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Lisette - 02 Mar 2004 20:45 GMT

I started Atkins induction on 2/23/2004 (or for my fellow
"foreigners", 23/2/2004 :->) I have adhered to the rules of induction
scrupulously. Atkins allowed a little wiggle room on SF Jello and I
wiggled, and it turns out, I could be one of those who have a problem
with aspartame, so out with the jello. I'm going to try the
suggestion of gelatin/koolaid/splenda and see how that works for me.

I had TWO receptions last week, buffet tables covered with
delectables, and at one of the receptions, a bar full of what bars are
full of. I am happy and proud to say that I did not allow myself to
succumb to temptation and felt all the better for it.

My sleeping patterns are better than they've been in a long time. My
blood pressure readings have been lower than pre-induction and I hope
that trend continues. I lost 2.5 pounds last week, not as much as
many, but learned a lot about: reading labels (that 5g tea still
gets me!), weighing and measuring food rather than "eyeballing" it,
recording every morsel that I eat, visiting the atkins website when in
doubt about what to eat, and adhering to my exercise schedule. I
didn't exercise on the two reception days, but made up for it, to an
extent, on the days following these events by increasing the amount of
time I exercise. I should be able to resume my bicycle commute next
week, weather permitting, and that is an automatic 80-ish minutes of
heart pumping exercise every day!

I have received a lot of unwanted advice about the "dangers" of what I
am doing, and have "discovered" that people really don't have a clue
what they're talking about, and are willing to attribute ANY negative
outcome of an At-kid to the Atkins program. Although I can't in good
faith say I've done enormous research on the subject, I feel I have
and continue to educate myself on the subject and am comfortable with
what I am doing, as is my doctor providing that I continue to monitor
my blood pressure and keep regular appointments with him for checkups
and bloodwork.

So hey. I'm pretty happy with myself today, and I feel wonderful.
And I know I'm going to stick with this for as long as it takes to
lose the excess poundage. After that, my plan (as of today) is to
remain more LC than not, probably utilizing an 80/20 rule.

Thanks for all you lot contribute, I've learned a great deal from many
of you.

best,
Lisette in Sacramento, California
180/177.5/140

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curious - 03 Mar 2004 06:07 GMT

Good job. Keep up the good work.

Becky P.

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Stargazer - 03 Mar 2004 11:13 GMT

> I have received a lot of unwanted advice about the "dangers" of what I
> am doing, and have "discovered" that people really don't have a clue
> what they're talking about, and are willing to attribute ANY negative
> outcome of an At-kid to the Atkins program.

Yes, this does seem to be an unfortunate side effect of being on an LC WOE,
<g>. I still get inundated with this sort of thing even after being LC for
almost a year now. "Atkins is a fad...bad for your kidneys...you just need
to eat in moderation." Or my favorite, "It's not _balanced_." My response
to that is usually, "what is so 'unbalanced' nutritionally about a baked
chicken breast with a side of broccoli and cauliflower? Please explain to
me what nutritional value I'm losing by not having bread at the meal, or
what nutritional value I'd gain by substituting rice for the cauliflower and
a potato for the broccoli." I still haven't gotten any answer to that
question, <g>.

> So hey. I'm pretty happy with myself today, and I feel wonderful.

Isn't it great? Congratulations!!

> And I know I'm going to stick with this for as long as it takes to
> lose the excess poundage. After that, my plan (as of today) is to
> remain more LC than not, probably utilizing an 80/20 rule.

You may find as you get closer to your goal that that might not work well
for you (then again it might, never can tell until you get there). I
confess that I'm not sure what you mean by 80/20...does that mean following
LC 80% of the time and not 20% of the time? For your 'not' times, what
carb amounts and types do you plan to eat, and how often?

I'm asking because my start weight was close to yours, and my goal the same
(and I'm 5'7" and female, age 36, btw). I'm finding that as I've gotten
closer to goal, I'm having to keep a closer eye on calories as well as
carbs. I've upped my carb limit to a max of 45g (most days I'm still around
35g), and am keeping my calories between 1500-1850 (I'm also still in OWL -
my loss has slowed enough that I don't think I'm ready for 'pre-maintenance'
yet even though I'm within 10lbs of goal, plus I'm not sure that my stated
goal is my 'real' goal yet either). I wasn't tracking calories until just
very recently (had no reason to before, as I was losing steadily without
tracking them), but looking at what I was eating through most of my weight
loss I suspect that I was getting over 2000 daily for most of last year. I
weighed more then too though, so would still have had a pretty good deficit
just by the higher weight.

