Why do trolls always spell "Atkins" wrong?

ATKINS.  Why can't anyone spell this correctly?

You don't need to binge just to start a diet.

The hot dogs are probably OK, just without buns.  Nuke them, serve
with mustard and some salted cucumber spears.

Toss 1lb hamburger, 1 large sweet onion (chopped) , and 1 large green
pepper (chopped), into a frying pan with a tablespoon or two of
vegetable oil of choice.  Fry on medium until the meat is browned and
the onions are translucent.  Top with grated cheese.

Anyway, the book tells you what kinds of foods to eat.  You can find
them in the supermarket.  http://www.delorie.com/health/ has some
links to online LC cookbooks I've found useful.

Welcome Mr. Big,

That is a very excellent question that you are asking.

I am not a casserole maker, or a gourmet chef by any stretch of the
imagination.

I went through a process of learning and adjusting to the controlled
carbohydrate way of eating.

I finally settled on a goal of 20% of my calories coming from protein, 5 %
of my calories coming from carbohydrates, and 75% of my calories coming from
fat, with only 20% of calories coming from saturated fat.

That was a dilemma because I started out eating much more meat then was
required to stay within 20% from protein.

The big question was how in the heck was I going to get 75% of my caloric
intake from fat ... and with 55% of that being unsaturated fat?

Well, after much tinkering around using www.fitday.com I have come up with a
few staples for simplified eating which still meets my goals.

To get the fat percentages, I rely on mayonnaise and blue cheese dressing.
Sometimes I will measure out a 1/4 cup of mayonnaise and slowly eat it in
small bites. It sounds a little gross ... but it works! ... it meets my
percentage goals and it actually curbs my appetite.

I also buy pre-made ground sirloin steaks from Sam's club. They start out
being 1/3 of a pound but end up being 4 ounces after being cooked.

I put the frozen patties on a George Forman grill and they are very quickly
cooked.

I eat bacon. But I like the crispy bacon. So I buy the thick sliced bacon
(maple flavored ... no carbs). I put two thick slices on paper towels and
microwave them for 4 minutes and 30 seconds ... they come out perfect. The
downside of that is that the paper towels absorb the needed fat ... so I
make sure I supply that fat later in the day with mayonnaise.

Eggs are also a big thing. I used to fry two large eggs in one tablespoon of
butter ... but got lazy and started boiling 18 eggs at a time. Now I just
peel two large eggs, mix them with mayonnaise and pickles and there I have
my protein and non-saturated fat intake.

I eat raw broccoli and cauliflower dipped in blue cheese dressing.

For snack I eat 1 ounce slices of extra sharp cheddar cheese.

I also like celery sticks filled with cream cheese.

I try not to overdue it but I do eat 1 ounce of almonds at a time. (24
kernels).

So for the most part I have a very simplistic diet.

What I have found is that my need for quantity has really diminished. I used
to eat 6 ounce cooked hamburgers topped with cheese, mayonnaise, tomatoes,
and pickles. Now I find that I can eat 2 ounces of cooked ground sirloin,
weight 15 minutes ... and I am then not hungry for at least two hours.

I decided to look at food as medicine. Medicine to be taken in just enough
quantity to cure my hunger. Medicine to be taken in just enough quantity to
meet my percentage needs for fats, proteins, and carbohydrates.

I decided to not fool myself by trying to eat "fake" low carb breads, low
sugar "candy bars" or low carb ice cream. I just don't eat these things.

The one other thing I have learned to do is to take quality vitamins,
minerals, and essential fatty acids, plus supplemental fiber in the form of
fiber caplets.

It was a major change for me to see just how much smaller my portion sizes
are and how simplistic my shopping list has become.

I don't eat for pleasure right now ... I eat for body maintenance.

Hope this is of help to you.

Ground sirloin, eggs, cheese, broccoli, cauliflower, mayonnaise, celery,
almonds, oh yea .. and diet rite cola (made with splenda).

After having lost significant weight ... I did begin to exercise 30 minutes
3 days a week burning off 150 calories ... which I use to drink a jigger of
whiskey with diet rite cola ... my treat and reward for exercising and still
negating the extra calories of the drink.

Hope this is of help to you ... meager as it is.

I am wheelchair bound so I don't get as much exercise as most ... but this
low carbohydrate diet plan still seems to work at getting my fat burnt off!

Good luck to you on your new adventure.

If you need any input ... just contact me

Best Regards,

Placid
203/156/145

Mr Big,

Get yourself one of those little Foreman Grills.   They are under $20 in
many places.   They wipe clean with a damp cloth and nothing is faster or
easier to use.

Buy some hamburger meat, and freeze it in individual serving size patties.
Buy some chicken breasts and freeze them in individual serving size
packages.

This should take you only a few minutes and not a lot of freezer space, but
you can have quick meals in minutes for all week long.

Get a big bag of already cut up salad and some low carb dressing.

Every night make a nice hamburger patty or a chicken breast on your grill
and have a nice tossed salad with some good prepared dressing on it.  Just
make sure the dressing doesn't have a lot of carbohydrates in it, or high
fructose corn syrup or such.

When you get more confident about making your meals this way you can vary it
a bit.

Salmon filet
Ground Lamb patties

Frozen vegetables like green beans, or broccoli, or other low carb
vegetables.

