Read The New Atkins Made Easy Online
Authors: Colette Heimowitz
The New Atkins Made Easy (27 page)
â¢Â You may need to dial your daily Net Carb count up if:
 You take up a vigorous sport such as running or tennis.
 You move to a fourth-floor walk-up apartment.
 You're chasing after a toddler all day long.
Another very real possibility if you're a young woman is that you'll become pregnant. In this happy event, it's perfectly okay to continue with the Lifetime Maintenance phase of Atkins. See
page 18
for more detail.
You may find yourself occasionally in a situation where you need to back off a bit on your low-carb lifestyle for a week or so. Perhaps you're visiting your new in-laws or traveling to another country where you'll be a guest in a private home. In either case, it could be impolite to not eat much of what's put on your plate. Or maybe you're in a new job and have to spend a week in training at the corporate office with all eyes on you. The best way to deal with such a situation is to plan ahead, perhaps by cutting down on your carbs for a week or two before. Also, be sure not to use such a situation as an excuse to pig out on desserts and other problematic foods. Finally, get back in gear immediately upon your return. Some more tips:
â¢Â At buffets, comply with your Atkins lifestyle, passing up white bread, white rice, gravy made with flour, and other obviously high-carb foods.
â¢Â In lieu of juice at breakfast, ask if fruit is available.
â¢Â Go easy on alcohol, which can interfere with your food inhibitions.
â¢Â Share desserts, have a small bite only, or ask for fruit instead.
â¢Â Pack some nuts and/or Atkins bars to keep your appetite under control between meals.
â¢Â Don't bore people by talking about how you usually eat.
Say you've gained 4 pounds and want to deal with the situation before it gets any more serious. Simply pare roughly 10 grams of Net Carbs a day from your intake until you return to your goal weight. Give or take a couple of grams, here are some candidates for subtraction:
â¢Â
1
/
2
banana
â¢Â 1 cup watermelon balls
â¢Â
1
/
2
large grapefruit
â¢Â 2 carrots
â¢Â
1
/
2
baked potato
â¢Â
3
/
4
cup beets
â¢Â
1
/
2
small sweet potato
â¢Â
1
/
2
cup cooked oatmeal
â¢Â
1
/
4
cup brown rice
â¢Â 1 slice whole-grain bread
â¢Â Scant
1
/
2
cup lentils
â¢Â
3
/
4
cup shelled edamame
â¢Â
1
/
3
cup chickpeas
â¢Â 1 cup plain whole-milk yogurt
We all want to believe that once we've turned over a new leaf, the book stays open to that page. Now that you've reached your goal weight, you surely intend to stay there. But planning to do something and actually doing it aren't always the same. Let's look at some questions that frequently come up at this point in the program.
Q.
What if my carb tolerance never goes above 50 grams of Net Carbs a day?
A.
There's tremendous variation in how many carbs individuals can consume and still maintain their weight. Men have more muscle mass and therefore typically a higher metabolism, as do younger people. Hormonal issues also play a role. If you're sedentary, it's worth starting to work out. If you already exercise, increase your level of intensity and/or frequency to see if you can raise your carb tolerance level.
Q.
I've been maintaining my weight nicely for several months. Can I occasionally have some of my old faves without upsetting the applecart?
A.
Of course you can have a slice of cake at your kid's birthday party, for example, but plan for such occurrences, if possible, by cutting back on carbs for a day or two beforehand. If you find yourself constantly pushing the limits, however, there's a good risk that your occasional foray into the world of Starbucks sweetened drinks or eating a bag of chips on the way home from the supermarket could become a habit. The real risk isn't regaining a pound so much as losing the appetite control that Atkins provides.
Q.
I've found that I can eat some sugary foods without gaining weight. Can I keep eating them?
A.
Your metabolism may allow you do so without regaining weight, but as you've read in earlier chapters, added sugar is empty of real nutrients and has been implicated in the rise of obesity and diabetes. Eating such foods also displaces the nutritious vegetables and other whole foods that are relatively low in carbs. Keep eating these foods and you may find yourself on a slippery slope.
Q.
What should I do when I occasionally succumb to temptation and eat an inappropriate food?
A.
First of all, don't beat yourself up and then use that as an excuse to pig out for the rest of the day. The next day, simply return to following Phase 4 at your appropriate level of carb intake.
Q.
On a two-week vacation, I gained back almost 10 pounds eating all sorts of foods I know I shouldn't have. How do I get back on track ASAP?
A.
Being off your own turf and eating out day after day can disrupt your usual routines. The moment you get home, drop down 20 grams of Net Carbs from your usual amount. If a week at this level
doesn't do the trick, return to Phase 2 until you achieve your goal weight again.
Q.
After six months of maintaining my new weight, I fell off the wagon. How do I repair the damage?
A.
Stress at home or work, losing your job, ending a relationship, or countless other changes in your life could push you back into your old habits. First and foremost, don't beat yourself up. You know how to lose the weight and how fragile that loss is. Return to Phase 2 until you're in control of your cravings, then gradually transition through the phases until you achieve and maintain your goal weight.
That's a tough question, but one that must be asked. How can you beat the odds I mentioned in the beginning of this chapter? Take this quiz to get a handle on whether you're vulnerable to regaining those excess pounds.
