I can't seem to start

[jewellyn]

:q: I've bought all my food for my lo carb eating plan but I'm still running out and looking for the carbs. It's an addiction!!!! Is there anyone out there who can give me a clue why I'm doing this. Usually I'm Disaplined but this is driving me crazy. Help!

[nancyn28]

I'm having the same problem with my restart.....I guess it's stress..or fear of success???? (I know I wont fail at losing weight if I just do it!).....

Good luck.

[karrier]

If you are hungry eat.
Keep low carb snacks handy.
Make sure you are eating enough veggies.
Try 6 smaller meal instead of 3 meals. (this helps many people)

[Calianna]

:q: I've bought all my food for my lo carb eating plan but I'm still running out and looking for the carbs. It's an addiction!!!! Is there anyone out there who can give me a clue why I'm doing this. Usually I'm Disaplined but this is driving me crazy. Help!

You said it yourself: It's an addiction.

Is it possible to get rid of any and all high carb foods in the house? Can you avoid going out to get high carb foods? Maybe have someone hide the keys to your car? If there's carbs within walking distance, maybe get someone to hide your shoes? ;)

I"m not saying it'll be easy - "induction flu" is essentially going through carb withdrawl. But, if you have no choice but to eat low carb foods, that's what you'll eat, until you finally get past the withdrawl symptoms.

[honeygurl]

The following is a post that I just made for a friend of mine. It seems appropriate for here, so I am going to copy it.

You havent let anyone down. Like I always tell my kids...."it's not a mistake if you've learned from it." Don't beat yourself up about it. Just make your mind up to do better and get back on track. I did the same as you sooo many times before. I was successful with atkins 4 years ago. Lost 42 lbs to 158. Got off for a while and gained 32 lbs back. Everytime I tried to get back on after that, I failed. It was just soo hard to stay on track. I would cheat a little here, a little there. Just never could seem to make it through the first few days. It wasn't until I learned that I was a carboholic (not being funny), that I knew what I needed to do. See, for me, food is like a drug. I literally get a high from it. (Most overweight people do, some just dont know it) That is where the addiction came in. Happy, sad, it didn't matter to me...just give me my 'fix' and I was fine. I knew the only thing to break the addiction was to look it square in the face and call it what it was. I knew I had to detox my body. I knew that I was so weak that even 1 slip-up and I may not be back. You can read most of this from the beginning of my journal. Since I have a zero tollerance for cheating policy with myself, I have been able to rid my body of the drug. I have had no withdrawels, no 'triggers'. For me, the little cheats are what caused that in the past, - and the sugar alcohols in the supposedly 'legal treats'. I feel so clean and rid of that stuff. Food no longer controls me. I am in contol. I have a fear that oneday, I may allow a cheat and be right back at square one. But for now, I am strong, and I pray I remain that way.

I wish you much luck!

[Ptrcmcc6]

Maybe if you started a journal it might help you to keep track of your foods and keep in line. I know it helps me at times. I record everything in my journal........even the bad things I've eaten. Not to mention, I am usually so busy rambling on in there, I don't even think about food......lol. I know it's hard to start when we are so accustomed to eating anything and everything in sight but once you do, you'll feel so much better about yourself. Once you do it for a couple of weeks, it will become habit and you'll never look at food the same way. Even when I fell off the lc wagon last year, I still didn't look at the foods I was eating the same. I would still read labels and be somewhat concious about what I was eating. I guess maybe that was why I didn't gain ALL my weight back. Ohhhh.....there were times when I pigged out on foods I shouldn't be but I always felt bad about it afterwards......mentally and physically. I've finally decided there is no miracle potion that is going to come along and take this weight off of me. If I don't do something about it, it's just going to get worse. Tomorrow morning.........wake up and tell yourself you are going to do this, you can do this, and you are going to succeed at it!!

Just my thoughts!!

Patty

[Cissie_12]

I hear you and I do understand. I'm a major carb addict!!! But also, it's a big part "mind over matter" thing you know. Just reach deep down and find that willpower and get with it. Do NOT wait till tomorrow or next week, start right now. A month from now you will be so proud of yourself when you reap the benefits!

Best wishes to you.

Cissie

[wannadanc]

Two things that seem to be working for me (this time) is that I gave myself a firm start date - two weeks hence. During the two weeks - I gave myself permission to eat whatever it was I wanted. I also worked on decarbing my cupboards. I knew I meant business when I threw away some perfectly good, but deadly, chocolate candy!!!!!

I live alone, so I do have that advantage of being in total control of what comes into the house - and I am not having to prepare food for someone else w/ different needs.

