I am new at this!

[stephie]

Hi! My name is Stephanie and I have been thinking about doing the Atkins diet for a while, but never got around to it. About two nights ago, I found this forum and all the sucess stories..and I was totally inspired. I kind of want to wait and start on Monday of next week. I am a college student and on a cafeteria meal plan. I was wondering during induction what types of veggies and meats are permitted. We have a salad bar and I thought I would eat eggs and bacon for breakfast, but for lunch we serve sandwiches(is lunch meat permitted?) What about hamburger without a bun of course. I just need a little info..so anyone that could help...I would greatly appreciate it! Thanks! :)

[LCer in NW]

I would definitely say your meal ticket is a godsend. You need to really pour over the book to convince yourself of what can be eaten. You can have as much beef, chicken, lunch meat as you want, except there are probably carbs added to some of the lunchmeats. Also, I would not go on the diet until you do one thing first.

Get used to the taste of water, and increase your consumption of water to the appropriate level before trying the diet. This will help you separate the effects of the water increase from the effects of the induction of the diet.

Add water to your diet for at least 3 weeks, but ideally for about 2 months. Eat exactly the foods in the same quantities as you normally eat, but add the water. You'll likely lose about 1 pound a month doing just this (I lost 4 pounds in 5 months). Add multivitamins to your diet as well.

The amount of water you need to drink daily if you are not overly active is about a half ounce of water per pound of normal or ideal body weight for your height, and then add .33 ounces for every pound overweight. If you're very active, then up it to about .66 ounces per pound of normal weight and .5 ounces per pound overweight.

In the first couple weeks, you'll be in the bathroom quite often, but your bladder will settle down and you will urinate large quantites less often.

Then you'll be primed for the huge losses the LOW CARB high fat diet induces.

Take your time and be ready. It'll be worth the wait.

[slimchance]

Hi Stephie! :wave:

Welcome! NW definitely had some good advice for you about the water...make it your new best friend. I was never...and I mean NEVER...a fan of drinking water. I always found it to be too cold with no flavor. Well, for me the easiest way to start drinking more was to leave it out so that it was closer to room temperature. I know most people enjoy their water really cold, but I found that I couldn't drink as much of it at a time because it would give me "ice cream headaches." I began leaving bottles of water around the apartment and it seemed to do the trick for me.

My advice to you would be to search around the forum and learn about the different plans and choose one that suits you. Some people are really into excercise and they go for Body for Life, others are good at mixing their foods and go for Somersizing. I knew people that had great success on Atkins, so I chose that one. Once you choose a plan, learn all about it, and by this I mean read the book. It's a good idea to read the whole book and not just to skip to the what to do/what not to do parts. It's better to know the reasoning behind what you are doing, as it will help you to understand why it works. :idea:

Once you are comfortable with a plan, come here and ask any questions you may have. You may decide to mix and match with the plans to customize it for your own lifestyle, but it is important to know that, though all the plans in this site are low carb, they all work in their own ways and if you mix and match in the wrong way you may not see as good results. :confused:

Most of the books have examples of a typical diet plan. One idea may be to plan to eat according to the examples given while you take a couple of days to read the book. By the time you are done the book you should have a good idea on how to plan meals on your own.

Good luck, and know that we are all in the same boat!! :D

KC