Eh, anybody out there ?

[Niquie]

Just joined this website but it seems like nobody has posted for sometime on the Irish forum. I failed at Atkins before, any Irish buddies out there? Starting again tomorrow but I have questions that you guys might be able to help me with so I don't screw up again re cream in coffee, alcohol etc. :help:

[Ginadublin]

Hi

I have just found this site too and am in Dublin

[Niquie]

Hi Gina
Nice to see we have some Paddys onboard, I'm from Co. Clare but I'm originally from Dublin. How are you getting on so far?
I really love this website by the way - tonnes of support, it's great.
Nikki

[Ginadublin]

Hi Nicky

Nice to have someone to chat to about his atkins, I dont know anyone else doing it and all im getting if i mention it to friends or family is that its unhealthy etc etc

well have to say it works for me ! Am at the end of week three, and down ten pounds, I lost the ten pounds in the first two weeks and seemed to have stalled this week, but I have read that this is normal (water retention etc. TOTM).

I notice very much the inch loss. I was terribly bloated looking for carbs but within a few days this had gone - which was fab. Have another 16 pounds to lose and I will be happy and THIN ! YIPPEE

How are you getting on?

Gina

[Niquie]

Gina that's amazing. I so wish I only had 16lbs to go. I too find that Atkins is the only thing that works for me but I've been doing it since feb then crashed and burned then started again mid march, lost 6lbs in 6 days, stalled put it all back on and finally I'm back on track with a half stone gone and 22lbs left to go.

I have PCOS so it's really hard to loose weight for me. I never eat much but I just came to the conclusion that if I don't exercise EVERY day for about an hour I just won't loose a thing.

Don't mind the friends and family. Mine are so sick of me going on about my weight that they are glad I found something that seems to work just so I might finally shut-up about how fat I am. I'm really tall so I'm sick of hearing "but you're tall, you can carry it".

I too am looking forward to being a skinny biatch hee hee.
Nikki

[Ginadublin]

Niquie, well done on your weight loss so far. I have done this diet before too and as soon as I stalled I gave up - got peed off that it wasnt shifing quick enough, but am now determined to stick with it even with the stalls (which are inevitable due to water retention, TOTM, etc.,)

Yep, like you its the only diet for me. I tried Weight Watchers so many times - got sick of paying every week and rejoining numerous times - it didnt work, I would be "good" for one week lose a couple of pounds, STARVIN all the time and put back the couple of pounds plus one.

Love Atkins, cos i like the allowed food, steaks, chicken, mayo, cheese, etc - its great cos even i go out for a meal, I can order a large steak mushrooms and onions and thats loads.

have been having the odd day where I need the something sweet and been buying the sugar free powered jelly from Dunnes and Tesco sell it - and having a bowl of that with cream - yum :)

the biggest motivation for me this time is that I need to slim back into my summer clothes (I lost a couple of stones last year after having my tonsils out - couldnt eat for a few weeks - so threw out all my bigger sizes and bought smaller ones). Anyway piled back on the weight and nothing fits me. Cant afford to buy a whole new wardrobe again (recessionary times) so have to slim back into them. Also, hate looking fat in the summer - as have to bare the arms and legs more LOL

We will both be fabulous and skinny - takes time, but hey this diet is quicker than most !!

chat you soon x

[Ginadublin]

just read the bit about PCOS and exercise. I am lucky to live beside the phoenix park in dublin, i also have a dog, so I have no excuse but get off me a"se and get out there - poor dog gives me those pleading puppy eyes - ha ha
Dont go every night but usually 3 - 4 nights - its a start !
yeah I think exercise is important - walking is the easiest, I bring my IPOD with me with lots of motivational songs on it (upbeat feel good stuff) and before I know it, the walk is done and I feel good (well ok dying for oxegen, water, sofa ha ha)

[url=http://www.TickerFactory.com/weight-loss/wIfuyM7/]
http://tickers.TickerFactory.com/ezt/t/wIfuyM7/weight.png

[Niquie]

Oh wow, I was only in the Phoenix Park last week with my kiddies - did you see the que for the zoo????
We were in it !!! I thought I've not come all this way from Clare to not get in, so we qued and it moved quite quickly thank God.

I have a cairn terrier that has gone bonkers altogether since the spring has arrived, he won't stop barking - planes, birds, bees and flies. I brought him up to Dublin to Mums for the few days and I think she was glad to see the back of us cause he never shut up the whole time.

I stopped walking him because he wants to attack everything that moves and hes only a tiny little fart of a dog - it's sooo embarrassing. He never used to be this bad, I'm gonna have to get him into some obedience classes but he'll probably terrorise the other mutts.

