PLEASE help with Atkins - need to lose 14lb in 28 days. HELP!!!

[ElectricElephant]

I HAVE to lose this weight as am going to a wedding in a month and have a fabulous dress to wear but I'm an 18, and the dress is a 16.

I can fit in it. I have Spanx. I am starving myself and have forbidden carbs.

PLEASE help me...

i'm 14stone at the moment, and was a size 16 at just 13 stone. I've lost 2lb in the last week, but need to step it up a notch.

Have you got the Atkins book?

If you've yet to buy it, I'd recommend the India Knight diet book instead, it's more humane.

Is it a similar thing? I know I can do Atkins - I've tried other diets and I just can't stick to them.

Fine, I know what you mean - I once did Atkins for over 7 months and I've never stuck at any other diet that long.

The last time I did Atkins I used to have avocado and mozzarella for breakfast. This was because the first time I did it I had eggs every day for 7 months and in the end couldn't look an egg in the face for years! What do you do for breakfast?

at this stage its inches rather than weight you want to lose really isn't it?

if it were me - and i had this fictitious thing i've heard of called time to myself - i'd just reduce portion size, cut down on carbs (but not eliminate) and step up the exercise, especially abs stuff.

have done the india knight thing - it did work, whilst i stuck to it. but only in combination with exercise. on its own it won't get you far in a month...

Get the book and follow induction to the letter

i.e. meal/fish/eggs plus 20g per day of green veg/salad. If you choose low carb veg such as salad leaves and courgettes/broccoli/caulflower you will be fine

No alcohol
No fruit
No sugar-free sweets
No nuts

Fat is fine (but go easy on the cheese)

yes, need to lose massive mum belly and back fat [boak] the rest of me is fine and fits in the dress!!

Choosy - eggs for breakfast, beans on 1/2 slice toast for lunch, or soup, something like chicken and salad for dinner.

Going to be very bored of protein in about 3 days time I reckon.

Forget the beans on toast if you're low carbing - especially if you're being strict. They just don't fit in for you.

If you do Atkins induction seriously then you can expect to lose a fair bit in 2 weeks, but you have to be serious about it.

ordered the book, thanks to amazon prime I shall get it on Thursday. are beans high carb then (novice)

Oh yes. All pulses are. But beans also have sugar in them. (sorry!)

Best advice, till you get the book, is to stick with basic, unprocessed protein and fresh veg/salad. Also allowed is fat - olive oil dressings, butter, cheese/cream (although I think these are in moderation to start with).

thank you, so much

green salad and chicken for me for dinner tomorrow then. Eggs for lunch and breakfast. I'm going to be popular in the office

yes... how windy does Atkins make you?

You can't get much higher carb than beans on toast!
When you get the book don't be put off by teh overpowering American-ness of it all. Also ditch the recipe section which requires you to have a kitchen full of weird substitute ingredients.
Instead load up on salads - when I am doing Atkins I tend to exist on tuna salad, omelette and salad, ham salad.
Do the two-week induction properly as that gets you into fat burning. After day 2 or 3 you will realise that you are not feeling hungry.
Drink more water (not to self).

Breakfast and lunch are the tricky things as in our culture these times are total carb fest - cereal, toast, sandwiches. SO you'll have to find alternative ways of eating. This is where eggs come in very useful! Also ham and cream cheese, smoked salmon and cream cheese. Plus berries are good - but after the induction phase, My standard low carb breakfast is defrosted blueberries and a dollop of greek yoghurt.
It's a very different way of eating and healthy as long as you do it properly. Its not all 16oz steaks and heart attacks on a plate.

You need to carry snacks with you - serious amounts. Because the average corner shop or whatever simply doesn't contain much you can eat on Atkins.

You need to drink serious amounts of water on Atkins - don't avoid this - most of the health concerns to do with Atkins seem to be linked to lack of water.

Roast a whole chicken and keep it in the fridge, then take large amounts for lunch and snacks. Have a variety of cold meats, smoked salmon, prawns (if you buy them) in the freezer for a quick stirfry. Hard boiled eggs are good snacks. Have plenty of green veg in the fridge initially - carrots, fruit etc are all off the menu for induction and you still need to eat the veggies that are allowed.

Puddings are hard - Syllabub can be good - double cream flavoured with lemon or lime juice. My mum experimented with making sugar free jelly from Diet Lilt - incredible effort but unfortunately NOT worth it!

It makes you very windy.

I stuck to Atkins for a while a few years back and lost loads. Very tempted to do it again but I seem to remember spending the entire time trying to find some way of being able to put milk in my tea. Please tell me they've changed it recently and semi skimmed is now accptable on Atkins!

