If there was someone standing next to you with a gun to your head,
would you find the energy to do what is demanded? I bet you would.

This is no difference, if you stay so fat, you will die rather
quickly.

If it takes eating boring food, eat boring food, or else you will be
dead soon.

I just calculated that the equivalent of your weight at my height
(5'11") is 500 lbs!!! I would surely do anything, most inconvenient
cooking and most disgusting foods I would eat with no hesitation if it
could help me drop weight.

What a harrowing weight. Surely eating hamburger patties is not the
worst thing that happens to 350 lbs persons.

An easy recipe is:

1. buy chicken thighs
2. boil them for 30 minutes with a bit of salt

i

I live on disability, and also suffer from chronic depression, so I
understand about both the money and the lack of energy.

First, you're spending way more than you have to for your salads.  I
quarter a whole head of lettuce (if you want smaller salads, cut it into
smaller sections).  Then I put the portions into a ZipLoc bag.  When it's
salad time, I just pull out one section, whack it a few times with a knife,
and there's the salad!

Canned tuna is cheap.  Put 1/2 a can on your lettuce and save the other
half for the next day.  Add some mayo, mix it all up, and you've got a tuna
sandwich without the bread.  I like to season my tuna with salt, pepper,
onion powder, celery seed, and lemon juice.  Find out what you like and can
afford.

Eggs are fairly inexpensive, too.  Scrambled, fried, omeletes, deviled, or
plain ol' hard boiled.   Also, you can chop up a hard boiled egg, add mayo
and a little mustard, and plop that on top of a lettuce salad.  

If you're buying bottled water because you don't like the taste of your tap
water, add a small amount of imitation vanilla to the tap water, and it'll
be much nicer.  Real vanilla costs a small fortune right now, so get the
imitation stuff.  Decent flavor at a fraction of the cost.  Other extracts
can be used as well.  I also like almond and orange.

Sheesh!  Now I don't remember the rest of what you said.  I'll go re-read
your post, and if I can think of anything else, I'll just make another
post.

Carol

Mary said:

<<
That was about 2 years ago.  Now I'd like to go back to it, but there's a
couple of problems.  Cost and energy!  Seems to me that a person either must
spend a lot of extra money on the "specialty foods" for this diet, or have a
lot of time and energy for cooking. >>

There are definitely ways to do this cost-effectively. We just discussed this
recently-- go to Google Groups and do a search in this newsgroup for "on a
budget", or something similar, and a multitude of threads with tips on doing
low-carb for low-cost will come up. It's not as hard as it seems at first,
really.

And, actually, I lived on mostly hamburger patties and salads for awhile, and
then that magical energy-boost kicked in, and I started cooking for myself, and
now I really love it. Just live with the boring food for awhile and see if your
energy doesn't improve. It doesn't have to be at ton of preparation at any
rate-- just a matter of food choices.

Piedlourde

I feel so bad for you.  :(

I know most people don't want to hear this (I sure didn't), but moving your
muscles can give you a feeling of health, and it actually does help with
depression (I didn't go to the gym yesterday, and now I'm a wreck).  The
problem is getting started.  

I suspect, in your present condition, that a walk around the block is
probably out of reach right now.  A couple days ago, I found this site,
which has some stretches that you should be able to do.  Maybe not all of
them, but you've gotta start somewhere.  They just may make you feel better
and increase your energy without wearing you out.
http://www.womensheartfoundation.org/content/Exercise/stretching_exercise.asp

My very best to you!
Carol

Mary,

First, I don't think the diet has to be as expensive as you think. Specialty
foods? Try meat, eggs and cheese plus a head of lettuce and some mayo.
That's what Induction is all about. Eggs are very inexpensive and very quick
to cook. If you can cook a hamburger patty, you can cook a few eggs. You can
make egg salad, hard boiled, fried eggs, scrambled, omelettes - lots of
variety for little money. For meat? Canned tuna! At .59 or .79 a can, it
makes a great meal! Chicken is often on sale for .59 to .99 a pound. During
induction, buy some Brown n' serve sausage links (watch out for sugar) -- I
picked some up at my local grocery store for .99 a box (12 links to a box so
that's 2 meals!). Stick to just meat, eggs, cheese and fats (mayo, butter,
olive oil) plus 2 cups of green salad. Don't use "it's too expensive" as an
excuse. You don't have to eat steaks every meal - in fact, you don't have to
eat steak at all if it doesn't fit your budget!  You say you are bankrupt,
but you must be eating something now -- and you can easily and cheaply
replace that "something" with the meat, eggs, cheese, fats and a head of
lettuce.

