Help getting started

[steph0203]

Okay, I am trying to get going on a LC lifestyle, but I just keep blowing it with high sugar sweets. Today I just lost it and ate two donuts. Of course, now I am really beating myself up about it. I did really good yesterday. How long does it take to get beyond the cravings? Has anyone had any experience with "emotional work" to help deal with sugar addiction. Thanks for your help. This site is awesome. I really feel like the support is going to help.

[JaneDough]

I've read good things about Overeaters Anonymous, in terms of working on the mental and emotional aspects of our eating patterns.

Regardless, you have to want the control enough to go after it. It won't come to you. Try making a promise to yourself that you are going to get through two weeks of Induction. Period. No excuses or hand-wringing for you, nope - you're going to be strong and get it done, because you've given your word. When you come out on the other side, you'll feel more in control than you have in a long time. It doesn't mean you'll never have another craving, but the line between "trying" and "doing" LC will be obliterated.

[zajack]

I agree...dont psych yourself out about the long haul. You need to realize that this needs to be a way of life...but for now...just get yourself to commit to 2 weeks cheat free. That's it. Once you've done that...then make up your mind...move ahead or call it quits. It took me about 5 days to get over cravings and for my hunger to diminish. The grand thing about induction though was that I could eat when hungry. The diminished appetite just kinda happens of its own accord. Good luck to you ~ and shoot for getting the first 2 weeks under your belt. I'm betting that after 1 clean week...you'll find it fairly easy.

[Citruskiss]

How long does it take to get beyond the cravings?

While I'm sure everyone's different, it took me about a week to get past the cravings for sweet things. In the meantime, I ate a lot of induction-acceptable, low-carb foods to get me through that phase.

After awhile (maybe ten days or so), I was pleasantly surprised to discover that my appetite had regulated to a much more reasonable level (the effects of ketosis I'm sure), and I began to eat less in general.

I'll be honest though - that first week, I was eating and eating and eating, but I just made sure to stick to my induction allowable foods. That's what got me through the intense cravings for chocolate, cookies, candy or whatever.

As for the emotional side of things, you might be in for a bit of a surprise. You see, I think when we reach for something (whether it's food, alcohol, overshopping or what have you) to help us cope with emotions, we effectively blunt them. This teaches us to be afraid of our feelings, because we never really allow ourselves to feel them. The surprising part about allowing ourselves to feel the way we feel, is that we end up discovering, how, just like the weather, our feelings change. The intensity of an emotion changes shape if we can just let it be.

I'm not sure if I'm making a lot of sense here, but what I'm trying to say is that given a chance to be expressed, a feeling will be set free, rather than locked up. When we overeat, we essentially "lock up" the feeling we're so afraid of. And yet...what we really need is to just let ourselves feel whatever it is that's nagging at us. If we lock it up, it'll keep knocking...and it'll become more insistent over time. Especially if it's something important.

One can keep trying to quiet this insistent feeling with food or whatever works, but we are doing such a disservice to ourselves, and to our spirit. We're also teaching ourselves that the way we feel inside is something to be afraid of, something that must be kept at bay - thereby making it worse and worse when we're actually noticing a feeling. It becomes scarier and scarier to contemplate acknowledging our own feelings, because we've become so practiced at quieting them. Meanwhile, the best way to truly get free of all this stuff, is to actually experience our feelings fully.

It's like that saying...the only way out is through. It's so true!

Hope this helps, and good luck with your new eating plan :)

[zorra_1]

just get yourself to commit to 2 weeks cheat free.
I am in complete agreement here. In the long run, 14 days is nothing (less than 4% of an entire year - if I did the math right! :lol: ). Is feeling better about yourself and taking control of your health worth that 4%? Absolutely! You may find the first few days very difficult, but it will take some time for your body to rid itself of the processed sugary and starchy foods that you have been eating. Start a journal to document how you feel and identify the things that will keep you motivated (lower blood pressure, lower cholesterol, weight loss). Good Luck! :wave:

[Jr8Fan]

steph0203, if you are looking for help with the "emotional" work, then check out Dr. Phil's "The Ultimate Weight Solution". Feel free to laugh at his diet as I did, but the man did a GREAT job of helping you deal with the emotions and mental struggles that go along with being overweight and trying to lose weight.

Of all the diet books I have read....and there have been many, including one which taught me to hypnotize myself :bash: (what an idiot I was!), I have kept two. Dr. Phil's book and Dr. Atkins' book. I think it is just as important to keeping my head straight as Dr. Atkins is to keeping my body straight.

Also, don't beat yourself up. I remember going to Dunkin Donuts EVERY day and eating 2 donuts for breakfast....you know, the breakfast of champions. And I DIDN'T EVEN feel guilty about it. How wonderful that you are now conscious of the hurtful things you do to yourself, but don't kill a fly with a sledgehammer....a little guilt is okay but forgive yourself and move on. Beating yourself up is what I consider Self Abuse and won't help. You would forgive me if I had a slip, so be just as kind to yourself and you will rebound quicker. Your donut days are fading fast....the old obese you is just dying a "painful" and "hanging on" death. You didn't slide into an overweight lifestyle overnight and you won't switch over to the slim, healthy you overnight either.

Anyway, I forgive you for eating the 2 donuts, so forgive yourself. You deserve to move on and love yourself.

The best thing you did was admitting you messed up. So many times I try to hide it or justify it and you didn't. That is HUGE!

Good luck to you and I hope today will be easier for you.

[cs_carver]

First, I went LC. Then, I started dealing with the reasons.

If you have to eat, eat LC. It simply won't mess you up as much. You'll get the "fix" if you have to have it, but it doesn't last as long and there's no hangover and it doesn't really work anyway, so you still have the mental clarity to deal with the issue that made you want to eat, and you don't gain near as much as you would with doughnuts.

It's hard to see from the outside, how different life will be when you get the blood sugar and insulin swings under control, and that happens with clean LC eating.

[Jr8Fan]

It's hard to see from the outside, how different life will be when you get the blood sugar and insulin swings under control, and that happens with clean LC eating.

Amen to that!!! If you give it a few days and get pass the cravings, it really is like being in a whole different world!! :agree: I never thought about being on the outside looking in but that is a GREAT description of what it is like when you are low carbing and on a roll with it! :thup:

[Hybrid]

Tony Robbins has made a career out of getting people to change. The trick to making changes is to want to make the changes. This is greatly harder than it appears on the surface. The great thing about Tony is that he's so popular you can find his tapes in almost any metropolitan library system.

[TexasLoser]

The only approach that's ever worked for me is to quit cold turkey and drink LOTS of water - after getting past a couple days of intense cravings, headaches and feeling generally yukky, my cravings disappeared. I still have to be careful not to associate food with comfort, but for the most part, I don't crave carbs and sweets - I'm in week four of Atkins Induction.