Jo,

Thanks so much for setting up our new thread. It always seems like a new beginning and I so love my refresher on everything DR. A!

Karen,

I do not get cravings for carbage very often, but I do fight the battle of craving less than optimal HCA-72 on plan food. My carb addiction has changed as I have progressed through this wonderous wol. My addiction craves hard cheese, pickles and mayo. Yepper and the addiction is the same give me one ounce of the cheese crack and a whole block would be gone. Oh and Karen I don't want just a slice I want the melty fried concoction !

I often have to remind myself of how awful I will feel and that I will never stop at one ounce let alone four. I remind myself that I am eating the most nutrient dense food so my body is not needing cheese it wants it.

If I can't get the thoughts out of my head by reason or doing something else I eat protein. I have found if my belly is full of protein then I crave nothing. However, if I am tired or hungry I can have horrible desires!

Karen, you are not alone I see a glass of wine on TV and think about it. Luckily I remember how awful and sick it made me so I can conquer that pretty well. Stay strong it is so worth it!

Oh you meant "chumping at the bit" like an excited race horse (a positive) and NOT "gritting your teeth" which is negative! I think I've GOT IT! Karen read the Maintenance chapter # 16 pg 258. I think you'll get a better understanding of Dr. Atkins' Maintenance philosophy!

Cause you're right! Adding a few mushrooms (good carbs) is what he talks about as opposed to ever adding "sweets" (bad carbs) back into our WOE!! That's a great thing, girlie! It means that some foods are just NOT that important to you ANY MORE!

That's where this journey has lead me! I know Berni and De are at that place in their journeys as well.

Food isn't that important, just a means to nourish the body! That being SAID, it does in NO way shape or form mean I don't LOVE what I eat! And you'll be able to do that too, once you hit goal and figure out how many carbs you can have in maintenance to stay at your desired goal weight! Hmmmmmm excellent point about us not posting hard times. Do you mean "hard times" in terms of eating off plan, mini-cheats or food farts?

Remember we're HARD CORE and we're committed to staying 100% OP every single day. That was/is the mission of this thread. To encourage each other and serve as examples of what can happen when we stay 100% OP every day, in not only losing the weight but keeping it off to "Infinity and Beyond"...

I haven't eaten a single carb off plan since Thanksgiving 2013, 759 days ago.

I for one don't really dwell on my hard times of fighting off "Fat Jo" and her desire for those toxic carbs. I don't ever give in to her stupidity and desire to self-destruct and take me with her down that ugly FAT road! I don't eat off plan PERIOD. It's all good, Karen, because I know there are lurkers who are learning from our back and forth conversation. You're asking questions and experiencing things from which others can learn! So always a GOOD thing! at rambling! No worries because there isn't a "rambling" rule and it helps us to get to know each other that much better! So ramble on!

Larry -- You are SHRINKING! mo

Bernie, your post describes carb cravings perfectly! mo

Wow you have one NSV after another!! Huge Congrats on the 1 carb day!

Huge Congrats on being the topic of positive conversation with your impressive weight loss!

Nice bike & nice pic of YOU! I used to be the proud owner of a '72 Harley Sportster!

If I remember correctly, Dr. Atkins talks about getting 5 lbs below goal when your start experimenting with adding more "good" carbs! That way you have a cushion to play around with! I'll have to try to find that in the book...I don't feel sorry for myself either. I figure my "weight" problem is my cross to bear, others have their crosses that don't involve "weight" issues, eh?

I'm just so grateful that I found the perfect WOE that works best for me. I know I have a lifelong chronic illness and I can CONTROL it by staying 100% OP every single day! Spoken like a true Warrior! That's why YOU are a Warrior member of TEAM 5%, my dear friend!

DE, Bernie, JO thanks so much for your insights into this

See, when I said hard times JO I didn't mean actually eating off plan, I meant THINKING about it LOL

I think about it alot. Not 'totally' but like Bernie said a wine commercial comes on and she thinks about it.

Out to eat with hubby and he orders XX which I would inhaled the whole meal before with no problem, I immediately think 'what the hell' one bite---but I don't

wonderful thing is that I stay on plan. but I am FAR from just letting every situation around older favorite food situations just be passed by without thought about.

I guess instead of saying WOW I loved that before and would love a big taste----I have to look at it and say WOW that is a friggin' carb nightmare and would be poison to me

I say that AFTER my initial want of something but I guess it has to be my first thought. not, oh I wish I could have that but it sucks. I need to say immediately that is a carb nightmare and think negative about the carb food first.

ok that makes sense see I chat myself into subtle ways to help ME get thru this journey and get settled more into it.

I know DE always thinks of carbs as poison I think that has to be my first thought upon seeing food that was in my menu before. Just go there fast saying it is the bad guy and don't ever give it any hold over me anymore.

