I've taken the supravit before. I think that if you take the flaxseed, u can omit the fish oil, (yes cod liver oil). They are both Omega 3's. So you only need one of them. The way I've been reading about flaxseed is that you should have up to 3 tablespoons per day. Sprinkle it on your salad, cereal, grind it and add it to a shake. ( I don't drink shakes). I just ate two teaspoons the way it was. I'd prefer using the natural flaxseed instead of the pills. I'm so happy tht I found it. Today I did my one hour walk and a 30 minute cardio besides. I feel good. All the best to you tomorrow. Allah Ma'ak!

I would like to ask you how are you managing your Atkins diet, which phase are you on and how could you get your family adopted to it!!!?

Right now I'm being easy on the girls cause they are having exams. (4 girls all 13 and under) When the exams are over, the whole family is going on my own idea of a modified diet. My 13 and 10 yr old girls aren't overweight, but they're a bit chubby. I think that it has to be a lifestyle change and it will be just our new way of eating. Less rice, less macaroni, less bread. I'm planning on baking bran muffins a lot, and we already eat a lot of aysh sin and whole wheat toast. I think exercise will start to be our family togetherness time. We'll go to the nadee and play squash, tennis and basketball. I think what we really have to stop doing is rewarding with food. When the girls get good marks, we go to KFC. When they've helped at home, I give them money to go buy, "haga halwa". That has to stop. No wonder we have weight issues. Life doesn't revolve around food. My husband is planning to start dieting in about 2 weeks. He only has 10 kgs to lose. I think if it's a family issue it has much more chance of success!

oh yeah, I'm not really on the atkins diet strictly. It's part my own thing and somewhat following atkins. I'm about to start a three day meat and egg fast to get me losing quickly again. It works really well.

Well, Good news, as i told you i restarted Atkins one week aga, i lost in this week, guess what, 8.6 lb, i am so happy with this figure and i hope i keep it up. For me i am stricktly following Atkins, and i am trying to get my wife follow it with me, this makes it easier. Yesterday i went to the pharmacy, i asked for the ketostix, i found only one box that looks strange and you know has a cylinderical shape, and many items were typed on the cover, one of them was ketones, actually i wasn't convinced with this box, specially when i found the price was 80 L.E, i will ask in another pharmacy later, but i bought flax seed supplement, a box has 20 capsules for 25 L.E and it has on it Omega 3 and 6 and 9...., I also bought Vitona, i think it is good one, thanks for the advice, anyway here is another week of dieting i hope it works for all of us..... Thanks

$80 LE for the ketostix? Unreal. Like I said...I bought them and they were made by accu_check...$34 LE.....and there is a masri version for around $17 LE. I think I'll go ask about the flaxseed supplements. CONGRATULATIONS!! 8.6 lbs! in a week? Without exercise?? AMAZING! U should change your weight in your stats!

Hi you guys--so pleased to see you've found one another--how cool is that?

A few thoughts--I found ketostix to be pretty expensive, so I cut them the long way with very small sharp scissors and made them go a lot further.

I no longer use ketostix, as I can usually tell if I'm in ketosis by the sweet (?) smell of my breath and a taste in the back of my throat--and by whether or not the scale is moving.

Splenda is the best of the sweeteners, by far, but the powdered stuff has additional carbs because they put dextrose in it to fluff it out a bit. Liquid stuff is available that is very concentrated--I haven't ordered any yet, but plan to.

Aspartame is probably best avoided if possible--there are some health questions that make it a little suspicious in my book. I'd urge you to research it before you decide to continue, and especially be cautious about giving it to the girls.

I have a family of slender people, and this was my approach for making LC family-friendly: I think of food in the Venn diagram sense--theirs, mine, and ours. A meal might be a meat and vegatable stew (ours) with a side dish of boiled potatoes (theirs) over which they poured the meat stew.

I found that most of what I ate fell into the `ours' overlapping zone. Or I'd make differen versions of the same thing, like two cheesecakes, theirs and mine. (These days, I think I'd just make `mine' and share it if they wanted some.)

Anyway, just wanted to say it's great to see newbies with so much resolve and enthusiasm. May you both see your weight loss dreams come true.

Thanks Kathleen for your thoughts and advices

Yes that's what i found at the pharmacy, i'll ask next time about that accu_check...
i update my current weight and also the curve in the (MY PLAN) link, it is so nice to see your progress, insn't it?!

I found the supplements for flaxseed...same box I suppose 20 capsules for $25 LE. I'm going to keep them on hand...the flaxseed I bought from the attar has a lot of stones in it and is taking me forever to clean it. It was niceon my salad. I asked at the pharmacy for the ketone strips but the masri....he brought me the accu-check again. I think Kath has a good idea about cutting them down the middle. I had a bowl of ice cream today.....I know, I know....I shouldn't have. It was all natural made with real milk. YUM! Tomorrow I start my meat and egg fast for as long as I can stand it.

Wowwwww, Bowel of Ice Cream, that sounds nice, i hope you enjoyed it, (bel hana wel shefa), Wish you all the best with your meat and egg fast, but i heard that one could do that only for 3 days not more and this is to break the stall..... am i right?
Next time i'll ask for the egyptian version of the ketostix, and i hope i succeed, right know i am having a cup of decaf nescafe, and starting to study for my Master Thesis....
Good Luck

I made a journal today...or rather, I started one...so if you'd like you could post me there instead. The thread is titled, "between obligation, conscience, beliefs and desires." See you there......this introduction thread has really started to be more like a journal......so I'd rather post it in the right part.

Welcome, glad to see you here! Looks like you are doing great so far, keep up the good work!