Newbie From Ohio

[J.J.]

:wave: Hello All! This message board looks very friendly and looks like it could be quite helpful indeed!

My DH and I have just started the Atkins program after visiting friends in Wisconsin and hardly recognizing them they had lost so much weight!!

We returned home and I went to a local greenhouse to get my planting started and couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the owners! They had been on the Atkins diet since February and looked fabulous!

Soooooo DH and I are giving it a go! We went by the advice of the greenhouse friends as to what we could and couldn't eat for about two weeks until our book arrived and realized we were doing some things wrong so we've basically started over in the past 4 days! My pants are already baggy, but I'm depressed and feeling deprived! Any suggestions??? I really need a pep talk! Will this really work.....I mean...long term????

[etoiles]

Hi JJ !

To see the miracles of those who have done this for a while, I would visit the maintenance section or the section titled success stories. It is wonderful to see people there who have achieved their goals and it is very inspiring!

After a few days the feeling of deprivation will go away! It's just your body begging for more fattening carb!

Good luck and success to you!

[J.J.]

Hi Etoiles!! Thanks for the reply! Is your username French? If so, what does it mean? Just curious!

Well, I'm reading the success stories daily to try to keep myself pumped. My DH is full of energy and doesn't feel deprived at all!

On the other hand, I have had numbness in my tongue and lips, leg cramps and every morning we have a battle over breakfast!
I HATE BREAKFAST!!! I've never been a breakfast person, it just makes me gag to look at food in the morning!

Anyway.....I am feeling slimmer, but the scales went back up this morning instead of down like hubby's is doing. Do men always lose quicker than women?

Chins up, I suppose.......oops I mean chin up!!! ;)

[etoiles]

JJ -

everytime I need a pump up I read the success stories too. Or I put on my jeans and see how much bigger they are then they used to be.

etoiles is french for stars. I really like the night and just kinda gotten hooked to that name since 8 years ago.

Some tasty but not too overwhelming breakfast ideas might be some yogurt (must get plain, unsweetened) only 2 carbs for 1/2 cup! (less than the package says because the bacteria eats the carbs up)

and mix it with sweetner and then sometimes I put in 1-2 strawberries. It's cool and refreshing.

I've heard many times that men lose faster than women, they're so lucky! ;) I'm fortunate sort of, my husband isn't doing atkins yet and so I have lost more than twice what he has on his slimfast plan, so it makes me feel good. But he decided to start atkins next week so he'll probably beat me in a few weeks again.

Yes, chins up! :)

[J.J.]

:D Your name means stars.....eh? I like that!!! Shoot for the stars!! I live in a very rural area and love to watch the stars. I use to go out and watch the Shuttle go by and really miss seeing it!

So, hubby is starting the diet also! I never had any luck on the Slimfast plan and looked at a can of it still in the fridge yesterday and couldn't believe all the carbs it had in it!

My hubby is looking good! He has started working out now, but I try to remind him that he's 52 and no spring chicken anymore and to take it slow! He has oodles more energy than I do so far!

Well, have a wonderful day! I'm on my way for a new hairdo today to see if that will boost my moral! :wave:

[etoiles]

The rural area sounds like a wonderful place to watch stars! I've always lived in a larger city and never had the experience. One day!

My husband finally started the atkins plan so I hope he does as well as yours! Congratulations on him being so energetic! I bet you'll be that way soon!

Nothing like a nice hairdo to boost morale! I always find that helps me too or a nice outfit :)

I have started up my exercising also. I do that funny Richard Simmons sweating to the oldies! Whatever works!

[J.J.]

OMG!!! I went blonde yesterday at the hair salon! This diet must mess up your clear thinking!!LOL!! Nothing against blondes, mind you, but I'm 50 years old and been auburn brown all my life!

Since some grey hairs were sneaking in, I decided....what the heck....you only go around once!!

Etoiles....your hubby will do great! For some reason they seem to do better than us poor hormone laden women!!! Lucky them!!

