oh you have no idea how much better I feel now!!! it's just that it's been 3 days since i've cheated and I haven't lost any "water" weight yet! the diet isn't working well for me, i think, because I only lost 4lbs of water weight on the frst 9 days of Induction.

Hopefully you're right--can't wait to fit into my clothes again!

Wait...during induction you only lost 4 lbs. Let me know.

About the three days later thing, that happened to me only once. Normally if I cheat (not cake or anything, but go over my 40 carbs) I don't gain anything. But this one time I ate chicken with this carby sauce and it took forever to start losing again. I feel your pain

Good Luck,
Erin

Hi - I think this is for Erin (This is my first post - not really sure how this works yet). Just wanted to say that it sounds like you've done amazingly so far. But how tall are you?? I'm 5'11' and wasn't planning on losing as much weight as you have - do you have any pictures I could have a look at?

I did take "before" pics, but I have not developed them yet. When I hit my goal, those puppies will finally be developed. I will also take some pics (with my new digital camera) and I will put them up in the Success Stories area of the site.

You're an inch and a half taller than I am (I'm 5'9.5"). I'm pretty curving, well at least I definitely have hips. Even when I finally lose all my weight, I will not be a stick. I was at my goal weight 4 years ago so I know what I'll look like (or at least close). If you have any questions let me know.

Thanks, my success has been awesome, but over the last month and a half I've really slacked off and I've only lost 6 lbs, when orginally when I was really into I was averaging 10 a month.

Good Luck,
Erin

don't mean to sound mean, but it's so good to know when other people have gotten off-track too! I just don't know what to expect, so it's great to know that eventually you'd start losing again! i think I've lost 1 pound since last Saturday night, so I guess I'm okay now.

you must be proud of me--I student teach and we all went to a pizza shop today. there were loads of delicious pizza in front of me and I didn't eat one! but i had the toppings of one slice. I just came back from a class and my teacher brought these yummy muffins--i didn't touch those either! it's sooooo hard! i still crave them!

Erin, your success is inspiring--keep it up!

First off, one pound since Saturday is awesome!! That's only three days I don't know if you wandered around this site, but I read that the average person (or the maximum possibility of weight loss - I think there's some debate, but there is about everything, right?) losses two pounds per week. I've definitely lost 3per week and I know others that have too, but whatever. I also set my goals to be two (or slightly over) a week and so you're right on track

I think pizza should be banned or something. Everywhere I go Pizza, Pizza, Pizza. I just stay away in general but it's soo hard b/c after the bars that's what everyone orders...and I can't even eat after 8pm...ahhhh.lol.

And by the way, what school do you go to, b/c my teachers have never brought muffins, let alone anything, in for us

About being off track...I've relaxed quite abit about losing. First, I was psycho about it, which was great/bad. It was all I thought about. I need to calm down, and as long as I'm still losing, I'm happy. Now after calming down for 1.5 months, I'm ready to junp back on the wagon, however...it harder now Well, today started my more stricter OWL...under 30 carbs a day.

Good Luck,
Erin

your words are soooooo consoling, Erin. But I didn't actually lose any weight since Saturday! I thought i lost a pound, but i've been 141 for the last 2 days. Before this diet started, which was 15 days ago, I was 140! doesn't that sound wrong? people are supposed to lose a lot of weight during Induction, and I didn't lose any! i know i cheated for one night, but like i said, it wasn't a huge binge. just 3 glasses of red wine and 3 chicken fingers. i can't believe the setback!

i am sooooo glad you wrote that went you first started the diet, you were psycho about it. i think i'm feeling that way! every morning i wake up to look at myself, but ever since i've cheated, i haven't really trimmed down.

i think i'm eating too much. I eat huge steaks for lunch and dinner with about 7 eggs per meal. my breakfast is not so bad: usually 3 eggs with 2 slices of bacon, or 3 eggs with 1.5 slice of ham & mayonnaise. can someone actually eat too much? i read different things. some people say it helps when they cut down the food. other people say you don't lose when you're not eating enough.

thanks again!