If you do decide to go on Atkins at the Induction level, because of the
amount of weight you have to lose, you could stick to the meat, eggs and
cheese for awhile....maybe until you get under 300 lbs. Induction also means
LOTS of energy (at least it did for me after the first week) and, in fact, I
find I'm fairly high energy even after being on Atkins for 2 months now.
Once you get under 300 lbs, you may be able to start with some gentle
exercises. Take the exercise part slowly and work your way up. I started
Atkins at the end of January and couldn't do 10 minutes of walking on my
treadmill, except at a very slow pace. Now I'm up to 1.5 miles a day at a
much higher rate of speed, and adding in free weights every other day! No
one expects you to go swim 10 laps or run 3 hours. Maybe you can set a timer
and walk outside for 5 minutes. 5 minutes... you can do anything for 5
minutes! :)

You will feel better and you will be more energetic if you get back on
Atkins and start at the Induction level. If you've done it before, you KNOW
this. You don't need specialty foods. Get back to the very basics of
Induction and stay away from everything that's not on the Induction
"allowed" list.

My daughter's name is Mary - I think that's why your posting touched me so.
You deserve to be healthier, Mary. You deserve to be able to walk to the
bathroom without being short of breath. You deserve to feel better about
yourself!

Please email me privately if you need to. I'm no expert, but I can certainly
be supportive of your getting back on Atkins.

Regards,
Joan J

Atkins since 01/24/04
250/221/(210 by 05/12)/150??

my meals take 20 minutes to cook.  Cut up some chicken or stick some
fish in the pot, cook it, add vegetables, season appropriately, bada
bing.  Or, open a tin of tuna (not expensive), or scramble some eggs,
etc etc....

What items specifically are you talking about that is so expensive?

mary you can do this but first off you are going to have to want to do it. I
can sympathize with you about the weight , the finances and the energy
level. at 5'4" 289 lbs , riddled wtih health problems. ( two years in almost
nothign but bed brought me to that weight). Add to that a family of 3 with a
husband laid off for 6 months.

First off if your energy level is that bad you will have to cook large
portions at once and freeze them. That way on bad days you can just warm up
a meal. After a few weeks and a few pounds off i would bet your energy level
will come up.

Cost , carbs are cheap thats a fact no once can argue with. That's why so
many pre packaged foods are riddled with them. Do not get mixed up in the
low carb bars shakes etc it will drain your pocket book faster then
anything. Carb options makes a line of low carb products that taste good and
are resonably priced. They have great  wishbone salad dressings, ragu brand
pasta sauce and my fav the peanut butter at 2.99 a jar its as cheap as the
suagr laiden one i used to buy. Also the sugar free mayo is about the same
as helman's or blue plate in price.

But for your induction there are plenty of cheap foods. Good break fast
foods would be

Eggs in a variety of ways with cheese.
Omelats with bell peppers onions mushrooms salsa.
there is a sweet omelet recipe that calls for cream cheese and splenda, its
very very good.
keto makes a low carb hot ceral it isnt cheap though about 7.00 a can. i
save it for special occasions or when im running late.

Lunch's i always use pre packages salads with the carb options itilain
dressing which is better then the reg wishbone.
I chop up left over meat from the night before, top it with differant types
of cheese to change it up, from asiago, parmesian to chedder. Sliced fresh
jalepenos make a cheap crunchy spicy touch. If you have taco meat from the
night before use that.

Tuna salad, 2 eggs a can of tuna in oil drained with mayo celery onions and
the mt olive suagr free pickle relish. I eat this straight from the bowl
like this or you can wrap it in lettuse leafs. Very fast lunch 15 minutes
you can have it all done while eggs are boiling. You can also boil a dozen
at a time and mark the dozen as boiled int eh fridge. whihc makes this an
even faster easier lunch.

Deviled eggs good for breakfast , lunch and snack.

Dinner frozen veggies i buy the kroger brand on sale soemtimes less then a
dollar a bag. I use the store brand frozen chicken tenderlions i sprinkle
them with tony chacheres cajun seassoning and grill them with butter, grill
a few extra for your lunch the next day.

Ground meat , cheap and can be used in sooo many ways.

Meat balls, make large batches and freeze them, great on salads or as a meal
with vegies.
My meat ball recipe is ground beef a lil heavey cream eggs, garlic , bell
pepper and onions black and red pepper and salt.. i fry them in a half inch
of oil till they are almost done, this makes them nice and brown then i bake
them with a can of tomato sauce till cooked. Freeze in ziplock baggies.