Have a great day! I sure had a tough time getting this posted today! It kept saying I wasn't logged in properly!! :daze:

[etoiles]

Wow, what a change that hair must be! :daze:

I haven't ever dyed my hair either but someday!

My husband is doing great! He lost 3 pounds already! And since he started he's making all these low carb treats too. ;)

It's working out so well I'm starting to think my cat could use a low carb plan.... something about those diet catfoods just isn't right!

Have a nice weekend!

[J.J.]

:D Glad to hear your hubby is doing well with the diet!

It's strange that you mentioned your cat! I'm a professional dog trainer and also have a cat and was wondering what kind of diet would be best for them! All dog and cat foods are grain based so I wonder if it contributes to some the illnesses that attack them in later years! Hmmm....will have to do some research!

Have a great day! It's finally sunny and warm in Ohio after waaay too much rainy weather!!!

[etoiles]

It's been pretty nice here too in Chicago! Just starting to warm up and feel like summer!

I have been thinking about how my cat eats ever since I started this diet. They say the low fat food they make for people have more carbs, what about animals? I changed my cat over to reduced fat catfood and lowered her canned catfood intake more than a year ago and no results. I wonder though if the carbs are pumping her up? I am talking about this on another thread with others. Someone said she has a diabetic cat and the cat's blood sugar is controlled now that it eats mostly meaty canned catfood.

I'm going grocery shopping tomorrow and am going to compare ingredients on weighloss forumla vs. normal catfood.

Your job sounds like so much fun!! I have been an art teacher for a few years but now that we moved to a new area I might have to do something else for a while, and the animal business sounds wonderful. How did you get into it?

[J.J.]

Hey E!!! :D

I love my job, it's very rewarding and fun to meet so many different people! My ex hubby was a retail executive and we moved about every 1 to 1 1/2 yrs. It was tough having a job since we followed his career around so much! Anyway, I volunteered a lot at a number of different jobs and ended up working as a vet tech for a vet in Florida! So many folks had their animals put to sleep for behavior problems and it was really depressing. So I went to National K9 School For Dog Trainers (in Columbus,Ohio - My hometown) and received my certification in their Master Training Course! I've been a professional trainer now for 12 years and own my own business! It really suits me! As a kid I was always dragging home an injured bird, cat, dog....or whatever! Drove my poor mother crazy!!

I was in retail myself for many years, sitting behind a desk and hating every moment of it!

At one time I wanted to be a commercial artist, but due to an illness I lost my spot in a scholarship program and that went by the wayside! Being an art teacher would be my second choice after training dogs! How long have you been teaching???

Have a great day!!

[etoiles]

Your job must be so much fun! I did not know that they had certification classes for animal training courses! Wow, I may have to look into that around the Chicago area.

I have been an art teacher for three years down in central Illinois. My husband moved here two years ago from The Netherlands (soon after 9/11) and has had a very hard time finding a job, especially down where we were living. Finally he found a job up in Chicago so we just moved here. I don't know if I will find an art teaching position so I'm thinking about my other options. I have also had a love for animals and have been considering going into something to do with them!

It must be wonderful to own your own business! You must be doing a great job over there! :thup:

ARt and animals, I know so many people who love both. :)

Yeah I could never go into retail either.... that desk...

Wishing you another sunny day!

[J.J.]

:D Hey E!

How long have you been on the Atkins Plan? Looks like you're doing great!!

My DH really didn't need to lose much, he's already reached his goal weight, but says he likes the diet and plans on sticking to it!

I found a recipe for crepes using the Atkins Diet Bake Mix and am enjoying them emmensely. You can spread them with cream cheese and roll 'em up or put bacon strips in them....the possibilities are endless. It satisfies my need for bread!

Hope you're having a great day! My former stepdaughter lives in Arlington Hts. if you know where that is and my ex is from Schaumberg (sp?).

