I really AM going to Low Carb this time...

[WilfSell]

And DH has promised to join me. But not until after our big night away without the kids next week. So lots of time to procrastinate plan ahead I've ordered India's book. And have an old copy of Atkins' upstairs.

I will need a sugar substitute I think. And, ahem, fibre. Are linseeds low carb? Can you eat them in induction? And I will need to plan my snackage.

And how to get through the first week or two weeks? What helped you not cave in at the first cravings or headaches? And did I read somewhere you can test your piss? Or is that not strictly necessary?

Great! Back on track after the weekend.

Tried the celeriac dauphinoise last night BIWI. V nice

Had a minor panic when I realised there were no bacon & eggs in the fridge for breakfast, so had some cheese & serrano ham. What does everyone do for breakfast? Would berries & yoghurt have been OK?

Went to butchers this morning, so had scrambled eggs & bacon for lunch.

Steak, asparagus & salad for dinner. Yum.

Coat felt marginally less tight this morning and (best of all) I don't feel so bloated and look around 5mths rather than 8mths pg

Hi all

sorry to post and run the other day, I officially started yesterday as it was too much to get my head round on half term!

I am following the low carb veggie plan (ggirl linked to it earlier). I eat eggs but can't stand fish. I am loving the all the different cheeses I can tuck into.

I have started to drink lots of water (seems to help shift the headache), hot water and lemon at work and the occasional coffee with cream at home. Is it worth switching to decaf?

Custardo - thanks for the link to your blog and the fab carb basics. Do you not eat nuts and seeds then? I have been munching on soya beans, peanuts and pine nuts as they have a good protein over carb content. Also, is it right that you take fibre content away from carb value?

I had the sweet craving last night and saw hot chocolate mentioned on here so thought i would mention the great hot choc drink i had last night from my book. It's made with 2tsp cocoa and unsweetened soya and works out at 2g carb and 10g protein.

Right I am off to taste the spinach bread I have just baked, hoping to have cheese on toast for my tea

no i dont eat nuts
yes you do take fibre away from carb = net carb count.
quick google gave me -

1 oz peanuts:
6 gram carbs
2.2 gram fibre
= 3.8 for 1 oz

1 oz soya beans:
Carbs: 5g
Dietary Fiber: 0g
Net Carbs: 5g

pine nuts:
1oz =3.70g carbs
1.05g fibre
2.65g Effective carbs.

too high for my personal carb count, i'd have to eat the whole bag of nuts - self control issues

the no carb spinach bread looks great - did you enjoy?

Noddy ketchup tastes great - but i never was a heinz snob about it IYKWIM, its a bit runny but great. Put it this way my kids nicked my v. expensive t.sauce to put on hot dogs!

Hi all. Just read the whole thread and v v impressed at everyones progress.

Started Atkins induction phase today (yesterday?) and feeling full of motivation.

Ihad smoked salmon and cream cheese fro breakfast.
Omlette and smoked sausage (which was right minging) for lunch.
Rocket, spinach, watercress, pepper, onions, 1/2 avocado and prawns all doused in vinegar and olive oil for dinner - was lovely.

Glad to hear some of you are still drinking coffee - I'm not a huge coffee drinker but always fancy it more when I'm cutting back on food.

Never done low carb before and its going to take some getting used to that I cant bulk out my meals with tons of veg but all in all I'm v positive about it.

Skinny jeans and cheekbones here I come!

oh well done JV.

how is everyone today?

i'm the lowest weight i've been so far. so ded chuffed.

made my toast for lunch at work.
have my sugar free lollipops.
don't know whats for tea, maybe roasted pepper stuffed with tuna.

Congrats Custardo on the weight and well done everyone else.

Another 2 off for me which is 4lbs in 5 days plus the few I would have lost before I weighed myself.

Not in the least bit hungry but like some of you I just want to eat because it's there. I'm tring to stick to bfast lunch and dinner with no snacking/picking.

For those who like nuts macadamia, brazil and almonds have fewest carbs. I would stay away from peanuts and soya nuts.