Meat loaf basic meat ball recipe but put in a loaf pan and pour a can of
rotel tomatoes and water over instead.

Taco meat, nothing better then a taco salad minus the shell of course.

Snacks there is a cocunut macroon recipe and almond cookies. I make these
put em in zip lock bags and take them wtih me , that way if i get hungry i
dont have to spend it on eating out it holds me till i get home.

Also buy your onions and bell peppers whiel on sale chop them up and freeze
them, use this for your meat balls, meat loaf and omelets.

This is just a few of the inexpensive ways to eat. I wish you the best of
luck.

Cooking doesn't necessarily take a huge amount of energy -- hell, make
sure you have a chair in the kitchen and sit down between stirring and
chopping, if you need to.

You don't need specialty foods. You need protein -- beef, pork,
chicken, fish -- and green vegetables. You can buy what you need at
reasonable cost by shopping sensibly. Eggs, canned tuna, chicken ...
these are all reasonably priced protein sources.

Me, I love to cook but I still try to cut down on my food prep time by
getting some of it done in one fell swoop. On Sunday evenings I cook
up a couple of pounds of ground beef with seasonings for taco salad
meat -- it lasts most of the week, and it's an easy lunch, adding a
half-cup of the pre-cooked, microwaved meat to two cups of salad, some
shredded cheddar and a spoonful of sour cream. During the same cooking
session I'll bake either chicken parts or a whole chicken and/or some
pork chops. I mean, if I'm already in the kitchen making the taco
meat, why not put olive oil, salt and pepper on some chicken and toss
it in the oven?

Look at what's on sale locally -- tuna, chicken, pork, beef -- then
plan the rest of a week's meals around that. Then don't buy anything
else. It's a plan that's worked for hundreds of years.

Dawn

Hi, Mary.
Remember that there are several kinds of meats out there that are
inexpensive.
I am eating a cheap peanut butter that has less carbs than the natural kind
!
Occasional popcorn (the real kind) snacks.
Trader Joe's is so wonderful on prices if you have one nearby.
I'm wishing you the best. Please keep posting and working on it with us.

*

I'm on this WOE and I hardly cook - my average meal is meat of some
kind and salad.  I have a very few speciality foods like bake mix and
non-starch thickener which I've collected over the months, but I don't
make them a major part of the way I eat.

As I'm working and can afford it, I buy steaks and pork chops, but I
don't have to.  Chicken is reasonably inexpensive where I live (the
UK) and I could have that. Or I could eat the aforementioned hamburger
patties (but they're expensive here).  Or cheese, which wouldn't need
cooking at all.  Or tuna.  Or eggs.  Or canned salmon (which is
reasonably cheap here).  The list just goes on and on.

As for cooking, I work full time and when I get home I have things to
do (play with my PlayStation and mess about on Livejournal mostly) so
cooking isn't something I'm prepared to spend much time on.  What I do
is put my chop or steak in the oven and bake it for however long it
needs (usually 25 minutes or so).

It can bake by itself and doesn't need my help so meanwhile, now the
weather is starting to get a little warmer and we have nicer salad
stuff in the shops, I throw together an interesting salad (a weighed
portion of lettuce and cabbage, a bit of tomato, a bit of pepper, an
ounce or so of pine nuts (I'm on OWL), spring onions (scallions, I
think you'd call them), cucumber, a few bits of herbs like cilantro
and parsley and a measured amount of Caesar dressing).  Preparing the
whole meal takes about twenty minutes, if that.

Before, during the colder weather, I used to prepare a bit of broccoli
and cabbage, and boil or steam that during the last seven to ten
minutes that the steak (or whatever) was cooking, heat up some bought
Hollandaise sauce and have those with the steak/chop/whatever.  This
kind of meal can be infinitely varied with different veg, meat or
sauce - I often make my own dijonnaise sauce using cream and grainy
mustard and have that with pork and a green veg.  It's yummy.

Honestly, there are ways around it seeming expensive - I know before I
started Atkins (I'm an unrepentant Atkid) I used to spend a lot of
money on prepared meals, but what I do now is just as quick, if not
quicker, and it's actually cheaper.  And I reckon it's much simpler to
cook meals which don't contain potatoes because I reckon prepping and
cooking potatoes takes at least half to three quarters of an hour and
I could have five salads prepped in that time, or four lots of
broccoli/cabbage.