Anyway, started this jogging programme that one of the girls on this forum told me about called couch to 5k. It's a 10 week programme and so far so good. Bit disappointed though, my birthday is on Sunday and I thought I'd have all my weight gone for it instead of just a half stone which I know is better then nothing but you know what I mean.

Keep up the good work and we'll chat again soon xxx

[Ginadublin]

Hi niquie

hope your weekend went well with the diet. I wasnt too bad at all, though had a bottle of wine on saturday night and woke up yesterday with the hangover from hell (OMG thought my head was going to split open) - dont usually drink wine, but it seems to be low carb, so thought I would chance it.
I didnt see the que for the Zoo but a girl in work was telling me that she went and it was the busiest she ever seen it.
When my children were smaller I got a yearly pass for the zoo and brought them most sundays - just to knacker them out lol.
I have a king charles (Prince) he is a dote, has a lovely temprement - though is not very road wise yet, so have to keep him on the lead a lot. re. the training of your dog, i didnt get mine trained and sort of regret it now - he is 4 years old and probably passed any real training - other dogs attack him and he just lets them :(
congrats on starting the jogging programme, unfortunately I am a smoker and would probably need oxegene if I had a go at jogging - ha ha - am going to try and quit next week and have got he patches ready to go.

anyway good luck for this week and hopefully we will both see a loss by the end of the week (my end of week is Friday)

Gx

[Groovegirl]

Niquie-

I read your first post on here and was about to tell you what worked for me, but it seems like you are doing well.

I tried Atkins about 5000 times before getting it right this time. The difference this time was that I put a time goal instead of a weight goal (I decided to do it 60 days no matter what the scale said) and that got me over the hump. I didn't lose that much in the first month, but it came off more so after I got better at sticking to it. Anyway, I'm use to it and get it now. I have 10 Lbs to go.

BTW - my husband is from Stillorgan :) He makes me listen to that Dustin the Turkey and watch clips of Rodge & Podge.

[Ginadublin]

Hi Groove Girl.

I find myself at a standstill - i havent had a loss in a few weeks, my weight fluctuates daily, down a pound up a pound - have been sticking to it rigidly and am finding it a bit disheartening at the moment that the weight isnt moving :(
Any tips or advice would be gratefully appreciated.

ha ha Podge and Rodge is a favourite of my husbands

[Groovegirl]

Ginadublin-

It looks like you've lost 7 Lbs in 2 weeks? If that is the case, then that is fabulous! For me it came off in clumps. For example, the scale would bob around right at the same place for a week or two, then a clump of 3 Lbs would come off. That is why the timeframe goal made it work for me, vs me telling myself that it isn't working, so screw it.

Why don't you just decide that you will stick with it until the end of May, regardless of what the scale says? By that time, you'll be down more and see that it is well worth it.

When my husband and I watch Rodge & Podge, he has to hit pause every 5 seconds to explain the jokes. Once I get it, I think its very funny. Amazing how different the same language can be.

[Niquie]

Hey Ladies - How are we all doing ???

Guess what, my husband name is Rodge ha ha but he hasn't got a podge like my spare tyre hee hee.

You won't believe it Groovegirl but I'm from Rathfarnham, only down the road from Stillorgan and what's even freakier is that (I took a sneaky look at your profile) I look a wee bit like you except with longer hair and a much fatter face then you.

Gina, I'm sorry it took me so long to catch up, had a bit of a cabin fever week, I was made redundant last December and I hate being at home so I used any excuse this week I could get not spend my time at home - the place is minging, think I'll have to chain myself to the mop tomorrow.

My weight shot up again but I finally got it down today, the result of too much birthday celebrations I reckon.

Anyway, my kiddies are screaming for me to help them with homework so I might check in again later and catch up a bit more.

Bye for now.
Nikki (couldn't get nikki as my profile name hence niquie !)

[Groovegirl]

HA! I know what minging means - my husband just explained it to me the other day.

Nikki - post a picture - you got me curious. Mine was a my pre baby days, before I gained the weight.

[Niquie]

You see that's the problem, I can't figure out how to re size my photos so they are all too large and the forum won't take them. I also have a slight vanity issue I'm totally ashamed to admit - I hate getting my photo taken and the thoughts of posting up my chubby chops just kills me.

I shall try though and then you'll probably laugh at me thinking I'm nothing like you ha ha. I will try though and if I still can't re size them I'll ask hubby.

By the way - something else to make you laugh, I was a real estate agent for the past 16 years until last December. I'm also a qualified Interior Designer which has also suffered with the down-turn as you can imagine.

Any other similarities I wonder???

[Groovegirl]

Yes - my sister-in-law lives in Rathfarnham - she lives near Marley Park. Well that isn't a similarity, but its all I got. Unless you teach exercise classes, or your last name is either Doyle or Clarke.