The folks here are offering many wonderful suggestions. I wish you well in finding the pathway that works best for you. :D

[megimme]

Get a buddy you are in constant contact with. For me it is my sisters. They have both caved, but I still tell them how much I am losing and when I feel like caving. Support is an amazing motivating factor. Just having someone share your joy at the 1 pound you lost or talk you down from getting into the kids snack cabinet. Because my sisters both live hundreds of miles away, they can't see the results which is even nicer for me...I can't wait for their mouths to hang open at the next family get together!
This diet change will take time. Few are perfect the first time around. It does get better after a few weeks. No cravings and if you do (like I did tonight!) make something LC. I didn't want to cheat, but I have been SO good for over 4 weeks now and thought I deserved a little break. I made a Low Carb Cheese Cake. Oh, it was divine! The best part was knowing tommorrow I wouldn't be wearing the evidence on my rear!

You Can Do This.

[Ptrcmcc6]

Low Carb Cheese Cake

Yummy!! I gotta make me one of those. I haven't made one in a long time.

[Symphonyod]

I have THE worst time when I fall off the wagon. One thing I do that helps is when I am in the first few days of trying to get in inductoin.. I will get these awful cravings. I set the timer for fifteen minutes.. or 'mentally' set one. Then I drink water or a diet sunkist.. and just wait it out. Weird thing is I will usually forget and then realize I don't need the carb snack.

If I don't do that.. I usually just RUN to the carbs :(*

[ElleH]

I don't about carbs being and addiction. I know that I ate a ton of carbs every single day (pots of rice, 6-7 handfuls of chocolate chips, food off my kids plates, etc). I was depressed and stressed and just a mess.

I think that when you really make up your mind, you'll be able to stick to it. I stopped and started for over 2 years, then something happened that made me really make up my mind (my MIL, who is very fat, offered me some of her clothes). I think that everyone who succeeds has a point where they simply say "This is IT." There are no accidental successes, I don't think. People who succeed plan the work and work the plan.

I didn't just dive in. I planned it meticulously for about 2 weeks before I started. I picked out recipes to make. I keep a meticulous journal of my feelings and my journey here online. I keep a food, weight, exericse journal here at home. I looked at it like an "experiment." I told myself to just do 2 full weeks of a good, solid induction, nothing and no one was going to stop me from doing 2 weeks. By the end of the 2 weeks, I was totally hooked.

The motivation really is within yourself. As much as we want to help you and want you to get on and stay on, it's ultimately your decision, your life, your body, your health.

Support is invaluable. I could not have reached my goal were it not for being here, even obsessively so! I can tell you that having to post it in my journal has kept from straying more than one time! Accountability is an amazing thing! But it's still my initial commitment that drives me.

Good luck and all the best to you! We all would like to see you succeed. :)

[jkmfrog]

Its worked better for me to gradually reduce my carbs over a two-three week period before jumping in whole hog (so to speak ;-)). Every meal I would reduce the carbs, adn substitute a bit more of somethign low carb. I would set a firm start date - but I would not get into the mindset that this was a "free" time to eat anything I wanted. To me, that felt like the switch to low carb was some sort of prison sentence and evertime i tried to do it that way I would feel like I was depriving myself. The gradual reduction also helped with the "carb flu" symptoms.

I will say that once I start eating the carbs I am drawn back, have cravings that I have to fight off, but keeping on plan will really help with the cravings an impluses long term.

[KvonM]

somewhere along the line, you'll need to make a commitment to yourself that you WILL stick to low-carbing. nobody can make the decision for you.

one thing that really helps me is that i take things day by day. every day when i eat, i think to myself "i will make it through today and be good (translation = i will eat according to the low-carb plan)." and each day that i've succeeded in being good makes it just a little bit easier to be good tomorrow... and the next day... and the next day. i've been in a low-carb mindset for almost 10 years now (i had to take a break of about 5 years), and even though i've only been back to lowcarbing for 8 months, not a day goes by that i don't have the same "i will make it through today and be good" thought.

all progress is forward... nobody ever said how fast or how far. if you can make the commitment today and stick to it, you can take that sense of accomplishment with you tomorrow.

[fatnewmom]

Maybe you're not emotionally ready to make lifestyle changes? It's hard for everyone, but it's not going to happen until 1) you are convinced that you really are overweight and need to lose fat, 2) you are convinced that the low-carb way is effective and scientifically sound, and 3) you're tired of constantly sabotaging yourself. Really analyze those three points and see what your true feelings are on these issues.

[Kisal]

Awhile ago, someone made a post that really struck me as accurate for all low-carbers. You don't only have to practice "will power," but also "won't power." When you find yourself looking for carby things, you have to remind yourself that you "won't" eat them.