Slipping

[Effie]

I've been on Atkins for 2 months and 1 day, and I've lost about 8.5-10 pounds. So far, I haven't been frustrated with a slow weight loss at all. I'm losing about a pound a week. However, I'm starting to worry that I'm not, uhh, worried enough. I think my relaxed attitude might be getting me in trouble.

I'm currently hovering between rung 2 and rung 3. I've tried peanuts and macadamias only from the nuts rung, and I've tried ricotta and lo-carb yogurt from the dairy rung. I want to experiment on both before moving on. My biggest concern is that I've gotten away from counting my carbs, so my quest for the CCLL is totally unstructured. I've had a few days in the past few weeks where my carb counts were up in the 50-60 range. I went to the beach on the 4th of July and we packed a cooler FULL of fruits & veggies & chicken salad. I ended up eating a lot more fruit than I wanted too, but I still ended up losing for that week. It's hard for me to do that and not know that I can now safely eat fruits if I want to. I don't know if I'm feeling that OWL is too structured or not structured enough.

Today we went to Six Flags and I ate a cheeseburger WITH the bun and about 1/2 an order of fries. Normally I'd consider this cheating, but I've been telling myself, "Oh, I've been eating higher carbs than normal once a week and it hasn't hurt me yet." I don't feel guilty about this, but I know that if I keep rollin' down this road, it's going to end in disaster.

How do I get back on track? I feel like I need a solid plan that's not going to feel like I'm restricting myself. Does anyone have any pointers?

[not2late]

Re: Slipping

Start keeping track of your daily carbs---buy a small note book if that will help you.

While you might be able to "get away" with a higher number of carbs, you must choose your carbs wisely. Remember the goal is not only to lose weight but to also gain health. Eating improperly won't do you any favors in the health arena.

Once you know your CCLL and have gone through the rungs, you won't feel like your being restricted unless your foods of choice are candy bars, potato chips,etc.

So, start keeping track of your menues and your foods. You were on rung 3. So move onto rung 4 (berries and melons), as soon as you are comfortable. Then after that, move onto the higher rungs.

[Iapetus999]

Re: Slipping

You're pretty much heading down the road towards failure.
Once you start "getting away" with cheating it just leads to more and more stuff like pizza and soda and suddenly you're 10 lbs heavier than when you started. Get rid of the fruit, get rid of the bread and fries.
It's true I never counted calories or made an effort to count carbs every day (I read labels/used carb counter books and added in my head) but eating carbs tends to make you crave more carbs.
"Higher" carbs is like 10 carbs more. What you ate is like 50-100 carbs "extra."

It sounds like you need to find more foods that are acceptable. There are tons of recipes on this site and others. Start really counting what you are eating and then figure out how to eat and still be satisfied.

[Effie]

Re: Slipping

Start keeping track of your daily carbs---buy a small note book if that will help you.

I've been doing this from the beginning, but didn't really write anything in it all week. I know I need to do this again, which is part of the reason I feel like I'm slipping.

While you might be able to "get away" with a higher number of carbs, you must choose your carbs wisely. Remember the goal is not only to lose weight but to also gain health. Eating improperly won't do you any favors in the health arena.

Totally agree. I think part of the reason I've been "ok" with my slow loss is that this time around, I've been much more focused on the health than on the weight loss. It's really just this week that I feel like I'm forgetting about all of that. I think maybe it's the carb creep getting ahold of my brain and convincing me that I want carb. Actually, I may have just hit the nail on the head.
[/QUOTE]

Iap - Thanks for that kick in the @$$. That's what I needed. And you're right. I just did my fitday for today, and I've had 148 net carbs. 148! Unacceptable!

Thanks guys.

[Iapetus999]

Re: Slipping

Iap - Thanks for that kick in the @$$. That's what I needed. And you're right. I just did my fitday for today, and I've had 148 net carbs. 148! Unacceptable!

Whenever you need that kick I'll be here for you.

Now repeat after me:
I will not exceed my daily carb allotment.
I will not exceed my daily carb allotment.
I will not exceed my daily carb allotment.

[not2late]

Re: Slipping

A one pound loss per week rate isn't "slow". In fact, a healthy weight loss rate is 1-2 pounds weekly. The rapid weight loss diets in the 70s and 80s showed that a rate faster than that lead to an increase in gallstone formation and other health issues.

One of the biggest blessings with this WOE is the "whooosh" weight loss during Induction, because it secures your confidence in the diet. But it's also one of its curses because we get used to thinking that a 4-5 pound loss per week is "normal".

Soooo,

start your food diary again, if it kept you accountable before, it will help you keep accountable again.

[Effie]

Re: Slipping

I just want to hijack my own thread and report that I've hit a new low this morning. I'm in the 180's!!! 189.5, which is 13 pounds lost from when I started, and 3.5 lost just from the start of this week. Boy am I glad I got back on track!

[texwife&mom]

Re: Slipping

Way to go Effie. If you are on a journey and you fall off your horse, you have to get back on to reach your destination. Way to show that horse who is boss!!!!

[ex-barbie-doll]

Re: Slipping

Today we went to Six Flags and I ate a cheeseburger WITH the bun and about 1/2 an order of fries.

Yum! so... did you gain any weight from this?

[diamond girl]

Re: Slipping

Glad to see you're back on track, and so quickly. You didn't let one mistake sabotage all your hard work. Sometimes it takes a slip to realize how bad we want to reach our goals.

[Iapetus999]

Re: Slipping

Nooiccee!

Just goes to show when people are ready to quit/cheat, they usually are on the verge of a good loss.
I always found when I was the hungriest was when I was about to drop some weight.