Starting low carb two week induction type thing - tomorrow - anyone in??

[mrsmalumbas]

Have just bought and read the India Knight book and have been reinspired to restart my low carb ways - Anyone care to join me?

I do know this way of eating suits me, I have done it before, I don't get hungry after the first few days and I do lose weight. I was "sort of" doing this for a couple of weeks before easter and lost about 4lbs, felt good but fell off the wagon over the weekend with easter eggs, wine, simnel cake etc!

Am planning a 2 week induction type event starting tomorrow morning (I am loathe to call it a "diet") to get me back into the swing of things. It would be good to have a buddy or two.

Well done Piggy sticking with it. I survived most temptations this weekend, and I'd lost 1.75lbs this morning on my weekly weigh in

Have sorted my menu for the week, but am going out a fair bit, so another week of having to keep control.

Hello. Clambering back on the wagon this morning. Quite a relief actually as my carb-stuffing was getting out of control. I am looking forward to that wonderful stage when I no longer care about food and eat only because I think I should.

Ooh I'd love to only eat because I think I should but it's never happened to me unfortunately...

I've been resisting the temptation to fall off the wagon by having low-carb treats, such as biscuits made with ground almonds instead of flour and raspberries and cream. It's been tricky at times but so far I've held out since Jan 1st, except for DS2's birthday cake a while back...and my birthday treats (well it was on Easter Sunday so I had no chance!)

It happens with me within the first week or so. If I could maintain this I'd be stick-like....unfortunately I usually find some reason or other to fall off the wagon. But I intend to keep it up for at least 4 weeks before I let up a bit.

BTW sugarbird, I don't beleive in the one golden shot thing either. I've done it many times and each time I lose. The first time round I stuck to the later stages of the plan for years terrified of putting weight back on and not being able to lose it again. But it was ruling my life completely so I knocked it on the head. Now I eat more or less normally - more low-GI than most people I suppose but still more or less normal. And I still always manage to lose weight when I go back to induction. I think that I reach what my body thinks is it's 'ideal weight' but can't go any lower - but as that gives me a BMI of about 21 I'm happy with that. I suspect if I wanted to go lower I'd have to try something different.

Morning . After my first week I'm down 8lbs. Just need to carry on like this now.
8lbs down, another 37 to go...

Ooh. I used to use that site for inspiration. Thanks Sugarbird, I'd forgotten about it.

breakfast - nothing until about 10.30 when I had some cheese and peanuts
lunch - 'big ham' (gammon) and salad.
dinner will probably be smoked mackerel and more salad and maybe some roasted squash.

Hi everyone.

Right, for those with induction behind them, here's the almond biscuit recipe... (sorry about US cup measures - I don't know the UK equivalents so bought some measuring cups for these!)

Glad you like that site. I think this recipe came from somewhere on there, except that it didn't mention beaten egg so I added that in as it didn't really work without it.

2 cups almond flour (it's just ground almonds and you can get them in H&B - sometimes I use 1 1/2 cups of almonds and 1/2 cup of soy flour, which is very low carb, or even mix in some brown rice flour)
1/2 cup Splenda (I use 1/4 cup Splenda and 1/4 cup Xylitol)
1/2 cup softened butter
1/2 tsp salt (omit this if using salted butter)
1 beaten egg
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp almond essence

Preheat the oven to 300?F/150?C (this is the temp given in the original recipe but I bake them at around 160?C - depends on your oven)
Combine all the ingredients
Form dough into walnut-sized balls and place onto greased baking sheet (or non-stick greaseproof paper)
Bake for 5 minutes
Press down lightly with a fork, then continue to bake for another 15 mins
Allow to cool, then enjoy!

I get around 16 out of this and the recipe says that they are around 2.7 carbs per cookie.

Oggsfrog - 8lbs is great!

Sallystrawberry - hang in there. It will get better in a day or so.

BTW OrmIrian, my way of eating sounds pretty similar to yours in that I eat pretty normally these days but avoid wheat and refined sugar in all forms except for a bit of dark chocolate. My body also doesn't seem to want to go below a certain weight, and I stop losing when my BMI gets to around 21.5, so must be a healthy weight for me.

Do you all find that you feel much better eating low carb? Once you've got past the first few grotty days, that is... I don't get any of the bloating that I get when I eat lots of refined carbs and that helps motivate me to stay off them (mostly ).

