I really think its hard for most people to stay on the Atkins diet indefinitely though. Everyone I know who stopped gained the weight back as fast as they lost it.

The formula to lose weight is really a simple one. It doesn't matter so much what you eat but that you just burn more calories than you consume every day. The best way to burn calories is working out in one way or another and cut your meal portions in half. I tried the gym routine and really got sick of the sweat stench in those places. The best thing that worked for me was doing long walks and runs everyday. I was able to drop 30 lbs by doing 6 miles per day.

If you want to lose weight very fast buy a wrestlers sweat suit and run the stairs in a high rise building.

Good luck Laura, a good site for support and information is www.atkinsfriends.com

neewwman, Diet Rite is made with sucralose, not aspartame. If you can't have aspartame, you can definately have Diet Rite. I actually like Diet Rite better than Diet Coke, I just like Diet Vanilla Coke better than either. :)

Sucralose is made from sugar (just turned into a non-digestible form that does not have calories or effect blood glucose levels. Look for items made with sucralose (many have a logo on the front with sucralose's brand name, Splenda on the front).

Best price on Atkins Advantage Bars - $1.79 at Trader Joes. Occassionally, someone might have a better sale price but that's TJ's everyday price. They also have the shakes and other low carb stuff ...

Best of luck, Laura!

Oh, and as for the milk. Keep your eyes peeled at your local Wal-Mart. LeCarb, the makers of LeCarb low-carb ice cream, have released a low-carb dairy drink that people say tastes very much like regular milk. It's called LeCarb Dairy Drink or something like that. It's very new. In fact, I believe it IS regular milk with the lactose (sugar) removed and replaced with a carb free sweetener of some sort, maybe sucralose? I don't remember for sure. We haven't gotten it here, yet, but it's in some supermarkets and Wal-Marts in my state, so hopefully it will be here very, very soon!

Thanks!


I tried the low fat, light, type of diet where I went to the gym 3 to 5 times a week, but I have multiple injuries. I have 6 buldging disks and every disk in my neck is degenerated. I had broke my foot and now have a screw in there. Also had knee surgery and shoulder surgery. I'm falling apart I tell ya lol. My point is, exercise is very hard for me. I can walk a few miles a day when I get time and if the weather cooperates. I just mowed the grass and that is a chore in itself. But the Atkins is really going to help me because if I can get just 10 or 20 pounds off and gradually take some weight off then I will and can be more active. Walking 2 miles about kills me. People who haven't had a back or neck injury and someone that doesn't have a weight problem wouldn't know what this is like. Just walking through the grocery store hurts me by the time it is over. I've kept the weight off that I lost from going to the gym during the winter but once I level out like this then the pressure starts again on my disks. I'm not just doing it for looks, I'm mainly doing it for pain control.

:thumbsup

Pure De-Lite bars as soooo much better than the Advantage bars. Atkins has wonderful peanut butter cups, but the Pure De-Lite bars are alot better than Atkins' other products. They sell the Pure De-Lite bars at my local Wal-Mart in boxes of 6 for $5.17! Woohoo! I recommend the chocolate caramel truffle bars.

Laura - I thought giving up milk would be really tough too. I used to drink at least a half gallon a day. But I don't miss it all.

That would be wonderful! I really hate our Walmart here but sometimes you just HAVE to go there for certain products that no one else seems to carry. My brother goes to walmart to get all of his lowcarb goodies. He told me that they carry all kinds of Atkins things and at a lower cost than anyone, I'm gonna have to check it out. Low carb milk, hmmm, well I like soy milk too, so maybe it will be like that. Here's to hoping. :)

If you go to the atkinsfriends.com site and read forums you see people who kept off the weight for years. The thing is its a way of life, you have to find other things to give you pleasure in life besides food. If you dont you will fail because the mind starts fucking with you if it thinks its being deprived.

