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Hello everyone! I am new to Atkins and to this board but wanted to stop by and introduce myself.
My name is Michelle and I am a 34 yr old mother of 4 and full time technical trainer/IT technician. I work with my husband of 6yrs who is the company's senior technical engineer. We are geeks to the core!
As for my history, I have over the last two years lost over 50lbs using the typical low calorie /low fat methods. Trouble with that is how hard it is to keep the wieght off! I am a runner (which I took up after losing weight) and have run half and full marathons but even with all that activity I still manage to find a way to gain weight back. I am tired of starving and counting calories to fit into my clothing. I also want to be the same size I was in my 20's if possible. I am not sure where that will be as far as weight goes but considering my height (5'10" or so) I hope to land somewhere around 155 or 150lbs (or less in my wildest dreams). I grew up skinny as a pole and in high school weighed about 130lbs easily with no dieting, no obsessing, no thought about food at all or my body. I eat when I was hungry and since I lived at home with mom who was doing Atkins, I was not allowed to eat sugar, white flour products, dairy (though not because of Atkins), and many other things. It's when I got out on my own (got married actually) that my weight troubles began. I didn't get fat from my pregnancies. I got fat AFTER my pregnancies. I would get cravings for sugar and pasta and would eat an entire pot of spaghetti over the course of a day just because I got hungry so often. After being raised to eat when hungry, it completely confused me how I could gain 20lbs in 3 months. My naturally skinny body was gone! I wanted it back and that's what I have been searching for ever since. I think noting that I had no sugar or refined carb all my thin life sort of hit a chord in my head recently.
I have done many diets...most recently Nutrisystem and realized that I cannot live on packaged food for the rest of my life nor should I want to. It's not natural or good for me. I need to be able to buy real food, whole food, not special "diet" food and be able to eat and exist without becoming fat. Atkins is that way I believe. I love to read and research my decisions carefully so I have also been waiting for my Dr Atkins New Diet Revolution book to arrive. It arrived yesterday. I read to chapter 7 last night with a small preview into chapter 10 so I can do the rest of my induction right. I will read it all the way through but needed a starting point.
Now I did mention that I have been on induction for 2 days...however the last two weeks I have been reading and studying the website and slowly cutting back my carbs to gear up for induction. Considering I have only about 12lbs left to lose (started with 14 a couple weeks ago, have lost 2 over that time frame) I was considering starting out in OWL but I think I need to start myself out right and really commit to the 14 days of induction and maybe kick start my loss a little too. I have lost 2lbs the last two weeks while gradually cutting back my carbs and learning the program.
I hope the next 12 days go as well as the last two and my activity level will continue to be high. I had some sluggishness while running when I first cut down my carbs but it seemed to go away after a couple of days. My running has actually improved since I started almost two weeks ago cutting back my carbs. It will be two weeks ago tomorrow. I am still counting yesterday as my first induction day however. I hope to lose more this way. Now I feel ready to commit to the 14 days of induction! I sort of had to "try it out" I think to understand how it would make me feel.
Today I feel less hungry and I am enjoying not obsessing about food all the time. I forget to eat lunch and have to remind myself that I should not go that long without eating!
My main question is, how do I do this without costing a fortune? So far what I have found is that I can do well with hamburger patties w/cheese or tuna salad and green salad for lunch, eggs and bacon or eggs and sausage w/cheese for breakfast and boiled eggs or deviled eggs for snacks as well as black olives (10-20 a day), but for dinner its tougher. I like roasted chicken or pot roast (I am making great use of my crock pot now!) but sometimes the family wants a casserole or pasta. Ugh. I end up making my own food if that's the case. I find eating out to be easier to navigate because I can order easily that way and we aren't all expected to eat the same thing. At the dinner table its tougher. I am not sure I can afford to buy steaks, and large amounts of meat for everyone! I always used to stretch the meals with vegetables and noodles. I can't always do that anymore. I have eaten around the carbs in a casserole (did that just last night) but its tough, I end up getting more food later to make up for the lack of meat in the meal (still hungry!).
I am thinking I will buy more eggs, bacon and bulk sausage as well as tuna and whole chicken or roasts when they are on sale and store them in the freezer for later. Does anyone have any luck with low carb hot dogs or bologna? Is that an acceptable addition to my meals? I also got a meat extruder so I can make ground beef into beef jerky myself. OH well so far my family has been pretty supportive of my low carb eating and I can't expect them to shift their eating to low carb as well - I find it has to be a personal decision.
Any tips or ideas would be very much appreciated!
Thanks,
-Michelle
P.S. I also wanted to comment on how much change this has done for me just over the last couple of weeks! I am no longer always bloated or have swollen ankles by the end of the day (I has serious problems with edema in my legs) or after a run and not because I am eating less salt either. I always thought salt was the culprit but I am not so sure now. I feel more energy and solid constant blood sugar levels (I used to get very hypoglycemic and had to eat every 2-3 hrs). Now I can eat breakfast around 8:30am or 9 and not be hungry for lunch until after 1pm or so. That's a huge difference for me! I am much less cranky and irritable! I can't believe the difference I feel! It's so amazing. I wish I had tried this years ago. Thanks for reading my lengthy post!
My name is Michelle and I am a 34 yr old mother of 4 and full time technical trainer/IT technician. I work with my husband of 6yrs who is the company's senior technical engineer. We are geeks to the core!
