I quit coffee last summer and believe it or not I have more energy now than when I drank it. Your body gets used to caffeine and soon you need more and more to get energized. Or you need coffee just to feel normal. After a while coffee had the opposite affect on me, I could drink a pot and then take a nap.

Now I'm saving all kinds of money not having to buy it all the time.

Mudknife (where does THAT name come from?), thank you for the assurance. I needed it. I am drinking water like it is a stiff drink! Maybe that is for the best.

And I have heard about drinking warm water with lemon or lime in it for the past 30 years. What does that do for you? Does anyone know? It would take the place of my AM coffee unless it works like a laxitive and that is what I do not want while I ply the freeways at 5AM.

You sure have, Mr. E!!! I'm soooooooooooo happy for you!!! I know just how good that feels!! We went up to Jacksonville last weekend and watched the lighted boat parade on the water. It was sooooooooo great to be down there walking around and being able to focus on the decorations and fireworks and NOT on how bad my feet hurt or how far we had to walk to get to the car, etc. I just know I wouldn't have enjoyed it as much last year or (even worse) the year before.

LCchickFL, so you already got your gift!? I am so happy for you! Congratulations!

I actually walked around the property my daughter and sil has for the 1st time in years on Thanksgiving. I am still not running races but I do walk as much as I can which is pretty much!

The day after Thanksgiving when I asked my wife if she wanted to go to the mall with me and she asked if I had been drinking (due to the busiest shopping day of the year and crowds from Hell) it was so I could because I could. Get it?

LCchickFL and MrE congrats on getting your legs back under you. I can't believe how much I love walking now.
MrE if you need another reason to give up that coffee think fat storage. Even Dr Phil's folks agree with Dr Atkins that caffeine stimulates hormones in the body that store fat.
I agree whole heartedly with mudknife. I was a 2 case a day plus however much I had with fast food meals caffeine soda drinker when I started Atkins and gave it up cold turkey so I do know all about the sluggish lethargic, jittery, headache from **** and all the rest that goes with the withdrawals but I can tell you when it is over the feeling of energy you will have is incredible. I sleep less nowand and have more energy then ever (of course that is due to the ketosis from Atkins) . I don't need nor want that pick me up in the can any more. I had to resort to canned water as a security blanket for the first few weeks. Try filling your coffee mug with ice cold water for the added weight loss you will get from the cals you will burn warming the water back up in your body. There is actually an icewater diet that says 120 ounces of ice water added to your diet with no other changes will result in a 10 pound weight loss in 1 yr. I know 10 pounds is a drop in the bucket for us heavy weights but since we have to drink all that extra water anyways because we are doing Atkins and we are obese you might as well get a few free pounds lost in the process. You are drinking all the extra water your 400 pound body needs right. I remember when they told me as a 300+ pounder I needed over 120 ounces of water a day minimum (8 eight ounce glasses plus 8 more ounces for every 25 pounds overweight I was and extra if I was out in the heat or exercising). I could hardly choke it down at first but after a few weeks i was up to 200 ounces a day and loving it. Now with the exception of my one cup of green decaf tea
a day that is all I drink.
I will be very interested to see how your 21 days of preChristmas goes. I'm sure I won't need to read the board the day you hit 300erland because we will all hear the excited yell when you see the number on your scale.
Happy low carbing to you.

Thanks, Mr. E. I feel like this whole year has been a gift. Almost every month brings new changes and more things I'm able to do. I feel like I have my life back.


That's WONDERFUL!!! I totally get it but, I'm with your wife though, shopping the day after Thanksgiving is just NUTS!!!

Thanks.

MisrterE, you are great!! I love this way of life and all the support I get here on the forum also. It is my lifesaver when the weight does not move. I love where I am and appreciate that it is a long way from where I was. I am enjoying getting new clothes and also the compliments. I am very appreciative that the weight is not coming back. I have slipped now and then but able to get right back in the saddle and move on. Was not that way before. I would think "The he-- with it, I have blown it now so might as well forget it!!" I do not have that attitude any longer and I do not blow it either.

Love you all and wish us all continued good losses and fun along the way.

Have a great day one and all.

Linda

I would not recommend that if you'll be sitting in your car for very long. It (hot water with lemon) definately works as a laxative for me! I used to drink it before bed as part of a "diet" I was on. I'd really have to scurry to the bathroom in the A.M...sometimes just an hour or two after consuming it...

Donald

Finished the first 8 Days of Christmas...(day 8)...of my 21 Days of Christmas gift to myself. Feel good here in day 9. Feel better than I did when I started. Caffine headaches still with me and since I have stopped taking all pain medications for the 21 days, that is no joy...BUT they are getting weaker. And my resolve is getting stronger. So is my breath. Woof!
Hardest thing so far has been staying off the damned scale. I have had it moved to my wife's office as I was weakening. I never knew I was that addicted to the damned scale. I figured I had better get rid of it as if I had not lost "enough" I would not be motivated to continue without coffee.
The food part is easy. Real easy. I eat plenty of good food. Clean food. No preservatives and no sugar free anything in this diet.
So...we are well into week 2. It still is not easy being caffine free. Sleep is no real joy without the pain killers for my leg. BUT I do know cleaning my system of these things is best for me at this time of my life! I had been on too much pain medicine for too long. My nighttime cocktail was 2 Aleve and 3 benadryl at 6PM; my refresher was another Aleve at the 11PM pee break. And then I get up at 4AM and start my day with another.
Now it is get up with water; go to bed with water; get up in the middle of the night several times to get rid of water.
I put a piece of lemon in my water the 1st 2 days to help me drink it in place of coffee. Now I am down to plain old water. Not bad. But not coffee!
The 22nd is not so far away. This is just one of "those" things. You know. The kinda thing that you set your jaw toward accomplishing and then just do it. Come Hell or high water. And the prize for this "foolishness"? Health. Fair trade off in my book. Prize number 2 at the end of the 21 days: a huge pot of Hazlenut decafe courtesy Mrs. Claus!

WoooHooo on such a strong resolve to do this....You continue to inspire us all!!!! You're going to have a very blessed Christmas!! (some elf whispered in my ear)

I'm sooooooooooooo proud of you, Mr. E!! You are doing great!! Keep up the good work!!

I bet your chirstmas present will be joining the 333s next time you weigh in! You can do it MrE!

Mr. E, you are doing great! I admire your resolve to stay away from the scale. I can't do it -- I am a definite scale addict.

Your posts and June's posts about being able to walk around and enjoy Christmas almost made me cry because I can remember so clearly two years ago when I had to sit down while my daughter walked through the mall -- my feet and back just hurt too much to walk for more than about 10 or 15 minutes. Compare that to today when I walked four miles in one hour -- what a difference! I know that for me, just remembering that change is enough to keep me going on this way of eating indefinitely.

Hey - I'm sure I'll re-read that post a couple of times MisterE - It is FULL of motivation!