Hey Frog well done on the 8 lbs! You must feel very motivated!
I have had two days riding happily on the wagon (apart from the odd lurch into chocolate but not much and v high quality so therefore Good For Me.) No idea about weight yet.
I will go to the gym tomorrow (oh yes I will) and also Friday. No really.

I definately feel loads better for eating low carb, I had nightmare blood sugar problems, and IBS when I ate carbs

Todays menu

B/fast - parmesan omlette
Lunch - Sunday dinner leftovers (roast lamb, broccoli)
Dinner - spanish omlette with onions, mushrooms, chorizio, with lettuce and Cardinis dressing

Some red wine, a square of 70% chocolate

A 30 min run this morning, then a cycle ride this evening to the swimming pool, and 20 lengths

Hi Katisha, good you're keeping up with the gym. I went to my class yesterday and actually enjoyed it. It's the getting there that I find the most difficult but I really, really need to go more than once a week for it to make a difference. Maybe this weekend...

Can I join too?

I have lost nearly 3 stone on Weight Watchers, but I am bored and fed up and not really following anymore and slowly gaining back a pound here and there.

I had great success with Atkins about 5 years ago and lost 2 stone in 3 months.

I am ready to start Atkins/low-carb again to get rid of 2.5- 3 stone.

I've been doing lots of research tonight, and it looks like I've come to the right place!

Does anyone give up caffeine while doing low-carb? I can't remember if the books tell you to or not.

Also, I cant imagine tea and coffee without milk. What do you milky drink lovers put in your hot drinks and how much do you use?

I do agree that I feel better for eating like this - so much nicer not being at the mercy of the blood sugar spikes which when I'm off the wagon lead to emergency puchasing of eccles cakes or horrible leaden commercial flapjack at the station in order to get home ...

Hi lotuseener!
Actually I carry on with normal amounts of milk in tea and coffee but sometimes have cream in coffee. I also have a caffeine shot first thing in the morning and then go decaff for the rest of the day. I'm not doing so well about the water drinking thing though.

Hi Lotuseener.

3 stone is brilliant - congrats! Hope the switch to low-carb will work well for you.

Atkins definitely says to give up caffeine but I'm not sure about the rest. I gave up caffeine when I started induction but went cold turkey and suffered a bit for a few days. Now like Katisha I have one caffeinated drink a day - usually coffee in the morning - and the rest is decaff. I have a little milk in tea and a teaspoonful of cream in coffee.

Thanks SugarBird and Katisha.

I must have at least 1 caffeinated coffee a day to maintain my humanity. Freshly brewed coffee with a spoon of cream sounds delightful- and no counting bloody points!!!

I'm already thinking of my spinach and cheese omelette I'm going to make tomorrow!

Do any of you drink diet sodas???

hi all, can i share my newly discovered low carb breakfast? buy a box of tesco finest coleslaw, (cos i am too lazy to make it) and some dry roasted peanuts. mix. eat. yum yum
the box is huge, so i have manged to get three breakkies out of it.

OK, a week being seriously back on induction and... a loss of a couple of pounds. Damn. I refuse to get disheartened though and I am feeling better despite the fact that I am not of svelte supermodel proportions...yet I guess I should up my exercise...from nothing to something! This might help.

Treelover. Seriously? Bleurgh

Tbh, I wouldn't eat coleslaw 'cos I keep off carrots and doesn't the pre-prepared contain sugar?
Also I don't eat peanuts as they are one of the higher carb nuts. I tend to stick with macadamia, with the occasional walnut, brazil, almond or hazelnut.
Also dryroast peanuts smell of farts

Aside from all that, each to his own .
I had a piece of grilled salmon for breakfast yesterday, but will usually have scrambled eggs.

Lotuseener, I use either unsweetened soya (tends to separate in coffee though)( and watch the make, because some are higher carb than other), or double cream in drinks.
I tend to have a caffeinated coffee in morning, de-caff rest of day.
To replace my horlicks/milky drink at night I make a cup of strong chai with water and add double cream.

Down another 1.5 lbs

Well done on the loss oggsfrog

Todays menu
B/fast - cheese omlette
Lunch - Tuna salad
Dinner - sausages with cabbage and leek sauce

I drink one real coffee a day with splash of full fat milk, and the rest of the time black tea, and water. I cant get into cream in coffee.