Post your best Atkins tips.

[I lost it]

Re: Post your best Atkins tips.

As you go down in size get rid of those big pants and shirts.I was not a big believer in this idea before ,but now I would highly recommend it.When I got into my 36" pants I threw out all my other pants.Thus when the Hollidays come around,I made up my mind to not go up another size. It was close at the end,but I did stay in the same size thruoghout the holliday season. Thus after the celebrations I was able to get back to where I wanted to be in fairly quick order.

[tabekat]

Re: Post your best Atkins tips.

These are my tips and some of them aren't politically correct, but they worked for me, especially in the beginning phases:

1.
My number one is speaking positively to myself. I choose to affirm only positive commentary to myself. Guilt is not empowering and I choose not to go there.
If I make a mistake I get back up and on plan again immediately. Just like the ice skaters at the Olympics. They fall, but they get up right away and keep going. Atkineers can do the same.

2.
Anytime you feel like cheating or binging or feel you are being denied in some way, RUN, not walk, to a buffet like Home Buffet or any buffet that has ample meat, fish, and veggie choices. Ignore the carbage and eat enough meat, fish and low carb veggies to get very, very full. Sometime during this process it will surely occur to you that you are obviously not being denied anything that matters, and in fact, are the luckiest SOB on the planet to be able to eat this way.

3. Get a taste of butter, meat fat and/or chicken skin in your mouth everyday. This totally reassures your body that you are not starving. Just the opposite. You are being well fed and it is now safe to release the extra fat stores. Remember your body is trying to protect you and it doesn't understand the concept of a full refrigerator. It just knows that its only source of sustenance is through your mouth.

4. If I'm craving a sweet and I often did, especially in the beginning, I would make a mock danish, or a pumpkin flan, to nip that craving in the bud. Sometimes I had to eat two of them to beat that craving. If I crave chocolate, I like 2 tablespoons of chocolate coolwhip. But count the carbs. Thats 2 carbs right there. I ask myself if it is worth it. Sometimes it is.

5. Never eat at a drive-in again. Too much carbage and not enough portions. A total waste of money. I don't miss them at all. When I eat out, I do it in a proper restaurant where I can get a nice portion of meat or fish.

6. Collect plastic water bottles and refill them every night. I like to keep them in the fridge. (I only like cold water.) When all the bottles in the fridge are gone I know I've had enough water. I don't go to bed until those bottles are empty. This motivates me to keep drinking every hour.

7. Give up caffeine. Those fake highs and deeper lows are a nightmare for your mind and body.

8. Stay off the scale. It cannot measure metabolic processes. Cultivate patience instead.

9. Substitutions work! Chopped, sliced jicama and other raw veggies for chips. Pumpkin flan and the mock danish for sweet cravings; spaghetti squash for pasta, cauliflower for rice. They can even become a preference. They have for me.

10. If you insist on having a diet soda, also insist you drink 2 full glasses of water along with that soda.

11. Don't feel like exercising? Me too. So I tell myself that I will go to the track, or I will go to the gym but I don't have to exercise, all I have to do is walk slowly. And I do. I figure even slow walking is better than no movement at all. After I have walked slowly for a few laps my desire to push a little harder usually returns.

12. Rediscover fish. So many kinds, and all so healthy and delicious. Yum!

13. Sometimes I do go out to a pizza buffet. But I never ever eat the crust. I just eat the meat and the cheese off my slices and leave a big pile of uneaten crust on my plate. The waitress probably thinks I'm a nut.

14. Sometimes I enjoy a nice cup of soup but I don't want the pasta. I will take the soup ladle and skim the top so that I only get the broth. I love to sprinkle bacon bits, shredded cheese and sunflower seeds from the salad bar on my soup. When it comes to Atkins and eating in a public place, I try to think out of the box.

I live in a clam chowder state. I love clam chowder, but I don't want those potatos. So I remove them. I take a teaspoon of soup, put it in my mouth, suck off all the creamy stuff and leave the potato behind on the side of my soup cup. I take my Atkins very, very literally. Again, I wonder what the waitress thinks. heh, heh....

It may sound crazy but I believe all of these little steps
add up. It pays to avoid carbage wherever you can.

15. Never, never, never go hungry. Hunger triggers binges. Stay full. Eat regular meals, ample portions.
Never skip breakfast. Make your breakfast a hearty meal, leave the house full. This will prevent cheating.
Your body likes to know it will be fed and will reward you by releasing fat stores. If you starve and binge, starve and binge, the body has no choice but to hang onto the fat stores. Atkineers love food. Its not a weakness, it is a strength.

16. You can't beat crab and shrimp dipped in butter to feel pampered. Just go for it!!!!

[big_bad_john]

Re: Post your best Atkins tips.

1) Try to keep a check on your vitamins and nutrient intakes and adjust accordingly.

2) Bored? Fed up? Cruising the kitchen? EXERCISE!

3) Post your problems here on the forum...DON'T pretend its all Ok if it isn't.

4) NEVER EVER EVER let them get wet or feed them after midnight....oh hang on I think I've wandered off a bit there...

[sallyseachange]

Re: Post your best Atkins tips.

If you're an exercise hater, get it done first thing in the morning. I mean literally, as soon as you get out of bed. That way, you won't have to keep on thinking: Oh, I still have to do my workout! Eventually, exercise becomes more palatable...

[Chupa Cabras]

Re: Post your best Atkins tips.

I blame my hands. If they would stop putting the wrong food in my mouth, I'd be fine. So when my hand picks up something it shouldn't, and it puts it in my mouth, and my mouth starts to chew...

...I spit it out. I don't care if I'm in the middle of a fine restaurant, out it goes. I've mortified my daughter on several occasions, but hey, it's what I gotta do.

I gots no class