ATKINS & OTHER LOW-CARB TIPS

- If possible, give or throw away any leftover high-carb foods you may
have in the house.  I gave most of mine to a local food bank and the
rest (like opened boxes of crackers, flour, etc.) to friends and
relatives or even the trash.  

- READ THE LABELS!  Just because something SAYS it's low-carb, that
doesn't mean it IS.  I got a free sample of something that is sold as a
low-carb item, but it had 17 carbs AFTER subtracting the fiber and even
sugar alcohols!   That's not low-carb in MY book.  If I were on
induction, it would have taken up almost ALL the carbs for the entire
day!  BTW, in the US, nutritional labels show the total carbohydrate
count and then list the fiber as a sub-category -- it's up to YOU to
subtract the fiber.  In Europe and some other countries, the fiber is
PRE-deducted, so it's up to YOU to make the distinction and count
accordingly.

- One thing I was told about (via the Atkins book) (but it didn't sink
in for the first couple of weeks until I saw a post here) was that I
could SUBTRACT the fiber count from the carb count of items, so if an
item has, for instance, 5 carbs, but 2 of them are fiber, the NET or
EFFECTIVE carbs are 3.  That's important to know when you are limiting
carbs to 20 for the first couple of weeks!  (NOTE that in some
countries, the fiber is PRE-subtracted on the label.)  

- Pay attention to the SERVING SIZE on the nutrition label.  What might
SEEM to be a good deal carb-wise (or calorie-wise, for that matter)
might actually be a miniscule portion and is almost NEVER an entire
container's worth.  For instance, YOU might think an entire can of
something is ONE serving when, in reality, it's 2.5 servings.  

- Pay attention when something SAYS it's zero carb per serving.  US law
allows anything between 0 and .5 carbs to be labeled as ZERO carb and
anything between .6-.9 carbs to be <1 carb.  It's safer to count 1 carb
or at least 1/2 carb for these items.  For instance, my heavy cream says
it's zero carb per Tbl, but it actually has about .5 carb, so an entire
cup actually has EIGHT carbs.  That can make a big difference when your
carb budget for the day is only TWENTY carbs!

- Keep track of what you eat.  Fitday.com is an EXCELLENT way of doing
this.  I use an Excel spreadsheet myself.  You'd be AMAZED at how much
it can help you plan your day (or just finish it based on what you've
already had -- you may need more or less foods or types of foods).  

- Measure and weigh!  It's the only way to truly know how much of
anything you are getting and eyeballing it can be deceiving.  You may be
eating more (or less) of something than you thought.  I bought a bunch
of sets of measuring spoons at Big Lots (49 cents for a set) because I
use so many of them.  

- If you have trouble with portion control, try using smaller plates or
bowls so that the servings fill the plate.  Also, 1/2-cup Pyrex bowls
come in handy to hold reasonable size servings of Jello, olives, nuts,
etc.

- Trader Joe's is a great place to find all kinds of great low-carb
stuff if you have one in your area.

- The general consensus of this newsgroup seems to be to STAY AWAY from
the low-carb bars & shakes, at least during induction.  It is felt by
many that the sugar alcohols used to sweeten them can a) have a laxative
and/or STRONG gassy effect (that means you aren't metabolizing them and
absorbing many of the carbs), or b) some people DO metabolize the sugar
alcohols, so they ARE eating the FULL carb amount, not just the net
carbs (but hey, you're not crapping your pants).  I view it as a damned
if you do and damned if you don't proposition, so pick your poison.  
They may be convenient, but they aren't NECESSARY for low-carbing.  They
are also VERY expensive and often taste like dirt.  As you experiment
with cooking and eating different things, you'll find yourself gaining a
whole new appreciation for truly GOOD foods and won't want to WASTE your
precious carbs on something that isn't really WORTH it.  Many of us find
that we'll buy something, decide it's not that great and simply throw it
out because we KNOW we can do better than THAT :-)

- Aspartame can trigger cravings in some people.  Splenda usually goes
over very well, although some people DO have problems tolerating it.  I
switched to using liquid Splenda in a syrup base, which truly has zero
carbs, as opposed to packets, which have about .5 carbs each.  
Unfortunately, the manufacturers of Splenda have licensing issues with
small companies creating liquid Splenda in syrup bases, so supplies are
now dwindling down to a trickle.  

- Caffeine can trigger cravings, but if you are addicted to it via
coffee, taper off slowly to avoid excruciating caffeine withdrawal
headaches.  

- Make a big batch of hard boiled eggs to keep in the fridge.  When you
find yourself opening the fridge out of habit, you'll see them and
hopefully make the right choice.  They are great to stave off hunger,
AND they're nutritious and versatile.  

- Be sure to get enough fat.  You can add olive oil and/or butter to all
kinds of things, have whipped cream or bacon (Trader Joe's carries a
brand that does not use sugar to cure it).  

- Make your own Jello using unsweetened Kool-Aid, Splenda and gelatine.

- EXERCISE!  If you can, do some kind of weight training.  Muscles need
extra calories just to maintain them, so the more muscle you have, the
faster you'll burn calories even when you're just sitting around.  My
body DEFINITELY changed for the better via exercise even though I had
not lost a significant amount of weight.  

