Digestive help please

[maxima]

I started this diet a week ago and lost five pounds straight away but became terribly constipated along the way. I drink about 60 oz water every day, I can't drink anymore than this, it's simply my limit.

I bought some sugar free Citricuel (can't tolerate Metamucil) only to discover that using it twice a day like I need to really blows carb count, I wondered why my ketosis stick was only on light the last two days and now I know. I did a little research on the internet and found that using it three times a day (I need that much for regularity every day, due to constipating meds) really blew my carb count for the day - that alone appears to be 18 carbs from what I can tell. This new info really upset me.

I don't know what to do, I can't tolerate this but seriously don't want to lose this diet. I am 59 and need to lose 80 pounds so I intend to stay on induction for just as long as I can. Please advise, I'm at the end of my rope!

Thank you very much for any and all help - the more advice the better off I will be.

[atkinsgal08]

Re: Digestive help please

Welcome to ADBB!

>>I drink about 60 oz water every day, I can't drink anymore than this, it's simply my limit.>>

Why is that your limit? Do you have CHF or on meds?

As you know from your reading of Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution (2002), 64 ounces is the minimum.

>>sugar free Citricuel (can't tolerate Metamucil) only to discover that using it twice a day like I need to really blows carb count,>>

Why does it blow the carb count? Are you subtracting the fiber? It should be a carb/fiber wash.

Unfortunately, since it's sweetened, you have to count them towards your limit of sweeteners.

Have you thought about making a flax Muffin in a Minute? Much tastier.

>>need to lose 80 pounds so I intend to stay on induction for just as long as I can. >>

Induction isn't where you lose your weight though ... that happens on OWL.

[maxima]

Re: Digestive help please

Thank you for your speedy reply.

I haven't actually read the book which I'm beginning to see is a terrible mistake - I'm doing what my neighbor is telling me to do as far as eating goes, which is pretty much meat, tuna, eggs and a bit of mayo, very little if any cheese. She told me to make the spinach/mushroom salad today using two cups of sliced mushrooms and one cut of spinach. I sauteed it all in a bit of butter.

I plan to have a chicken breast and also some tuna salad (egg/tuna/mayo) also today. Plus about two tablespoons of heavy whipping cream total for my many cups of decaf coffee.

I measure out about 60 oz water a day and have a lot of trouble getting that in, I suppose I must try harder.

From browsing on this site, I realize I must get a book and just ordered the book which is called "Dr.Atkins Diet Revolution" - it does not say "new" in the title.

Did I just waste my money on the book and does my diet thus far seem reasonable?

[Georgiana]

Re: Digestive help please

From browsing on this site, I realize I must get a book and just ordered the book which is called "Dr.Atkins Diet Revolution" - it does not say "new" in the title.

Did I just waste my money on the book and does my diet thus far seem reasonable?

That's the 1972 edition of the book.

I wouldn't call it a waste of money (I bought the book, too), but I would not follow that plan. There is no reason to "ignore" 30 years of Dr. Atkins' clinical experience. It's 30 years that you're "missing" by following the 1972 version.

I would suggest you get the 2002 edition.

Also, that's the book we are using at ADBB.

[2big4mysize]

Re: Digestive help please

I have a few questions is your 60 ounces of water including the water in the fiber supplement? do you count your coffee in your water total. if not how much total fluids do you ingest a day>

dod you know fiber isn't always the best thing for constipation and addiong more fat you your diet can help move things along?

also did you know going daily isn't always normal and that what is normal is how often you move things long any where from more then once a day all the way to once a week? without the waste from the high carb junk offs theri will be very little to poop out so bowel movements will naturally slow down in frequency for folk on the plan.

You want to be eating 3 cups of legal veggies every day for the first 14 days and then you add more. I'd ask my neighbor what plan I'm following and what phase I'm in if she is the one directing you. It looks like you are doing 2002 DANDR from the veggie thing but the other days looks like 72 atkins.

While you wait for your DR ATKINS NEW DIET REVOLUTI9N 2002 EDITION to arrive checkout the stickies here in the induction section so you know basically what you are doing and why.

[maxima]

Re: Digestive help please

I did just order another book, the correct Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution 2002 edition, so I will just call the other one a wash.

I had not been counting the water in my decaf's I drink all day, thank you for pointing that out, I am doing better than I thought. I had been counting the water used in the sugar free citracil though.

It does make sense that without all the carbs I won't have the usual bowel movement daily that I did have, but I went four days before having one.

Could you explain the waste theory to me - it seems that there would still be a lot of waste product from anything edible, including the fat and meats.

I did just call my neighbor and she told me that she always followed the old version along with adding some of the veggies allowed in the newer version (I guess) because that is how she lost the weight the fasted and felt less hungry at the same time. Unwise/ineffective for me to do the same until I figure out this book which will take awhile to come in?

Thank you very, very much.

[2big4mysize]

Re: Digestive help please

if you are consuming enough food to feed your hunger each time you are eating which is what atkinseers do then you should be digesting most of the food you consume as it travels along your digestive tract with very little waste matter left over.
fats are absorbed as is if they are short or medium chain fats and are reacted with bile salts to become smaller units if they are long chain fats. There shouldn't be any fats that will not be utilized along the way unless you are eating a very high fat diet which is why adding fats to the diet can help move the bowels along since that undigested stuff will lubricate the passage as all the folk taking Alli and eating some thing with fat in it have discovered to their embarassmnet.