Forgot to say I had some coke zero and pork scrathings last night. I'd had a pig of a day and it was either that or a bottle of wine. I only bought the one small bottle of coke though and I'll have the rest of the scratchings with a ceaser salad instead of croutons.

Spinach bread was lovely. Not entirely bread like but I had cheese on 'toast' and had a bacon (veggie stuff) sandwich for breakfast.

I am going to try some of the other bread recipes so will report back on those. first off is a microwave one using ground almonds.

I have just checked my nut stash and it reads as follows:

25g Roasted Soya Beans: 1.7g carbs, 5.4g fibre & 11.5g protein

25g Roasted Peanuts: 2.0g carbs, 2.5g fibre & 25.2g Protein

25g Pine Nuts: 1.0g carbs, 0.5g fibre & 4.1g protein

I don't think the above is too bad as I weigh 25g portions out for work (loving my new digital scales)

I have started to write down all I have as it motivates me at the end of the day when I am craving bad things and I can see in black and white how well I have done.

I don't feel physically hungry and yet my brain is screaming for food - always stuff full of carbs. Will this pass?

I am going to jump on the wii fit to see if there is any change.

I am 3lbs down since Monday

I am aiming to be at least a stone down by easter for my holiday. will tackle the other three or four later!

Is diet coke mixed with alcohol bad? I have a rare night out on Saturday and wish to let my hair down a little

Well done frazzled!

I keep saying this but I strongly believe the chromium supplement I am taking works on cravings (psychological or otherwise) I have had, ooooooh, maybe two or three cravings since starting 6 weeks ago. And I mean 'momentary desires for something I shouldn't have' and it has passed as my brain has gone: 'actually' I don't really need that' With no psych anguish AT ALL.

Now if you knew what a carb/sugar addict I was before (imagine jumbo packs of haribo, followed by plates of toast, sugar with everything, hot chocolate all day blah blah blah) - no control - you would know how unbelievable this is.

So eating enough fat/protein to feel full, and the supplements have solved this for me. That and not having any fake sugar either except for my one shake in the morning. I don't miss it or not miss it TBH, I just don't, erm, think about it very much... WEIRD but great

I have mixed emotions. I am 5lbs down since monday which is an amazing result. I've only fallen off the wagon once (chocolate cake for DS's birthday) and I think I've done quite well.

But I am a complete chocoholic and the cravings are becomming unbearable! I want crisps, I want chocolate ... even a cereal bar would taste good at the moment!

How do you beat these cravings? We have choccie eggs in the cupboard, toffee crisp bars, pringles ... I'm not hungry, I just want to eat something sweet!

I know its working, the weight is falling off but at my worst moments I find myself thinking "Am I really that bothered about the few extra lbs I carry around? is this really worth it?" but I KNOW straight after that toffee crisp I'll be thinking "why!! why did I do that??!"

Enchilada - you are doing so well and as a former chocaholic (3 days choc bar free!) I feel your pain.

I am finding writing everything down is helping me stay motivated. When I am feeling really tempted I have a coffee with double cream.

I have also had a hot chocolate one evening as I was feeling twitchy and wondering in and out of the kitchen looking for a fix! Its in my low carb book and is 2tsp of cocoa and 9floz of heated unsweetened soya milk and a touch of splenda.

I also keep reminding myself that "i am not hungry" and that DD wants to go swimming which means I have to wear swimwear in public!!!

I can post some more low carb choc treats if you would like but it may be best to try and ride it out for a couple of more days as with me the more I have chocolate the more I want it!

Thanks for the tip on the supplements WS and well done on such a good loss

I have been looking at options for breakfast and there are some whey protein shake recipes in my book so I wondered if the stuff on offer at Holland & Barrett at the mo was any good? Here

Frazzled, please tell me about the low carb choccie sweets I will try and ride it out but I'd like to relax a little at the weekend. It kind of helps having something to look forward to also.

