Hi im 34 years old and I am trying to lose weight, im not your average lady I have 2 eight inch metals rods in my back from a car accident, i can do light excersize. but cant do alot for my disabaling injury/ i am restreained from alot of the noraml activity. I am very interested in dr atkins diet can anyone leaveme any feedback of the pros and cons?
thank you and god bless

If you go through past message on the weight loss board you will find lots of arguing back and forth about the Atkins plan.

When setting out to lose weight, it is not a matter of going on a plan for a while but changing ones eating habits permanently. So, what do you think are the major factors contributing to your weight gain? Is the problem carbohydrates? Then the Atkins plan might help (though there are a number of low-carb plans that are not as restrictive as Atkins). If the problem is just excess portions, then just cutting back might be the answer.

Check into different plans (many have websites) and see what makes sense to you and, more importantly, what you can live with for sustained periods.

Best wishes.

hi i just wanted to say good luck first of all.i have tryed the atkins plan and it worked so well for me i lost inches and weight went from a size 18-20 to a 14 in about 2and a half months but then i binged my father passed away and i didnt really care about myself or my health so i quit doing it. i am trying to get started again i am such a junkfood junkie.but i know if i can get past the first week ill be set. i had more energy i wasnt tired all the time and i was losing weight and feeling good about myself.so if you decide to do this maybe we can do it together with support and checking on one another i believe we can do it. so just let me know. oh ya by the way my blood pressure went down when i was on it.

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The Atkins diet works great if you follow the book properly. Most people do a variation of the Atkins Diet and they fail to lose weight or they regain it plus more.

The Atkins diet is restrictive the first two weeks on the diet(the induction phase). After that you can gradually increase you carb intake up to the point where you are still losing weight.

One major gripe that many people have with the Atkins diet or any low carb diet is that once you go off the diet you very rapidly regain all the weight plus more. As Dr. Atkins points out in his book that you must consider his diet as a way of life not just a temporary "diet". You must decide that you are going to eat this way for the rest of your life.

Another complaint of many Atkiners' (I just made that term up) is that it becomes boring after a while. Hence it is very important to be creative in your cooking. There are many low carb cookbooks and websites with recipes to keep it interesting. BigTex

Hi aggiefan http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/wave.gif

I personally haven't tried the Atkin's diet. Most people that I have heard talk about it did lose weight (and fast!) but also tended to gain the weight back.

I have two suggestions. One: you might want to consider water aerobics for exercise (if you aren't already) given your back situation. It's very low impact, maybe no impact if done in deep water. Two: there is a book I found to be very helpful. It's not exactly a "diet" book. It's a guide to weight loss that looks at the underlying reasons people are overweight and makes suggestions for losing weight based on that. For example, you might be overweight because of a sluggish thyroid, a toxic colon, food allergies, enzyme deficiencies, etc, etc. The underlying cause of the weight gain must be addressed in order for the diet to succeed long term. Anyway, the book is very good; it's published by Burton Goldberg and the editors of Alternative Medicine and the title is "Weight Loss An Alternative Medicine Definitive Guide." I really highly recommend it and the water aerobics!

Good luck and God Bless http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/smile.gif kvanrijn

The Best Diet is the simplest, calories in, calories out, if you have more going out that are going in you will lose weight. It never worked for me, first of all there's all that business of counting calories, you never get it right and how do you know how many you are burning?
I found success with this. I still ate as much as before, still had the same foods, lost wieght and felt great. Here's what I did, my wife weighs 90lb's (makes you sick doesn't it?)she's 57 years old and has never been heavy but is a pretty good eater, soooo, I just followed what she did and then I realized her secret, eat often, divide the amount of food you normally eat in three meals plus snacks into several small meals, DO NOT eat one large meal or lunch, in effect, nibble all day. It will jump start your metabolism and keep it going because as soon as your food is digested your refueling again. You will find that the light meal you had and hour or hour and half before dinner will greatly reduce your appetite before for that big dinner.
Sonny

i did atkins for precisely 5 weeks from jan 5th thru to feb. I had my ups and downs with it. (i can't stand green veg urg) Changing your entire mentality to think that it's carbs that are bad for u not fat is wierd. i got used to eat after 12 days or so. When youn first go on it and are eating full fat products like mayonnaise and are losing weight it really is a shock. There are immediate benfits with eating that way - your nails hair and skin will improve dramtically in a very short period of time. There are also some cons. very bad metal breath when you are in lipolysis/ketosis (where your body has switched to using ur fat for fuel) such as very bad smelling metal breath, sweat and foul smelling excretions urine and feces but to me the fact you lose so much weight whilst eating like a king/queen (be varied with ur meals and mix salads with meat and mayo and you can get some REALLY nice tasting meals that are low carb) far exceeds those cons. another problem is Atkins can affect coital relations somewhat if one person in the relationship is on Atkins and the other is not. my girlfriend told me i smelt foul numerous times lol. and also oral sex became a no no as that same foul smell permeates downstairs too apparently. But if thats not a concern for you then it's a non issue.

I came off atkins reluctantly a week and a bit ago because unlike most who partake in it i have no intentions of missing out on carbs for the rest of my life noooo sireeeee bob lol. But it's true when you come off Atkins and your body goes into the transition back to using carbs as the main source of fuel your body stutters. I train 2hrs a day with intense cardio and weights yet this didn't stop me gaining 3lbs at my last weigh in which i am peeved about. It would have been worse if not for the exercise i believe but as long as you are aware of all this stuff then atkins isfine.

You MUST drink lots of water and take potassium, calcium and prefebarely a cod liver and multi vitamin supplement daily and also inform yourself on whatever sources of supplementation you may need. On atkins Dairy products are minimal (full fat cream and certain cheeses only) and as such your diet is quite unbalanced so women especially have to take that into account and counter act this with 1000mg calcium a day.

Like someone else mentioned boredom with your food can be a problem especially if you only eat certain meats - i for example will only eat chicken, pork (sausages and bacon only) and lamb. So at first variety was a problem but as you learn you can modify and get experimentational as long as you stay within the Atkin's rules.

If you like meat and are prepared to be studious with your carb counting you will be fine on Atkins. if however you are a vegetarian or love your carbs TOO much then forget it. It's not for you.

Kbyethanxforyourtimenoreallyciao^_^

I recommend Susan Somers Diet (Somersizing). It is similar to Atkins, but you can have certain carbs.

I am on a variation of the Atkins diet. It is working great for me. I lost 25 pounds in three weeks then had to go off the diet. I found out I was pregnant so had to eat differently, I MCd and am now going back on the diet. You will find that you feel so much better on the diet.

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[This message has been edited by moderator2 (edited 02-28-2003).]