I know how you feel, Laura. I have a bad knee (slipped kneecap) and a hernia so I have to do low-impact stuff. I find that my favorite thing is my recumbant exercise bike. I love to watch TV while I exercise, not for the entertainment value, but because seeing the thin, gorgeous girls on TV reminds me that I never want to be BIG again. :) The recumbent bike is excellent for people with back and knee problems since the pedals are in front of you instead of under you. I ordered my bike for like $120 at walmart.com! EXCELLENT investment! And if you set the tension high, you can flatten your tummy while you work out, too. :thumbsup

$1.74 at GNC, and with the 20% off that I get, it comes out to about $1.57

Beat that.

Also, the make-it-yourself shakes are NASTY. But the pre-made ones rock. I have a cafe au lait or strawberry for breakfast in the morning, and the French vanilla and the chocolate decadence are up there, too. YUMMY stuff.

LOL, my husband goes crazy for the Cafe Au Lait shakes. They're pretty expensive at $9.99 for four, but worth it.

Also, the shake mixes taste alot better if you use half water/half heavy cream instead of all water.

I prefer to just make my own shakes from heavy cream and Davinci syrup, though. Thin them down with a little water and you've got some yummy goodness there. :)

I should be ok. I drink water and tea all the time. Guess I'll drink decaffinated tea in the summer and decaf coffee in the winter heh.


Oh by the way....my brother had went to his doc right before he started, he was having bad headaches and about to pass out. His blood pressure was super high and his cholesterol was high too. He just went last week for a check up and his blood pressure was way down, his cholesterol was down but not way down. Doc wanted to put him on something for it but my brother wants to keep at the diet because he knows others have had success with lowering their cholesterol. But that's a good sign. :)

Congrats!

Yesterday was our 14 days too. I lost 7lbs and hubby 5lbs. Still haven?t gotten use to this theory (diet) but what the hell!

Made me get out and start exercising again. Tomorrow, I am buying new running shoes that will be actually used for the purpose they were designed for!!!

:)

Aspartame is baaaaad.

Hey if he's making the site heavy2healthy.com it must be healthy!! :winkwink:

Congrats Tony!!!

I am thinking of using the plan to drop some weight for summer and I think you just sealed the deal.

The sense of accomplishment when you make a physique transformation is unparallel.

Once you start hitting goals and can physically see the changes it makes your entire life a much more happy place to live in.

I had to do the opposite...I went from 165 to 205 in 12 months.

Best of luck to you and your wife

That's a good deal but I avoid GNC like the plague. They generally rip you off unless you buy bulk ("Buy 1 at 300% Markup & Get Another For Half Price!") and join their clubs. Last time I checked, they had a decent price but you had to buy a whole case. I usually buy about ten at a time, but mix up all the flavors.

First off I want to say "CONGRATS" to ya also Tony.

A few months back, I was one of those major critics of the Atkins diet. I thought it was the stupidest thing I'd ever heard of. What do you mean stop all veggies, eat nothing but meat and high fat and you'll lose lots of weight easily. But, that's typical from someone who truly didn't know what the Atkins diet really was!

Well, 2 1/2 months later on this diet, and 32 pounds lighter, I can say the reasons for my criticisms were non-founded.

First of all, not EVERY diet works for EVERY person. You have to decide what works for you, and what is best for you.

You don't give up all veggies..you just become a bit more particular in what veggies you eat..like stated before..stay away from the starchy stuff. I eat broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, green beans, etc. I'm actually eating HEALTHIER veggies this way.

You also do NOT have to give up aspertame. If you like your diet coke and you are losing weight while drinking diet coke..DRINK YOUR DIET COKE and enjoy it! :glugglug Aspertame can stall some while it doesn't stall others. I drink diet coke.

If you can get or don't like diet rite and the others listed, DaVinci syrups are available, surgar free, made from splenda..combine with club soda with all their different flavors (including cola), and they are FANTASTIC!

My blood sugar levels are back to normal (I'm type 2 diabetic). My cholesterol has improved (on both counts).

Losing weight has actually ALLOWED me to work out. I'm not carrying as much fat so I'm able to work out more and enjoy it more.

Just a few notions from a fellow that used to think Atkins was idiotic. If I needed any other proof, my best friends were in France in the 3 months I was on the diet. I told them NOTHING about it in our correspondence. When I saw them 3 weeks ago, they said I looked FANTASTIC!

Thank you Dr. Atkins!


(Dang typos!)

What exactly is L-carnatine made of/for?
Thanks!

Good info... maybe you should start up a low/no carb recipe thread lol. I'd read it.

Thanksgiving last year I saw a picture of myself and about had a heart attack. Couldn't believe how much weight I gained. I tipped the scale at 265.

I started the Adkins low/no carb diet and got down to 235 by the first of April.

Then I met my griflriend and started eating out again, and doing the couch munching movie sessions.. Needless to say I'm back up to 245, but at least now I get my dick sucked.

It's back to the diet for me ;)))

Bex, studies have shown that for people who are very obese, losing weight that fast is actually healthier than remaining at such a high weight for a long period of time. Every month that you're overweight increases your risk of heart disease, diabetes and all sorts of other yucky health problems.

Also, the New England Journal of Medicine has (FINALLY!) published some studies (two I think) that show that the Atkins diet is better at lowering bad cholesterol than the low-fat diets that are supposed to be so good for you. This was on CNN a few weeks ago.

I hope that some of the people who think this diet is unhealthy will take the time to really read up on the subject because it is amazing to me the number of people who have lowered their cholesterol, helped their diabetes and lost weight with no health problems on this diet. It truly is a very healthy diet for just about anyone. Although it isn't recommended for people with kidney disease because people with kidney disease have problems with all the protein. However studies have shown it does NOT CAUSE kidney disease as critics one thought it might, years ago.

Oops, I misspelled L-carnitine. Anyway, this is the definition of L-carnitine:

L-Carnitine is not an amino acid in the strict sense (it is not used as a neurotransmitter or in protein synthesis), however L-Carnitine bears many resemblances to amino acids and is usually grouped under this heading. L-Carnitine (the "L" refers to its chemical polarity) is used by the body to transport long chain fatty acids to the mitochondria in your cells, where they are burned for energy. Since this fat burning is such a major source of muscular energy, deficiencies in L-Carnitine are manifested as low energy levels and muscular weakness. L-Carnitine deficiencies can also appear as mental confusion or cloudiness, angina (heart pain) and weight gain.

So you see how it could aid in weight loss! :) L-carnitine deficiencies can cause weight gain, and also it is necessary in the body's fat burning process. Too little of it, and weight loss can slow or stall altogether.

Starting at 500 mg. per day is a good idea. Then slowly increase it if needed until your weight loss picks up again. Some people need up to 8000 mg. per day, which can get quite expensive. The body can produce it's own L-carnitine if it has the right vitamins and minerals it needs to do so (B1, B6, C, and iron) and it is also found in meats, but for those with a considerable amount of weight to lose, often their bodies just can't produce enough to meet the demand, even with heavy vitamin supplementation, so the L-carnitine can help so much.

Good point :thumbsup

Good for you, keep it up and you'll live a lot longer and healthier! :)

Centurion - good post and congrats on the weight loss. The only thing I disagee with you on is aspartame. That stuff is poison.

Edit: MissWetPanties (great nick) beat me to the l-carnitine definition

Everybody who loves diet drinks other than Diet Rite and Diet RC should e-mail, write to or call the company that makes their favorite diet beverage and DEMAND that sucralose be used instead of aspartame. It tastes MUCH better than aspartame and it's so much better for you, too.

