I am so upset with myself because I haven't even started on the right path!!! I said that I was going to start cutting out the bread,pasta,cereal, and sweets on Monday which was yesterday and It seems as if I did worse. I had two bowls of cereal for breakfast,six oatmeal cookies,french fries,sodas,juice,and a fish filet sandwich from McDonald's..............Now you tell me wouldn't you be upset to when you look at all those carbs I ate! I haven't made it to the book store yet to pick up my atkins book and iI know that I have to sit down and read it before I can start it. Is there anyone who can tell me what it is I can start doing right away so I can be on my way.If you all can just give me a couple of tips to follow while I read would mean so much to me!!! The craving is so hard on me and when I give in to them I ALWAYS over do it.

PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!!

Dear Tanaka,
I also cheated big time during the weekend, dear. I know exactly what u're going thru.
I felt so guilty after I cheated.We're only human beings afterall, we all make mistakes from time to time. That's normal. We're just normal folks, so stop beating yourself up over this episode.
Tomorrow is gonna be a much brighter day.
Good luck.
Bebe

hang in there, gals! I think that white-knuckling the cravings at the beginning is the hardest part. These ideas might help, tanaka:

1) get rid of the carbs! Toss them out. NOW. If you have family members who want carbs, they can eat them out of the house for the next couple months (this won't kill them, I promise, and it may well help them)
2) If you ever find yourself in a situation where you want carbs, take a long slow drink of water. Then, if still craving, eat pure meat/fat combinations--deviled eggs or a hamburger patty or a pound of chicken wings. Don't fret about amounts--just eat until you are satisfied

3) If you still want the carb, drive to the store or restaurant and buy a single serving, have it only then, after filling yourself up with zero-carb foods, when the insulin effect of the carb will be mitigated by the protein and fat in your system. If you do this, expect the cravings to become worse not better. It's a step backward, not forward.
4) instead of eating, read up on LC. Understanding the nature of carb addiction will help you believe that you are not "merely weak" but are self-medicating with carbs, caught in a cycle of very real addiction. Once we understand there is something wrong with our physiologies, not with our characters, I think it is much easier to make rational, self-loving choices about what we ingest

5) if you keep having trouble despite these physiological interventions, seek help with an eating disorders specialist. Asking for professional help when we need it is not a sign of weakness but a sign of strength.

Best of luck to you!

Thank you so much Bebe and razzle. I really did need to hear what you all had to say. I do have good news I bought my Atkins diet book today and I plan to sit and do alot of reading because I'm excited and ready to get started. I went out to eat today so that I could get the taste of some of my favorite carbs and I plan on starting fresh in the morning instead of waiting until Sunday. I'm going to use those good tips you gave me razzle,I'm sure they will help me through the first phases. I also have to get myself back into drinking water, lately I been doing diet sodas and juice

Oh by the way i started my journal today and I plan to read up on some other peoples to see how they cope.


THANKS, TANAKA

Just keep trying and keep posting, Tanaka!!! The addiction is totally not your fault, and if you want this you will succeed. I keep thinking back 12 years or so ago and how many tries it took me to finally quit smoking for good. Same thing...the carbs are like nicotine...it owns you right now, but it won't always. Talking about it helps so much! Good luck and be well!!!

Yes Diane I am going to post as often as I can because I know nothing is easy when you're redoing your life. I have to undo all the damage and the things I was taught in medical school and in school general about getting in 6-11 servings of the bread group. I actually lived by that most of my life and now I have to delete that information after i'll say at least 17years and regroup. So I plan on being here for the long run. I know I can do it once I get started and see a change in the way i feel.


Thanks Tanaka

wow, tanaka--great positive attitude! I can sense through the computer cables here that you're on track to become a great success story.

enjoy the book!

I have the desire to do it yet I always seem to run into problems! I read alot of my book Atkins and I have questions that are going to have to be answeres before I can do it 100%. I'm trying to find out exactly how important are the supplements in this plan because I think that my doctor my not want me to take them considering the fact that I am currently taking 7 meds daily for my illness(bipolar) The pills I take are so important to my health and my doctors are always telling me to stay away from different drugs as well as supplements because they to can affect the way my body absorbs the meds. But to show you that I am still thinking positive I am inquiring info from others on Atkins to find out if they know if I can follow the plan and not take the supplements and have good results. I was upset when I came to the point in the book about the supplements because I think they are important and I was ready to get the ball rolling on this new life

personally, I don't think the supplements are all that important (and other LC authors don't push them as much). I've done the fitday.com entering-every-morsel-of-food thing, and even at induction levels of carbs eaten as mostly veggies, I'm over my RDA of most nutrients except Vitamin D (you can synthesize that in the presence of just a bit of sunlight every day), calcium and magesium (run about 75% of RDA for me when I'm off dairy, but okay when I'm on dairy), and Vitamin K. If I eat 35 g of carbs and eat dairy, I seem to hit 100% of all my RDAs.

HTH

That is wonderful news to me Razzle, so I guest I can put all the excuses up and start. I think Sunday will be a perfect day to begin therefore I will have all my salads and trimmings that I need to do it correctly Oh by the way I am already on some supplements for my hair (hair vitamins) and they pretty much have alot of nutrients in them!

I'm so emotional lately, I don't know what's up with that! I start a new med tomorrow for depression called Celexa. I pray to God that I can get it together(my body)