First off...you should probably start a journal and ask one of the experts (there are tons on this site, it's excellent) to look over what you're eating everyday. Take a look at some the journals b/c you can see that they can be very supportive and helpful. I would definitely go to either the newbie section or atkins section and list exactly what you're eating for list a hiyper link to your journal.
Some general rules I know:
- you should only eat until your satisfied, not full (slim line for me)
- you should eat 10X to 12X your body weight in calories. I have a hard time hitting that number unless I eat steaks, etc. YOu could be eating too many calories, especially since you said you're eating lots of steaks and eggs. For example, a large (5 oz.) steak has about 500+ calories and an egg has about 70. So you could be eating too much. I really suggest you start a journal and write down your cals and carbs to see exactly what you're doing.
-Another thing, Where are your vegitable missy? You need them. I usually have an entire meal of lc vegitables. Like a salad for lunch.
-There are stallers for the WOL, you should take a look at it (it's in the orange menu bar above, I can't remember which link, but it may be "LC studies." Anyway, sometimes lunch meats...like ham..can have additives that are common stallers.
- Read the Atkins book...there is something that he terms as metabolically resistant and maybe (I'm not an expert) you have those tendencies.

So again (I'm an idiot), How much weight did you lose on Induction (I'll look up some info in Atkins).

Good Luck,
Erin

Erin, you are my life saver!

i will have to look around the site more, i suppose. but when i first found this site, i spent 5 hours reading through the posts! there is just so much information! everytime when i start looking around i find that i read for hours!

i think you must be right. i must be eating too much. 10xs my weight would be 1400 calories--and that's nothing! Erin, do i have to eath 10xs my weight only during Induction, or is that how the diet is? if i have to maintain it that way, i'm going off it! i can eat 1400 calories of normal food, exercise and lose weight. 1400 calories is nothing! i'm not wasting it on meat... i don't like meat as much as most people, that's partly why the diet is so hard.

i did read Atkins book--it's a miserable read. i read in the posts here that Atkins isn't consistent with his writing, and i agree. his book says we can have cheese and nuts, but those things are stalling people.

you're right--i've got to start eating some vegetables! i figured that the meat is taking me so long to cook as it is, i have no time for veggies! i think i also wanted a maximimum fat loss. there were days when i didn't eat anything on the carb list, like dressings or nuts.

Erin, have you tried the Heller's diet before? if so, how was it? i'm thinking that today is the 16th day of my diet, and that i haven't lost anything, and as soon as i start losing i might go on Heller's diet. . .

thanks again! i'll look around the site now.

totally agree, low carbing at college is tough. But i admit that i do cheat. I found this 'No Carb' chocolate bar. I'm sure it's too good to be true, but in my 'weak' moments it's nice to have some sort of comfort



what is the name of this choc bar????????????!!!!!

im a student also and am so glad i found this forum. ive done the whole eat the topping of the pizza thing and it works most of the time (once or twice i have to say i have given in thou)

i have unbelivable cravings at the weekends too, but my only advice would be to make sure you are stocked up on low carb snacks, so you are too full to stomack any thing else!

any one here from london???

only in rendez vous in lecister square there do sugar free fat free frozen yoghurts. which are great whenyour about town and dont wanna be the only one not eating any thing. but i dont know what artifical sweetner they use??

kebab shops are also great in the way of fast food instead of burgers, where you have to throw away the bun!

