reward meal anticipation

[dearwing]

Hi just read most of CAD lifespan book, but started the woe 3 days earlier, and was under false impression that I could only eat one reward meal a week!! So tonight we are havin tacos (woo hoo) :yay: I know to have the salad first , and balance the carbs and protein and veggies, so now I wanna know can I really pig out, I know it says you can go back for balanced seconds but will it jeopardize my progress if I like eat til I am stuffed? Can you tell I am feeling deprived LOL but this is my first reward meal in 4 days! Talk to me guys, can I go for it? Do I sound like an absolute glutton or what!

[lcon109]

I can't imagine how happy you must feel knowing that you can eat a Reward Meal everyday!!

Just make sure you're balancing you meal (except for salad) into thirds! Don't go back for 2nd's on Carb Rich food unless you're planning on having the same 2nd's portion of the Carb Craving Reducing Veggie and the Protien.

One trick I use is to figure out just how hungry I might be, take 1/2 of that and if I'm still hungry, eat the other half. That way I pretty much know I'm not OVEReating for me. The book DOES say that you can eat as much as you would like at that meal.. but you must eat it in proportion as stated.

I used to eat my dinner at 8:00 at night, then be heading for a snack at 9:30 or 10:00, THEN when my dh came home from work at 11:30.. having a "snack" with him!

Now, since I eat my Reward Meal (within 1 hour), I never feel hungry the rest of the evening. I'm amazed by it.. I can't believe that I'm not thinking about the other things I used to eat!

Hope this helps!
Lisa

[LCer in NW]

dearwing -

With the Atkins diet, eating fats becomes self limiting. Enough of it suppresses appetite. When fully satisfied, cravings do not have the physical hunger signal to back them up. Cravings do still exist, though moderated, until several days go by and are generally reduced as time goes by. The thing that gets the cravings to reappear is called a "trigger". Definitely, eating the craved item will trigger the cravings to come back with force, but other things trigger it, too. These triggers may be emotional, related to events, time of the month or year, etc. Knowing what triggered the craving is 90% of the battle. Learn about your body. Some cravings are based on bodily needs. There is a reason for the craving, so try to figure out if you're soothing a symptom or fixing a deficiency. With the appetite suppresant effect, you're brain gets back into the driver's seat.

Hunger suppression is not unique to Atkins, as lcon109 notes.