Newbie: Alcohol/caffiene during induction?

[ashmonkey71]

I have attempted the Atkins diet before but alcohol during induction was my downfall. I like to have a glass of red wine at night and know that this is forbidden during induction. Furthermore, I am a caffiene junky! I'm not suppose to have that either am I? Has anyone ignored this rule but limited carbs to 20g/day and seen results? Just wondering. Thanks

[Mbudlite89]

Re: Newbie: Alcohol/caffiene during induction?

You can't cheat.. i promise if you give your body 2 weeks ofno wine or caffine you won't crave it again. Stick with it...and if it don't work best of luck and u can drink all you want I guess lol...and it wouldn't be induction if u cheated or went over 20g carbs daily max would it?

[DarlingBri]

Re: Newbie: Alcohol/caffiene during induction?

I was going to write this whole long explaination but it boils down to:

This will not work. Wine is made from grapes, and there is absolutely no fruit allowed in induction because of the sugars. The glucose and fructose in the wine would mean that you are not doing induction. You might not go into ketosis, which would be a disaster. You will not be able to establish your CCL either, making future maintenance of weight loss very difficult.

The coffee is arguable. Most people who feel they are unable to give it up completely reduce to one cup. Any milk is replaced by cream, added to your carbs and comes out of your cream allowence. Some people find it stalls; other people find it doesn't.

I know people who have lost very well drinking a can of Diet Coke a day, even though that is totally illegal; I know nobody who has lost drinking wine daily.

[Georgiana]

Re: Newbie: Alcohol/caffiene during induction?

I know people who have lost very well drinking a can of Diet Coke a day, even though that is totally illegal; I know nobody who has lost drinking wine daily.

Ugh.... look what you make me say here, guys. Ugh! Ugh! A can of Diet Coke, if it's less than 24 oz (8 oz is a serving), is "legal" for Induction assuming you stay within your sweetener limit. Better to be avoided because of the aspartame in it, but some people can do very well consuming aspartame (while they might be stalled by Splenda).

I can't believe I wrote that!

[Elizellen]

Re: Newbie: Alcohol/caffiene during induction?

In addition to what has already been said about alcohol here is one thing that might help you avoid it for the few weeks till you have reached the level/rung of the second phase of Atkins where alcohol is allowed as long as it doesn't affect your losses.

Your body will 'burn' the alcohol before any other 'fuel' you give it, so any potential losses will be postponed until such time that your body has used it all up and can get back to using the food you are eating for 'fuel'!

[DarlingBri]

Re: Newbie: Alcohol/caffiene during induction?

Ugh.... look what you make me say here, guys. Ugh! Ugh! A can of Diet Coke, if it's less than 24 oz (8 oz is a serving), is "legal" for Induction assuming you stay within your sweetener limit...
I can't believe I wrote that!

You have no idea how hard I am laughing

[imagood1]

Re: Newbie: Alcohol/caffiene during induction?

Has anyone ignored this rule but limited carbs to 20g/day and seen results? Just wondering. Thanks

This would not be following Atkins -- it's only 2 weeks of induction then a few weeks longer to get to Rung 5 where you can have a couple glasses of wine.

If this is going to be a hardship for you maybe there is a diet out there that will allow you to drink the things you want and loose weight. Might be worth looking into.

[liv]

Re: Newbie: Alcohol/caffiene during induction?

Hi Ashmonkey
Nice that you came back.
I think that a lot of people who come back consciously our unconsciously do what you kind of want to do here. They take certain liberties because they vaguely remembers that it seemed to have worked for them before. And then they cannot really lose as fast as they hoped and they give up.

So my advice is to for sure give that glass of wine a break (I love it too ) And work on your caffeine. Can you do half decaf and perhaps try to gradually go lower? That is what I did because I am a big coffee junky.
Lot's of luck.
Don't forget exercise

[Brook]

Re: Newbie: Alcohol/caffiene during induction?

I have attempted the Atkins diet before but alcohol during induction was my downfall. I like to have a glass of red wine at night and know that this is forbidden during induction. Furthermore, I am a caffiene junky! I'm not suppose to have that either am I? Has anyone ignored this rule but limited carbs to 20g/day and seen results? Just wondering. Thanks

Have people seen results doing what you're talking about doing? Yes.

