The 3 week challenge starts tomorrow!

[BecauseImWorthIt]

Right. It seems that most of us are going to be low carbing. However, please join us, even if you're following some other kind of plan!

From tomorrow, there are three clear weeks until the end of January, and the aim is to lose half a stone. Some of us may lose more, especially if we have a lot to lose, but half a stone is a good - and safe - amount of weight to lose in three weeks.

If you're low carbing, there are plenty of different plans around that you can follow. The three that I'm most familiar with are Atkins (of course), Charles Clark and India Knight/Neris Thomas. All of these books are definitely worth a read.

If you're thinking of starting off with two weeks of induction, Atkins-style, I thought the following might be useful, just in case you haven't got the book. This is a list of foods that are allowed during induction. (It's from the original Atkins, apparently, and I think things have changed somewhat, but this will give you a good guide for it; you might find it useful to print off and take with you when you're shopping:

"In addition to your proteins which are the focus of this diet you eat NO MORE THAN 20 GRAMS OF CARBOHYDRATE PER DAY. Your diet will consist of mainly pure proteins and pure fats and limited amounts of vegetables.

Eat liberally during Induction:

All fish
All fowl
All shellfish
All meat
All eggs

Mayo, vegetable and olive oils, butter, lard, dripping, poultry skin and meat fat

*Cheese (more recently limited to 100g per day)
Any full-fat, firm, cream, hard, soft or semisoft aged cheeses

*Fresh Double Cream (more recently limited to 3 tbsp a day)

*Nuts (more recently removed from allowable induction foods)
Almond, brazil, macademia, pistachio, pecan, walnuts.

*Count carbs from nuts, cream and cheese (if applicable) into your daily maximum of 20 carbs a day

Vegetables

You can have two/three cups(1.5lbs) per day of the following

sprouts
mushrooms
bok choy
peppers
celery
radishes
lettuce
romaine lettuce
cucumber
artichoke
celery
pumpkin
rhubarb (no more than 8ozs)
asparagus (no more than 8ozs)
chard
sauerkraut
bamboo shoots
collard greens
spring onions (no more than 8ozs)
snow peas (no more than 8ozs)
bean sprouts
spaghetti squash
eggplant
spinach
broccoli
hearts of palm
string or wax beans
broccoli rabe
kale
summer squash
brussels
kohlrabi
tomato (no more than 8ozs)
bean sprouts
leeks
turnips
cabbage
okra
water chestnuts
cauliflower
onion (no more than 8ozs)
zucchini

If a vegetable, such as spinach, tomato or onion cooks down significantly, it must be measured raw so as not to underestimate its carb count.

Salad Garnishes
crumbled crisp bacon
grated cheese
minced hard-boiled egg
sautéed mushrooms
sour cream
mayo
lemon/lime juice

Spices
All spices to taste, but make sure none contain added sugar.

Herbs
basil
garlic
rosemary
cayenne pepper
ginger
sage
cilantro
oregano
tarragon
dill
pepper
thyme

For salad dressings, use mayo or oil and vinegar (but not balsamic vinegar, which contains sugar) or lemon juice and herbs and spices. Prepared salad dressings without added sugar and no more than two carbs per tablespoon serving are also fine.

Artificial Sweeteners
sucralose (marketed as Splenda?)
saccharin
cyclamate and acesulfame-K
aspartame (in moderation)
certain sugar alcohols, such as maltitol, do not affect blood sugar and are acceptable.

Acceptable Beverages
Be sure to drink a minimum of 3 litres of water each day, including:

Filtered water
Mineral water
Spring water
Tap water

Additionally, you can have the following:

Clear broth/bouillon (not all brands; read the label)
Club soda
Coffee or tea
Diet soda
Essence-flavored seltzer (must say "no calories")
Herb tea (without barley or any fruit sugar added)
Lemon juice or lime juice (note that each contains 2.8 grams carb per ounce); limit to two to three tablespoons

Grain beverages (coffee substitutes) are not allowed.
Alcoholic beverages are also not permitted during Induction; those low in carbohydrates are an option, in later phases.

Special Category Foods
To add variety, each day you can also eat 10 to 20 olives, an avocado, sour cream or double cream, as well as two to three tablespoons of lemon juice or lime juice. But be aware that these foods occasionally slow down weight loss in some people, and may need to be avoided in the first two weeks. If you seem to be losing slowly, moderate your intake of these foods.

Convenience Foods
Although it is important that you eat primarily unprocessed foods, some controlled carb food products can come in handy when you are unable to find appropriate food, can?t take time for a meal or need a quick snack. More and more companies are creating healthy food products that can be eaten during the Induction phase of Atkins. Just remember two things:

Not all convenience food products are the same, so check labels and carbohydrate content.While any of these foods can make doing Atkins easier, don?t overdo it. Remember, you must always follow The Rules of Induction.

ENSURE YOU EAT LESS THAN 20 GRAMS OF CARBS A DAY ON FOODS LIKE NUTS, SEEDS, AVOCADOS, SOFT CHEESES, CREAM AND SOUR CREAM, LEMON AND LIME JUICES AND LOW CARB DIET FOODS. CAREFULLY MEASURE YOUR PORTIONS!"

Hope this helps, and good luck to us all!

Morning all.

Still 94. Not quite sure why the scales aren't moving for me, as I continue to be good.

Low carbing and alcohol free, so it can only be a matter of time before the scales start to move again, surely?!

Daily weighing always a bit dodgy - my guess is the scales will take another massive jump by the end of the week
Keep polishing the halo - very little bit of exercise hekps

Exercise you say?

