How much weight did you lose? How tall are you? How long did it take? Please don't respond with your opinions on how horrible this diet is. If you look thru these threads, someone else tried to talk about this, but everyone got so hung up on their diet theories that the original topic was ignored. So, how much weight did you lose?:) ;b
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A friend of my mother has had tremendous sucess with the Atkins Diet. She is 5 '1 and weighs about 103lbs. At her highest weight she was 250 lbs. She is 49 years old and had been overweight until about 5 years ago when she started following the atkins diet. The diet did not work for me because i could not stay away from carbs and when i was avoiding them i got sick. However different things work for different people and it has obviously worked for her since she has kept the weight off for about 2 1/2 years now. Atkins has many different mailing lists and support groups online. I have also read Dr. Atkins book, it is worth reading if you want to hear about other sucess stories and also how the diet works long and short term. :) How much weight would you ideally like to lose?

~laru
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hi opal.

i lost about 30 pounds two and a half years ago on the atkins diet.

but like laru, i couldn't stay on it for long. (i'm a carb junkie!)

and as soon as i started to eat the slightest amount of carbs again ... i gained it all back and then some.

that's why the body for life plan works so well for me; i can still have a small carb with each meal AND a free day to eat whatever i want. (so far i've lost about 25 pounds on BFL. i started april 29.)

but i also know lots of people who've had amazing success with atkins.

just make sure you choose a plan that's right for YOU.

:)
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Hiya I've been on the Atkins diet since April of this year and I've lost 25 pounds. I'm finding the last few pounds a bit harder to come off so I've upped my carbs and started excercising every day (with a day of rest of course!) :) I lurve it and I was the one that tried to talk about it before ..hehe.
Oh forgot to add that I'm 5 foot 2. I started at 155 pounds and now I'm at 130. I went from a size 13/14 to a size 8/9.
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cooling_girl I'm going to start BFL! I'm just waiting for my book to come in. I had to order it and I should have it next week. I plan to start after I've read it so I'm aiming for a nice bod around christmas time. I think it will inspire me to not give into any temptations then!
Also I'm finding that on Atkins you lose the fat but you don't get toned just sitting around eating so I want some firm abs!
Are you finding it hard?
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BFL isn't a hard program at all. He really stresses the point that you won't be spending hours a day in the gym, just 20 minutes for cardio and around 45 for weights. Eating so often keeps you from getting hungry too. Plus, knowing you have a free day helps you stay away from temptation.

I guess it's like a lot of programs. The hardest part is finding the motivation to stick with it. One of the things I love about it is the fact that you see results so quickly.
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Great I can't wait to start. One of the girls at work was putting me off it by saying how hard it was. However, I've now come to realize that most Brits are a bit on the um...laid back side *I really just want to say lazy*:p
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Originally posted by Galaxygrl
cooling_girl I'm going to start BFL! I'm just waiting for my book to come in. I had to order it and I should have it next week. I plan to start after I've read it so I'm aiming for a nice bod around christmas time. I think it will inspire me to not give into any temptations then!
Also I'm finding that on Atkins you lose the fat but you don't get toned just sitting around eating so I want some firm abs!
Are you finding it hard?

hey galaxygrl!

i've been singing the praises of BFL for weeks now!!

it's THE best plan i've EVER been on, and it's not hard at all.

you eat five to six times a day ... about every two to three hours. you have one portion of a carb and one portion of a protein with each meal. you also can have two to three servings of veggies during the day.

and remember to drink a gallon of water!!

the exercise is so simple and so easy. i do the treadmill M, W and F for 20 minutes and lift weights (upper and lower) on S,T and Th between 45 minutes and an hour. (i alternative upper and lower body on those days.)

i LOVE it!! and pulcheria was right ... the free day helps with temptation and allows you to stick to the diet during the day. i love my free day and use it well!!

good luck on it, galaxygrl! you will love it.

oh. and about results. i didn't really begin to see results on the scale until about the fifth or sixth week. but right away i noticed how much better i felt and how better my clothes fit. it's such a great feeling, too!

so far i've lost 26 pounds; i'm in week three of challenge two. (i've been on BFL since april 29.)

:)
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Originally posted by cooling_grrl
you eat five to six times a day ... about every two to three hours. you have one portion of a carb and one portion of a protein with each meal.

What's considered "one portion"?

I've lost about 15 lbs on the Dallandra diet since June--basically I took the Atkins idea and modified it. I don't (try not to) eat any refined sugar or white flour or anything of that nature, and I try to limit all other carbs as much as possible (except fruits and veggies which I eat a ton of, as I'm vegetarian) and I always make sure to have my source of protein at every meal. I've been working out (cardio and weight lifting) steadily, but I've found the loss getting very slooow in the last few weeks. I'm getting worried. So I'm looking to mix up my diet routine a little. Maybe I'll work in BFL a little, although I don't know anything about it (yet).
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Dallandra, I've modified Atkins as well. I wasn't able to lose my last few pounds so I started reading this book called "Eat Youself Slim" by Montignac (Kylie follows this diet) and added carbs like fruit that had low glycimic indexes and carbs like lentils. I can even have some wholewheat pasta once a week! I'm also exercing every day except for Sunday.
opal, I think it's a good idea to go to the library and get all the low carb books you can find. There are a ton! There are ones like the Hay diet, Neanderthin, and the one I mentioned above. Find the one you like the best and stick to it! I think low carb is the way to go but not no carb forever! I think Atkins will give you a good jump start and I loved it, but you will probably lose weight on some of these other diets. I think it's all about experimenting and finding out out what your body likes to be fed. Say goodbye to overproccessed sugary foods and you'll be saying goodbye to fat forever :O
There are some yummy recipies for cakes on Atkins if you get the hang of cooking with soya flour. I'm little ms. cook now. Before I started this way of eating I could only reheat store bought frozen meals!
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Cooling_girl I can't wait to start BFL! :)
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Hey galaxygirl, have you started BFL yet?? How are you liking it?

