[Dingie_Dinah]

Ever had to re-read your own advice? Well I do!!! And I thought I'd start a thread for everyone to add their own advice too. Feel free to add to this sticky with your own good advice!


12 Tips to help in this WOL
Wednesday November 29, 2006, 14:24
[ 962 ]
Here is some advice that I like to give anyone who asks:

#1 Added, so change the total! LOL

Go to the home page here at StellaStyle.com and print out everything!!! There is so much advice here from EXPERTS (ie: the Stella Family) that is completely unbelievable. How can you say that this WOL doesn't work when you see a family of four have such success, and maintaining it for so many years!!!!!


1. Buy both of George's cookbooks, and read the first 30 pages of each several times. Get the DVD's. You will be so glad you did. Get the On-Demand. What an education, and it's FUN too!!!!. Buy the Atkins New Diet Revolution book. READ IT. These books will be the best investment you could make.
2. Drink lots of water. Some people say the rule of thumb for water is one ounce for every two pounds of weight, per day. Example: if you weight 200 pounds, you should have 100 ounces of water per day. I know it sounds like a lot, but if you really devote yourself to low carb living, it won’t be hard, I promise. But at least drink 64 ounces a day minimum. If you watch the DVD's and the On-Demand, George says he is never without a bottle of water! ME TOO!!!!
3. I think this point is important too. Make sure you measure yourself when you start. I didn’t and I wish I had. You will find that there are times when the scales don’t move, but you will still be losing inches. That is my one big regret, that I didn’t take my measurements. I think in the beginning, I was afraid to know! Take pictures regularly too. It really helps to “see” your progress.
4. Eat either three regular-size meals a day or four or five smaller meals. Do not skip meals or go more than six waking hours without eating.
5. Commit yourself to “just two weeks”. Anyone can do anything for just two weeks. Then you will feel so good, you won’t want to go back to the old ways!
6. The first few days you might not feel very good. Your body is ridding itself of the toxic carbohydrates you have stored. Just make sure you drink plenty of water, eat regularly, and remember that you will feel much better soon!
7. Keep acceptable foods available. I almost always have cheese, boiled eggs, lunchmeat, salad, tuna or chicken salad, pepperoni slices, and various other things ready to eat in my fridge. This will help you stay on track, I promise.
8. Surround yourself with positive people who will encourage you on your journey. If you aren’t getting the encouragement you need, try joining an on-line e-mail group. There are lots of them out there. You have already found the best "home" there is for a LC lifestyle! Come back daily for inspiration and a ton of knowledge!!!
9. Rid your home of all the bad stuff. If it’s not possible, make sure you have your own place for your stuff. The first month, I made my youngest son hide all his snacks in his room. Now I’m not even tempted.
10. Reward yourself! But don’t use food as a reward. Get your nails done, slip off for a nice bubble bath, read a good book. I have an internet friend who had a lot to lose, and she buys herself a charm for a charm necklace for every 10 lbs she loses. She is getting ready to buy her 11th charm! She has been an incredible inspiration to me.
11. Take a good multiple vitamin. Make sure it isn’t full of fillers and starch. Later on your journey, you might find you have to add other supplements to your day. The book covers that better than I can. I’m struggling to get my vitamins every day, cause I just hate to take pills, but I’m trying!
12. Try to remember, nothing tastes as good as thin feels. I have this posted all around my house. Take pictures too. I have my "before" picture posted everywhere! I'm so sick of seeing me, I can't stand it! LOL
_________________
Dingie Dinah
Stella Style since 5/2003

May you always have
Love to Share,
Health to Spare,
And Friends Who Care

"Nothing Tastes as Good as Thin and Healthy Feels"

'Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.'

[su]

good tips dinah.. this should help newbys and all of us too (i wont use the o word!!!)
_________________



"there is no new food"
"nothing tastes as good as being thin feels"

[meme325]

You have lot's of good ideas. Thank you,
Melanie

[Dingie_Dinah]

Thanks Melanie. It's not anything everyone else around here doesn't know, but sometimes it's good just to put it down on paper, KWIM?

