Hi There

I am 43, live in the north east of England just outside of Newcastle upon Tyne. I work full time (shiftwork), have a husband and two cats. How's that, life summed up in 3 lines

I have been on the Atkins plan for nearly 3 weeks now and have lost 10 lbs so far. I have at least another 25 lbs to go until I'm at goal and need some encouragement and tips.

Hope you hear from someone soon.

Hi
This is ash (Ascome)
Sounds like you're doing better that i am at present but i suspect you're sticking to less carbs than I am.

How does shift work affect you're eating ? there are certain times of day when i could'nt face a fat/protien meal or salard.

Have you tried to eat out yet ? it is easy except (as you would expect) at pizza hut ! but even there it is manageable (just with red wine to wash down the chicken wings and salad). The only time i have been stuck is a course buffet where i did'nt want to draw attention to myself by just eating the fillings of sandwiches ! so had salard from buffet and a pack of beef jerky i had in the car as a snack.

Hope things continue to go well for you,
keep in touch
Ash

Hi Ash

I'm trying to stick at under 20g of carbs a day, although I fell off the wagon big style last night. We were at an evening wedding reception You know the scenario, you can't drink mineral water all night so you decide to have a gin and slim line tonic (zero carbs according to the Atkins book ) what started out as a couple quickly becomes seven or eight . Then there was the food - it was a hot buffet, rice with a choice of chicken madras, chilli, lasagne, veg curry, etc, etc I chose chicken madras with a little bit of rice. We stayed overnight in the hotel so had a lovely cooked breakfast this moirning which I really enjoyed, although I did "cheat" slightly and have a small piece of black pudding and a half slice of fried bread We went into Durham today and ended up in the tea room in the Cathedral, I don't know how, but suddenly there was a cheese scone on the plate in front of me So, it will be back on the plan again properly tomorrow . I have got just over 3 weeks until I go on holiday.

Shift work desn't interfere too much. I usually take some salad and cold meat or tuna to work and try to have a cooked breakfast before I leave when I am on dayshift. We work 12 hour shifts but in general I don't feel too hungry. When I'm on nights I try not to have anything too heavy during the night. It just doesn't feel right at 3am

I was looking at a low carb internet site the other night and might send off for some things. Our health shops in Newcastle don't seem to stock any low carb items.

Keep in touch, hope to speak to you soon.

Hi Paulie,
The wedding reception sounds like fun and aprt from the cheese scone it sounds like you'd made the best of it. The reasion i'm not doing atkins is I like my wine and wiskey too much (Gin too given the chance ).I'm sure the scone was was a "hiccup" in the low carb scheme of things.
I'm going aware this week to a conference for 3 days so hope i can find low carb options
stay in touch
Ash

Hi Ash

Thanks for the encouragement. I'll have someone to keep me on the straight and narrow at work this week. Helen, my supervisor (who gave up Atkins after a week of induction because she wasn't registering any loss at the scales) is going to go back on it . At lease she sort of is, what she plans to do is do a week of Atkins and then a week of weight watchers . What this will do to her metabolism I don't know.

I'm sure you'll be able to find loads of things that will fit in with the plan when you're at your conference. Good luck and keep up the good work.

Hi Paulie,
I hope you're week went better than mine i was away in Harrogate for 3 days at a meeting and did'nt stick to the low carb for the confernce dinner (no choice of food) so had bread and potato's I was pretty good the rest of the time and avoided betty's tea shop in favour of the turkish baths which where superb- victorian and well worth a vist.
i'm more or less back on the diet now but more like under 40g this weekend instead of the 20g i'd like. probably because i'm feeling tired and fed up though not too certain why.

you're supervisors diet idea sounds interesting I'll be facinated to hear how it goes

Ash

Hi Ash ,

I haven't had a bad week, I haven't had time this is the week we work 60 hours . It's my birthday today though and I'm having a couple of drinks with my brother and his fiancee befor going to the Indian restaurant . I'm planning on having tandoori chicken tikka and a salad so hopefully it shouldn't be too high in carbs.

I have also made a committment to go to the gym tomorrow. I don't go back to work until Friday, so should be able to fit in at least a couple of visits this week. Congrats on staying out of Betty's , I know how hard that is . Did you get pummeled in the Turkish bath? About you feeling tired, could it be that your body is in shock from the bread and potatoes?