OK guys you made me feel better cause I was thinking no one was having these thoughts but you ALL go thru your own mindset situations but work thru them like us hardcore warriors do

Thanks for the help guys, ya'll jumped in quick and got me thinking correctly on how to address the mindset in the best way. I will work on me as usual and keep this woe as my priority! That won't change. I know this is where I need to be for sure!!

edited to say JO I love your post to DE. helps me too

Hiya 1DD, glad you decided to come visit! I'd say that most of us are über carb sensitive/intolerant!

Some of us have tried DANDR without success. I hope they share their story with you!

I've never tried it cause A '72 has always worked for me! Yeah, it took me 35 years to finally figure out all my food related issues and have strategies to combat them all. I also had to face up to the fact that I can't eat carb-age & expect to be a "normal" sized person!

I'm going to address the parts of your post that I can... I'm not ignoring the other parts, it's just I haven't experienced those issues... Berni can address this! How has eating blueberries, sundried tomatoes and spaghetti squash affected you? I've been in maintenance for almost shy of 2 years. I eat 4 carbs a day and around 800 kcals.

I don't know if eating more carbs will make me gain the weight back but that's not my biggest FEAR. My biggest fear is losing all the benefits that staying ultra low carb has afforded me: No cravings for carb-age, appetite suppressant and tons of energy.

There's a fine line in the sand for me when it comes to "enough" carbs to get the benefits and going over the line, where “Fat Jo” [the self-destructive carb-addicted selfish FAT bitch who destroys my good emotional & physical health, self-love and self-esteem] comes out! I can't risk that!

Since I have basically lost nothing in over a year... 4 carbs & 800 kcals a day seems to be my "sweet spot" for maintaining my weight loss! So I ain't changing nuffin' any time soon!

Keep asking questions and we'll help you understand our A '72 WOE the best that we can.

One thing you need to know is that A '72, IMHO, is the most restrictive of all Dr. Atkins' WOE plans.

We call ourselves HARD CORE because we stay at Induction level carbs so that we can lose the weight more quickly and believe the only way to be successful is to Stay 100% every single day without cheating!

We don't climb the carb ladder like it says in the book until after we hit our desired goal weight! Berni and I have never attempted to climb the ladder and add more carbs, yet!

You're welcome! I figure find a new home before they relocate us!

A lot of us have issues with portion control...gees if we were MODERATORS we sure as heck wouldn't be here!

I love all your strategies to stay 100% OP, they are some of the same ones I use!

Just like you said, if all your non-eating strategies don't work, then by all means EAT something PERFECTLY OP, you can never go wrong there!

I stick to no carbs or some days super duper vlc simply because if I go above 5 total carbs I want more and more and more. If you are super sensitive carb person, you feel your draw into wanting more carbs immediately when you eat some.

72 atkins counts TOTAL carbs. We do not 'net' our carb counts. "net'' out fiber is what the other one does. 'net' out sugar alcohols is allowed on the other Atkins. We count total carbs for our food period!

What brought me here? TOTAL DESPERATION. I was LC and netted my carbs etc and floundered. lost some, gained some back, went off plan but got back on and SO TIRED of it I was going to give up and say screw this
BUT I FOUND a thread that was no nonsense. Bootcamp for super sensitive carb people. Like people. I found people here on this thread that were DOING IT and making it work and not floundering around ALL because they followed a strict plan. I joined and never looked back

I wasn't sure if I could eat just A1972 induction food list but I can. I am a meathound to the ultimate max and fit into this way of eating very easily.
Have to overcome some mental demons as we all do....the Fat Creature inside has to be squashed, but coming here and seeing others do it just like I must do it is what keeps me holding and firm in my decision to handle this woe.

We are hardcore and it is tough til you work thru it and find yourself settled in well and rolling along I feel my absolute best eating near 0 carbs and I realize I haven't felt this great my whole life. This isn't for all, some can do it easily on 20-30 carbs, just that we can not so we banned together and do it our way

I think your reaction to other people eating carb-age especially old favorites is rather common. We are human after all!

Every once in a while, yeah, a food commercial will make me wish I still ate "that" toxic carb-age but then I remind myself how far I've come and is a nanosecond of pleasure worth destroying all the hard work and success I have...

Unfortunately, we can't live in a carb-free bubble environment, we have to interact with carb-eaters...it's what we do or don't do that separates the Warrior members of TEAM 5% from everyone else!

Yes we are bombarded with carbs, drive down any downtown street and you are assaulted by fast food carb pushers to the MAX! So the temptations will never go away...we just have to learn to deal with them! Once we have the strategies in place then we become more and more successful at fighting off the carb-age temptations and keep us 100% OP!