--
Lexin
(300/223/182) (5'7)
LC since 9 June 2003

Hi Mary,

Food:
I'm sorry about your financial difficulties, but as far as I can tell my
grocery bill is alot less than it was when I wasn't low carbing.  I don't
know where you live, but I do have access to a cheap produce place and
produce farms which I will hit when summer comes.  I generally get my meat
at Costco so I can keep the price down and freeze what I don't eat right
away.  I also go through a kilo of spring mix for my salads a week.
Overall, my bill is lower than it used to be, especially since I don't go
through a loaf of bread every other day, along with all the other carbs I
used to binge on when my carb cravings would trigger - which was pretty much
always.  One serving of my pasta was about 4 servings as described on the
box.  Pasta may be cheap, but not at those quantities, and not if you eat it
regularly as I did.

Exercise:
We're the same height.  I'm sure you know you will move easier with a lower
weight, especially if you try and preserve as much lean body mass as is
possible.   It doesn't cost much to lift a dumbell a few times as you sit
and watch TV.  It costs even less to hold on to the back of a chair and do
some squats, (watch the knees).  Lie down on the floor, or even your bed and
lift your legs a few times, and while you're doing it, make sure you tighten
your abs and keep them tight.  You'll be having a good workout in no time!
It doesn't take much at our weight, and the more weight that comes off, the
more you'll *want* to move again.  I think weight training is better for us
to start with, than cardio.  (my opinion of course)

Attitude:
Do you want to take charge of your health?  Who's boss around here?  YOU
ARE!  And only you can make the changes required to take responsibility for
your health and well being.  I don't believe in the "my metabolism is slow"
bullshit.  It's an excuse if you ask me.  There are laws of nature that our
bodies abide by, it's only us who f.ck it up.
Mary, it's taken me a loooooong looooong time to get to this point in my
thinking and my actions.  I've abused myself with food and drugs, I've let
myself "go", I've blamed my parents and the crappy eating habits I grew up
with, and I've blamed others for being such a.sholes.  I've even blamed my
own body.  But guess what?  It all comes down to you, the choices you make,
and the quality of life you want for yourself.  If you really want it, you
can do it.

Mobility:
Sometimes I think I may be an exception when it comes to building and
maintaining muscle as compared to other women.  Some people may laugh at
that statement, but I used to have hormonal imbalances where my androgen and
testocerone (sp?) were much higher than the average female, at one point it
was even higher than typical for a male, therefore I always had an easier
time building muscle and maintaining it than my female counterparts.  That
kept me strong even as I gained weight, I was always able to move my body
efficiently, that is, until I fractured my spine in 96.  The fractures have
healed of course, but when it happened, I didn't know it and kept working
(waitressing) until the pain got so bad I finally went to get x-rays.  By
then I had damaged the nerves around the vertabrae, compressed and herniated
the disc and have also developed sciatica (sp?)  While I am happy that my
hormones have been balanced for the last 5 years, I'll probably never grow
back the hair that I lost.  Got to love genetics.  *sigh*  :(  I guess my
point is, no matter your current mobility issues, it can only get easier the
less you weigh.

You are your own boss Mary, just remember that.
Best of luck to you.
Monica

Thank you for your positive responses and the ideas.  I know I need to do
something about my weight.

I have been unemployed since September, and actually will be starting a new
job on Monday, but the job will be paying me less than unemployment did.  (I
have also filed bankruptcy.)  So work doesn't really improve the finances,
except to continue an income longer than unemployment payments would cover.
Since I will be starting this job Monday, I will have less time to sit home
around the food, and will also be eating on my own schedule and cooking less
for my son (age 28), who lives with me.  So I thought it would be a good
opportunity to go back on the diet again.  I lost my weight on CAD, but I
think I'll start out with Atkins induction plan, then move on to CAD as my
long-term WOE.  Being a second-round, I probably will need to be more
restrictive in my eating to find any results.

Someone asked about what foods I meant that I was describing as expensive.
Very few of the low-carb products you buy pre-packaged or the specialty
flours, breads, pastas, sauces are inexpensive compared to their high-carb
counterparts.  And they cut into a budget even more when you're hungry for
something and buy one of these products anyway, only to find out that along
with being expensive, they taste horrible.  Also, I find things like chicken
breasts and fish and salad add-ons (anything beyond lettuce) don't fit my
financial means.

It angers me a bit when people say something to me about how "you'll do
anything you need to do if you REALLY want to lose weight".  No, I won't let
my electricity be turned off, or my water, or get evicted to buy that stuff,
no matter how badly I want to lose the weight.  And with my finances as they
are, that is the only option.  And yes, I want to lose the weight.  That's
why I posted here and why I asked for help.  If I didn't want to lose
weight, I wouldn't have posted to this newsgroup.  But it also hurts me
deeply (as I sit here crying) to be willing to say "I want this, but I need
help figuring out how to do it" and have people tell me that "IF you really
wanted to lose the weight, you'd do it NO MATTER WHAT."  How about you walk
a mile in MY shoes before you say such things to me???  And I don't mean
knowing what it's like to be poor or lose weight, I mean actually live as I
have to live for a few hours.  Then voice your judgements.

