I'm a new Atkins dieter - lost 4kg in the first 10 days & feeling good. I tried to send a private message to Noeleen who is also living here but the computer won't let me - why?
Anyway hi! Contact me if you want to talk.

Re buying cooked chickens (also some raw meat) - local supermarket has only tenderbasted ie soaked in sugar - which I find a sneaky adulteration & one I hope doesn't become the norm.

I am SO not hungry - it's a revelation.
I can now enjoy meat & salad like thin people do & be satisfied.
Also I find Atkins easy to do while eating with others - they don't even notice I'm dieting, it's great. When guests come I put out a spread of meats, cheeses, veges & carbo with fruit for dessert & it is easy & so delicious. When I get to having nuts I will also offer them. I'm feeding my friends better than ever with hardly any preparation. And though I'm buying more expensive foods & a greater variety of them I am actually consuming so much less than when I ate more cheaply the cost overall is the same.

Hi Floribunda, welcome!

This is a great board with plenty of support as well as lots of information. Do check out the rest of it, not just our little hidey-hole.

For example, check out the orange bar at the top of the screen, especially "Low Carb Tips." You might also check "Hot Links" in the Newbies Questions forum. They are links to former threads where people have had many questions answered.


Matey, the private message function isn't enabled until you've made 25 posts. So post often to keep us informed of how well you are doing. You might even think about starting a journal here. Those of us with journals find them very helpful, as well as a place where friends can "drop in."

Cheers.

Rosebud

Hi Floribunda, I'm from PN. Just over there the other day. Good health food shop you have. Good luck with the diet. I thought I might post some handy products I found here soon, so that might be handy for you if you're over theis way.

Hi Maren - thanks - some of the foodstuffs on the diet are gobbledygook to me, eg half of the salad list (aragula, chard etc) & I'd never heard of pork rinds. So I just eat mesclun mix + lettuce & spinach & stick to good healthy natural foods as I've never been into prepackaged much anyway, preferring to be creative with what's around.
Torn about getting back into eating pork because of their living conditions so haven't yet, & sticking to free-range eggs though eating supermarket chicken. Would prefer to eat organic chook if it isn't too expensive.
I see you are an organic gardener - me too! Gardening is the first thing I've been doing now I have some energy back after years of feeling exhausted. We have a new place with neglected quarter-acre section which I'm tidying up while I dream where to put the vege beds. Pumice soil with no worms. Great challenge.
I see you have your weight and height in American. It helps with comparing to others doesn't it so I think I'll do the same once I've figured out the conversion (though it is easier to see kilos rather than pounds when standing on the scales!)
best wishes, Floribunda

I share your concerns re pork! You can get bacon called Hendersons at Foodtown or New World. All those veges you mentioned are in mesclun too. I must say, pork rinds sound ghastly. I'm getting on just fine without them.

Hi there Florabunda! Wow its great to hear from someone also in Wanganui! I'm fairly new to these message boards so I also have not posted 25 messages yet. Congratulations on taking the plunge into low-carbing. When I started in Dec 2002 it was a diet I was prepared to do in order to lose weight... but nowadays I find that I no longer think about NOT eating this way. It's become a way of life in my mind. To start with my weightloss wasn't as dramatic as I thought it would be, but like you say, the most astounding thing for me was the lack of hunger. When I started I ate heaps, but now I'm the other way and have to make sure I eat enough.

I have just come through my first stall (happy to say!). Funnily enough it was 2 weeks before I realised I'd hit a stall. 4 weeks with no change in my weight and amazingly I found I wasn't hitting the PANIC button as I did in the first couple of months. My confidence and faith in lowcarbing grows each week!!

Anyway ... welcome Floribunda ... we'll catch up some time in the future ... Noeleen

hi Noeleen - thanks for replying! It's lovely to feel part of a community of people who are so generous in supporting one another with such a sensitive & profound issue. Somehow our vulnerability feels safe here as we have all suffered one way or another from being overweight. And this is such an extreme diet (in other's eyes including medical professionals) but it works! So I think Atkins dieters are brave & courageous visionaries (like the late Dr Atkins himself) & I like visionary people because they are creative & interesting! Though I guess it would also appeal to pragmatists (like my partner) because of the results.

enough raving - nice to meet you

I am hoping that I am coming out of a long stall as the loss is very slowly creeping up - nothing like the drama at the beginning though. But I feel thinner & lighter & am optimistic that great things are happening. Some days I too fear that I'm not eating enough & stalling that way. But time will tell.

Thanks for sharing your confidence & faith in the process. I have set an induction weightloss goal that is the lowest I ever got to when dieting other ways over the years (each time returning to a bigger size). I can't wait to get there as it feels like a turning point where I will be able to set a real goal (and move to OWL) The date is Oct 31st.

As for Wanganui - I recently moved back here & I love it. My partner has just started Atkins too so if you see two middle-aged lovers at Castlecliff Beach watching the sunset & sharing a cooked chicken from the supermarket for tea, that's us!
I'm going to take some of my newfound energy out on the garden so bye for now, Laurie

What's with all these romantic Atkins dieters? Next month, check out another pair of middle aged lovers power walking around the Basin gardens.

Hi everybody! Just trekking my way thru the forum boards for the 1st time in three weeks. In the last 2 weeks have had an experience that probably should be shared. Recently I bought a LC recipe book (500 recipes), it had loads of neat recipes including LC breads. I thought WOW, it'll be great being able to have some bread again ... dragged out the bread machine etc & bought the ingredients. I made the bread & ate the bread, but unbeknown to me my body was reacting to the rice bran & the gluten. I had 1 slice the 1st day & 2 slices next day. On the 3rd day I gained 3kgs!! On the 4th day I broke out in cold sores!! It seems that these 2 ingredients had a major impact on my immune system. I guess the 6 month break from all breads etc must have given my body a much needed rest and introducing them again produced a pretty violent reaction!! I went on a mini fast on the 5th day to let the crap clear out, and in the process lost 2kgs. Total weight loss for this week gone is 4.5kgs (didn't lose that much even in my 1st few weeks on Atkins!!!).

So, in summary, beware everyone that some of us may never be able to go back to eating bread (even the low carb varieties!). Also, if you are introducing something new, do it one at a time... it makes it alot easier to figure out the what the villain is. A valuable lesson indeed!

Happy low-carbing everyone.