so just a couple sizes to go.
I know I'm forgetting something- but I think this pretty much covers it.
Hope this helps some!
