Hello and Help!

[Onmyway14]

Hello! I am a 36 yr old female, I have thyroid issues and I have been gaining and gaining. I finally got my thyroid under control and I have to do something about the weight. I started low carb on Sunday (6/22) and weighed at 305. I have been staying at 20-23 carbs per day and I don't know what else I should be looking at. My menu yesterday was

B - Peanut Butter (2tb) and celery
S - Atkins 3 net carb bar
L - Green Pepper, Salmi, Cheese
S - Atkins 3 net carb bar
D - Burger, Green Pep, onion, mush, cheese
S - Atkins 1 carb m&m

Today has been very similar I really want to make sure that I am going to get results for doing this so any help or knowledge you have I would really appriciate it.

Thanks so much! :)

[Neanderpam]

Which Atkins? Because you're in induction and haven't reached the 'legume' (peanuts or peanut butter) stage yet. Any nuts (except for macadamia and even then measured carefully) generally stall most of us. On Atkins '72 and on DANDR they aren't on induction (first two weeks).

I didn't fare well with 'products' (like candy type, or Atkins bars, etc.). It's not 'real food'. Up to you if you want to use them.

I would say you'd have really great results if you use real food and adhere to the rules of induction (your Atkins book will tell you what that is). I do believe we have posted the 'induction list of foods' on this site also. http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=236482

Really want to make SURE you get the best results? Try bacon or sausage and eggs for breakfast, a salad with chopped boiled egg, cut up salami, measure one ounce shredded cheese, put a few olives in if you like those, a couple cut up strips of green pepper and two tablespoons mayo or ranch dressing. For dinner a good sized piece of poultry (baked with skin on), or a burger with cheese, little mushroom (onion is CARBY)...and make sure you are getting plenty of water.

Oh, and drinking a cup of broth (bouillion cubes are ok) twice a day will chase 'Atkins flu' and charly horses in muscles. For snacks, spread cream cheese on that salami and roll it up and eat it. :)

Best of luck on your new way of eating.

[Onmyway14]

Thank you for the ideas. I did not realize about the peanut butter. I thought because of the bars it was ok.

[Quasimodo]

Welcome! :)

Do you have an induction list? That will help you make the right choices of foods.

Like Neanderpam said, it is entirely up to you if you want to use the Atkins products, but just know that some people's weight loss is stalled by those, and you are eating quite a few of them. Still, if you can make it work, again, entirely up to you. :)

Good luck on your new weight loss endeavor!

[Onmyway14]

Hello! I just thought it was a good low carb alternative. I did not realize they would be causing an issue. Do you have any other suggestions for snacks? I really thought if I was staying at 20 carbs it would do the job. So it's more of how you get the 20?

[Aradasky]

Hi Onmyway,

We have a lot of resources here to read. Atkins can only be done right if you follow his plan to eat most of your carbs from good veges.

Here is a list of acceptable foods and amounts.
http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=236482

Here is where you can find lots of information about all the low carbs ways of eating. There may be one that fits what you want better.

http://forum.lowcarber.org/forumdisplay.php?f=97

There is also a lot of information here

http://www.dietdoctor.com/lchf

I bought an Atkins book to start and am glad I did. It is marked up, bookmarked and highlighted, well used and still referred to.

[SunnyDinCA]

Hello and welcome! PLEASE click the link that Aradasky posted for you! Pick out the things you love, go shopping and fall in love with cooking

Don't read over this:
Acceptable Fats and Oils
Many fats, especially certain oils, are essential to good nutrition.

Use butter. Margarine should be avoided
You don't have to remove the skin and fat from meat or fowl. Salmon and other cold-water fish are an excellent source of omega-3 fatty acids.

Remember that trying to do a low-fat version of the Atkins Nutritional ApproachTM will interfere with fat burning and derail your weight loss.

Fat doesn't make you fat, hard concept to learn but its so very true.

And yes to everyone who commented about the Atkins products, I used to use them 1 or 2 times a day....now I do it in case of emergency.