For maintenance, I feel like I can probably eat off-plan two days of the
month (every two weeks or so). I can't see myself doing it any more often
than that (which would come out to around 6% off-plan for the month). Not
any kind of blowout either, just allowing myself something for the day that
I wouldn't normally eat (like a couple of slices of pizza, or a banana, etc)
with a calorie intake of no more than 2700 for any off-plan day. I think if
I tried to eat off-plan any more often than that, I'd start gaining again -
YMMV. My CCLM seems to be around 65-70g as well, so that will allow me a
lot more daily on-plan food choices (like more low and medium GI fruits,
currently I still only eat berries when I eat fruit at all), which will make
it easier. I'll just have to try it and see how well it works for me when I
get there. Anything that doesn't work will be rapidly discarded though,
<g>.

I find that there's very little that tempts me even now. I probably miss
fruit (apples, oranges, bananas, peaches, pineapple, grapes - most of which
are pretty high-GI even if relatively low-cal) more than anything. And the
occasional thin-crust pizza (which I never ate more than once a month even
when not on LC - I would get a taste for it, eat some, and then be satisfied
and not want it again soon). Bread, rice, and pasta I seem to have lost my
taste for entirely, which is amazing considering they were some of my
favorite foods before LC (I do like the LC bagels and tortillas though, and
find I can eat them without being tempted to overeat them, and without
stalling or inducing cravings). Corn on the cob I miss sometimes too,
especially during the summer, <g>. I think those kinds of things I can work
in occasionally, without regaining or being tempted to slide off entirely.

Stargazer
Atkins since Apr '03
192/148/140

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Lisette - 06 Mar 2004 19:51 GMT

>Yes, this does seem to be an unfortunate side effect of being on an LC WOE,
><g>. I still get inundated with this sort of thing even after being LC for
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
>a potato for the broccoli." I still haven't gotten any answer to that
>question, <g>.

I continue to get this "Atkins is dangerous" response. Thing is, I
don't YET have any personal stats, other than my weight loss, to
refute it, so I just sigh and say, "you're entitled to an opinion but
not a vote" which usually shuts them up.

>> So hey. I'm pretty happy with myself today, and I feel wonderful.
>
>Isn't it great? Congratulations!!

It is indeed. I feel wonderful nearly all of the time: rested,
energetic, optimistic, generally happy. f.ck em if they can't take
it!

I did begin bleeding between periods but can't pinpoint that on the
diet change. Correlation doesn't confirm causation, after all! Could
be the big PAUSE sneaking up on me.

>> And I know I'm going to stick with this for as long as it takes to
>> lose the excess poundage. After that, my plan (as of today) is to
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
>LC 80% of the time and not 20% of the time? For your 'not' times, what
>carb amounts and types do you plan to eat, and how often?

Well, the 80/20 thing was a very brash statement for me, given that
I'd only been on Atkins a little over a week when I made it! I'm
undecided about what I'm going to do next. I've been reading loads of
books/articles about low carb lifestyle, and am thinking about
experimenting (and NOT calling it Atkins, of course!) I will continue
to avoid the white carbs, most definitely. Others I will incorporate
slowly and just see what happens.

>I'm asking because my start weight was close to yours, and my goal the same
>(and I'm 5'7" and female, age 36, btw). I'm finding that as I've gotten
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
>weighed more then too though, so would still have had a pretty good deficit
>just by the higher weight.

Do you exercise? That really makes such a big difference for me, at
least it has in the past. Two years ago, I dropped well over a stone
JUST cycling! Of course, when winter came and I ceased cycling, the
weight came back and brought a few friends. Lesson: don't stop
exercising!

I'm not sure of my ultimate goal weight either. I picked 140 because
I was in great shape at that weight a few years back. But I wasn't
weight training back then, and I am now, and I'm guessing that I will
carry more weight but look and feel just as great. So we'll see. I'm
just going to play it as it goes, keep monitoring weight and blood
pressure (I have "issues"), and with the doc, keep an eye on my blood
stats.

I'm down another 1.5 pounds as of this past Wednesday. That's not a
lot of lost weight for induction, but the discipline of induction was
very good for me, and 4 pounds in 10 days ain't all that bad either!

Your weight loss is wonderful, Stargazer!

Lisette
180/176/140, 5'8", age 43, LC since Feb 23, 2004

>Stargazer
>Atkins since Apr '03
>192/148/140

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