- Take measurements at the beginning so you can keep track.  Sometimes
you won't see any change on the scale, but you will lose inches.  In
fact, I can usually tell I've lost weight that way and the scale doesn't
reflect it for another few days.  Besides, it's a great feeling to make
comparisons when you DO lose the inches :-)  

- Don't get discouraged when your weight loss slows down after about 3
weeks.  A good portion of weight lost during induction is water loss.  
That's because, without a large amount of carbs in your diet, your body
will start to use up its emergency store of glycogen in the liver.  Each
molecule of glycogen has about 4 molecules of water bound to it, so when
it's freed up to use as energy, the water is shed.  After that, the body
will turn to fat to burn for energy, and the loss will most likely slow
to 1-2 lbs per week.  Some people lose more, some less.  I'm one of the
"less" :-(  I usually lose only 2-4 lbs per month, if that, but I'm also
fairly sedentary when I'm not actively exercising.  Also, the heavier
you are to begin with, the faster you'll lose weight comparatively
speaking, at least that seems to be the tendency.  As you get closer to
your goal weight, the weight will come off more slowly.  

- Check out the progress photos that people refer to.  They can be VERY
inspirational!  In fact, if you don't have a digital camera, GET one!  
You can take photos in the privacy of your home by using the timer
feature and keep taking them until you get one that you are satisfied
with.  It's a good way to gauge your progress.  You don't have to share
them with ANYONE if you don't want to -- you can just tuck them away in
a folder on your PC.  Like taking measurements, you'll be glad you did
this at the beginning, even if you don't like what you see at the
moment.  

- If you can, take your scale to your doctor's office and compare your
weight on it vs. the balance beam.  Trust me, you do NOT want to THINK
you are a certain weight only to be crushed later to find out you
actually weigh 10 lbs MORE than that the way a some of us have.  It's
better to be brutally honest with yourself at the beginning and just
move on from that point.  

- If you're a woman, your weight may go up during PMS.  You probably
already know that, but keep it in mind.  I chart my progress and can
always tell when it's about to hit due to that (I'm in peri-menopause,
so I NEVER know whether it's going to be 2 weeks or 7 weeks apart).  
Many women lose the extra weight within a couple of days of starting
their period (usually referred to as TOM (time of month) here), but some
of us don't lose it until AFTER our TOM.  No amount of logic, however,
can quite overcome the dismay this temporary gain causes, so try not to
let it get to you too much.  This, too, shall pass (literally).  Just
stay the course and wait it out!

- Think outside the box.  You don't HAVE to have eggs, sausages, bacon
or cereal for breakfast -- you can eat ANY kind of food (on plan, of
course) at ANY time of the day or night.  Have leftover stew?  It would
make a LOVELY breakfast!  How about some chicken (I sometimes have hot
wings for breakfast)?  A nice salad would work, too.  Be creative!

- Be sure to get lots of fiber in your diet.  Eating more protein and
fat than carbs can have a constipating effect.  The combination of fiber
and water will hopefully keep things moving.  Don't be surprised if you
aren't having bowel movements as often, though, since digestion takes a
little longer and there isn't as much volume as before.  

- Read and post here often.  This group has been INVALUABLE to helping
me stay on track.  And people are here pretty much 24 hours a day.  By
the time I get to bed, people in the UK are getting up :-)  I get SO
many ideas here that never occurred to me before, and LOTS of recipes.  
If you have questions, just ask.  If YOU thought about something,
someone else probably did, too.  Just having a place to brag about or
bemoan certain changes is GREAT, because we GET it ;-)

- The 3 numbers people tend to put in their sigs are starting
weight/current weight/target weight.  

- Pertinent words and common misspellings:  1) Lose/Loose -- when you
LOSE weight, your clothing becomes LOOSE.  2) Weigh/Weight -- you WEIGH
yourself on a scale to determine your WEIGHT.  3) Atkins/Adkins -- there
is an ATKINS diet; there is no such word as "ADKINS" pertaining to low
carb.  

- Ignore the trolls.  They're fairly easy to spot.  Some people can be
abrasive or abrupt, but they often mean well, so it's good to get to
know their style before deciding to filter them out (of course, that
pretty much applies to ALL newsgroups).  Personally, I think life's too
short to waste on perpetual a.sholes.  JC Der Koenig is a resident troll
-- he WILL insult you, ESPECIALLY if it's one of your first posts.  If
he doesn't, then he's having an off-day (possibly even hospitalized with
no internet access).  I recommend IGNORING him; DO NOT consider him to
be a representative of the newsgroup -- he apparently LOVES angry
responses, so replying to his nasty digs will only make him feel BETTER,
and you don't want THAT, do you?

After over 17 months of doing Atkins, I've learned to just keep staying
the course and it WILL pay off, even if it IS taking longer than I had
hoped for.  I look and, more importantly ***FEEL*** SOOOOO much better
eating this way that I have no intention of ever going back to the way I
was eating before.  My joint pains have eased considerably, my IBS
symptoms have COMPLETELY disappeared and I have WAY more energy.  I
still have about 22 lbs to go to get to my goal, but the difference in
just my face after 58 lbs lost is WONDERFUL!  I look like ME again!  
This way of eating (WOE) has given me something I thought I had lost:  
HOPE, and HOPE is a POWERFUL thing to have!