This is for those of you who found success in June and want to continue on, or for those who have decided to join us on our journey!!

Weigh and/or measure to document where you started the month, and then low carb away, ladies!!!!

Weighing in at 152lbs this morning. Walked for 30 mins, and had 2 scrambled eggs and 3 rashers of bacon for breakfast.

I'm still blown away at how much better I feel with this way of eating, and how much easier it is to give up carbs than what I anticipated. The only thing that I have missed however, is my Margarita's........

I'm going to carry my starting weight as measured Monday morning- 138.5. AF is here and I'm feeling a little "puffy" today and having some sugar and carb cravings. I'm going to stay clean until Saturday and have a planned "cheat", then get right back going.

Looks like I am down a tiny bit more! yay! hip 39, upper hip 35, waist 29.5, bust 37.5.
Today I ate:
2 eggs, 2 bacon strips
bowl of cheerios, 2% milk
hot dog (with bun), cheese, tomatoe
1 cup coffee with milk & splenda
1 coke zero

For those of you who are considering going die hard serious this month I'm posting the STRICT DIET that I started with:

The Strict Diet:
Choose any foods from the following list

MEAT and FISH
All meats except cold cuts that contain sugars or dextrose; All fowl and game; All fish and shellfish.

DAIRY PRODUCTS
Eggs; Any natural cheese (bleu, roquefort, cheddar, cream, gouda, swiss, etc;) Cream (heavy and sour;) Cottage and Ricotta (1/2 cup limit per day;) Butter; Margarine.

FRUITS
Fresh coconut; Avocado (limit 1/2 per day;) Cantaloupe (limit 1/4 per day;) Strawberries (limit 6-8 per day;) Lime or Lemon juice for flavoring (limit 2 tsp. per day.)

VEGETABLES
Asparagus; Bean Sprouts; Broccoli; Brussels sprouts; Cabbage (limit 1 cup per day); Cauliflower; Celery Root (celeriac;) Celery; Chard; Chicory; Chinese cabbage (limit 2 cups per day;) Chives; Cucumber; Daikon (long, white radish;) Eggplant; Endive; Escarole; Fennel Bulb; Greens (Mustard, Beet, Collard etc;) Jicama; Kale; Leeks; Lettuce (any type;) Mushrooms; Okra; Olives; Parsley; Peppers (green, red, yellow, etc;) Pickles (dill, sour, limit one per day;) Pimiento; Radicchio; Radish; Rhubarb; Sauerkraut; Scallions (green onions;) Spinach; Squash (yellow or summer only;) String beans (green or yellow;) Snow peas; Soy Beans, Tomatoes (not sauce or paste); Water Chestnuts; Watercress; Zucchini.

NUTS (limit 12 per day)
Almond; Brazil; Butternut; Filbert; Hazel; Hickory; Macadamia; Pecan; Pistachio; Sunflower seeds (small handful); Walnut.

DESSERTS
Sugar-free Jell-O with NutraSweet; Custard (made with cream and artificial sweetener.)

DRINKS
Club soda; Decaffeinated coffee; Decaffeinated tea; Caffeine-free diet sodas.

CONDIMENTS and SPICES
All herbs and spices including seeds (fresh or dried); All imitation flavorings; Horseradish; Sugar-free sauces such as Hollandaise, Mayonnaise, Mustard, Ketchup; Sugar-free salad dressings; Oil and Vinegar (all types;) Worcestershire sauce.

MISCELLANEOUS
All fats; Caviar; Tofu.

FOODS TO STRICTLY AVOID
Alcohol (most hypoglycemics can tolerate one drink after two months on the diet - use discretion as individual tolerance levels vary;) Baked beans; Refried beans; Black-eyed peas (cow peas); Bananas; Lima beans; Potatoes; Corn; Dried fruits & Fruit juices; Barley; Rice; Pasta (all types;) Flour and Corn Tortillas; Tamales; Sweets of any kind; Products which contain Dextrose, Glucose, Hexitol, Lactose, Maltose, Sucrose, Honey, Fructose, Corn Syrup, Food Starch, Caffeine.

I found that the atkins website has a great 12 page list of all foods and their carb, cal, and other important info!

I calculate my carbs daily and for the last three days I have only ate 20 net carbs a day! I lost another 2 pounds and I am feeling great. Just got back from dance and feel so energized!

Excellent post Uppy!!

I bought the Atkins New Diet Revolution book and have been reading that this week. Your list pretty much sums it up, however during the induction phase he recommends you refrain from eating nuts - not sure exactly why - however I enjoy my 6 macadamia's a day and have no intention of stopping!

Hello, signing into the July thread. I haven't dropped any more pounds but have to have a suit tailored(again) that I just had tailored down two weeks ago. I'm swimming in it!

Also, I got a compliment from my BIL who said " you're looking more compact, have you lost weight?"

I'll take "compact" as a compliment!

So, Monday I start two weeks of vacation, here's to staying on track. BTW, does anyone else forget to eat or just can't face eating even when it's mealtime? The last week or so, I've actually struggled to make sure I'm getting enough calories because I completely forget about food and when I'm making lunch or dinner and it's time to eat, I can only eat a very small amount. I wonder if I should add back a few carbs more than my salads....

Yep, I'm totally not interested in eating! That sets me up for bad situations though because then I tend to eat later or not make sure what I'm grabbing is high protein. I need to work harder on making sure I have three concrete meals a day!

And "compact" sounds like the kind of compliment my hubby would give, and he would mean it in all sincerity!

Have a great vacation!! Keep water in your hand and you'll be able to stay away from the temptations.

Uppy, how long did you do the "strict" diet?

So far I'm pleased with my progress, but I haven't been able to give up my nightly glass of wine, plus my favorite salad dressing has sugar in the ingredients.

I may try the strict diet for a week to see what happens. I'm not too far off. I've been drinking my coffee with milk. I can transition to decaf over the next few days, and take it with cream instead. I can handle limiting fruit to cantaloupe and strawberries. I wonder if my grocery store has fresh coconut. That sounds yummy! I'll challenge myself to a week with no alcohol to see how that goes