Oh no, my aquafit is cancelled...do you think a marathon ironing session will burn the same amount of calories??

I am off to Amsterdam on Friday (overnight ferry from Newcastle, 5 hrs in the city and overnight ferry back) and I believe that I will be good. Well I hope that I will anyhow.

Thanks SSS - good to know that it gets better, and tbh, I do feel a bit more lively today.

I'm sticking with it - though I really have an urge for something crispy. Celery just isn't going to cut it. In the Idiot Proof Diet, they suggest making Parmesan 'crisps', but I daren't. Don't trust myself quite yet.

I'm sure you and Hinny Pet will both be fine this weekend . Though, Hinny, you'll have to stay away from those delicious dutch chips with that mayonnaise sauce they use

What's wrong with the parmesan crisps? You are allowed cheese!

Do you want something crispy or something salty? If the latter, you could always have some nuts. Just don't go overboard with them.

Oh nothing wrong with them - it's me. I'm trying to learn portion control as that's my big downfall. I don't necessarily eat the wrong things (though I do a bit of that as well), it's more that I eat way too much.

And lovely, crispy, cheesy wafers would disappear in an instant

That is the good thing about this diet, though - the effect on appetite - I'm definitely self-regulating without it being too much of an effort.

Pork scratching? Are they allowed? ooooh - may well have to purchase some of them. I'm a real crispaholic too, and that's the one thing I'm craving.

Still 94

Not sure why the scales haven't moved at all, especially as not one drop of alcohol has crossed my lips since we started! And my indigestion has been really bad over the last few days too, which isn't much fun.

Yesterday's menu:

breakfast - two boiled eggs
lunch - tuna with mayonnaise, stir fried mangetout, broccoli and shredded cabbage
snack - small handful of nuts
dinner - chinese-style belly pork with green beans, mangetout and stirfried pakchoi

I had 3 sugar free Werthers Originals, but nothing else - no SF jelly.

But I have been drinking diet bitter lemon or ginger ale instead of water, and so I'm going to knock that on the head and just drink water instead, just in case that's not helping. I have read that sometimes artificial sweeteners can interfere with weight loss, although I can't find any evidence to support it. But it doesn't do any harm to go without for a few days and see if that makes any difference!

Sal - brilliant! Love the way you sneaked that in at the end!

Must check the carb count on them - I'm assuming it's very low/nil, but that could be a dangerous assumption. (They are lovely - you'd never know they weren't 'real')

Tomorrow is going to be difficult for me as I have a client meeting, and it's over lunch. I might e-mail the client asking if I can have something that isn't bread based, although I feel daft (why?!) saying it's because I'm dieting.

Having said that, we've been invited to dinner at the end of the month, and I finally bit the bullet and e-mailed them and said I was low carbing and told them what I couldn't eat. They were more than happy to change the menu for me, which is lovely. I know that friends should be happy to do this, but I still felt awkward doing it. As a compromise, though, I'm taking along a cheeseboard as our contribution.

BTW - Sainsbury's sell the sugar free Werthers.

Sugar free Werthers:

per 100g - carbohydrates 86.8g, of which sugars are

Hi all

Been a bit AWOL from MN as LOADS of work on. But just checking in...

I can't remember all my daily menus but haven't strayed once! I do recall the fantastic hot and sour soup DH made for dinner last night though: ready cooked Thai-spiced chicken pieces from Sainsbos (which we had in for snacking but needed using up), can of Waitrose chicken consomme (has sugar in but not a lot: half can was 1g carbs), chilli, star anise, lemongrass, coriander and some other magic things. It was delicious.

I'm encouraging him to put healthy veg in next time: pak choi, mushrooms etc.

We will be having chicken something tonight I imagine.

Streaky bacon strips cooked to a crunch are very good. And you can grill salami till it crisps up too.

Haven't weighed yet - waiting for next Monday but still feeling mostly good and skin looks fantastic!

Very glad! I wish I could say the same about my skin - although I think the menopause is more to blame for that.

However, on a positive note, since I started low carbing and stopped drinking, I haven't had a single hot flush. And they were getting a bit irritating, especially at night.

So that's a bit of a result!

Hello ladies, thanks for inviting me.

I haven't read the whole thread because it's almost time for bed (I live abroad), but anyway I wanted to make myself known here as I will be coming back often. Am doing Neris/India, for the second time - there are lots of reasons why I messed things up the first time but this time the weight has to stay lost. Am on day 9 of week 2, and therefore should be alcohol-free, but I got my period this morning (ttc) and so am not. But food-wise I am being strict and having managed to lose 5lb last week am hopeful that I will get to where I ought to be by this summer.

Today I had: chicken soup for breakfast, with parmesan and avocado; veg gratin with oeufs en gelee with nuts and cheese; spinach, bacon, avocado, blue cheese, red onion and tomato salad with some nuts for supper )plus illegal wine).

Since being back on the diet my skin tone has been much better. will do a control test tomorrow...

Hi and welcome thereistheball.
BIWI is the bosslady, we have to do what she says lol!

Here comes the weekend!!!
Welcome thereisthe ball.
Congratulations to all, you all seem to be doing amazingly well and losing weight really FAST. I have had another good week and managed to keep within my points, so therefore am hoping to have lost a bit more this week. We will see. Will let you all know Monday although I expect I won't lose as much this week. I know from previous experience my weightloss slows after the first week, however thanks BIWI for keeping me on the right track and still on target for half a stone in three weeks.