So let's dish. What's been hardest for you so far?

[cleochatra]

Have you been having trouble giving up diet sodas?

Maybe eating more vegetables than you'd ever thought imaginable on any other way of eating?

Maybe it's other people keeping junk in the house to eat?

Maybe it's being at work and having trouble there?

Where are you really struggling right now? How are you working towards resolution? Go ahead and just talk about it.

Let's see how we can help each other!

[sparkles52502]

my biggest problem right now is diet coke I have went 6 whole days without it......my husband still drinks it so when I see him with one it makes me want one..... but I just take a drink of my water and usually when were eating he will put a box of something in from of it so I can't see it so that helps.....

[Kent]

For me it was giving up going out for lunch with my friends. We had a almost daily tradition for going out to Chinese food with my co-workers. I started this WOE and had to give it up. It wasn't the food I missed, it was the comaderie which just so happened to be around food.

[cleochatra]

You go, girl! {{{sparkles}}} It's hard when spouses are naughty, isn't it?

I promise I'm not going to turn into Mrs Advice, but Diet Coke is my major vice, too! You know what helped me? It is going to sound really weird, but oil of oregano. One drop per 8 ounces of water and you'll never want for anything else. It sounds nasty, but not only is OOO a fungicide that helps cleanse your intestinal tract, it also is something Atkins recommends. You can find it at Wal-Mart and GNC. I actually got to where I liked the taste better than Diet Coke (which is seemingly impossible for me).

At any rate, OOO or NOT, after being without DC for awhile, when I tasted it again it was grody to the max! It tasted like chemical demon spit! Blech!

I'm giving you props, girl! I feel your pain!

[Dawn]

Mine was late night pig outs I used to have and I guess I was addicted to them. Every night Dh and I would have chips and dip or nachos or just something just made for him and me, and I would just pig out.

late nights are still hard for me to be honest. I have my own special snacks, but I find myself wanting to raid the refrigerator at midnight when I know I'm not really hungry at all. I'm wanting to eat out of emotion rather than hunger which is a big no no. To help I keep my water bottle well within reach and start guzzling when I feel tempted.

Dawn

[bluehairbrush]

Ditto to the chemical demon spit thing. I used to drink a lot of diet sodas, but after giving them up, whenever I (rarely) taste them, all I can think about are the chemicals I'm poisoning my body and brain with...yech. I'll stick to water, thanks

The hardest thing for me is that my sister is doing "Atkins," too, only her meals are not at all by the book. She eats every form of low-carb substitute under the sun. Sometimes I wish she'd just put all that junk away and eat a piece of fish. Or steak. Or eggs. Something ACTUALLY Atkins, not Protein-Power-Body-Builder-Slimfast-Lo-Carbo-Rite-Mega-Lose-Weight-RX ice cream/meal bars/chocolate/bread etc. The ice cream in particular is tempting for me, because I'm a former ice cream addict. LOVE ice cream. It's a psychology issue, you know? If it were real, high-sugar ice cream in the freezer, not a problem. I would be able to say "no, that's off limits, and that's that." But when the carton has "LOW CARB" or "ONLY FOUR NET GRAMS OF CARBS" stamped ever so seductively right across the front...well, just a taste won't hurt, right? I mean, it IS low carb. But then a taste turns into the whole carton, because whatever chemical concoction is in the stuff triggers some major cravings.

And then it's back to square one.

That substitution stuff is NOT Atkins! It's evil! Pure evil!

[lowcarbing4ever]

Actually, it hasn't been too bad for me, thank God. I only have what I call 'little moments'. Like when I haven't eaten lunch yet because we are busy (like today) and the breadsticks (which are HEAVENLY, btw) start smelling really, really good. But my days of being clean seem to stop me and I don't want to go all the way back to day 0 again. :icondance

My biggest problem though is not being prepared. I think that is the real reason that I have failed on Atkins all this time. This time, I made sure that I had food in the house to support me, I had ways of talking myself out of eaten crappy foods and cheating. Today, I talked myself out of eating the food and I did have my lunch with me but couldn't eat it but took it home and ate it as soon as I hit the house so I wouldn't go looking in the fridge. And i know people don't like this thought or not agree with me but this is what works for me: I do like and keep Atkins Morning Start® bars, Atkins shakes, and Diet Rite® soda in my house. They are allowed on induction and I use them when I need to. When you are in traffic, stuck in a meeting, etc. and can't eat, I would rather eat them than cheat. Sorry but that is me.

[christie313]

Mine's weird. Cake and ice cream. But not even regular ice cream. Low carb ice cream. I swear, it's creamier and mmmmm. Now the strange part is I don't think I ate cake or ice cream more than once a year before I started this WOE. ensive Must be forbidden fruit syndrome. Speaking of fruit....can't wait to add strawberries. Yummo!!! Can you tell I cheated the other day? Ate mini apple pies from KFC rolled in cinnamon and sugar. They were so so gross. And I gained a pound. It was way not worth it, and 3 days later, I'm still obsessing on food. The hardest days for me are my days off. All I think about is food. :no

[JESTER]

Water

The thing I struggle with the most is drinking all of that water. :yikes Before I started this diet, I was a soda junkie - Mt. Dew and Dr. Pepper were my two worst addictions. I did drink water on occasion, but just never liked it. And now . . . having to drink a swimming pool amount every day just about drives me mad. To make it easier on myself, I have filled 10, 20 ounce water bottles and keep them in the fridge - every day I have to drink all 10 of them. I find it easier to keep track of, and I can see my progress. Some days are easier than others !

[calichick]

Something that I've learned to do, which doesn't work for everybody, is rely on my sense of smell more. Like if I'm stuck at a light by McDonalds and I smell the fries ... instead of turning into the drive thru to order some, I just take a big whiff of it. I mean really smell it. Then I think to myself that 80% of the pleasure of eating is smelling the food, so if I can just resist the other 20% then I'm satisfied. It really works for me! I do this when I smell someone's pizza or other yummy stuff I miss.[/b]

[Momma Yamo]

hmmm

Well, I don't have cravings anymore, but what I really miss are french fries! :joy

[Peterlock]

For me it's definitely the sheer self indulgence of how I used to live.

Eating what I wanted, when I wanted and never...ever exercising. Now having to actually work and prepare for the way I live now is really hard.

No more calling in for delivery 4 nights a week, no more laying around when I could be moving, no more eating all those addictive evil foods that just make you end up wanting more.

So now I hit the market 2-3 times a week and do my WATP one mile walk a day that just about kills me...but I wouldn't have it any other way!

Peter

[Vicky_Linn]

To me it´s been really difficult to quit chewing gum, I used to chew up to 25 :yikes sugar free gums every day, and I really miss it. Before I started doing Atkins I always had a fresh breath, and now I don´t smell anything from my mouth anymore, which is kind of dull :sadblinky , but hey it´s worth it!

[MintGreen]

Finding time for lunch on days when I work a night shift. For example, today and tommorow I work 3-10:30....I eat dinner when I come home, but I dont wake up until nearly 10 am on days after I close, so I have basically 4 hours to cram breakfast AND lunch into. Not always easy.

[sallyseachange]

Giving up the wine is really tough. Not that I was a lush... but now that I can eat all these lovely steaks... can't help yearning for a nice glass of red to go with them.