trying to live free on adkins

[asc.rudeboy]

so far ive had no problem sticking to the plan,well maybe, i dont eat near enough veggies but im working out and im drinking about a gallon of water a day atleast.regular day in and day out i dont see anyreason not to be able to stick to this plan,,,im huge meat eater soo im not really changing what i eat theres just a list of things i dont eat anymore,with plenty of food i still enjoy.

my problme is i know there is atleast 2 days coming up that are gonna be problem. my aniversary coming up and my girlfriend wanting to eat dinner out,either im gonna hurt her feelings and not eat dinner or im gonna end up cheating,,,also come sept 9 there is a huge party we go to every year,,lots of good food and good beer.(none of wich are on adkins)in the middle of the lake and i have a feeling im gonna end up cheating on that day also. the party is in the middle of a lake with hundreds and hundreds of boats tied off to each other really really a good time...now this will be the first time i feel like im being restricted i want to live my life and have fun and not feel like im punishing myself,,,today is my 14thday of induction and i havent had a beer or anything to drink for the last 20days,,,now im not a drunk but i am a beer drinker.me and my brother ge together atleast once a week trying new beers exports and micro brews and we had a good time,,,now im really missing that and im not sure how im gonna work it back in my life.i started adkins to better my life but at what cost....i want to live and not feel restricted or punished.
the best thing about adkins is i dont feel like im iona diet and nor do i ever want to,,,i have no problem telling people no i cant eat that because of this.but it bothers me to not drink and cut up when the time is right because of a diet,that just dosnt feel right,,i dont know whats gonna happen on these days yet but i know im not gonna give up drinking forever.

so how do you guys deal with days like that,if you do cheat do you have to start induction all over again??

[ValidRouge]

Re: trying to live free on adkins

I read in another post that you were going to stay on extended induction. For the reasons above is why I would NOT stay on extended induction but go ahead and move into OWL. That way you'll be able to have variety and more options so that when these types of occasions come up, you CAN stay on track fairly easily.

As for the anniversary--if you go out to eat, make it at a very fancy steak house. Get you a big old steak and the steamed vegetables for an induction friendly meal. OR move up the rungs and then go the The Cheesecake Factory and have a dinner and their low carb cheesecake for dessert. Tell this to your girlfriend in advance, or show her this post.

As for the party--if you want to stay on extended induction then you need to make sure that you take a cooler full of atkins friendly foods and snacks. Make sure that you have enough for all day. I love summer sausage and cheese as beach snacks. But you can have whatever you like. You'll have to ditch the beer though in this scenario. HOWEVER, if you move up the rungs, you could have beer. Then, drink one beer, drink a bottle of water, then another beer. This will slow you down on the beer consumption, and you'll still get your water in. Count the carbs in the beer and understand that your body will burn the alcohol before anything else (including your other carbs, proteins and fats). Once again, have plenty of protein/fat snacks to satisfy your stomach.

In both scenarios for both occasions you haven't cheated!!!!

[asc.rudeboy]

Re: trying to live free on adkins

yea the aniversay part sounds easy,,,i wasnt to worried about that unless she wanted to go eat italian or something..

and yea your rght i could pack plenty of snacks and things for the party...but haha drinking a beer then drinking water inbetween will be kinda hard but not impossible,,,,i guess i never looked at it like that that you could still work in the things you enjoy...
ha i guess you got to look at this things a little diffrent it dosent have to be black and white like i was making it out to be.

thanks that really helped because i was all ready playing out a hundred diffrent thoughts and how things would go.and i wasnt excited about breaking this plan tottaly or missing out on a really really good time.

[Maerow]

Re: trying to live free on adkins

Hehe, I know what you mean. My work has a huge party for christmas, and picnics, etc. What I do usually is not make a big deal out of it, and still pile my plate up, but with cheese and meat and fruit at buffets, and order steak and veggies or chicken and veggies or pork and veggies etc etc, and stay on target so I don't have a big mess to clean up for a week afterward, and it doesn't stall me for days.

Half the time people don't even notice whats on your plate, and no one coughs at steak. Your girlfriend should have no problem with steak, so you should be good to go. GOOD LUCK! :P

[ValidRouge]

Re: trying to live free on adkins

You can also do what's called a Modified OWL

Say that on induction you are routinely eating your vegetables (and I know you are...hint! hint!) and getting your 15-20 net carbs in.....

You move to rung 1 for a week and add up to 20-25 net carbs (you WILL STILL lose...you may even find that this kicks up your weight loss!!)

The next week you move to rung 2...and instead of going to 25 or 30 net carbs, you stay at 20-25 and instead of eating more vegetables you change out any veggies in excess of your mandatory 3 cups for a dairy product (ricotta cheese, cottage cheese, half n half, lc icecream, etc.)

The next week you move to rung 3...stay at 20-25 carbs, exchange out the dairy for 5 net grams of nuts.

The next week you move to rung 4...stay at 20-25 carbs, exchange out the nuts for berries or melon.

The next week you move to rung 5...staying at 20-25 carbs, exchange out the berries for BEER! WHOAH BEER! W00T W00T Beer! (Michelob ultra is "low carb" but I think most of the lite beers are too)

However, I must say that since you are male you have an advantage for weight loss, so you may be able to tolerate adding more and more carbs of healthy foods and be able to eat them and still lose weight.

I've been continuing to lose and I can easily eat (even if not exercising) around 35-40 grams of carbs a day. As a male, you might be able to eat more...and still lose weight.

[not2late]

Re: trying to live free on adkins

Italian restaurants aren't completely Atkins-unfriendly...unless they are those McPasta-type chain restaurants. If you go to a "real" Italian restaurant, they usually have sauteed veg and grilled or roasted chicken, beef, pork and of course, seafood.

[boonie stomper]

Re: trying to live free on adkins

Milwaukee Best Light has only 3.5 g carbs per can...4 of them is 14g. leaving 5-10 g available for your veggie allowance on Mod OWL, plus you get the steak