Are my questions stupid???

[jo chard]

Hi everyone,
I'm on day three of induction. Not sure I'm on the right diet - have been on ww for a couple of months and have stopped losing weight. I'm 41 and getting married in July and want to lose another half a stone. I have done atkins before with some success.
The only problem I have with the diet is not being allowed sweetners and coffee. Why?

Surely if you can control your sugar cravings then it doesn't matter how much coffee you have. The same with the sweetner - if you count the carbs to each then why are you limited to 3 a day? Atkins also say that one splenda tablet is 1 net carb when on the box it says there is only 0.5g of sugars.
Help!! I really want to lose weight but won't be able to carry on without my cups of coffee in the morning

[jo chard]

Are my questions stupid???

I posted a thread earlier which has received no response - are my questions stupid or can anyone help me? Will probably give up if I don't get support

[Theperfect10]

Re: Are my questions stupid???

Hi Jo - Don't give up! No question is stupid. If we don't ask, we don't learn.
I'm sorry noone answered your previous thread .... sometimes when quite a few come in together, the odd one gets lost in translation. Its not personal, honestly.

Whats your question... I'll see if I can help?

[jo chard]

Re: Are my questions stupid???

Its the thread called "Jo" and its about coffee and sweetners

Thanks

[julirama723]

Re: Jo

We ARE allowed sweeteners--three servings per day. The reason why sweeteners are restricted/frowned upon is because it's usually sweeteners (like sugar) that got us "addicted" to carbs in the first place. And just because you're replacing sugar with sucralose doesn't make it OK--many people will have the same insulin response from splenda that they will with real sugar. On induction it's best to kill your sweet tooth and start forming more positive eating habits.

Coffee is not allowed/recommended because it contains caffiene, and for many, caffiene inhibits weightloss and causes serious addiction. Though many *DO* drink coffee, giving it up is neccessary for a clean induction.

Please do not start Atkins thinking it is a crash-diet. It is a big commitment! Atkins is a healthy way of eating that is meant to be carried on for LIFE.

[apple]

Re: Are my questions stupid???

Sorry, Jo...it's such a busy board sometimes that threads sometimes get overlooked. No question is stupid...keep that in mind and you focus on your goals with eating the Atkins way for life

I'll go take a peak, but I bet someone's already beat me there

[apple]

Re: Are my questions stupid???

Oh, and just for future reference, sometimes posting your questions under the board forums that match your question helps too. Like I noticed you posted your questions under the Spotlight yourself. I've noticed that posting questions like that under the main Atkins forum helpful

[Theperfect10]

Re: Jo

Hi Jo, Julie beat me to it.... she speaks good sense!

Congrats on your forthcoming wedding..... my advice to you is to try to limit your coffee to 3 a day.... is that possible?

[jo chard]

Re: Jo

Thanks for that but still confused - why when you look at the menus and the food list for induction on the Atkins website does it tell you that you can drink caffeine and that you can have the Atkins breakfast bars and chocolate bars - When I read some of the posts earlier most of the experienced people on this site say to avoid these on induction yet Atkins promotes them on their website. Who do you believe??

[apple]

Re: Jo

Julie said it all!

I would say if your totally addicted to caffiene and don't want to cut cold-turkey, try decafe. I did and now I can handle decafe coffee or teas on cold mornings, but not every morning. Just remember too, that caffiene is in a lot of foods, so make sure you read the labels

[julirama723]

Re: Jo

Atkins Nutritionals is a company interested in making money. And how do they make money? By getting people to buy their stuff! Their bars, shakes, flours, etc. contain ingredients not suitable for induction--in fact, those products aren't legal until the higher rungs of OWL, because they usually contain soy and wheat ingredients.

Follow the rules of induction, eat nothing that's not on the acceptable foods list. STAY AWAY FROM FRANKENFOODS like bars, shakes, SF chocolates. And ignore the recipe section in the back of the book--they incorporate Atkins products that aren't legal for induction. More money-making. I don't think the recipes used to be like that, but I know a lot has changed since his death.

[jo chard]

Re: Jo

I can cope with 3 coffees a day but I used to have 5 (yes 5!!!) sweetners in each coffee and tea so you can understand where my concerns lie with the sweetners. At the moment I am having 3 coffees and with 1 sweetner in (sometimes 2) which is why I really needed to know whether sweetners were 1g like Atkins saysor 0.5g like the labels say because this would make a big difference to me.

[Alexa]

Re: Jo

Hi Jo,

As for the Atkins bars - a lot of people find that they interfere with their weight loss. Also buy eating stuff that is like chocolate bars it is hard to break the habits and tastes that make people gain weight in the first place.

I don't mean to sound negative but the Atkins company is still a company with their own products to sell. A lot of people here lose better and feel better when they eat whole foods only. Really though - it is up to you to decide what works for you.

Best of luck

[apple]

Re: Jo

Jo, I bet if you dropped both the caffiene and the sweetner for 2 weeks you'll see amazing results! Just a thought to keep in the back of your mind

[jo chard]

Re: Jo

Thanks all of you - not sure I can give up the coffe - will definately stick to my 3 sweetners a day and won't touch the bars!! And hopefully I will be size 10 in July to fit in my dress.