You guys got beat up pretty badly in real estate, according to my in-laws. Are you taking a break from it, or are you done? I do real estate consulting / development work for hospitals, which has saved me from our crap real estate market. That said, the residential market seems to be showing signs of bottoming out in my area (Washington DC suburbs)

How is the diet going? I'm at a stand still and have been for 6 days nows. Its getting on my nerves. I'm not really craving carbs, more that I'm getting sick of meat, chicken, eggs, etc.

[Ginadublin]

Hi

GrooveG thanks for your advice, yes am going to stick it out, I will do the time thing - til end of May, what a very good way of doing it.

I actually like this way of eating, am not feeling deprived at all and have had very little carb cravings and almost no sweet cravings - when I do get a sweet craving I have sugar free jelly with cream (yum)

I too will try and figure out how to post a photo when I get home tonight :)

I know what you mean by getting sick of eating meat, chicken etc., - I am dying to have something really crunchy !

Nikki am off to the Zoo on Saturday morning, am babysitting my niece (aged 2) for a few hours, so have to do something to keep her occupied, hopefully wont be raining !

Have either of you girls done your measurments? I never bothered doing this, though my clothes are looser.

Nikki sorry to hear you were made redundant from you job, quite a lot of my friends have lost their jobs too - sign of the times with this recession - think I would go mad if was at home everyday, would become addicted to Oprah, Jeremy Kyle etc., etc., ha ha, Hopefully the economy will pick up a bit and things will improve :)

GrooveG, I love the States, have been many times to Chicago (as we have friends living there) and took the kids to Florida three years ago (me and the husband were the bigger kids) - had a great time x

[Niquie]

Well GG my Nana's surname was Doyle and I'm from quite close to Marley. :lol:

Hate the "stuck phase" and really 6 days is nothing, you've done amazingly well - only 10lbs off your target, I WISH that I was that near to my goal.

However, I have a number of thoughts from my own experience :idea: :- I think the body needs time to adjust each time there's a weight loss, I like to think that it needs to find its equilibrium and this can take a while, you just have to go with the flow and not have a binge while your waiting for it to adjust. This usually takes a week or so for me.

Secondly I put on weight 2 times each month, TOM but also during ovulation (very personal chat here) and it's taken me until this year to realise this. The great thing now is that I have tracked the pattern so I don't go on a binge out of frustration when it does happen cause I know to expect it.

Lastly, if I do get really stuck, I up the exercise to above my normal routine, limit myself to 1-2 cups of coffee with splenda and cream a day (instead of 3 or 4) and cut out my two squares of dark chocolate evening treat and no alcohol at all- this usually works but its exhausting mentally.

Hey Gina, hope you've a really great time at the zoo, there's a lovely little playground in there but I warn you if you haven't been there in a while, it's huge now since they extended the park - flask of tea and sambos are essential packing and runners of course!!!

I did measure myself back in February I'm a bit scales obsessed so I haven't checked it in a long while but I have noticed that I've almost gone down two notches on my belt - happy days :agree: !!

Well ladies, I have to get off my butt and do some cleaning, enjoy your day Gina, GG your probably still asleep - happy dreams!

Chat soon xx :wave:

[Groovegirl]

Ah - ovulation. I wonder if that is what is going on. Those are good tips - thanks!

Doyle is my husbands last name. I think they are from Waterford or Wexford.

Thanks for the inspiration this morning ladies - I'm dragging today & have loads to do at work.....

[Ginadublin]

Hii

well had a carb splurge yesterday - was out and had beer and then a bread roll - checked my ketostix this morning and am still in Ketosis - was wondering can it take a couple of days to get kicked out of ketosis, or am I just lucky and got away with the extra carbs???

g

[Groovegirl]

I had several beers a few weeks ago and was in mad ketosis the next day - I thought I was off the hook. Turns out I was just dehydrated, which somehow made my sticks turn purple (my husband is a scientist - from UCD & explained it to me - can't remember now)

Are you still in ketosis today? It kicked out the following day for me - so 2 days. I couldn't get back in for a week, but I wasn't being very good either.

[Ginadublin]

Hiii - yes amazingly I stayed in Ketosis and am down another pound this week - yippee - maybe I was just having a carb up thing and it worked for me. am sticking with the diet, its working well for me and I dont feel too restricted, am craving something really crunchy though :( how is it going for you ?

[Groovegirl]

Sorry my Irish Friend-

I've been hanging out on other threads and forgot to check this one. I'm still in the fight, but I find this hard. I'm on another thread for "only 10 Lbs to go" and none of us are doing well. I think you have to go to a whole other level toward the end. In fact, I'm toying with the Intermediate Fast idea (check it out on Buddy Challenges - it is quite popular) Anything slightly narky makes me hungry the entire next day. I'm always hungry now. I tried a very short fast on Monday (7 hours, which to most isn't even a fast) and felt more in control and less into cravings.