Have they hit their maximum potential and changed the kinds of habits that caused them issue in the first place? Not likely.

Can you call drinking wine and keeping yourself on a caffeine IV drip Atkins induction? Nope. You can't, because it's not. It would then be a "modified low-carb" diet.

You can ignore lots of rules/guidelines/advice and get results. They're not going to be optimal results, and they're not going to be tried and true methods.

Remember that caffeine does raise blood sugar, and that alcohol is calorie dense.

Now, all that said, why did it not work out for you the last time? What things/habits/pitfalls were problematic for you?

[chadcs]

Re: Newbie: Alcohol/caffiene during induction?

I am a bit puzzled why we say caffeine is arguable and then go at people for alcohol. The books says to avoid caffeine. Period. If you go by the book, then it is out. If you "need" it to function, then it has become an addiction no different than alcohol or sugar addiction. You can reduce it rather quickly and get it out of your system once and for all.

[EmmyM]

Re: Newbie: Alcohol/caffiene during induction?

My sister in law dropped and has maintained a loss of 4 dress sizes on Atkins and she drinks like a fish. During Induction she only drank Gin/Vodka instead of wine and would have it with Soda Water or Lite Tonic Water.

I'm not saying its right, because it's not, but it's not induction, however, it worked for her.

Personally, I don't drink alcohol when I do Induction, although I am not a massive caffeine drinker so find that I'm ok with the odd cup of de caff coffee with cream and also find that aspartame doesn't affect me either, so the "odd" glass of diet coke doesn't bother me either (only allow it after my 2 litres of water though!).

Everyone is different, but if you SERIOUSLY want to do this and have it WORK, then cut it all out completely.

[Slapshot]

Re: Newbie: Alcohol/caffiene during induction?

Have people seen results doing what you're talking about doing? Yes.

Have they hit their maximum potential and changed the kinds of habits that caused them issue in the first place? Not likely.

Can you call drinking wine and keeping yourself on a caffeine IV drip Atkins induction? Nope. You can't, because it's not. It would then be a "modified low-carb" diet.

You can ignore lots of rules/guidelines/advice and get results. They're not going to be optimal results, and they're not going to be tried and true methods.

This is very astute and something I think about/struggle with on a daily basis as I keep trying to right my Atkins ship. (doing OK). The conversation in my mind has been boiling down to this lately: is 80% Atkins all the time better than 100% Atkins half the time and 0% Atkins the other half? That's the piece of this I'm struggling with. I know that 100% Atkins all the time (up the Rungs) is best for me, and that's what I'm aiming for.

[Slapshot]

Re: Newbie: Alcohol/caffiene during induction?

The books says to avoid caffeine. Period.

I don't have the book handy, but I recall it being somewhat contradictory on this. I think Dr. A says people "should try to avoid caffeine." Then, in the next sentence, he starts off with "excessive caffeine has been shown to..."

This suggests (at least to me), Dr. A was not banning caffeine, but it should be limited. I think his concern was primarily unstable blood sugars and cravings. So, query whether it's one of those YMMV things. It's a shame he's not around!

That's just my take based upon a spotty memory of the book. I could be wrong.

[chadcs]

Re: Newbie: Alcohol/caffiene during induction?

He states to avoid it in several places. Inductions specifically says "Avoid....that contains caffeine."

Now granted, I do not think a serving a day is bad at all. In fact it does reduce appetite but that happens naturally once you have passed the day 4-6 hurdle. In fact, it is easy to undereat on Atkins as you can forget to eat. Caffeine also increases fat metabolism, but the diet does this as well.

The biggest worry I would have is those who have more than a single serving because it does increase blood sugar. You can check it with a glucometer. These spikes will reduce your potential and create weird blood sugar spikes and drops that do alter your loss.

What scares me with caffeine is that at one point we all used it and got a boost with a single cup. Now we have double, triple, or quadruple espressos just to function. Being free from sugar is a great feeling as is being free from caffeine. It is so much nicer needing a rare caffeine beverage if you need to work extra, stay up, or work out vs needing it just to get out of bed.

You should really read the warnings on pure caffeine that we used in a lab. It reads like a bioweapon label.

[liv]

Re: Newbie: Alcohol/caffiene during induction?

Well chadcs. For some reason I suddenly feel like I should drink some decaffeinated tea instead of my usual afternoon coffee. I am thinking green tea today.