ATKINS & OTHER LOW-CARB TIPS
- If possible, give or throw away any leftover high-carb foods you
may have in the house. I gave most of mine to a local food bank
and the rest (like opened boxes of crackers, flour, etc.) to
friends and relatives or even the trash.
- READ THE LABELS! Just because something SAYS it's low-carb, that
doesn't mean it IS. I got a free sample of something that is sold
as a low-carb item, but it had 17 carbs AFTER subtracting the fiber
and even sugar alcohols! That's not low-carb in MY book. If I
were on induction, it would have taken up almost ALL the carbs for
the entire day! BTW, in the US, nutritional labels show the total
carbohydrate count and then list the fiber as a sub-category --
it's up to YOU to subtract the fiber. In Europe and some other
countries, the fiber is PRE-deducted, so it's up to YOU to make the
distinction and count accordingly.
- One thing I was told about (via the Atkins book) (but it didn't
sink in for the first couple of weeks until I saw a post here) was
that I could SUBTRACT the fiber count from the carb count of items,
so if an item has, for instance, 5 carbs, but 2 of them are fiber,
the NET or EFFECTIVE carbs are 3. That's important to know when
you are limiting carbs to 20 for the first couple of weeks! (NOTE
that in some countries, the fiber is PRE-subtracted on the label.)
- Pay attention to the SERVING SIZE on the nutrition label. What
might SEEM to be a good deal carb-wise (or calorie-wise, for that
matter) might actually be a miniscule portion and is almost NEVER
an entire container's worth. For instance, YOU might think an
entire can of something is ONE serving when, in reality, it's 2.5
servings.
- Pay attention when something SAYS it's zero carb per serving. US
law allows anything between 0 and .5 carbs to be labeled as ZERO
carb and anything between .6-.9 carbs to be <1 carb. It's safer to
count 1 carb or at least 1/2 carb for these items. For instance,
my heavy cream says it's zero carb per Tbl, but it actually has
about .5 carb, so an entire cup actually has EIGHT carbs. That can
make a big difference when your carb budget for the day is only
TWENTY carbs!
- Keep track of what you eat. Fitday.com is an EXCELLENT way of
doing this. I use an Excel spreadsheet myself. You'd be AMAZED at
how much it can help you plan your day (or just finish it based on
what you've already had -- you may need more or less foods or types
of foods).
- Measure and weigh! It's the only way to truly know how much of
anything you are getting and eyeballing it can be deceiving. You
may be eating more (or less) of something than you thought. I
bought a bunch of sets of measuring spoons at Big Lots (49 cents
for a set) because I use so many of them.
- If you have trouble with portion control, try using smaller
plates or bowls so that the servings fill the plate. Also, 1/2-cup
Pyrex bowls come in handy to hold reasonable size servings of
Jello, olives, nuts, etc.
- Trader Joe's is a great place to find all kinds of great low-carb
stuff if you have one in your area.
- The general consensus of this newsgroup seems to be to STAY AWAY
from the low-carb bars & shakes, at least during induction. It is
felt by many that the sugar alcohols used to sweeten them can a)
have a laxative and/or STRONG gassy effect (that means you aren't
metabolizing them and absorbing many of the carbs), or b) some
people DO metabolize the sugar alcohols, so they ARE eating the
FULL carb amount, not just the net carbs (but hey, you're not
crapping your pants). I view it as a damned if you do and damned
if you don't proposition, so pick your poison. They may be
convenient, but they aren't NECESSARY for low-carbing. They are
also VERY expensive and often taste like dirt. As you experiment
with cooking and eating different things, you'll find yourself
gaining a whole new appreciation for truly GOOD foods and won't
want to WASTE your precious carbs on something that isn't really
WORTH it. Many of us find that we'll buy something, decide it's
not that great and simply throw it out because we KNOW we can do
better than THAT :-)
- Aspartame can trigger cravings in some people. Splenda usually
goes over very well, although some people DO have problems
tolerating it. I switched to using liquid Splenda in a syrup base,
which truly has zero carbs, as opposed to packets, which have .5-.9
carbs each. Unfortunately, the manufacturers of Splenda have
licensing issues with small companies creating liquid Splenda in
syrup bases, so supplies are now dwindling down to a trickle.
- Caffeine can trigger cravings, but if you are addicted to it via
coffee, taper off slowly to avoid excruciating caffeine withdrawal
headaches.
- Make a big batch of hard boiled eggs to keep in the fridge. When
you find yourself opening the fridge out of habit, you'll see them
and hopefully make the right choice. They are great to stave off
hunger, AND they're nutritious and versatile.
- Be sure to get enough fat. You can add olive oil and/or butter
to all kinds of things, have whipped cream or bacon (Trader Joe's
carries a brand that does not use sugar to cure it).
- Make your own Jello using unsweetened Kool-Aid, Splenda and
gelatine.
- EXERCISE! If you can, do some kind of weight training. Muscles
need extra calories just to maintain them, so the more muscle you
have, the faster you'll burn calories even when you're just sitting
around. My body DEFINITELY changed for the better via exercise
even though I had not lost a significant amount of weight.
- Take measurements at the beginning so you can keep track.