Remember out of all the addictions, I think OURS is by far the HARDEST because we HAVE TO EAT, there's no way around that one! It's the choices that we make each day that keeps us successful!

For me, sometimes pure AVIODANCE of carb-age situations work best.

Case in point, lunch time in the staff lounge at school. I run in, linger long enough to say hello to everyone that's there, but I don't stay there long enough to be affected by what they are eating and boy are teachers carb-age eaters to the MAX... avoidance of a carb situation is my choice... I understand that, but you've gotta decide what more important, your good health and self esteem or the ability to eat foods that make you unwell and fat? Having those thoughts isn't wrong, it's what you do with them that may present an issue! Yeah, you gotta stop torturing yourself... I don't think there's anything wrong with saying wow I used to love that but add the caveat that it was slowly killing you! Karen, remember food is food, might as well eat the food that's going to get you to goal and leave the other toxic stuff alone.

You really need to sit down and have a heart to heart with yourself about what's REALLY important to you... I think you'll feel better about this entire LC WOE!! Maybe write a pro/con list...

But isn't strange that some days are less affected by carb-age temptation then others? On days that I seem overly tempted I think to myself, am I tired, stressed or really just hungry? Our "FCC" will come out and try to sway us when we are any of those THREE things!Karen, it's not that we don't have those kinds of thoughts, but what good would it do this group if I came in and said, well today I had to fight "Fat Jo" tooth and nail because she got tempted by an IHOP commercial or some other temptation!

I could list the strategies I used to get her back in her maintenance cage and off my back, but you know my strategies... And it's rare that I get tempted by carb-age food any more these days... And if I do, it's a very fleeting thought and something I don't dwell on!

You're welcome, Karen!

Confession time:

Karen, I was soooo tempted to say "f&#k it" and eat off plan on Christmas because I was feeling so sorry for myself. I was really disappointed that all my company that had planned to visit, had changes of plan at the last minute.

I would have been PERFECTLY okay if I hadn't anticipated their visit because this would not have been the first Christmas by myself.

But it was the anticipation of all the company coming and the excitement, etc. Yeah, my fault for being excited! Anyhoo...

I had been so TEMPTED to eat carb-age to spite them...then I realize, who am I really going to harm/spite if I self-medicate with carb-age crap?

I have these "self talks" all the time, sometimes that's the ONLY way to have an intelligent conversation.

Here's something I wrote in my personal journal (not the online one) Christmas Day:

"Fat Jo" had me looking up pizza places on the internet. Thank goodness I’m a cheap bitch ‘cause I didn’t want to spend the kind of money it would have cost to get me a pizza! That was VICTORY number ONE over “Fat Jo” yesterday, here’s the second one:

Then last night as I was in bed, “Fat Jo” was trying to convince me that in the morning (this morning) I should run to Wal-Mart (it isn't even open on Christmas day) and get some croissants and other carb-age and face plant into those carbs! Of course, after a good night’s sleep all these self-destructive eating thoughts have disappeared! This is an absolute VICTORY over “Fat Jo” too!

See, you're not the only one that gets overwhelmed with the urge to eat carb-age crap!

And "Fat Jo" was even trying to justify it to me! I'm always going to have to be hyper vigilant against "Fat Jo" and what she puts in my head at times, I know that if I want to stay successful! And I DO!

Great response to my post JO

AND THANK YOU FOR SHARING that info with me from your private journal CAUSE that is the fight I have sometimes

just what you wrote. those stupid back and forth in my mind conversations and some days I swear I am going nutso!!

that was me with the drinking. should I or shouldn't I? maybe 1. but then 1 ruins my plan, why not 2 and go for it. Nah, NONE just stay on plan. but it is a holiday. but also it is ONLY a holiday, big deal. and so on and so on......haha

What you went thru from your emotional strain is the thing I have every now and then AND YOU SHOWING me that confirms I am not alone. I thought you guys were not having these thoughts and IF IT was only me I was screwed LOL

Now I feel I can easily work thru this cause we have the strategies in place and the hardcore warrior style to say screw it, do not cave and never go back to fatland!!!

sharing that helped me more than you know Jo.

I agree, we don't want to constantly talk of small weird cravings daily we get and push thru-----and bring down the thread----but at some point they get on my nerves. I have to scream to someone that it is ticking me off LOL

I feel so much better. I said before we are all here cause we are alike. the Fat Bitchy carb creature is a pain we all bare for sure.
She is gonna keep testing me and I will get thru it easier and easier each time I hope. the cravings ARE fewer and farther in between so that is a help

Sorry you felt so alone over the holiday and all your company bailed. But you pushed thru like the warrior you are and that is a monster plus!!!!!! As much as our emotions get in our way, you got thru and put yourself first in your journey!