Also, there is a petition to make liquid sucralose available to the general public. It is currently only available to corporations, and the granulated version which IS available to the public is "bulked up" using filler material that adds some minor calories/carbs to it. The liquid version tastes better (the fillers in the dry version do give it a teeny bit of an aftertaste) and has NO CARBS at all!

The company that makes it insists that they know there is a demand for the liquid version but claim it is not enough of a demand for them to make it available to the public, so help show them it is wanted! Sign the petition at http://www.petitiononline.com/Splenda1/ and show them you want a healthier alternative to aspartame :)

That's like every other diet program out there....people fatten up because of their lifestyles (okay, there will be the occasional people who just have bad genetics but for the most part it's poor diet and lack of activity). If you go on a diet...any diet...lose the weight then return to your old habits....of course you're going to gain the weight back.

It's all about changing your lifestyle....programs like Atkins I like because the results are noticably faster but it takes a real commitment to stay on a healthier living regiment after the weight loss is gone.

The only reason why 'conservative' diet programs supposedly let you keep the weight off is they maintain a strict rule of order with you while you're on the diet...you get brainwashed into their forms of living, eating the foods conveniently produced by their factories and making you feel like crap if you don't follow their guidelines.

I personally am an Atkins fan because there's freedom of choice...sure during the induction stages it's a real pain but afterwards there's a lot less carb counting and just more being more concious of what goes in your mouth.

I swear by Splenda myself. I've been using it for about a year and it's just like sugar, it's made from it. You can replace sugar in recipes with it even. I mostly use it for my iced tea though. I can't stand diet drinks or equal, nasty stuff, bad aftertaste.

Thank you M.W.P.! That really was very insightfull and helpful information! I'm definitely going to check it out!:thumbsup

Thanks..and what can I say? "One man's garbage..etc etc"
I remember someone else telling me when I was starting the diet that I didn't think I could survive without my diet coke. He wrote and said he had lost x number of pounds and drank diet coke all the time.

We do have to remember that while we all have pretty much the same needs, our metabolism can really differ from person to person.

As far as it being actual "poison" I dunno the facts there. I guess we'll have to ask some Canadian white rats about that.:)

For my birthday, my friends made me cheesecake with splenda! It was really GREAT! YUM!:thumbsup

Drop the Atkins, keep the exercise. You'll lose weight and be healthier in the long run. Don't believe me, ask the experts who don't get paid millions to do their 'research'.

Sorry to rain on this, I have a relative who had her stomach stapled and she's lost 90+ lbs at it, I know what severe obesity can do. And I know too many people who say Atkins as bullshit to take it very seriously. Plus I'd die without carbs.

Damn..after such an insightfull, fact filled post like yours, what choice does a person have?

It's amazing the way people argue for or against something.

"Don't believe me, ask the experts who don't get paid millions to do their 'research'"

Oh..you mean the BAD experts eh?

Dang Big Universities & Government studies and their agenda to push splenda on the masses!!

First off Atkins is not a no carb diet , people who want to say negative things about Atkins. Do me a favor buy the book ,read it and then make comments so you know what you are talking about. People saying its the no carb eat bacon and eggs all day ,make me crazy. I eat more veggies on Atkins then I have eaten my whole life.

For people who can't do regular aerobic excercise you NEED to try water aerobics.

My water aerobics instructor says you get a better workout in the water than on land because of the resistance of the water.. plus.. you have no impact on your bones and joints.

it's awesome! it's fun, and you don't sweat like a pig cuz your in the cool water. a 50min aerobic water workout 3-5 times a week is really good for shedding those pounds.

Congrats on your personal goals!

Some folks have said you really have to follow the Atkins diet to the letter and not go off and deviate thinking "more is better". Some have had gout problems as a result of staying to long on the high protein low carb. The clearly held to this regime past the recommended time of re-introducing carbs back into the diet.

Anyhoo, keep us informed! Congrats!

Congrats... I don't know how you can do it. All I eat are carbs and a TON of them.:helpme