Anyone else have some tips to add?
_________________
Dingie Dinah
Stella Style since 5/2003

May you always have
Love to Share,
Health to Spare,
And Friends Who Care

"Nothing Tastes as Good as Thin and Healthy Feels"

'Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.'

[mhayden999]

Dinah, these are great tips. Here are a couple of things that I have found helpful too.

1. Plan your meals and snacks. If you don't plan, you may find yourself, at the last minutes, eating something you shouldn't. If you have a plan, it is much easier to eat properly.

2. As George says, "Cook once, eat many times." It is about the same amount of work to make a little or make a lot of a recipe. Just about every fresh, low carb recipe either refrigerates or freezes very well. Ziploc bags and Ziploc containers both work very well for this. I suggest labeling and dating the containers, and you'll always have a good healthy meal just a microwave, and a couple of minutes away. Sure beats doing something crazy like eating some carb laden processed food, or hitting a drive-thru!!!

3. Be adventurous. For more than 40 years, if it wasn't wrapped in celophane or grew in a garden, I didn't eat it. As I ventured into this way of eating, I very quickly discovered what I'd been missing. I am still amazed at the things I'm eating now. Salads, green beans, my favorite now...broccoli. Turnips, spaghetti squash, stuff I honestly never would even considered in the past. I can't tell you how many times I have looked at recipe in either George's cookbook, or this site, and said, I don't think I'd like it. I've made it and wow!!!! was it good. I will try just about anything now, and I'm rarely disappointed. I honestly have found that when I am eating fresh, healthy, naturally low carb foods, there is very little that I don't like...and remember, I was a very picky eater. So try something new every week.


Good luck to everyone.

Mark

Mark
_________________
You can get what you want in life, if you help enough people get what they want--Zig Ziglar

[Dingie_Dinah]

Excellent Mark!!!! You are so right, be adventurous!!!! Ya never know!
_________________
Dingie Dinah
Stella Style since 5/2003

May you always have
Love to Share,
Health to Spare,
And Friends Who Care

"Nothing Tastes as Good as Thin and Healthy Feels"

'Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.'

[mwilcox]

I like these tips - in particular the measurement one.

I'd also recommend reading Good Calories/Bad Calories by Taubes. After dabbling off and on with low carb over the years. This is the book that gave me the final convincing -in large part because it's a lay person science book and not a diet plan of any type. Once I learned High-Carb/low fat is what they feed Sumo Wrestlers to beef them up - I needed no more info.

However, I would adjust a couple of the steps:
1 - Water - your body will tell you how much water you need. There is no hard evidence on how much water you 'should' drink (in particular since most of what you eat on low carb has a lot of water in it as well) - the reality is the best judge is thirst.

Rather - I would say adjust to the ability to drink non-calorie drinks. This can be water or coffee/tea or diet soda or no-cal flavored powders. In the last category there's lot of choices out there now - not just Crystal Delight anymore. I'm a big fan of Kool-Aid Sugar Free Singles or Fullfill Singles. The singles are nice because you can carry with you and add to a bottle of water.

2 - I would not be so quick to take a vitamin or any other supplement. Instead eat the rainbow - even many fruits can still be enjoyed on low-carb. I can't think of any justification for needing vitamins/supplements on low carb unless you're doing a doctor monitored - very restrictive diet. Most of the high-carb food that has the most impact on insulin (and thus weight/body fat) is the least nutritious to begin with. And thus I suspect - for most of us, getting on low-carb means actually getting more nutrition from our food than what we had before low-carb.

If you do feel you must have a vitamin - my personal preference would be a children's vitamin. The reason is that they are probably less harsh on your system and less likely to be over-dosing you. Remember - many vitamins become poisons at high levels.

[wiredfoxterror]

I personally would not recommend that anybody replace drinking water with drinking water with flavored drink powders mixed in. Most of these are made up of chemicals, flavoring, and a dash of maltodextrin (corn product - hidden sugar). If you have to drink the water anyway because it is the magic ingredient in these on the go packs, why not just drink 100% pure unadulterated water? Maybe with a little bit of fresh lemon squeezed in.

Just because the "label" says something is 0 g carbs or zero calories does NOT mean it isn't hiding something in it's ingredient list that will stall you!

I do on occasion drink Kool Aid - the kind that is unsweetened in the packs - Cherry, Black Cherry, Lemon Lime and Lime do not contain maltodextrin.
_________________
Foxye
Started Somersizing 01/03 - 230/165/165
A smile is a curve that sets everything straight.


My Blog http://wiredfoxterror.blogspot.com/
SAVE THE EARTH IT'S THE ONLY PLANET WITH CHOCOLATE!

[mwilcox]

The reason is that I don't like plain water and I know that I'm not a lone. It's why most of my liquid refreshment is in the form of coffee/tea and diet soda.

I've also got belief that people need to be aware of the choices & the pros/cons of those choices.

It's good to point out that yes - some of these *can* contain something that *might* stall you.

And if you reach a point that you get stalled (and by stalled, I mean no loss of weight OR inches for more than a week) - then yes you should review your habits.

But the reality of low-carb is that none of these drinks/powders is likely to contain anywhere near the level of carb that we'd intake otherwise.

As I told my wife - the real key is just avoiding bread, corn/flour based snaks, pasta and sugared-sodas. If you can do that - then you will be on a good path.

[DonnaT]

I would have to add my two cents on the water issue. I think it is also a better idea to avoid the additives to the water. It isn't just the hidden sugar in them, but the dyes. My daughter has had bladder and kidney infections often in her young life and the doctor said the food colors can irritate the urethra and consequently allow for bacteria to take hold. She couldn't even have childrens vitamins because of the colors. Keep your food and drink as natural as possible, add the lemon and lime to your water it will also give you some extra vitamin C. Of course an occasional treat might not be a problem, but I am sure it is not good on a regular basis.

[Emma]

For those who have a relationship with God, this may be helpful. One attitude adjustment that I've made, which really helped me to overcome feelings of wanting to throw up my hands and give up when things got tough, was to equate my relationship to food to my relationship with God. I don't give up on loving God and trying to do the right thing because I've messed up; I never even consider that as an option. So, I decided that I needed to adopt that same attitude with eating, and it has changed my frame of mind/attitude towards eating/food completely. Thinking this way gives me something concrete to keep me focused; this type of concrete thinking helps me.

Emma
_________________
Emma

[Dodgerchick]

Since some members on this board don't have access to the 100+ lb. thread, I'll post these here as well.

Before putting anything in your mouth, ask yourself
- What are the consequences of the choice I'm making?
- Will this choice bring happiness into my life and bring me closer to my goals?
- Am I hungry? Drink water and wait 15 minutes. Sometimes you might actually be thirsty when you think you're hungry.

Also
- Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a college kid with a maxed out credit card.
- Use someone who's lost a lot of weight as an inspiration. If they could do it, so can we.
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[mgonser]

Oh thank you ALL for your wonderful suggestions. I know they will help me immensely!

Blessings, Marylyn

[Tia Lisa]

Hey Gang!

Okay, I'll play! My tip is this:

Find what works for you and do it... regardless of who does or doesn't approve; we're all individuals... with different needs, quirks, habits, biophysical requirements, etc. and NOTHING works for everybody all the time. By all means, try other people's suggestions/ideas but remember what works/worked for them may or may not work for you. Some can eat cheese... and it stalls others; some can have sugar-free candy.. and others can't tolerate the sugar alcohols... and so on. Try their suggestions if you want, but don't be married to them if they don't work for you; the only way to really know what DOES work for you is to try it and see - in other words, be patient, experiment and give the results time to be evident, then move on if whatever it is isn't working for you. Be the weird wonderful unique person God made you... and be true to that and what that person needs.

LOVE AND PEACE,
Lisa

[pinkcat]

Wise advise, thank you