I have been toying with doing BFL for a long time now (and I do sort of use their guidlines for balanced meals-one protein, one veggie, one carb) but haven't done it yet.
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I have the book in my possesion but I haven't started reading it yet. I'm finishing American Gods at the moment. I only have seven more chapters to go. I'm still exercising everyday though so I'm not putting it off *knowing me I would*. I will tell you about it when I start!:O
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I finished American Gods! Now I'm moving onto "Eat Yourself Slim" and BFL. I'll be starting university and I'll have access to the gym. Woohoo! It's weird now that I've lost weight I actually LIKE exercise ...weird.
I lost some more weight over the last few days! Down to 128 pounds :O
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Well, I've lost ten pounds so far. I also had a two week period where I went off it after Induction, so I'm back on and raring to go. Mark (my bf) made me jealous by losing *20* lbs so far. I gotta beat him, ya know?

I like it so far, but I'm a carb junkie. It's SO hard to avoid carbs.. but I'm trying. :)
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Congrats on the 10 lbs! ;b

It's so frustrating the way men can drop weight so quickly compared to women.

Aren't you a vegetarian Julie? I think I remember reading some posts of yours about being one. (Maybe I'm wrong.) Are you having a hard time finding foods high in protein? I am doing Body for Life and I think that is hard, and I get to eat carbs. Let me know what you are eating. I get so sick of cottage cheese and eggs!
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Nope. I tried the vegetarian thing (thinking I'd lose weight) and ended up realizing that I like chicken. :)

Yeah! Boys are silly that way :p . But he also has been going to the gym, so that's probably part of it as well. I found a belly dancing video that I like, so I'm going to try to do that!
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Honeslty guys...I've heard many bad things abouyt continued use of the Atkins diet. And that's the draw back, if you stop it you gain the weight right back. Cutting out carbs over the long term is very bad for your body.

On the other hand the BFL plan is a great plan and it works. Id' go with that instead of Atkins.
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I don't think Atkins is safe long term either, but I successfully switched from Atkins to introducing lots of the healthier carbs and haven't gained a pound. I also started exercising so that's the key.
I actually stalled on Atkins and introducing carbs helped me lose. On Atkins I went from about 155 pounds to 132 pounds.
I stalled around 132 and since introducing carbs and exercise I'm down to 118 and feel much more energetic and healthy.
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that's great, but most people aren't like you..they take the plan for what it is and as soon as they get to where they want to be, the carbs get introduced back in and the weight comes back.

Good job on your modifications. :)
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Of course you are going to gain back the weight if you go back to your old eating habits. That happens on any diet, not just Atkins. The Atkins Plan has so much misinformation surrounding it that it is a wonder anyone actually does it. If I listened to the people in my office I would think doing Atkins would cause my hair to fall out and my kidneys to turn into stone. LOL

I lost 40 on Atkins about 2 years ago. I gained it back because I didn't stick the plan. I got lazy stopped counting carbs and started eating donuts, fried rice and pasta on a daily basis. When you stick to eating a balanced amount of "healthy carbs?(wheat bread, fruit, brown rice, etc) you will not put the excess weight back on.

The major problem with people stopping Atkins when they have reached their goal weight is that many do not follow the maintenance part of the plan. Once you get to your goal weight, you starting adding more carbs back into your diet (like 5 grams more a week) until you stop losing weight. When you stop losing or actually gain, then you know what your limit is. So you know what your maximum daily carb intake is to maintain your ideal weight. Sure you can splurge every now and then by eating something you normally don't have, but that should be the case in any healthy lifestyle. If you go over board a few days, go back on induction (20 grams a day) and get back down to where you want to be and then repeat the process of adding carbs back in until you hit your limit. Atkins is not a really a "diet", it is a way of life. If you lose 50lbs and then start eating the way you used to when you were overweight, it's not Atkins fault if you put the weight back on. You have to change your eating habits for life. Or you will battle weight forever. This was a hard lesson for me. I am going to stick to it this time and keep up the maintenance plan when I reach my goal.

For anyone here doing low carb I implore you to visit atkinsfriends.com (http://www.atkinsfriends.com) It has been a great resource to me.
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I guess my point was that with the Atkins diet it's very hard to stick to it. on the other hand, a diet low in fat and carbs will be a bit easier to stick to. At least I feel

I've been readin alot on this and it seems that carbs are the main reason for fat gain. So keeping carbs low, but not cutting themout would be the best plan.
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