My 15 yr old daughter has been trying so hard to stick to induction or close to induction levels. Eating at home is no problem. I provide all kinds of interesting meals and snacks. The hard part is when she is out with friends , especially at a sporting event. For her, part of the fun of going to these events is the snacking that went along with it (soda, pretzles, crunch and munch, etc.) She is feeling deprived and wierd. This morning she was talking about giving it all up. I am looking for suggestions from other teens who deal with these pressures and temptations during time with your friends. How do you deal with it? What keeps you going? Where is the line between helpful and nagging when it comes to your parents? Eventually, I don't think this would be as big of a problem as it is in induction stages. Eventually, I think you can have a splurg every now and then if it makes you happy. But at this point, it just sabbotages everything she has worked so hard for. Any hints from her peers would be much appreciated.

This is a really tough situation, but she can get through it. I'm freshmen in college but i tried atkins several times in high school, so i know how difficult it can be. i never liked to draw attention to my "weird" eating habits and this is why i had so much difficulty when i was out with friends. Whenever I'm out with friends just hanging out and munching...i always munch on pork rinds. yum...very good and they remind me of chips. she can take cans of diet rite with her places if she wants. honestly i never kept with the diet during high school, but now in college i've decided to take control of my life. being able to eat with everyone else never will make me as happy as i do about my self when i'm LCing. Let her know that she isn't the only teen out there doing it even if it feels like it sometimes. You have to be careful about the fine line between nagging and being helpful. I appreciated my parents support the most when they would fix and buy me LC food. But if she really wants to quit and you keep insisting she stays with it, she could see this as nagging. Obviously it depends on the person, I would suggest that you should just be there to help her out when she asks for it. She's growing up and will have to decided whether or not this is the lifestyle she wants for herself right now.

Actually, I am halfway astonished that your teen-aged daughter would have this problem. I am fairly recently out of high-school (2 years) and know that adolescents tend to binge on the fatty stuff, the biggest problem is they mix it with carbs. When I was in high-school, I paid special attention to (WCA) What the Cheerleaders Ate.... it was amazing. They loved fried chicken, pepperoni, chocolate... granted, they prolly only took in about 500 cals of this daily. But did this food 1. give them energy for practice or 2. make them get fat? The answers, of course... 1.Heck, yes! and 2. Hell, no!
The most important thing is to be supportive of your daughter and remind her of how proud you are that she has been trying so hard. Also, remind the young lady that she has OPTIONS!!!! Find out if her school serves fast food at all during lunch.... mine served from Arby's and RatDonald's, and if I weren't a vegetarian and LF-eater at the time, I probably would have lost like an elephant in the Arctic. If she has any friends with vehicle access and a signature from you, she can very likely get a lunch-pass from the office. Does she even KNOW what drives up your social standing more than feeding some of the busy, 'popular' kids after an athletic practice or a game? If she got some fast-food to go and ate it there, and offered the fries to, say, some of the friendlier kids... well, she might even make a few new friends.
That may or may not work... some HS kids are nice, some can be brats. It is definitely worth the suggestion, though. And if all else fails, tell her WL takes longer for some people and that she owes it to herself to give it the old 'college try' and keep it up for one more week or two while she thinks it over... At 15, she is more than old enough to start thinking about her eating-habits as a very important factor in her WOL. It is not like it was not very long ago, when the two of you were choosing which Barbie-doll to buy.

Nothing fits the munch and crunch factor the LC way better than peanuts or macadamia nuts. Even with Induction levels, if she is going to one event a week, having some nuts and a diet pop would be the easiest thing to do. She could also try doing OWL instead as that allows a little more variety. My 13 year old stepd only did one week of Induction and was ready to quit. I convinced her to try a week at OWL and she's been doing great for the last 3 months at that level. Down 4 pant sizes!!

I have two teens on this WOE, and while they don't get out much on their own, we do have family get-togethers, parties, etc. where there's always some goody or another being served.

One thing I've been trying to do is make sure they're packin'. Packing almonds, sunflower seeds, (we just aren't spending $7+ a pound on macadanias ), pork rinds, cheese sticks and a little low-carb candy.

My youngest daughter, 14, managed to go through Induction really, really well. I watched her closely because I was a bit worried she might not do good. Once her Induction was over, we upped her to 30 carbs for a week, then up to 40, where we'll most likely stay for a while. This is working out superbly. She's losing weight and is as happy as a clam with all the great foods she gets to eat!

Wow! Congratsto your step daughter atiaran!!! Four pants sizes! My daughter would give her eye teeth for that kind of success. Thanks for the input LilaCotton.The trick of course for any teenager is appearing "normal" and going along with the crowd. Whenever possible we do just as you have suggested and pack or purchase nuts or other acceptable snacks. My daughter actually made it cheat free through induction where she lost 3.5 pounds. Thsi is week 6. Two soft pretzles have been the only non-allowed items in the 4 weeks since induction. She gained back 2.5 lbs and the scale hasn't moved since. We stick to 25-30 carbs/day. Next week I think we will have to try stopping the one Advantage bar she eats daily and see if that helps. Occasional "cheats" are going to happen I think. To make this a WOL one has to live...then get back on the wagon and keep going.

I just want to say, be supportive of you daughter but be careful not to upset her or yell at her for eating...my mom did this when I was younger and I know that she meant well but it just made me want to eat all that I could when she wasn't around...it also gave me horrible self esteem and I swear if I didn't like food so much I would be anorexic. So, be as supportive as you can but try to make it fun and let her feel like a kid still.

Thanks for the input rory12. That is exactly what I am trying to do. I make suggestions and compliment her good choices but never offer anything negative. This morning she had a terrible sore throat and I made some hot tea with a little honey and said. "this isn't on the diet but it should help your throat." She looked at me and said, "It isn't a diet, Mom, its a way of life." I think my message is getting through.