Talk at ya soon!!!!! :D

[etoiles]

Hi J.J.! :wave:

Thanks for the compliment :) I have been on Atkins since the beginning of March. I am doing a more strange version though, the vegetarian ATkins. So if you ever need help on vegetables you know who to ask! ;)

Those crepes sound mighty tasty! I have some atkins bake mix too. Did you just use the recipe off the atkins website? I checked them out but they looked a little scary, I never made crepes before!

I have a recipe for a low carb pizza crust I'm going to try this weekend so if it goes well I will let you know!

Congratulations on your husband's success! Very impressive!!!!

Yes Arlington heights and Schaumberg are right close by, in fact before we moved we looked at apartments in both areas.

Have a nice summer day! :cool:

[J.J.]

Hello Again!!

Here's the webpage for Barbo's Thin Egg Pancakes (Crepes)

http://www.lowcarb.ca/recipes/breakfast105.html

They're easy to make, just don't get your skillet too hot if you're using butter to fry them in. You can also use Pam if you prefer, but the butter makes them taste better. I'm going to try some variations of the basic recipe using spices so I'll let ya know how it goes!

Let me know how the pizza crust goes!! Yummmmmy! Pizza! This life isn't so bad afterall!!!! :D

Stay cool!!! J.

[etoiles]

Wow that crepe recipe sounds delicious!! I will have to make that soon for breakfast! I just bought some atkins maple syrup and I haven't tried it yet!

Let me know how those spices turn out!

Tonight we made the taco cheesecake on this site. It was pretty good, not bad and a nice change of pace from our usual mexican dish, taco salad.

At first I thought it would be impossible to find things that would taste good but it wasn't hard at all!

[J.J.]

:D Hey E!!!

Hope you're having a great day today!

I'm like you, I thought it would tough to find new recipes, but they're all over the place! Here's another good site:

http://www.titanic.kn-bremen.de/allrec.html

They've got oodles of recipes!

How ya doing on your weight loss? I haven't weighed myself in a couple of days! DH and I decided to do it once a week to see how that goes! We don't want to obsess about our weight, now do we??????? :D

Have a good one! I've tried the syrup and it's delish!!!!!

JJ

[etoiles]

Hi J.J.!

You are just a wealth of low carb knowledge! That site is very impressive, I already bookmarked it and will be checking it out soon. The only site I go other than this one for low carb recipes is www.allrecipes.com but most of their recipes are not low carb and so you have to sort through them. The only good thing about that site is that everyone rates the recipes so you get a good idea if it will taste good before you make it.

The Indian recipes looked really fantastic! I love Indian food.

Good for you weighing once a week. I cannot bring myself to do that, still weigh daily. Sometime though I plan to move to once a week.

Yes I used the syrup for the first time today and made some maple toasted walnuts. Pretty tasty!

Any other good low carb products you like?

[J.J.]

:wave: Good Morning E!

Yummmmy! Maple toasted walnuts??? I'd love to know how you did that!!! Recipe please????

Hubby and I had pancakes last night using the Atkins bake mix! Would've been great with some blueberries, but I'm not to that stage in the diet yet! I'm looking forward to it, tho!!! :D

I'd love to know how to convert old recipes into Atkins acceptable, but have yet to figure it out yet! I love to cook so this has thrown me off a bit! I'll get it, though, just give me time!

Have a great day!!!! JJ

[etoiles]

Hope you are having a wonderful weekend! :)

For maple toasted walnuts I would use some butter, a packet of splenda, and some syrup mixing those together (melt the butter first!) and then spread on a greased baking sheet and I did 300 degrees for 20 minutes.

They are a very tasty snack when you want something sweet! I was also reading another thread and Karen was talking about walnuts and suggested folding roasted ones into whip cream; now THAT sounds delicious!

I bought an ice shaver this weekend and tonight I had a galore of hawaiian ices. While we were out shopping we also ran into a store that sold some sf Irish creme syrup with splenda. That on some shaved ice with a dash of half and half is heavenly!!!

Yes I can't wait to have blueberries either, they are my favorite berry and it is very hard to not buy them at the store.

While you're working on converting your recipes if you find a good bread let me know! That would come in handy sometimes!

Have a relaxing Sunday! :roll: