I recently revealed my gut-wrenching issues. Here's a few words on the world of Atkins, as applied in its most basic form to my life. This is culled from notes I emailed to a friend from an earlier experience with the low-carb lifestyle, at least the few weeks I stuck to it.
Of course, in the past year and more, low-carb foods have absolutely exploded on the scene, so many of my "tricks" aren't quite as necessary today. But this is still a good template to work from if you want to lose weight fast (I lost 16 lbs in 19 days before heading to France last summer) but don't want to ruin your entire life with a stupid no-carb diet (no French baguettes or Italian pizza ever? Puhleeeze).
Nobody every explained how to "do the diet" in a short synopsis, so here's my attempt.
I've been looking at atkinscenter.com and it seems to be a good site. It's got a carb counter for most of the foods you'll encounter, it has articles on how to deal with restaurants and fast food, etc. The carb counter is the easiest way to quick-check what sort of carbs are in food, drinks, alcohol, veggies, etc.
I take a very limited approach to the diet, assuming I'll only be on it for 3-5 weeks. The case last year was that I had less than 3 weeks before I left for France, so that was my target. Because of this, I stayed in what they call the phase 1 "induction" section, which is almost 0 carbs (less than 20 grams per day) to promote maximum weight loss in a short time.
Thus, I don't worry as much about incorporating it all in my lifestyle and trying variety and all of that. I have come up with a core group of foods, stick to them, get bored of them in a few weeks, and exit the diet 15 pounds lighter (hopefully).
The key when shopping is to look for the carbs! Carbs are often in diet foods all the time, so be careful! Even diet drinks sometimes have them (i.e. Snapple has 2-3 grams even being "diet"). Something new in Atkins is that you do NOT have to count fiber carbs. Also, don't eat any deep fried foods with breading, the fat is okay, but the breading brings big carbos.
It's easier now that many foods list "low-carb" on the label and are designed for low-carb, not low-fat as traditional diet foods are. HOWEVER, be careful because the induction phase of the diet precludes most low-carb friendly attempts at replacement foods such as low-carb pastas.
Le Menu
For breakfast, I suggest:
- Sausage / Bacon (I tend to eat turkey sausage and bacon)
- Eggs - hard boiled, beaten down, omeletted, whatever. In fact, a good 3-egg omelette with cheese, mushrooms, a bit of cream (no milk as it has sugars/carbs), and maybe some diced green onion and ham should usually fill you up and feel quite decadent.
Lunch:
I tend to eat the same thing each day. In my case, it's a cheeseburger (with onion, mayo, a bit of ketchup, pickles, lettuce) and no bun as well as a caesar salad (no croutons) along with the normal caesar dressing. In the past, I've done this at Wendy's: "I'm on a diet, can I have a bacon cheeseburger and a side caesar salad, hold the croutons. And a diet coke." Sounds like a joke, of course, or it used to before everyone heard about Akins. Anyway, remove the bun, and don't eat the salad croutons.
Dinner is toughest...
So that's where I eat and snack on everything else (unless I say the hell with it and go back to Wendy's!):
. pickles
. peanut butter (natural, no added sugar)
. beef jerky
. olives
. Spinach (fry it up with a bit of olive oil and garlic salt, yummm, takes 2 minutes and cooks down to nothing, like magic)
. meats — Can you say bacon-wrapped filet mignon? So it's steak, shrimp scampi, baked salmon, baked chicken, more steak, hamburger, buffalo burgers, etc. Remember, no bread-encrusted fried stuff, the coating is carbs.
. some soups (mostly broth-based)
. sashimi (sushi without the rice)
. diet jello cups (no sugar) with heavy whip cream (no light stuff because they add sugars instead of fat)
. tarte á l'oignon which is a great French Onion Tart. Just don't eat the pie crust, it's all carbs and fat.
. Other veggies to eat in moderation include: asparagus, mushrooms, onions, lettuces, green peppers, etc.
Watch your condiments. Mustard is okay, ketchup quickly adds up the carbs due to sugar, but a bit on your burger is okay (and they now have low-carb ketchup, who knew?). A1 sauce has a lot of sugar also, so use sparingly. BBQ sauce is generally a sugary no-no, which is a killer for us sauce-boyz.
My new fave is that with low-carb ketchup I can finally have super-spicy cocktail sauce with shrimp. Ahhh, how I had missed ye! Try wasabi instead of normal horseradish for a twist.
In general, I've found that the first few days on the diet you'll feel hungry because, well, you visually and physically miss stuffing your face with all the extras - corn, potatoes, bread, pasta, sugary pops, french fries, toast, candy, orange juice, milk, beer, etc. that often go with a meal. Also, I assume that the body is taking a day or two to adjust to draining and using its own fat stores.
Both times I've done the diet I find that after 3-4 days my appetite and interest in food disappears, and then I tend to lose about 1 lb a day. I don't cheat at all and try to get around or get close to the 20 grams of carbos. If I can do 10 g, I do. 0 is my goal. But if I hit 20grams of carbs, fine.
I used to buy a few EAS low-carb shakes for on-the-go snacks to gag down. Only get the shakes and snack bars that are 2-3 grams of carbs, don't want to waste more on one food item!
They taste like rat's piss, but can be good if you are desperately hungry and about to, say, go play a soccer game or something else where you need immediate, quick energy.
My Atkins' Tip Series
Atkins Diary I: why
Atkins Diary II: the menu
Atkins Diary III: Diet Secrets
Atkins Diary IV: More Secrets!
Atkins Diary V: Cartoon
Atkins Diary VI: Mental Game
Atkins Diary VII: The Lighter side (humor)
Vitamin Supplements
Atkins Diary VIII: Final Tips
Atkins: Followup
By the way, it's now March 2005... and I've kept off the weight, so that's good. As I've said, I usually just need a jumpstart back into better eating and exercise habits and Atkins did exactly what I'd hoped.
Posted by BilFish at August 5, 2004 07:32 AM