Am I eating too much?

[fourkids]

I'm so paranoid that this whole Atkins things is just-too-good-to-be-true, I gotta ask! Am I eatting too much? Anyone willing to comment/make suggestions/tell me if I'm doing okay/ or doing it wrong with my food choices, I'd really appreciate it! Here's a very typical menu of what I've been eating since I started this diet, just under two weeks ago:

Breakfast/lunch: 3 egg omelet with about 2 ounces of cheedar cheese, 2 mushrooms chopped up, fried in Pam. 6 slices of bacon (sometime an two large all beef hot dogs or two large sausages instead, but still the eggs). 1 or 2 cups of coffee, with half and half.

tons of water (8-10 glasses of water, sometimes more) each day

dinner: 1 1/2 - 2 small salmon steaks (baked in oven, (they come in their own dill sauce) salade of lettuce, a couple of radishes, about 1/4 of a tomato, salade dressing (with no more than 1 gram of carb per tbs, usually it has less than 0.5.)
snack: Sugar free jello with generous helping of whip creme.

I know I should spread my eating, ideally, over three meals and a couple of snacks, but that won't work with my schedule and so far, I think I actually prefer hte less emphasis on food and eating- doing it only twice a day, plus sometimes a small, quick snack of a piece of cheese or some sugar free Jello.

But am I eating too much? Sometimes I have up to 6 cups of coffee, with half and half, but I'm going from usually having as many as 20 cups a day, so 6 cups feels like a major cut back to me.

For dinner I usually have salmon, steak, chicken, some ham, or a bunless hamberger. But breakfast is eggs and bacon almost every morning. I know this isn't an ideal long term diet, but for the first time in my life- I'm never hungry and don't think about food all day. I'm a former chip addict who thought I'd never be able to give them up, yet eating this way, I don't even think of chips now. But am I just fooling myself? Am I doing this wrong?
Thanks to anyone willing to give me their honest advice,
Kathy

[Dervish]

Do you keep a FitDay (http://www.fitday.com) journal? Using the calculators that FitDay provides is a great way to track your overall calories/fat/carbohydrates/protein that you consume every day.

How many calories do you roughly eat per day? Depending on your height, age and weight, you could be either undereating or overeating.

[fourkids]

Hey Dervish,

Thank you so much- I just joined fitday and am just thrilled to have a place like that to go and have my food intake analyzed each day- it's just amazing! Thank you, thank you, thank you! I even created a link to it on my toolbar!
Kathy

[RCFletcher]

I see you are losing weight. If you are losing you are not eating too much!

[Dervish]

Thank you so much- I just joined fitday and am just thrilled to have a place like that to go and have my food intake analyzed each day- it's just amazing! Thank you, thank you, thank you! I even created a link to it on my toolbar!
Kathy

Anytime! If you look at the very top of this board you'll notice there's a sticky thread titled "FitDay.com How To's (http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=38343)". A must read for anyone new to FitDay.

Good luck!

[smuffy24]

Hi fourkids;
You need to break all the old habits/belifes that have been formed over the years of low fat diets and starvation diets. Number one stop worrying about the amount of food you eat. The thing you need to be concerned with is the grams of carbs you eat. I asume you are on induction so it should be 20 per day. I eat more food now than I have in my life and I am still losing weight. The key to atkins is the carb count , water like crazy, and eat fat.
It is very hard to change the things we have belived for years like you are heavey cause you over ate. Well like I said I eat more now than when I was 252 pounds. So my advice is take one day at a time or should I say 20 grams at a time. You can do this !!!!!!!!!! :thup: Lynn

[fourkids]

Lynn: Thanks so much- I think I needed to hear exactly what you wrote-thanks so much. I noticed you've lost over 100 pounds-wow! Was it all by following a low carb diet? Do you mind telling me abit about your own story- did you find it hard? Did your weight loss ever stall? How long did you stay on induction, and how much did you lose during that time? Whta rate are you losing at now? How many grams of cargbs do you allow yourself now? Do you exercise? If I shouldn't have asked any of these questions, please forgive me- I'm just intrigued by you as your proof (that someone like me needs) that someone can lose over 100 pounds!
Congratulations!
Kathy

[smuffy24]