Mary

Just as an example, I had a turkey breast in the freezer. They are
often on sale for 89 cents a pound. I roasted it yesterday and once I
got the meat off of it, I had over 6 pounds of turkey. I put it into
one big baggie and threw it in the fridge. Getting the meat off of the
turkey breast wore me out. I was having a bad day.

Today, I separated it into smaller baggies, but any container will do.
I kept two portions in the refrigerator and put the rest in the
freezer. It thaws out quickly and can be decorated up in lots of ways
-- plain, in between 2 pieces of cheese, made into soup, fried in
butter, chopped and mixed into salads, seasoned with anything you can
think of. It's pretty cheap and once you get it off the bone, there's
not much preparation needed.

There are lots of recipes in this group and online if you search
Google.com or some other place. I'm spending less at the store now
than I ever have. In the beginning, it seemed like every week there
was something else I needed in order to cook or eat low carb, but once
you get the staples, it is an easy way to live.

I hope you find a way to get back into it. There are many people here
to support you along the way and answer questions. Ignore the
buttheads. :-)

--  
Jean M.
348/313/180 - 5'10"
Atkins Since 01/28/04
Quit Smoking On 03/07/04
Curves Since 03/19/04

Hi Mary, welcome to the group!

Others have chimed in with suggestions for cutting costs, so I'm basically
welcoming you.

I have a lot of physical problems, and didn't think I would ever be able to
exercise.  I TRIED, though, starting out VERY slowly.  Now I exercise every 2-3
days (except this week because I'm sick).  I STILL take it fairly easy compared
to most people, but it's made a TREMENDOUS difference in how I FEEL and how I
look (see sig for URL to my progress photos).  I've lost weight relatively
slowly, but the exercise makes it LOOK (and feel) like I've lost a good 15 lbs
MORE than I actually HAVE, and it's given me confidence and **HOPE**.  I had
given up.  Just knowing that I *CAN* do it, even if I DO have to be really
careful, has brought a joy back into my life that is PRICELESS.  I agree with an
earlier poster who said moving is good for you, so if you CAN do it, give it a
try.  I found that if I just added ONE more minute to what I THOUGHT I couldn't
do, that sometimes make a difference as to whether I could do more, if not that
day, then the next.  

Do you have someone (a friend or relative) who can help you make big batches of
things occasionally so that you don't have to put in a lot of effort for several
days or more?  

Eating less will cost you less money. Try it. You have enough fat stored up
to last for a couple of years already. It's not like you're getting ready
for hibernation.

What specialty foods do you mean? I buy basic foods: fresh and frozen
vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, bell peppers, scallions, mushrooms,
cabbage, spinach, celery,  lettuce, tomatoes, a few carrots, etc)  meats and
fish (hamburger, bacon, pot roast, roast beef, chicken, salmon, canned tuna,
pork chops, pepperoni, turkey), eggs, cheese, butter, oil and vinegar,
peanuts, cashews, sunflower seeds, strawberries, blueberries, ranch
dressing, bleu cheese dressing.  I buy things that are on sale and eat based
on whats on sale.

I'm unemployed and bankrupt.  And at

I'm lazy too.  I eat lots raw veggies (no cooking -  I cut up things like
broccoli, celery, bell peppers, cauliflower etc on grocery shopping day and
put them in ziploc bags so that they are always ready when I want them).  I
eat a lot of salad, just toss stuff on the plate, open a can of tuna or add
a hard boiled egg or piece of chicken and I'm good to go.  For meats that
need to cook, I use the crockpot (stick it in there in the AM and turn it
on, dinner is ready at dinnertime with no effort).  For fast meals I toss a
burger, chicken breast or pork chop on the George Foreman grill and it is
done in no time at all with minimal effort.

When I'm really lazy, I buy a rotisserie chicken already cooked at the
grocery store and have at least 3 or 4 meals worth of meat already done.

Sure, it costs a bit more that buying pasta and rice, but you get more
nutrition.  It doesn't cost as much as eating fast food or eating out.  Buy
what is on sale and freeze it, plan your menus around the sales.  Eat eggs
instead of meat for protien.  Its really not that complicated.  And
certainly, skip the 'specialty foods'.

Tracey in CT