How do you survive on Atkins

[Boozer]

I know some of you have done the Atkins thing and its not horrible because you can eat as much as you want too but GOD DAMN! How do you go without the sugar?
I'm on my 3rd day now and the lack of sugar is killin me. Not to mention no morning coffee and no nightly beer or 12.
The beer is going to be brutal on the weekends. Guess I'll have to find a new outlet for stress that doesnt involve boozin it.
So does it get easier as you go on? What kinda changes should I expect other then dramatic weight loss?

[HotRod Sprint]

Boozer, ya it really does suck at first. My hardest thing was giving up coca-cola for diet coke. Now I've gotten to the point I can't stand the taste of real coke any more. I didn't give up coffee, and still lost weight. Don't want to encourage you to get off the wagon so to speak, though. Some changes you can expect, within a couple of weeks or sooner, you should start feeling more energetic. I noticed my hair (what little I have left) grew faster, so did my finger nails. The best part is after a couple of months noticing how loose your clothes are, it was cool to go buy new clothes in the same size I wore in high school. Keep it up dude, you will be glad you did.
Rod

[C-2]

That's the problem with Atkins...it's a diet and very tough to stick with. Just too many yummy carbs out there.
Adjusting your eating habits and lifestyle is much easier. After Thanksgiving I cut out might nightly six pack of beer and now watch what I eat, and yes, even excercise.
I'm down 15lbs, a lot of inches and am now only a junior member of the big belly crew (before I was getting to grand master status).
The beer was putting me over the top...that's a really bad habit to fall into.

[JakeAisA]

You cannot drink a six pack of beer because there's just way too many carbs. You can have one or two Michelob Ultras...they're very good by the way.
You don't have to give up coffee. I gave it up and I didn't lose any more weight without coffee for the two weeks I gave it up then when I have coffee.
Definately don't eat everything you see though. You'll find that if you're staying away from carbs that you'll eat less because your appetite should diminish with the protein and fats. Try to stop eating before you're full--you'll find thats easier to accomplish on Atkins then on other diets. But your fat burning will increase dramatically the less you eat.
Also, the biggest mistake people make on Atkins is the hidden carbs. Everything has carbs. Stay away from dairy products (milk, soft and hard cheeses, creamy stuff, etc.). Dairy products have sugar, especially the softer dairy products. There's also a ton of sugar in most vegetables--green and colored peppers, avacados, onions, carrots, peas. Stick to brocoli, cauliflor, green beans, spinach and other obviously non-sweet tasting vegetables.
You're supposed to eat at least a cup of vegetables per day, maybe even more. If you avoiding eating massive quantities, stick to meats and poultry that don't have sugar laced sauces on them, with plenty of vegetables--you'll lose a ton of weight.
After awhile you'll become very immune to the carb cravings. Tonight, while out to dinner for a family member at upscale fish resturant, I watched my family eat fresh baked sourdough bread, garlic mashed potoatoes, clam chowder, fried shrimp ordeurves and a crazy looking chocolate ice cream cake covered in whip cream and hot chocolate sauce...and it I didn't touch one bite of any of it. I've been on Atkins for sometime and I've learned to completly ignore people who eat carbs in front of me wihout craving for them.
Stick to it religiously for awhile, don't ever take a break from it and it will be easy. I didn't cheat over Thanksgiving or Christmas once and I lost 15 lbs during that period.
Good Luck.

[Froggystyle]

I lost a bunch of weight on Atkins over only a two week period. As for the cravings...
Cool Whip. One teaspoon has hardly any carbs, and will usually get you over the hump. As far as coffee goes, if you drink it black, keep it up... it will actually help your metabolism. If you sweeten it like I do, use Splenda. It tastes like shit, but does the job. Use Coffee Mate for creamer.
The cravings go away. I haven't had a coke at all since. BTW, most "diet" cokes have less calories, but the same number of carbs. Be careful.
The problem is, there are no snack foods that work well on the diet. I solved this by bar b queing a whole bunch of chicken breasts, and cooking the hell out of chicken wings. Deep frying is fine on the diet. In addition, I basically survived on In N Out burgers (protein style, wrapped in lettuce instead of a bun) and tacos we would make with regular taco mix and ground beef, but wrapped in lettuce.
The hot tip is getting the Ketostix. It lets you know if you are in Ketosis or not (fat burning) and if you are, keep on keepin on. If not, you need to find out where your hidden carbs are. I was on dark, dark red for two weeks straight and went from 192 to 173.
The best thing about Atkins is, if you lift and do some cardio, it works twice as well, and you get huge from all of the protein. Who knows how much fat I lost, because I was back up to 180 with muscle growth in two weeks. Body fat meter told the tale... I went from 13% or so to 7% in those two weeks, and have been maintaining 8.5-9% since.
Good luck, it works really well if you get into Ketosis. It takes forever and doesn't do anything if you don't.

[Froggystyle]

BTW, the ONLY thing I drank was Miller lite (3 grams per 12oz) and water.
That was the funny part... I drank beer with everything!

[Kilrtoy]

If your not lifting while on atkins you are waisting your time.
You will lose more muscle than anything......

[FMluvswater]

What about plumbing? Any adverse effects on the plumbing consuming all that protein? I really wanna know.

[missboatnam1]

well i dont know if any one mentioned it, but if you have the craving for chips, eat thouse fried pork things....cant reamber what they are called...and mints are s/b ok for the sweet rush.....a friend at work does 12 days on 2 days off. he looks forward to his 2 days off so he can have some drinks!!..and normally dosent go crazy on the carbs!!
good luck!!

[Danhercules]

If ya need to booze, drink diet caffine free coke and white rum. No cocanut rum though.