I'll definately try the hot chocolate! I miss that on an evening.

fRAZZLED - THat protien shake looks good, only 1.6grams of carbs per serving. Think I may get some for a protein fix at breakfast.

wow some great weigh losses here well done.

frazzled - i would so eat those roasted peanuts - which ones are they - thats only 0.5 of efective carbs - tell me! tell me! i love nuts.

Enchilada Please look at www.lowcarbmegastore.com

they do zero carb sweets and chocolate - but you can't have loads of it - only 10 grams per day - even though it says its no carbs - the sugar substitute called polyol does have carbs and you are only allowed 10g of this for it to be considered 'free'

its also helpful as it give you the shits - and as we all know this diet isn't that great for having a good dump!

Evening!

Well day 2 has been fine but had a horrible headache all afternoon. On the plus side I have been very calm today, unlike me normally. I have at least one tantrum a day and am generally an irritable sod.

Too soon to say if either of these things is down to the diet but we'll see.

As others have said, I have not been at all hungry but really craving. Its been toast and jaffa cakes for me. But its cool I'm just telling myself that I need to push on and I'll soon stop wanting sugar and carbs all the time.

Coffee for breakfast (am trying to get better at breakfast but its not really for me)
Prawn salad for lunch
Roast beef for dinner. Big slabs of. No veg sadly as I think I probably overdid the salad at lunch. Def going for some brocolli and cabbage tmro.

I'm peeing constantly but i have bad water retention so not fussed if my initial weight loss is water weight. It needs to go. Actually thats another reason I decided on atkins - I think the carbs have aggrevated, is not caused, the water.

Love that low carb site - nothing atm but looking forward to trying a few of the things (bread!) after induction.

I've had a few glugs of pepsi max today - dont know whether to feel bad about that or not. Where do you all stand on soft drinks?

Custy - I look forward to sying that I am at my lowest weight so far, well done.

JV so very glad to hear that someone else doesn't 'do' breakfast - i get odd looks and comments - but i would much rather have a coffee.

blardly hell sally thats amazing.

custy- well done , amazing weight loss. You are my inspiration!

I was bad last night, pissed off about not losing weight all week so ate too many of my allotted choc rasp snacks.
Will weigh tomorrow, off to work now.

Couldnt face brekkie either , two black coffees will do me.

I often dont bother with breakfast either. I like to have brunch around 11-12 then find that kepps me going till dinner time. If I'm going to be out and about all day I'll just have some cheese or ham for breakfast.

Well TOTM arrived yesterday and I was a bit taken aback as I have had no PMT what so ever. Hopefully that also means I'll get rid of a few more pounds once it's over.

Be careful of deducting fibre from your carb allowance. As far as I know that only applies to American products. UK products already have the fibre deducted.

Well yesterday I managed to get through the cravings without giving in. Very unusual for me because my will power is shit.

It was hard though, the hardest day so far and I very nearly fell off the wagon.

Got on the scales this morning and I've lost another lb (that's 6lbs lost since monday!) and it is keeping me motivated to see it coming off.

I just need to get through this cold turkey phase. Doesn't help though when DH is doing his best to sabotage it

"Do you fancy a garlic burger and chips?"
"Shall I pop to chinese?"
"Try these sour cream crips, they're gorgeous!"

grrr he's doing it on purpose, I know he is.

That's mean! Does he need to lose some weight? If so, once he starts to notice you looking fab he might shut up...

The cravings do get easier - I could easily put away 2 choc bars + sweets + toast etc every day. Plus a big glass of milk at bedtime (still crave that sweetness). I've definitely started thinking less about chocolate (well, apart from the 85% green & blacks yesterday )

Hi everyone. I insisted my DH do it with me because I couldn't bear him sitting on the sofa glugging wine and chugging chocolate. He has lost almost all of his belly now and is quite chuffed, even though he's well within a healthy weight range.

I made some low carb pancakes for breakfast this morning. They were a bit, um, weird but very filling

200g ground almonds
4 eggs
vanilla extract
small spoon of splenda
large glug of double cream

Slathered in butter obv.

Not quite the same as pancakes and tbh needed a bit more flavour but they were OK. Perhaps needed to be a bit sweeter somehow.