Help for the wise ones.

[NikNak]

Hi All,

I was advised to post this here. As you can tell from my ramblings I am a little confused.

Welll I weighed myself this morning and am at a weight I am happy with.
I started Atkins in Jan and after a month on induction reached goal weight - I then had a few slip ups - going off the diet and pigging out like mad for a few days then back on the diet again for a month and so on.
I do exercise religiously - 5 times a week - weights and cardio. I got married in April and on honeymoon we ate until we popped. Although I try and not regrett such a happy time - it did take me a while to get back on the wagon and stick to the plan - I tend to have one bite of a choc and all **** breaks loose - I just can't stop stuffing things onto my mouth - always sugar and fat ladden things. Then I wake up and start over. I have managed to stick to Induction for three weeks now and wow have finally lost the weight and am back to what I was before the wedding. I can fit into my size 10 - (uk) jeans.

My concern now is now what. I want to develop and eating way for life. I want something I can stick to - something that just falls int my life.
I just want to know - how do I progress further. I used to love my fruit and yoghurt and muesli. How do I start modifying this to something I can live with. Where I don't have to stress about going to a friends for dinner and wondering how many carbs are in the meal. Or going to stay with friends for a weekend and stressing about what I am going to have for breakfast.

There are so many low carb plans out there - I am confused. I have ordered the South Beach Diet as someone said it was easier to bring into every day life.

I am also confused about the whole fat issue - if I add in more carbs do I limit fat now. So say I have a yogurrt - should it be fat free or should it be full fat. If somewhere along the line I have a slice of wholewheat bread or sunflower bread do I have it with low fat spread or do I have it with peanut butter...oh dear I am actually losing sleep over this.

I just what something that I know is healthy, will keep my weight constant and I can incorporate into my life no matter what the situation. I think I am driving my husband crazy.

Some sound advise pls.

[book]

the difficulty is that you stayed with Induction to lose all of your weight. To correctly follow the plan in order for it to be for life, you must do the phases, because at the end of the phases you would know the amount of carbs you personally can eat without gaining. I think you need to figure out what that is, and it will take some work tracking your meals.

Since you are already at goal, and you were able to lose weight even after cheats and all, it is safe to say you are normal in metabolism. So likely you can easily eat at least 40 carbs a day without gaining. Why not try eating 40 carbs a day and see what happens, if you don't gain then next week step it up to 45 or 50, and so on. And yes, as you eat more carbs you do eat less fat, but keep this important principle in mind for the rest of your life

Insulin is the key....

Insulin is the 'fat hormone'

so whenever you eat carbs, have protein and a little fat with the carbs to blunt the blood sugar response. Eating carbs alone will spike your blood sugar which your body copes with by manufacturing lots of insulin. You can only store fat in the presence of high amounts of insulin, so if you keep the blood sugar level, you won't store fat.

But you really need to work through finding what your max carbs are, it might be as high as 90 or even higher since you exercise, and there is plenty of room for healthy carbs in a number like that, yogurt, fruit... lots of great foods!

And as to your question on the breads, I would eat it with the peanut butter for the reason above, the protein and fat will balance the carbs.


book

[NikNak]

Thanks book.

Also if I have yoghurt- should I choice the full fat variety - like greek yoghurt.

I am so grateful for your reply. I have the South side diet book now too - my book shelf will be over flowing - hee hee. I am going to do what you suggest and start adding in things according to the book and not being a big wimp.

[book]

I would go with the full fat yogurt.

To 'help' with your book problem, I really suggest you get Atkins for Life. It is for the maintenance plan of Atkins, and has lots of great recipes and more info on how to balance fat and carbs in maintenance. It will encourage you that you really can maintain while still being able to eat a great variety of foods!


book

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