Ok where do I start. I was 252 and today I am 141 going to 115-125 depending on how I look. I am 5 ft tall so the charts say I should be 98 -110 but that just might be ro light for me. I like my curves lol. I have been low carbing for 2 years as of november 15/03. I started on the zone but found it was to liberal and I needed a strickter way to do it . So Atkins it was. I am on induction and will be till I reach my goal. I am very glucose sensitive so I have a feeling the most I will ever be able to eat is 30-40 grams of carbs per day. If I cheat with say pizza boom I gain 5 pounds so I really have to watch but this is the way I will eat for the rest of my life. Otherwise the old me will come back. And ya know I love the new me. I am losing the weight slow and steady and yes I have had many stalls but it is your body catching up to you. Here is how it has gone for me.
Nov 15/01 252
jan 9/02 220
feb 26/02 205
march 15/02 202
may 23/02 197
aug 27/02 194
dec 30/02 187
jan 08/03 180
feb 7/03 171
march 18/03 162
april 3 160
may 21 155
aug 21 144
sept 26 141
Yes it is hard to say no to all sugar but it is so worth it in the long run. I am happier. And you will be to. The best advise I can give you is set a long term gaol of what you want to be. Give it 2 years. And then set your monthly goal. And make your self accountable. Write a log book. Take your measurements ,take a before picture . Wite your measurements in monthly,and your weight. It makes you accountable and stick to it. You can see in my list the months I cheated and when I was firm to it!!! May to Aug 02 I was not sticking to it strickly but I have made the commitment to myself to do this for life. So on my way I go. If you need help I am here for ya. You are at the start of a long road but like I said take it 20 grams at a time. Lynn

[mem2]

Its a beautiful thing to see the kind of support between you, Fourkids, and Smuffy24. You 2 just clicked. This is a great forum. Good luck and keep up the good work.

[Wenzday]

I want to click too ;) I am also in awe of anyone who's both stuvk to this for 2 years AND who has lost 100 pounds!!! AMAZING! I had quite a bit more than 100 to lose originally..and still but I see it happenening. I absolutely visualize the thin me thats always been hiding inside.

[fourkids]

Hi Lynn, Jessie and Mary

Thanks for all the support and information. Lynn, I especially appreciated seeing your month by month break down, and noting how it varies up and down, from month to month. I think I was assuming it would be a huge initial loss, followed by a decreasing, but regular, smaller loss. It was interesting to see the peaks and valleys. I will take all of your suggestions, including the one to set a two year pace to lose the 150 I want/need to lose, and start a log-making myself accountable to me. I've had a couple of 'tests' and have so far been able to handle them and not break with the diet, so I'm feeling pretty much in control right now. I've just moved to the city I'm in right now and one of the neigbours, being nice, invited me over for coffee. She had another neibour over as well, and they were serving fruit and muffins with the coffee. I dreaded how to handle the situation. I certainly didn't want to open my weight/diet up to discussion by saying, "No thanks, I'm on Atkins," and I also didn't want to appear rude to my new 'friends.' I'm one of those people who have never known how to just say 'no thanks' when offered something to eat, feeling it would be bad manners.

Well, as desperate as I was to make a good impression on these two women, being new in the area and all, I decided my commitment to my new way of eating was more important. Once I made that mental choice- to not have to eat anything- it suddenly seemed easy. As the women helped themselves to the muffins, fruit, etc, I just sipped my tea and made small talk. When the plate was passed in my direction, I simply said, "nothing right now, thanks." And nobody seemed to care or even notice. As obvious or even easy as this might seem to the rest of the world, these kinds of situations were the ones that always gave me the hardest time in the past with previous diets. For some reason, just by being able to say 'no thanks' to food that one time, I've since had similar situations come up and have felt totally comfortable saying no, and not feeling like I owe some kind of explanation.

I feel a lot of shame about my weight, so to get into any kind of discussion- which I thought would happen if I refused food- was really concerning to me. I see sugar as the REAL enemy now. And I'm vowing to never let it win over me again. On the other hand, when it comes to potato chips...just kidding! Thanks for listening everyone. I love how I can be totally honest here.
Kathy

[ImHere]

psssst
About what to say when you have to say somethingto people without opening a can of worms is to say that you eat a diabetic diet (not that you ARE diabetic ... just that you eat diabetic) and that you also can't eat grains. This eliminates that sugar and breads immediately. Also, if you eat a diabetic diet and fruit is offered you can honestly say that you can't eat it (until you are in OWL or PM or M) because it effects your blood sugar and insulin levels (which is true). If anyone asks why no sugar or grains all you ever have to say is for health reasons. Because it's true!

Good luck and welcome aboard!
Lori

[fourkids]

Thanks Lori,

I think I'll really use that about the diabetic diet- thanks!
Kathy

[smuffy24]

Anyone can click that sympothyzes with eachother. Trust me you all can do this!!!! I used to be so hopeless but now I know I can do this. And I know you all can too!!!!!!!! Keep up the good work !!Lynn