Fiber is the only thing that will enter your mouth and come out the other end unmetabolized in any manner. Just about all vegetable containing foods have fiber in them.
thus high carber have more waste product in their foods then low carbers.

[maxima]

Re: Digestive help please

Thank you very much for all your help, this is just facinating to learn! I anxiously await my book to arrive.

Do you have any personal feelings about how my neighbor uses her own diet, she does the induction combo of the veggies and then sticks to the meat/eggs/cheese/ fats (I think mostly mayo for the tuna and eggs) plus I know she takes a lot of supplements. She told me that this was the easiest way for her to maintain her weight loss as it is going now - and I think she felt the correct way was too complicated or something. I'm not sure, this is the impression I got from the conversation.

One thing she did stress (that I had to agree with) is that she didn't want to focus on every mouthful she ate, so she kept it all extremely simple for herself by this method. I do see that point - one of the things I dislike about all organized diets is the total focus on food rather than the getting away from the focus that got me here in the first place. I really want to turn away from that focus on food and what it contains etc - except for being knowlegable over the carb/sugar content. She did stress how very important those two things were to her success.

I would so much appreciate any comments on this. Maybe as I get used to the correct way and gain more knowledge about how to go about it, it will be equally as simple and streamlined to follow?

[atkinsgal08]

Re: Digestive help please

>> Do you have any personal feelings about how my neighbor uses her own diet,>>

Without vegetables, I don't think it's a very healthy way to eat ...

>>he does the induction combo of the veggies and then sticks to the meat/eggs/cheese/ fats>>

It seems she's doing her own version ... not Atkins even as the 1972 plan was written. Or the 1999 version, even.

2002 Atkins doesn't have to be complicated. There's some "rules" to follow ... and if one does that, then it can work.

I think it's best to do carb counting ... but one doesn't have to make a lifestyle out of it.

>>I really want to turn away from that focus on food and what it contains etc - except for being knowlegable over the carb/sugar content.>>

I spend more time on Atkins thinking about the quality of my food that I did before Atkins, that's for sure.

I'm very grateful for that though.

[2big4mysize]

Re: Digestive help please

the difference in her way and Dr Atkins 2002 way is more of the healthy vits and minerals will be comeing from your 3 cups of legal veggies instead of from the store in a supplement bottle. And as we all know too much of a supplement can be as bad if not worse then too little. You will also be learning how to eat for the rest of your life not just to lose the weight.
it isn't complicated focused on food.
just pick one day a week usually the day you do your shopping and bring home the legal veggies and wash, cut them up and place them in ready measured out amounts. You can also make your tuna egg or or whatever else salads you want to make that day. I during induction also baked lots of the pproteins I liked byut I didn't flavor them and removed them from the oven before they were browned.
then when it was meal time I just looked in the frige and said yummy I want _____ to day so I grabbed the frying pan and added the spices ofr that dish with a bit of a healthy fat and then finished off my pork fish chicken or beef that was precooked. I tossed in the veggies if they needed cooking and poof I had a meal in less then 10 min. and I didn't have to eat the same boring foods each day until I used up that dish or spend time focused on foods as i prepped and cooked then for each meal.
I could have blackend fish for breakfast or cajan beef for dinner the same day and not spent hours in the kitchen neither.

When your 14 days of induction eating is done you move to OWL and add even more of those yummy veggies so you could have a great stirfry or a cobb salad and be getting those vits and minerals in the amounts you need and saving even more money not buying supplements. after you know that adding 5 more grams of those yummy veggies isn't going to mess up your blood sugar craving controls and/or weight loss you get to add back more fresh dairy. think yogurt if you like it, more clotted cream (for when you get to add back on the 4th addition berries) or even some ricotta cheese for low carb lasagna using veggie noodles and boy will a pan of that give you lots of fast easy meals.

the next addition is some nuts/seeds and boy when you get thewm eating on the run/ stuck in traffic/ traveling can be much easier as they are legal on the planes. And You can just check all the low carb recipes you can now fix usaing nuts/seeds as flour to expand your legal weight loss foods even more. then comes those berries and just in time for berries and cream time too.
after that there are 5 more food choices you can test out so that by the time you are 5-10 pounds from your goal weight you know what foods you can and can't handle during the rest of your life as you live life as an atkins goalie.

If you have heard of slim fast you know the trouble with eating just a simple food all the eay to goal weight cause when you start eating reall foods again you have no idea how much and what if any effect those foods will have on your weight, blood sugar controls and/or wants. That is how Slimfast stays in business cause they know their customers will be back again and again casue they will yo-yo diet the rest of their lives using Slimfast for the weight loss part.

Choice is yours learn how to be a life long version of yourself eating foods that are healthey and enjoyable for you AND stay at your goalie weight or arrive at goal weight with no idea of what foods to eat to stay that way forever.

[maxima]

Re: Digestive help please

What simply wonderful advice and information, I'm really ready for my book to land at my mailbox now.

Thank you all for the amount of time and attention paid to this thread, it has been very valuable to me.

I quit smoking a few years ago - by far the most difficult thing I ever did as far as change in how I lived my daily life health wise. But, I did it and stuck to it without ever smoking again not even one puff. I did have to actually learn the most basic rules of how to quit in order to gain my success.

I'm positive that from that experience I can handle this too - my determination, this members of this forum combined with the necessary book will help me understand the process and then I'm quite confident that I will again have complete success.

Thank you all again.