Sometimes you won't see any change on the scale, but you will lose
inches. In fact, I can usually tell I've lost weight that way and
the scale doesn't reflect it for another few days. Besides, it's a
great feeling to make comparisons when you DO lose the inches :-)
- Don't get discouraged when your weight loss slows down after
about 3 weeks. A good portion of weight lost during induction is
water loss. That's because, without a large amount of carbs in
your diet, your body will start to use up its emergency store of
glycogen in the liver. Each molecule of glycogen has about 4
molecules of water bound to it, so when it's freed up to use as
energy, the water is shed. After that, the body will turn to fat
to burn for energy, and the loss will most likely slow to 1-2 lbs
per week. Some people lose more, some less. I'm one of the
"less" :-( I usually lose only 2-4 lbs per month, if that, but I'm
also fairly sedentary when I'm not actively exercising. Also, the
heavier you are to begin with, the faster you'll lose weight
comparatively speaking, at least that seems to be the tendency. As
you get closer to your goal weight, the weight will come off more
slowly.
- Check out the progress photos that people refer to. They can be
VERY inspirational! In fact, if you don't have a digital camera,
GET one! You can take photos in the privacy of your home by using
the timer feature and keep taking them until you get one that you
are satisfied with. It's a good way to gauge your progress. You
don't have to share them with ANYONE if you don't want to -- you
can just tuck them away in a folder on your PC. Like taking
measurements, you'll be glad you did this at the beginning, even if
you don't like what you see at the moment.
- If you can, take your scale to your doctor's office and compare
your weight on it vs. the balance beam. Trust me, you do NOT want
to THINK you are a certain weight only to be crushed later to find
out you actually weigh 10 lbs MORE than that the way a some of us
have. It's better to be brutally honest with yourself at the
beginning and just move on from that point.
- If you're a woman, your weight may go up during PMS. You
probably already know that, but keep it in mind. I chart my
progress and can always tell when it's about to hit due to that
(I'm in peri-menopause, so I NEVER know whether it's going to be 2
weeks or 7 weeks apart). Many women lose the extra weight within a
couple of days of starting their period (usually referred to as TOM
(time of month) here), but some of us don't lose it until AFTER our
TOM. No amount of logic, however, can quite overcome the dismay
this temporary gain causes, so try not to let it get to you too
much. This, too, shall pass (literally). Just stay the course and
wait it out!
- Think outside the box. You don't HAVE to have eggs, sausages,
bacon or cereal for breakfast -- you can eat ANY kind of food (on
plan, of course) at ANY time of the day or night. Have leftover
stew? It would make a LOVELY breakfast! How about some chicken (I
sometimes have hot wings for breakfast)? A nice salad would work,
too. Be creative!
- Be sure to get lots of fiber in your diet. Eating more protein
and fat than carbs can have a constipating effect. The combination
of fiber and water will hopefully keep things moving. Don't be
surprised if you aren't having bowel movements as often, though,
since digestion takes a little longer and there isn't as much
volume as before.
- Read and post here often. This group has been INVALUABLE to
helping me stay on track. And people are here pretty much 24 hours
a day. By the time I get to bed, people in the UK are getting up
:-) I get SO many ideas here that never occurred to me before, and
LOTS of recipes. If you have questions, just ask. If YOU thought
about something, someone else probably did, too. Just having a
place to brag about or bemoan certain changes is GREAT, because we
GET it ;-)
- The 3 numbers people tend to put in their sigs are starting
weight/current weight/target weight.
- Pertinent words and common misspellings: 1) Lose/Loose -- when
you LOSE weight, your clothing becomes LOOSE. 2) Weigh/Weight --
you WEIGH yourself on a scale to determine your WEIGHT. 3)
Atkins/Adkins -- there is an ATKINS diet; there is no such word as
"ADKINS" pertaining to low carb.
- Ignore the trolls. They're fairly easy to spot. Some people can
be abrasive or abrupt, but they often mean well, so it's good to
get to know their style before deciding to filter them out (of
course, that pretty much applies to ALL newsgroups). Personally, I
think life's too short to waste on perpetual [censored]. JC Der
Koenig is a resident troll -- he WILL insult you, ESPECIALLY if
it's one of your first posts. If he doesn't, then he's having a
VERY off-day or possibly has lost his internet access. I recommend
IGNORING him; DO NOT consider him to be a representative of the
newsgroup -- he apparently LOVES angry responses, so replying to
his nasty digs will only make him feel SPECIAL, and you don't want
THAT, do you?
After over 21 months of doing Atkins, I've learned to just keep
staying the course and it WILL pay off, even if it IS taking longer
than I had hoped for. I look and, more importantly ***FEEL***
SOOOOO much better eating this way that I have no intention of ever
going back to the way I was eating before. My joint pains have
eased considerably, my IBS symptoms have COMPLETELY disappeared and
I have WAY more energy. I still have about 17 lbs to go to get to
my goal, but the difference in just my face after 63 lbs lost is
WONDERFUL! I look like ME again! This way of eating (WOE) has
given me something I thought I had lost: HOPE, and HOPE is a
POWERFUL thing to have!
--
Saffire
205/142/125 - 5'1.5"
Atkins since 6/14/03
Progress photo: http://photos.yahoo.com/saffire333