Now you realize you can eat between 10 to 12X your weight in calories. Now I know that doesn't seem like alot but usually this diet helps decrease hunger so you don't want ot eat. Are you eating cause you're hungry or b/c you can? I know when I first heard about this WOL I thought that I could eat every sinful thing out there and lose weight, and in most cases that's true, but for me I can't. Yah, I eat steak and whatever, but I still have to watch myself. Also, if you think about it, a low-fat diet won't allow the calories Atkins allows. Another thing, what I do is I make things and keep them in the frig. For example, I went grocery shopping on Monday. When I got home I first made a huge salad and put it in tupperware. Then I grilled chicken with garlic salt (to put on top of the salad) and that went in the frig too. The last thing I made was meatballs...yum. Another thing I make sometimes are MOck McMuffins for a quick breakfast or snack...the recipe, which is on the site, makes tons so I have them all weeks. And the best thing I've found (which you may not be able to do on induction) is I make tortilla wraps (recipe on the site) and that way I can make sandwichs...so easy and not alot of cooking. All those things are in my frig so if I"m hungry...I don't have to cook anything. About the meat thing...I definitely fluctuate on how much meat I eat. First, I can't eat eggs anymore, I mean after the first two weeks that was it. Secondly, I think for about a month I hardly ate any meat at all and I was on Atkins. The only meat I ate was chicken on a Cesear salad (I love salad, that's pretty much all I eat). To get the protein, I made protein shakes in the morning for BK. Doe sthat help you at all? I really don't want you to get discouraged. How's the weight loss going?
Alright, another thing cravings can come on b/c of cheating. I nenver forget this Oprah episode that talked about this book where the thing you eat cause you to eat other things. For example, say I have soup (or cheat with pizza...kkma1861) for lunch, later on in the evening I will crave other things b/c of the soup. So if you eat sugars...you're likely to crave then later. OR if you eat crazy carbs, like pizza, it's not going to help you to make this diet become your WOL. Doe sthat make sense. Everytime you want to eat something like pizza or something, tell your body that you don't need it. Sometimes I pretty much have aconversation with myself...lol. I always say that once I'm one maintenance, I will give myself one free day (or meal, I haven't decided yet) where I will eat whatever I want. And you know what, I may decided to have carbs or I may not. YOu need to decide if you're doing this just to lose weight or if you're doing this because you like the way it makes you feel - in control, awake happy, healthy, not bloated, etc. Now I know those aren't apparent in the beginning (b/c of withdrawl), but give yourself some time (without cheating) and see what happens. Stay with it Beatles, maybe a month or so, and I think you'll be happy. Hey, did you start a journal b/c that could be a better place to talk and that way I can see what your eating and you can check your cals and so forth.

Talk to you soon,
Erin

I almost forgot...did you say yout were from London - I studied there all summer - and gained weight, stupid Guinness...lol. I lived in the Bloomsbury district in an amazing apartment. Where I live now has lowcarb icecream, which is amazing, 1 carb per ounce, they make it with Splenda....yum.

Erin,

Wow, when I read your post, I thought "could that be anymore like my situation??" My problem is that I lost over 20lbs on my LC diet. Then, I changed schools, changed houses twice, and had to deal with that oh so stressful college application process along with Thanksgiving-Christmas-New Years. What a dilemma. One day I was 125 lbs. Then it seems like I turned around and was 165 lbs. How crazy. I gained 40 lbs in half the time it took me to lose 20. This has been an extrememly frustrating time for me, and I have done nothing but feel bad about myself and blame it on other things. But the truth is that I just gotta start from the beginning again and be strict about it. For me, just yesterday I got to the point where I told myself that I had to cut it out my unhealthy eating habits because it made me feel terrible and I know, I KNOW, that there is a skinny person inside of me waiting to come out again. I hope my story helps a little. It's comforting to know that I am not the only one out there who is facing these types of problems! Good luck!

Becky

i totally wasted your time, Erin! you have been soooo supportive of me. but i pretty much gave up the diet as soon as i found out that i can eat only 10xs my weight. 1,400 calories of normal food have always allowed me to lose weight in the past. i figured i'll just go back to a normal diet. i went on Atkins because i thought I can eat to my heart's content. See, i have an ENORMOUS appetite. if i have to watch my caloric intake, i might as well just be on a normal diet!

but you are right. i'm still battling on what to do because LC dimishes the appetite and cravings. LC also gives me energy. i do enjoy all that. but i'm a carb addict. i cheated a few days ago when there was a teacher staff meeting. I gave up because i was on the diet for 3 weeks and instead of losing weight, i gained weight. i know that's no big deal for a lot of people, but i've always lost weight whenever i've disciplined myself on a diet. 1400 calories! think of the meat and the salad dressing--i'd be eating so little!

i'm sure i'll come back to the forum and update you guys on how i'm doing! i'll definitely report the details if i gain lots of weight--just to applaud you guys for sticking to it!

I sorry to hear you decided not to continue, but I just wanted to remind that...it's bw 10X and 12X your weight, which is pretty substancial. 12X is is 1656 (if you're at 138)...that's quite a bit. Good Luck with everything,
Erin

I'm not exactly in the same boat as most of you. I don't live in a dorm, but I do go away for debate tournaments on the weekends. I was just at a place where they had so much good food, and I passed it all up - and didn't lose any weight! I am so mad. I am still in induction, and I keep having to get stricter and stricter. I hope I start losing some weight soon.