Helen, my supervisor has lost 6 lbs on Atkins in a week . Because of this, she has decided to stay on Atkins and add a few more carbs, ie:a slice of bread and some strawberries and rasps now and again. She was saying the other night that when she went back onto the WW plan and started eating lots of fruit and veg again that she became really bloated. She only wants to lose another 4 lbs or so, her problem will then be trying to keep it off. Where have I heard that one before

I hope this week goes better for you if you are back on the plan and sticking to your 20 carbs. Have you checked out Fitday.com. You can enter your food list and it works out your cals, carbs, fat etc for you. this link should take you to the site:-

http://www.fitday.com

Take care and let me know how you get on.

Hi Pauli
Yes i did get pummeled at the turkish bath it was wonderful.
you might be right about being tried as a response to carb over load as i've been sticking to 20-30g carb this week and have more energy again.
good luck at the gym I prefer classes myself eg body combat or body pump and play racketball with a friend, the last has required a change in the way I think about myself as I hated any sport which required hand to eye coordination at school. I'm still hopeless at it but have found a partner who plays at a similar level so to my suprise am enjoying it
hope you have a good weekend
Ash

Hi Ash ,

Glad to hear that you are feeling more energized. As with any new thing you begin it takes time to get used to it doesn't it? I went out for an Indian meal on Monday night for my birthday and was quite good. I had the chicken tikka shashleek with some salad, although I did have spoonful of my husband's rice and some peshwari naan bread. Other than that though I have been good. I had 2 cups of decaff when I met a friend in town today and didn't give the cheesecake a second glance - well hardly .

I wish you all the best for your weight loss tomorrow. I won't be getting up to much this weekend as I'm back at work tomorrow and in all weekend. Whoopee, 36 hours in that place!! My TOM is due any time too so I'm hanging on to get weighed.

Let me know how you get on.

Offical weight the same but had lost a pound when i sneaked on the scales the day after (go figure) so feeling pleased with myself .
managed to avoid licking my fingers or eating any of the resulting cake while making/icing my son's birthday cake which i'm proud of and suvived Mega zone a lazer quest game so a good week end in all.
How are you doing good luck with your weight in whenever the indian sound nice
"talk" to you soon
Ash

Hi Ash

I did step on the scales today but am sticking at the same weight . It's disappointing when you haven't cheated. We're doing home improvements here at present, so I haven't had much to eat. I did have a couple of soft boiled eggs this morning with 2 slices of WW bread (7.9 carbs per slice). Since eating it, I've felt really bloated. Am I right in thinking that on the Clarke diet you can have bread? If so, does it have any adverse effects?

Congrats at being good and not licking your fingers when you were doing your son's cake , and a huge cheer for not eating any . What willpower.

Must rush off, keep me posted with what's happening.

Dear Paulie,
yes in theory you can have bread on the charles clarke (one slice a day 17g) diet but i'm sticking to a lower carb version so have avoided it for last few weeks. Have you tried cheeters crackers 6g carb for 3 minus some fibre i forget how much I have these with lots of butter and boiled eggs as breakfast 2 or 3 times a week - availible via sugarlite online shoping.
The ketomix cinamon bread mix is also nice, freezes well then toast, again with lots of butter for a quick snack when you feel the need for carbohydate or just for something quick (4g carb) why does low carb food always take longer to prepare
been strick for last few days and appite is definatly down a useful side effect. Have also ordered protien power book from amazon to keep me motivated and give me a few more hints.
Talk to you soon, hope some weight falls off overnight
Ash

Hi Ash,

Still no change in weight , but at least it hasn't gone up . We're off on holiday on Tuesday, but I might send for some of the bread mixes when we come back.

Hope you have had a good week and are rewarded on the scales . Speak soon.

Dear Pauline
i hope you had a good holiday and hav'nt put on too much weight or even better have lost some. we are going away on a dance holiday next week, a weekend in barcelona doing salsa so I'm not to certain wether i'll be able to stick to low carb or not
i think breakfast might be difficult, though some tappa (?spelling)in the evening sould be ok. I'm really looking forward to it.
speak to you soon
Ash

Hi Ash

Back from Dom Rep to what feels like a very cold Newcastle. There was thick white frost on the car this morning when I let the cats out at 4.30am. I do not dare get on the scales to see just how badly I have done. There were 11 restaurants in the hotel and we were all inclusive so we did eat and drink quite a bit . I'm back at work tomorrow and in all weekend, so I hope that that will put me back on track.

I'm going to go back on induction and start all over again. Maybe by Monday I'll have plucked up the courage to get on the scales. We're going to the gym on Monday too, so hopefully the extra exercise will help.

Our computer is playing up at home, so I'll get back to you when I can. Take care.