As for my history, I have over the last two years lost over 50lbs using the typical low calorie /low fat methods. Trouble with that is how hard it is to keep the wieght off! I am a runner (which I took up after losing weight) and have run half and full marathons but even with all that activity I still manage to find a way to gain weight back. I am tired of starving and counting calories to fit into my clothing. I also want to be the same size I was in my 20's if possible. I am not sure where that will be as far as weight goes but considering my height (5'10" or so) I hope to land somewhere around 155 or 150lbs (or less in my wildest dreams). I grew up skinny as a pole and in high school weighed about 130lbs easily with no dieting, no obsessing, no thought about food at all or my body. I eat when I was hungry and since I lived at home with mom who was doing Atkins, I was not allowed to eat sugar, white flour products, dairy (though not because of Atkins), and many other things. It's when I got out on my own (got married actually) that my weight troubles began. I didn't get fat from my pregnancies. I got fat AFTER my pregnancies. I would get cravings for sugar and pasta and would eat an entire pot of spaghetti over the course of a day just because I got hungry so often. After being raised to eat when hungry, it completely confused me how I could gain 20lbs in 3 months. My naturally skinny body was gone! I wanted it back and that's what I have been searching for ever since. I think noting that I had no sugar or refined carb all my thin life sort of hit a chord in my head recently.
I have done many diets...most recently Nutrisystem and realized that I cannot live on packaged food for the rest of my life nor should I want to. It's not natural or good for me. I need to be able to buy real food, whole food, not special "diet" food and be able to eat and exist without becoming fat. Atkins is that way I believe. I love to read and research my decisions carefully so I have also been waiting for my Dr Atkins New Diet Revolution book to arrive. It arrived yesterday. I read to chapter 7 last night with a small preview into chapter 10 so I can do the rest of my induction right. I will read it all the way through but needed a starting point.
Now I did mention that I have been on induction for 2 days...however the last two weeks I have been reading and studying the website and slowly cutting back my carbs to gear up for induction. Considering I have only about 12lbs left to lose (started with 14 a couple weeks ago, have lost 2 over that time frame) I was considering starting out in OWL but I think I need to start myself out right and really commit to the 14 days of induction and maybe kick start my loss a little too. I have lost 2lbs the last two weeks while gradually cutting back my carbs and learning the program.
I hope the next 12 days go as well as the last two and my activity level will continue to be high. I had some sluggishness while running when I first cut down my carbs but it seemed to go away after a couple of days. My running has actually improved since I started almost two weeks ago cutting back my carbs. It will be two weeks ago tomorrow. I am still counting yesterday as my first induction day however. I hope to lose more this way. Now I feel ready to commit to the 14 days of induction! I sort of had to "try it out" I think to understand how it would make me feel.
Today I feel less hungry and I am enjoying not obsessing about food all the time. I forget to eat lunch and have to remind myself that I should not go that long without eating!
My main question is, how do I do this without costing a fortune? So far what I have found is that I can do well with hamburger patties w/cheese or tuna salad and green salad for lunch, eggs and bacon or eggs and sausage w/cheese for breakfast and boiled eggs or deviled eggs for snacks as well as black olives (10-20 a day), but for dinner its tougher. I like roasted chicken or pot roast (I am making great use of my crock pot now!) but sometimes the family wants a casserole or pasta. Ugh. I end up making my own food if that's the case. I find eating out to be easier to navigate because I can order easily that way and we aren't all expected to eat the same thing. At the dinner table its tougher. I am not sure I can afford to buy steaks, and large amounts of meat for everyone! I always used to stretch the meals with vegetables and noodles. I can't always do that anymore. I have eaten around the carbs in a casserole (did that just last night) but its tough, I end up getting more food later to make up for the lack of meat in the meal (still hungry!).
I am thinking I will buy more eggs, bacon and bulk sausage as well as tuna and whole chicken or roasts when they are on sale and store them in the freezer for later. Does anyone have any luck with low carb hot dogs or bologna? Is that an acceptable addition to my meals? I also got a meat extruder so I can make ground beef into beef jerky myself. OH well so far my family has been pretty supportive of my low carb eating and I can't expect them to shift their eating to low carb as well - I find it has to be a personal decision.
Any tips or ideas would be very much appreciated!
Thanks,
-Michelle
P.S. I also wanted to comment on how much change this has done for me just over the last couple of weeks! I am no longer always bloated or have swollen ankles by the end of the day (I has serious problems with edema in my legs) or after a run and not because I am eating less salt either. I always thought salt was the culprit but I am not so sure now. I feel more energy and solid constant blood sugar levels (I used to get very hypoglycemic and had to eat every 2-3 hrs). Now I can eat breakfast around 8:30am or 9 and not be hungry for lunch until after 1pm or so. That's a huge difference for me! I am much less cranky and irritable! I can't believe the difference I feel! It's so amazing. I wish I had tried this years ago. Thanks for reading my lengthy post!
So awesome!
Silly guy. He won't part from his jolly rancher eating, bread and butter spreadin', potato hash brown ways! That's fine, he can have a carb laden side dish and eat my meaty main dish! 
They are stubborn about trying new things! I will still have to be careful with it though I think. Now almond flour would be great to have on hand too...can you use that in place of some flour in recipes? I would love to make cream sauces and gravies too (listen to me saying I am a simple cook but look at everything I want to try!). Please forgive me for pumping you for low carb food information!
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