Actually I have never found it to make me particularly windy.
No more than usual anyway...
I just feel a helluva lot better and not bloated, and I don't have to stuff an eccles cake down after I have run for the train. It's nice having the blood sugar spikes and hunger pangs under control.
If I sound full of zeal it's because after a couple of years of faffing about I have decided to do induction properly again and it's end of Day 2. Just losing the craving for flapjack that I had all day yesterday...

Eyeballs, after induction, milk in tea and coffee is OK I reckon. Full fat of course!

No - no wind problems here either!

BTW, EITS - I always continued with coffee, using semi-skimmed milk ...

Tempted...very tempted...

... but then I never made it to target either

Eyeballs do it with me!
I lost a load of post-baby weight on it some years ago, but need to get a couple of stone off again. The trouble with the past couple of years is that I start it up and then stop again all the time, and I have finally accepted that I need to do induction properly and not fanny about this time.

Lol reddy. I'd have to dig out the book and remind myself what to do.

Basically it's 12 oz salad per day plus your protein, or half the amount of salad if you are having other vegetables, which will be of the low-carb persuasion.
Water...yawn yawn...

Oh god what have I done? I was happy being a fat pig eating cake...

i am on atkns at the moment

may i reccomend to you a website called www.fitday.com - this is where you can log your foods for the day and log your weight.

you can measure your carbs and your calorie intake.

i always have to hand sugarfree carb free mints - if i am caught out at work feeling hungry they tide me over

after the intitial 2 weeks your sugar cravings will stop and you will be amazed at how little you actually eat.

i never realised that sugar had such a huge hold over me

tip:

get digital scales

every half a pound counts - every quaater of a pound gives you a boost.

i weight myself daily.

remember to vary your diet and don't get bored.

cheese is your friend.

tomatos are not - leave em out of your salad - its not worf it!

chicken wrapped in bacon

chicken breast slice a pocket - fill with feta

OLIVE OILS - splash out on diferent flavoured olive oils

i like salad - i really do - but a salad is a frikkin salad after day 6. even if you have spinich leaves and watercress

so do yourself a flavour - and do a nice olive oil drizzle - how about a nice bit of lemon - or garlic or sppicey chilli? its all on teh supermarket shelves

feelish flush?

get yourself down to carbmegastore - google it.

its expensive - so chose wisely.

i buy crepes - or as we know them - pancakes.

they are protein filled - fill you up. i think they taste a bit eggy which if you like OMLETTES - is fine becuase you can eat OMLETTES - but i hate them they taste pants.

so with the pancakes i add a touch ( and i mean a touch) more water

i fry them in.....LEMON OILIVE OIL!

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caffeine addict?

yeah atkins says that you have to cleanse your body no caffeine and no alcohol.

no caffeine - are you shittin me?

i drink black coffee anyway - but each sweetner - is a carb

a full carb

chuff that - i need my carbs for food

so from carbmegastore, i buy devinci syrup - it is carb free

this is becuase splenda uses all kinds of stuff to carry the liquid form of sweetner called eurymol ( or sommat) it is so potent that it is dificult to get it into a solid form

so in a syrup - its fine. and you can get these syrups in all kinds of different flavours.

i am currently enjoying a nice cup of cinnamon coffee slurrrp ( i have cherry, banana, coconut and ameretto)

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snack ATTACK

ice pops - get the unfrozen ice pops from the supermarket and look at the back - its usually scooby doo or high school musical ones ( seriously i look like a twat at the checkout)

jelly - there is sugar free jelly but beware - again they are a full carb

which isn't a lot - but on carbmegastore you can pay an extortionate price from carb free JELLO!

carefull on the salads - or you wont go into ketosis.

get a full chicken and knock yourself out

you will crave sugar at first. so best to have a cooked chicken in the fridge

sainsbos oes a fantastic rotisserie chicken i love it.

Fish - if your a fish lover - you have just hit the jackpot - theres plenty for you in the book

me - i am not the greatest fan

but i can eat tuna till the cows come home.

I try to keep to 10 carbs a day and under - and when you get into things - you will know thats serious shit.

for instance tuna and a medium bell pepper for tea - the bell pepper is 6 carbs.

today i had 3 low carb pancakes = 4 carbs sugar free choc sauce = 2 carbs

and carbmegastore low carb bread which came this morning - i have 2 toast for the frst time in months. = 3 carbs.

just made it today!

another tip is flaxseed meal. you an get it from health food shops - you can add a drop of water to the flax meal and roll it out - stick in microwave for 1 minute - and you have a NO CARB cracker

i did this and raved about it on MUmsnet - but i have totally gone of them now.

if you dont stick to it - you are eating a shit load of food - and you aren't going to lose weight

if you cheat - you wont lose weight and all the food you ate whilst being good on the diet the last week - will be for shit all and you wont see weight loss for another week.

this is very very depressing when it happens.

i have lost ( as of today) 22.5 lbs.

Wow, Custy - that's brilliant! Fantastic.