When you are more confident about making frozen vegetables you could try
steaming some fresh ones.

Cream cheese with a little vanilla and Splenda warmed slightly in the
microwave.

a handful of unsalted almonds and a few shavings of good parmesan cheese

roast beef & cheese roll ups with horseradish mayo

string cheese and hotsauce/butter dip
Pork Rinds dipped in warmed cream cheese-
Peppermint Extract and Splenda in a little water-
Pecans in melted butter with salt and splenda-
Breyers Carb Smart Ice Cream-
Pizza using a thin layer of ground beef as crust-

Microwaved pepperoni - nuke for a minute on a plate - nice and crispy.
Celery, plain, or with a little chive cream cheese

a piece of deli roast-beef wrapped around a pickle with some mustard or
horseradish.

String cheese

Cumberland Gap smoked sausage (no sugar in the ingredients---the lowest carb
smoked sausage found---sometimes even eat it cold)
Lettuce roll-ups---romaine leaf rolled up with cream cheese and/or deli
roast beef or turkey

Celery saut?ed in a little olive oil with a touch of fresh garlic (not too
much!), then braised in a little water/chicken broth---makes a great side
dish

- take 1 c. frozen berries, and 1/3 c. of cream, a little splenda to taste
(but you don't even need it), and blend in a food processor until smooth.
It's instant berry ice cream! The above is two nice-sized servings that are
120-140 calories (depending upon what kind of cream you use) and 6 net carbs
each. Excellent snack.

1/3 or 1/2 c of ricotta cheese with a little splenda or cinnamon mixed in.
pepperoni and cream cheese, and boiled eggs, peeled cut in half, and a
dollop of mayo on each half.

Cubit

308/269.5/165

Celebrating breaking through 270.

Polska kielbasa, aged cheddar and almonds.

Here's a good 'guy' idea.   Grilled meat.   If you have a gas grill, low
carb cooking is really easy-
heat up the grill, shake some spices onto a slab of beef, some pieces of
chicken or ribs and toss them onto your grill.
If you don't have a gas grill, consider getting yourself a George Foreman
grill.  With it, you can make good grilled meats very simply.

Add a tossed salad (straight out of the bag takes no effort) and you have
yourself a good low carb meal which requires little/no cooking skills.

When I was working 80-90 hours/week, I didn't have time to cook much.
This is what I ate pretty much every single day when low-carbing then.

On the weekend, I'd cook a lb of bacon in a fry pan, then fry a couple
eggs in the leftover grease for breakfast and store the leftover bacon
in the fridge.  I'd use the same pan all week, and refry a couple
pieces of bacon and add a couple eggs every morning cause it was quick
to do.  Come the next weekend, I'd clean out my pan, thaw another
pound of bacon, and begin again.  I'd rinse off my plate and fork,
stick it in the dish drainer, and reuse for dinner.

When I got sick of bacon and eggs, I'd do protein shakes for a week.
I use an unflavored, unsweetened milk-based protein powder.  I put a
scoop in the blender, added coffee, cream, a TB of cocoa (the baking
sort, with no sugar), a packet or two of sweetener and blend.  Leave
the blender soaking with water and it only takes a minute to clean the
next day.

For lunches, I again did the whole thing on the weekend.  I'd set up 7
small tupperwares, put regular green salad in each, some salad
dressing, add chicken, turkey or egg salad made with mayo, and usually
something else: a deviled egg or chunks of cheese or some lunch meat
like ham or something.  I'd pack these up on the weekend and stick in
my fridge and just grab one every day.

For dinner, I fried a burger or two in the same pan I cooked the bacon
in.  For variety, I'd make cheeseburgers with different types of
cheese, or fry a couple slices of onion, or add mushrooms.  When I
made my lunches on the weekend, I stuck half the salad into individual
tupperwares and half into a big container.  I'd eat some of the salad
with dinner most nights, occasionally nuking frozen veggies with
butter for a change of pace.

When I worked too late and was starving and couldn't wait until I got
home, I hit the drive-through at Wendy's and ordered a couple junior
deluxe cheeseburgers.  I preferred Wendy's because they have actual
pieces of lettuce instead of shredded lettuce as comapred to most of
the other drive-throughs. I'd discard the bun and wrap the innards in
the lettuce so I could munch during my commute.

I kept lunch meat, sliced cheese, hard boiled eggs and pepperoni
around both at home and work for when I needed a fast snack.  And I
kept cream cheese at home too... when I craved sweets, I'd mix some up
with a drop of lemon juice a 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract and some
sweetener.

This was all I ate for *months* and *months* cause I just didn't have
time to cook.  On the weekend, I'd clean my one frying pan, cook my
pound of bacon, make a giant salad, boil some eggs, and mix up either
chicken, turkey or egg salad.  Each day I either fried a couple eggs
or blended my breakfast, just carried my lunch off, and either hit the
drive-through on the way home or fried a couple burgers when I got
home.  This kept my food preparation time down to a 3-4 hours per
week, including shopping.

I *greatly* prefer cooking at home to working the crazy hours I was
then though.    Much more variety - and I *like* cooking.  But the
above worked for me for quite a while when I had little time to cook.

 Diet starts tomorrow!  Now I am off to the grocery store! THANKS
EVERYONE!