I, too, am a coffee addict without incident. I have a mug at home in the mornings with heavy whipping cream and splenda. Then depending on the shift I am working in the evenings, I have 1-5 cups with whipped cream and Sweet N Low.

No problems.

My morning brew consists of about 18 oz. of good strong coffee, 3 sweet and low packets and about 2 oz. of H & H or heavy cream (a little less). Ihave a giant cup that sits with me at the computer and it's like a religious routine for me!

I never stopped my coffee...but then again I've had serious ups and downs - and barely a net loss on LC for months. But I think I'm fighting other obstacles, not the coffee. My metabolism is so slow, I wonder what I'd do without a little stimulus to start the day.

Anyhow, it's not the coffee that worries me...it's those damned lattes!! (Made with Half and Half, of course!) Even though only once in a while as a treat, they usually throw me out of the ballpark on carbs and cals.

I'm one who never gave up my coffee. It hasn't seemed to affect my weight loss, although maybe I could have lost more if I had? Coffee has always seemed to surpress my appetite, and it's usually the only thing I can stomach in the a.m.. I drink 3 cups in the morning(black), and in the afternoon I'll have a cup or two of instant coffee with heavy cream and sweetener. The first thing I do in the morning is get my cup of coffee and my 34 oz. bottle of water out of the fridge. Then sit down at the computer and check all the message boards and see what I've missed overnight! I don't post often, but I sure learn alot. Janine

I gave up caffeine on 08/12/02 because I thought it would help me lose faster. Occasionally I have a diet coke (if I go to a restaurant - because there are no other diet sode choices) but this is rare.

I don't think it's helped my loss at all - maybe it hasn't been long enough.

I miss coffee every single day. The only reason I haven't started again is because I went thru bad withdrawls when I quit and I'm still hopeful that it will help.

Just this week I started drinking 1 cup of decaf in the morning and that seems to help a little with the cravings.

I think I will wait a while longer and if my losses don't improve I may consider going back.

I'd be interested in knowing if anyone HAS seen losses improve after giving up caffeine.

Summer

I started Atkins again last week. I found that when I used sweetener in my coffee that it would make me crave sugar. Now, I only put cream in my coffee. It tastes good and I don't have cravings for sugar anymore. I am trying to work my way to drinking black coffee straight... but I'm not ready yet

I am loosing weight so, I will keep going this way!

Well, I am on day 12 of induction and when I weighed after week one I had lost 7 pounds, which I thought was pretty good even thuough it was probably mostly water. I feel very strongly that I cannot be expected to give up everything I like. I LOVE my strong black coffee fix first thing in the morning, I have to admit it is my vice. I feel that if I am giving up alcohol, grains and chocolate I should still have something I love or this task might be impossible. I drink 2-3 cups each morning, however we are all different so I think this truly may be one of those YMMV things.

Have a great day!

Nope, I did not give up my coffee. I did change from powdered cream to heavy whipping cream but didn't cut back on my pot in the morning.

I've given up smoking, soda, carbs and bearly drink alcohol.

The coffee stays!

I use heavy cream in my coffee - faithfully measured so as not to have more than 3 - 4 T of cream per day. I used to heavily sweeten my coffee, now I find that just a sprinkling of sweet and low is plenty.

I found that when I want a change, or I am over my cream limit, Atkins vanilla shake in place of cream is great.

Hello. My name is Ginger & I'm a coffee addict.

I quit cold turky both times I was pregnant - at first. My 1st pregnancy back in '94 I drank much, much more coffee than I do now. They used to call my coffee mug the "cooling tower" at work (worked for the NRC). Anyway, a few days after I found out I was pregnant & stopped drinking coffee I started getting mind splitting headaches. Nobody could figure it out until I saw the midwife at the practice. She said - drink your coffee girl! Have 1 watered-down mug a day & see if you notice the difference. Blamo. No more headaches. Isn't that something? After major "morning" sickness with pregnancy #2, I started drinking a watered down mug per day & experienced no more headaches.

Currently, I have no idea what happened to the cooling tower, but I do tend towards a couple of nice freshly ground cups of coffee per day, usually in AM. If I'm feelilng particularly "rich" I'll cough up the $1.78 for a Venti 1/2 decaf 1/2 regular at (where else) StarTrekBucks.

Great poll, Kristine.

Generally, I dringk 3-4 cups a day. I have not seen any problem with coffee, even during induction. Because I am so fond of Starbucks, I had to find a drink that would not be terribly high in carbs. For a treat, I order a sugar-free vanilla breve (half and half) latte. A great drink.

I tried my first-ever Starbucks breve today (also with sugar-free vanilla), and it was SOOOOOO good! Thank goodness the Starbucks isn't close to where I live, or I would be there all the time--at $3 a cup, I can only afford it as an occasional treat! Maybe if I got a part-time job there.....

G.P.

I drink 1 cup a day. I will not give it up!
A client of mine roasts coffee locally and I look forward to this every morning before my work-out.

I do use a bit of half and half and splenda. I drink so much water that I am not concerned about dehydration or ill effects of this cup-a-day.

I had to give up the caffeine!

I'll give a brief example: When I'd go out to breakfast I'd usually have 2-3 cups of coffee. Two hours later I'm hungry and I'd have the shakes. I wouldn't know what was wrong with me, for I am not a diabetic nor do I have high blood pressure!

I pretty much knew it was the coffee, so I decided to drink only decaf. It worked better for me. I don't miss the caffeine and I don't get hungry right after a meal and I don't get the shakes when I am hungry.

GOOD-BYE CAFFEINE!!

I had already reduced my caffiene intake before starting Atkins and cut back to just 2 cups a day, something I am still doing. I drink freeze dried instant coffee, not fresh from beans, and so it is weaker. I've never been a strong coffee lover and now that I've learnt to drink it black it needs to be week.

However, the last couple of weeks whilst I had a cold I had a few more cups of coffee and also some caffiene tablets. I'd forgotten that this was a good way to help a cold by stimulating your body. It certainly did that and helped me to feel better. It certainly did not have a negative effect on my weight loss as was able to go down a pound this week. However, this was a stop gap measure and am back to my usual 2 cups a day, the second of which I have just finished.

Oh, how we love our morning boost!

I actually started cutting down on caffeine about 6 months ago (the old hot-flash problem), but switched to decaf when I started Induction on 9/23. The only thing that makes it palatable is to get a really good, tasty brand--Starbucks does it for me.

I'll give up a lot of things (bread, pasta, sugar, etc.), but please don't take my coffee!!