Does reinduction increase energy?

[Dawn125]

I've been following this WOE for 9 months. I remember in the beginning I had decreased appetite and felt a rush of energy. I have noticed lately that I am feeling really sluggish most of the time and craving sweets. I am too lazy to prepare appropriate foods which results in snacking too much on cheese or nuts etc...and not near enough veggies. I still don't eat anything completely inappropriate other than an occasional small taste of something one of my kids might be eating. I haven't gained any weight back but haven't lost anything in months either. I can't count the amount of times I have decided to "start over" in induction but I never make it past lunch the first day. I'm looking for some incentive to get me over the hump. So my question is: Has anyone gone back to induction after many months in OWL or maintenance and noticed that initial burst of energy? Also, what about the initial weight loss: Has anyone lost a few pounds during reinduction anywhere like the first time? I totally feel like I am in limbo these days. I can't eat regular stuff or I will gain back the weight and yet I can't seem to get strict and lose the last few pounds. I'm a little grumpy today! Another thing, every time I think of starting over in induction there is something coming up to stop me. For example, I am going to an amusement park this Sunday to see my daughter's cheerleading competition and I can't imagine there will be anything decent to eat. Then on this coming Tuesday we are going to Disneyland! I just can't imaging carrying around a lunchbox with an "Atkins approved" lunch inside. Anyone been to Disneyland lately? Have they become "Atkins friendly"?

[lady]

Hi Dawn,

You asked me something similar on my progress board and since I have been stuck where I am for about 3 weeks I didn't think that I could help you but this is what I usually have in a day:

I start out my morning with my glass of water with two tsps of Metamucil and my multivitamins and my calcium pills.

Breakfast: Fruit (usually strawberries and honeydew) about a cup

I also have a BIG cup of coffee that lasts me about two hours with 2 packets of Splenda and 3 tblsp of cream. I find this curbs my hunger until lunch.

Lunch: Salad of some sort, lately greek salad with feta, grape tomatoes and a lite greek dressing that has 2.2 grams of carbs per tblsp.

Afternoon Snack: Breyers Low Carb Ice Cream Bar.

Dinner: Salad again, maybe with some chicken. Could be taco salad with ground beef and cheddar and sour cream and salsa, could be ceasar with chicken and home made dressing from the atkins book, maybe meatballs with mushrooms and onions.

Evening: Another glass of metamucil with 2 tsps.

I also try to drink water throughout my day and if I want to snack on something I just hold on until I get home to have my ice cream bar. Once I get in the habit of snacking, I would do it every day. I'm a creature of habit.

I allow myself to cheat on Sundays, this might mean that I have a sandwich or pasta or something along those lines. This way I know that if I want something during the week, I say to myself I'll have it on Sunday which helps with the craving and then usually by Sunday I don't want it anymore.

Hope this helps!

[AKRedHead]

Wait...are you eating fruit during induction? What phase are you at?

-Chelsea

[lady]

No, I'm not on induction anymore. I started back in January.

[Trying2]

Dawn, you said that you can't start being serious today because you have an event coming up soon that will make it really difficult to stay on the diet. I understand that, it has happened to me often this year, but I treat the same kind of situation a bit differently. I use the fact that I know I'll be 'cheating' next weekend as a reason to be especially strict right now. And as soon as I'm back home, I'll be right back on the diet again. It averages out, higher than I would like, but less than if I gave up entirely and just ate whatever I wanted all the time. Instead of saying, "well if I can't be perfect all the time I won't even try to be good," I say to myself, "I'll be as good as I can right now, next weekend I'll be as good as is practical in the circumstances but I won't beat myself up if I have a sandwich instead of my usual salad, and the following week, I'll be back on track again." Nothing lost but nothing gained. What I have found from doing this for the past year is that the weight continues to come off, slowly slowly, and I am learning habits that make it unlikely that I will ever go back to the high sugar high carb eating that I was doing before I started Atkins.

[Dawn125]

Trying2, I appreciate your input. Your suggestion is pretty much what I do all the time anyway. I follow a low carb diet all the time. My worst sins would be low carb icecream (pretty much every night), lowcarb bread or tortillas (occasionally), too much cheese or cream and probably not enough veggies. I have learned to eat low carb at restaurants, special events, etc... I never eat the bread-potato-rice-corn-desserts-etc.... All in all I don't do half bad. But my point is I need to be able to control my choices for a while to successfully do 'induction'. I'm curious to see if a full 14 days of pure induction will change the way I feel. I don't have very much weight to lose and am skeptical about the effect of really low carb as in induction when you are trying to lose the last few pounds anyway. I am just wondering if I would get that 'new on atkins, rush of energy, little appetite' feeling again that made it so easy in the first place. Or should I just get off my butt and eat a little less and exercise a little more and get on with it. I really don't want to limit myself to the induction choices of food and won't bother if it won't benefit me anyway. Maybe I should just throw away the icecream....hmmmmm

[Teuthis]

I think you might assess your present carb levels and start cutting back again, rather than diving into Induction. Some questions to ask yourself:

Where are your present carbs coming from? what foods?
How much of the calorie dense foods are you eating. You confess to more than sufficient cream and cheese. Start by cutting back on those. That is one of Dr. Atkins' recommendations in the book.

Eat more vegetables. They won't hurt you. The way I eat cheese now is in small amounts within my vegetable dishes; shred some into brussels sprouts at the end of saute'ing them. Melt some into broccoli; sprinkle some parmesan in cooked spinach. Then leave the bulk cheese alone. If you put 1 ounce of cheese in a dish that will make six servings, you're not eating too much cheese. Use cheese for flavor. Use cream in coffee, not so much to coat berries and other fruit. In the final analysis, what you do not eat is what causes weight loss.

Throw out the ice cream for sure. Lose all the weigh you need to lose, then re-assess your menu and your food volume. An occasional small scoop of ice cream might be workable for you then.

I hope this helps some.

Good Luck!

[jaxi]

Teuthis,
I am fairly new to the board so I don't know what your story is...
How long have you been on Atkins...can you advise what an average day is with regards to what you are eating? Also what was your starting weight and where are you today? Sorry if I'm being nosey...I'm just super curious as to how well this diet works for people.