1. Have you gained, lost, and regained weight in the past? | Yes ___ No ___ |
2. Were you in a hurry to lose weight so you could eat your old favorite foods? | Yes ___ No ___ |
3. Do you eat to soothe yourself when you're depressed or under stress? | Yes ___ No ___ |
4. Do you still crave sugary or starchy junk foods? | Yes ___ No ___ |
5. Do you live with someone who doesn't support your new way of eating? | Yes ___ No ___ |
6. Do you enjoy the foods you can eat on Atkins? | Yes ___ No ___ |
7. Have you transitioned through the four phases of Atkins? | Yes ___ No ___ |
8. Have you discarded habits, such as noshing in front of the TV, that contributed to your weight gain? | Yes___ No ___ |
9. Do you eat regular meals? | Yes ___ No ___ |
10. Have you established a physical fitness regimen? | Yes ___ No ___ |
If you answered yes to several of the first five questions, you could be heading for trouble. Ditto if you responded no to a few of the second five questions. This book has laid out a program that makes Atkins a sustainable way of eating. If your answers make you concerned that you may be vulnerable to regaining lost weight, review the book to renew your commitment to maintaining the new you.
This test is not meant to discourage you. Rather, I want to encourage you to make Atkins your lifestyle. In the next two chapters, we'll look at how to incorporate Atkins meals into your life whether you're at home or away, as well as explore lots of great new products that make it easier than ever to eliminate empty carbs from your meals.
Now meet Natalie L., who has done just that and gone from wearing a size 28 to a size 1 or even a 0! By changing her way of eating, she also was able to dodge her family history of diabetes.
SUCCESS STORY
ELEVEN YEARS AND GOING STRONG
VITAL STATS
Daily Net Carb intake: 60 grams
Age: 37
Height: 5'6"
Before weight: 380 pounds
After weight: 120 pounds
Lost: 260 pounds
Like all too many women, Natalie L. had been overweight since she was a teenager and had tried multiple weight-loss programs without success. And like many other mothers, her pregnancies had aggravated the problem. Being at risk for diabetes didn't help either. But all that was more than a decade ago. Today, the Grayson, Georgia, resident is full of health and energy and is less than one-third of her pre-Atkins weight. Natalie fills in the details.
Diabetes runs in my family, and I was diagnosed as prediabetic when I was seventeen. I was told to avoid sugar and other high-carb foods, but I resisted that advice. After all, my favorite foods were ice cream and fried anything. In my family a vegetable was a french fry! Both my parents are overweight and take loads of medications. When we were growing up I was always the funny, chubby one and my sister was the thin, pretty one.
In 2002, when my second son was about eight months old, I knew I had to make a change. I was desperate to finally find something that worked so that I could feel better and keep up with both my babies. I found an Atkins book in a used-book store and figured I had nothing to lose but the fat. I felt terrible for the first two weeks. Now I realize I was not getting enough salt. I'd grown up on southern cooking, washing down deep-fried food with Diet Coke! But soon I felt amazing.
My husband had said that we could have another baby if I lost 100 pounds, which was a big motivator. It took me about nine months to reach that goal, and I got pregnant shortly thereafter. I talked to my doctor about staying on Atkins during the pregnancy and he said that was fine as long as I moved beyond Induction and ate more vegetables. He was much happier with my being 100 pounds lighter and doing Atkins than eating double cheeseburgers and french fries, as I had with the last two pregnancies. This time I gained only 8 pounds, and a day after the birth of my third son, I weighed less than I did before I'd become pregnant.
I went back to Induction afterward to lose the rest of the weight. Its strictness gave me the self-control I needed. I now
wear a size 0 or 1, a major change from my old size 28! Until I lost the weight I'd never realized that I had a small frame. Today my blood sugar and blood pressure are normal, as is my cholesterol. Four years after I'd lost the weight, I was diagnosed with celiac disease. It was far easier for me than it is for most people to avoid foods with gluten in them because I was already living the Atkins lifestyle.
The control thing was huge for me. Having two babies within 21 months of each other meant that my life was all about everyone else. Atkins lets me take control of my body and my life. When I got married I was only twenty. My now ex-husband is a police officer and he used to control what we ate, when we went to the grocery store, and even what I wore. He wasn't happy with the new independent me and didn't like all the attention I was getting. And losing weight made me realize that everything that was wrong with our marriage wasn't my fault. We divorced three years ago and I remarried a year later. My new husband eats the way I do with one exception: no way is he giving up his beer!
We're both very active. He plays tennis and I work out every single day. I joined a twenty-four-hour gym about a month after I started Atkins. I would go after the kids were in bed so that no one would see my fat butt! I started walking on a treadmill and later switched to a better gym, and now I have a gym in the house. I find I do best at about 60 grams of Net Carbs a day. If I go any higher, my skin breaks out and I get headaches. I still have a carb counter on my phone. My weight varies within a 5-pound range and I can dial it down if necessary.
Today I'm a Realtor and executive assistant, a job I never could have gotten when I was obese. It's still hard to see people who can eat everything, but nothing tastes good enough to be worth becoming the “fat girl” again. Now I know that I will live to see my boys grow up.
MAKE IT EASY