Wellness

[BigOrangeKitty]

Has anyone ever been on the Atkins diet and how did it go? I remember I tried it many years ago and lost a good 23 pounds. I thought it was easy and fun at the time, I ate so much I was never hungry and the weight loss was steady but slow. I see there's a book called The New Atkins Made Easy. I don't have to lose very much but I'm thinking of giving this a try again. It will be a lot tastier and less expensive than something like NutriSystem.

[culebra]

Only diet I ever lose weight on. South Beach is another version of Atkins. Restricting carbs was easy.

[Mmsfoxxie]

I lost weight on it years ago quite easily. Constipating for me, though. After a while you crave more carbs, too.

[123SuzyQ123]

The 3 different times DH and I went on Atkins, we lost quite a bit, but gained it all back. Of course that was OUR fault, but I always found it tough to stay on it longer than 6 or 7 months. Once you go back to carbs, the weight comes back on. Potatoes are my favorite food in the whole world, therefore it is tough for me to stay off them for very long.

There are some Atkins shake-type drinks that I got at Wal Mart that I used as one meal replacement per day. They are quite tasty (especially the milk chocolate one).

[culebra]

In order to keep your weight off after a Atkins loss, I found you have to give up permanently potatoes, pasta, rice and sweets. I had no trouble with eliminating those foods from my diet.

[Azcowgirl]

DH lost quite a few pounds on it, but gained it all back and more, when he went back to eating carbs.

[Mmsfoxxie]

Keep in mind that no matter what diet you lose on, you will gain it back if you go back to bad eating habits. I've been on every diet there is, I think. Always gained it back doing what I love....eating too many carbs mainly in the form of sweets. Not the diets fault...mine.

[Sawn]

I have been eating low-carb for many, many years. It's the only thing that works for me. Once in awhile I allow myself a treat, because otherwise it would become too restrictive, and life's too short for that. Also, I have two glasses of wine with dinner every evening. My weight and bmi are good. Hth!

[sonnysky]

Yes, Atkins works! Getting started (for me) was hard! Everyone has different experiences, of course but the first week or so was miserable! I was craving carbs, not feeling great and hungry constantly. Atkins has a great message board and the members are so helpful and encouraging, and also offer an online weight loss tracker, and carb counter.

I learned on the forum to add broth daily in the beginning and this is a huge help! I felt much better (was dizzy and no energy) and helped to curb cravings, and less hungry.

Atkins is not intended as a "diet" but a way of eating. It has different levels, and you continue to increase carbs along the way, once on the final level you learn what your own personal daily carb max is to maintain the loss.

The beauty of the low carb WOE is that you get permanent control of cravings and appetite. For me it is an easy (once over the initial hump) way to control my weight. Other "diets" and calorie counting etc. is way to hard to sustain long term, I would lose, and slowly fall off the wagon, and the weight would creep back on. This has NOT been the case with low carb for me. I have been eating low carb and maintaining my weight loss easily for years now. HTH.

[BigOrangeKitty]

Thanks for the replies & letting me know your experiences. I haven't heard too many bad reports about this way of eating, it seems to work for everyone. The book was very informative. Sonnysky thanks for the broth tip!