Keep asking questions!! I had a ton of questions two months ago when I joined this group, everyone is very quick to lend a helping hand, or a kick in the butt when you need it most :)

[JEY100]

Welcome,
The newest edition of Atkins Made Easy has an Option to use products, and even that menu only has one shake or bar per day! They provide a menu for the first week without any products, which is what I would suggest following. There are many free tools on their website, including a carb counter with list of acceptable foods in front. Print out the first few pages of that and keep with you when shopping. Their mobile App is good; all the info you need is on that too.

Atkins now makes frozen meals but it is healthier to buy single ingredient foods and make them yourself without preservatives (slow cook a beef roast to have for hot meals and salads for days) or buy a whole rotisserie chicken and bag of salad if cooking is not your thing. The Atkins candies will just stoke your sugar cravings, stick to real food for now.

All good advice already, many ideas in the Recipe section for snacks, but I would steer clear of the artificial sweetened ones for now. Keep handy hard boiled eggs, deli meats and cheeses for quick roll-ups, celery and cream cheese, and any protein leftovers from purposely making extra at meals. All the best,

[Onmyway14]

Thank you all so much! One more question would the vegi cream cheese work? Or does it have to be bar cream cheese?

This morning for breakfast I did make Eggs, sausage, and a piece of cheese. I will have to invest in the book for more info. Thanks again.

[JEY100]

You can probably find the book at a library, the previous Edition New Atkins for a New You is very similar and has more of the studies that support LC for health. Entire sections of the book can be found on the website and app, and they have a kit with a savings coupon for the book at Atkins.com.
Sorry, don't know what vegi cream cheese is, but check the carb count and see if it fits in your plan.

[Aradasky]

Some of that vege cream cheese has more carbs in it than the regular, but as long as you are counting, then go for it! Your breakfast sounds very good.

[Onmyway14]

Great! Thanks so much for the info!

[TeresaCRNA]

Welcome!
There is a wealth of information on this forum.
Also If you sign up at Atkins.com right now, they will send you 3 free bars, coupons & a pocket sized carb counter.
I have found using the free App Daily Carb has helped me. You can set your carb count & it subtracts down to zero over the course of the day.
Im also have Hypothyroidism. LC is the only thing that works for me.
Best of luck on this journey!

[Onmyway14]

I was wondering how thyroid would work with this low carb. Today has been a week. I have been on 20 carbs per day. I have not lost anything. :(. I did 1200 callories and it was the same thing. It is so frustrating. I really have been feeling better but just weighed in for the first time since tues. Very frustrating.

[JEY100]

Focus on feeling better and learning more about how to make the diet the healthiest you can. Did the links posted above help? All those bars and shakes did not do you any favors, consider it a valuable lesson going forward, your body cannot handle them well.

Try this week to eliminate them and most artificial sweeteners completely and eat whole, real foods from the list given. Meat, fish, eggs, vegetables with butter and olive oils. Other than measuring carbohydrate foods (and they should be mostly non starchy vegetables) eat whatever you like from approved lists of food. Eat when you are hungry, stop when you are full.

Many medications can hinder weight loss, and some people just need to heal their metabolism before weight loss starts. You are not stalled, but some of these tips might help you pick the best version of LowCarb for you, and be aware of the true carb count of some foods.

The original article has more links than in the copy http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=460202.
At the least, switch to the "old Atkins" and count total carbs, not net carbs (that sneaky number on the bars).

[Neanderpam]

I not only have Hashimoto's autoimmune hypothyroidism, but also a Thyroid Patient Advocate for over 22 years, and still have good doctor's lists and 'no nonsense internet sites' you might like. Found out that I have to be pretty durn strict on what I eat lowcarbing.

No bars, no SF candy/chocolate (well, maybe a piece once a month, lol) and it's a MUST to have a doctor who does T3 and T4 testing and not go by TSH!

Janet is spot on with her advice about 'healing metabolism'. And the cleaner I kept my eating, the more I could eat (seriously, I ate meat, poultry, eggs, olive oil, butter, leafy veg to my heart's content and was losing quite quickly after my first week of thinking I could eat bars and 'Frankenfoods').

Do try and eat clean for a few weeks, and follow Dr. Atkins' advice as he said 'Even a mouthful of off plan food can stop you from losing'.

Best of luck to you.