Low Carbers Only

delilah47

After a few weeks, I could have killed for bread. No cravings for sweets, but longed for a nice crusty dinner roll or fresh-out-of-the-oven bread of any kind. Yum.

LReneeWalker

I know all about Atkins. I know all about 17 day diet. I have also been studying other low carb plans this week. I also know that on ANY "diet", if you dont follow it you wont lose weight. So if I have one piece of candy or fruit or whatever then I know I am sabotaging myself. My hubby is also aware. But I also know alot about diabetes, heart disease, and all those nasty things that go along with the two. And I know low carb is the BEST way to treat both. So we are doing this for our health. I am thinking of asking the doctor for a print out of my blood test results so I can prove to those who dont believe this. Stay tuned....

ajelove

My boss lost 15 lbs of vanity weight in 2 months doing atkins and weight training. My father lost 60 lbs doing the original south beach diet and martial arts twice a week

Edit: I also ate carbs only on sunday for 3 months and lost a ridiculous amount. Wouldn't recommend that, though.

LReneeWalker

Hubby couldnt hack it... but I lost 5.8 lbs on Atkins!

mom2lakenjj

Bump to read later

wftiger

I don't "Atkins" level low carb it but I get pretty close. I am at 75 net carbs per day all of which come from fruit and veggies (except for an occasional sneak of dark choco or a corn tortilla) . I have lost 90+ in less than 7 months (hoping to break 100 by the 7 month mark). I could not come up with one bad thing if I tried. I feel great, have tons of energy (more than likely because I am almost 100 lbs lighter) and it really isn't a hardship. Yes, I still want a cupcake some days but I suck it up and deal. I am in a better place and not going back.

I highly recommend it. Stay with lean proteins and eat a bunch of low carb veggies to keep healthy and take multivitamins.

** I also just had my blood work redone and my HDL is higher (probably from the exercise) and my LDL is unchanged. So those naysayers that say it will cause your lipids to go up are incorrect. BTW - You want a high HDL in case you didn't know that. :-)

Cuna77

Bump

LReneeWalker

My blood sugars are doing awsome on this diet! I love the Atkins way. Oh, and I dont have to pee on any sticks... those arent even accurate. There are other ways to tell. My doc highly recommends this way of life for diabetics. So, for all the naysayers who I asked NOT to comment.... yall are wrong!

TeresaJill

You're probably getting the message already, but Atkins is really hard to stick with. I remember once sitting on my kitchen floor crying in frustration because I didn't want meat & dairy and didn't have any other choices. The awesome thing about low carb dieting is that the quick and consistent weight loss can be really motivating.

I'm a fan of the Lean for Life book which is also used at the Lindora clinics. This a low carb ketogenic diet that allows you to eat certain fruit and veggies and still lose weight. Every few weeks you alter your diet to add the carbs back in slowly then go go back to the low carb plan. One thing that sets this book apart from most others is that it deals with the issues in your mind. There are daily readings and exercises to help you understand how you got here and how to think differently. It's a good motivator.

Personally, I can only do low carb for a few weeks at a time. I'd recommend starting out low carb and committing to stick with it for 6 weeks then deciding to stay with low carb or move over to the more standard weight loss plan here on myfitness pal.

To conquer that tough transition period into a ketogenic state, I'd recommend doing as much exercise as possible until you cross over. It makes the period of cravings and lethargy much shorter.

Good Luck!

Prahasaurus

I highly, highly recommend a low carb diet. Not necessarily Atkins per se, but low carb. Just study up and pick and choose what makes sense for you or your husband. My guess is that by eliminating (or dramatically reducing) just a handful of food/drinks (no more processed foods, no more soft drinks or sugary beverages, no bread, no pasta, no white rice, no beer), you will get fantastic results.

I've lost 40 pounds and I feel fantastic. Huge energy boost. And I don't go hungry.

You'll need to exercise a bit, too. Nothing strenuous. Start with more walks.

Good luck.

Dauntlessness

I know someone at my gym who went on a lower carb diet (not a no carb diet) and lost over 120lbs. She basically cut her carbs in half and tried not to eat them at night. Lower carbs, a balanced diet and exercise is what worked for her. She is tiny now, like a size 4-6 when she was a size 22 before. Just amazing.

You would figure I would use my own advice but I have also had great results with eating low carb dinners. I think I just slipped into old habits and never returned to doing it. I think I might have try that again.
I am not a big fan of the "all or nothing" attitude of adkins though. I just don't think that cutting out any food group is healthy. I do however think cutting them down to reasonable portions is a great idea.

SeasideOasis

Lower Carb - Ok. :ohwell:
Atkins Diet - Not a Fan!! :explode:

While I did not do the diet, my mother did. While you don't want to hear the 'bads' you can't really look at just one side when you are talking VERY SERIOUSLY about the health implementations. My mother did Adkins, sure she lost weight, but when she want to a more normal/sustainable diet, she gained it all back and then some.

If you chose to definitely do this diet with your Hubby, make sure you schedule frequent doctors visits to get things like your cholesterol (among other things) checked out. My mother had problems with that, as also problems with her heart due to the higher fat amounts that you take in during this diet.

It is in my personal opinion that people do not consult doctors as much as they should when making a drastic change in their diets. No matter the diet, we are dealing with the well being of our bodies and there aren't any 'do overs' if we really screw something up.

Lipodestroyer

I have tried every diet on the planet it seems like. I have done HMR, Weight Watchers, Nutrisystem, among others. I have found through personal trial and error that the low-carb lifestyle works for me. The weight loss you see in my signature is for two weeks worth as of this posting. I have a lot more energy, my hunger is down, and I feel great. I'm going to go to the doctor in a couple of weeks to have my blood drawn but I've been a lucky fat guy as far as not suffering from high cholesterol or diabetes, not even close. Don't listen to these folks that say once you come off you'll gain it all back. The people that do that go from atkins induction level carbs to eating regularly again and fail to go through the transitions. Some of my friends are examples of that. They hit their target and go back to what they were doing and balloon right back up. Keep in mind I am not staying below 20g/day. I set my sights at <40g/day and have noticed tremendous progress. My bane is sweet baked goods so I have a friend of mine who has a custom cake business baking me custom deserts with no more than 6g/serving of carbs. As a sidenote the Cheesecake Factory sells a cheesecake with 6g/slice if you don't feel like making any yourself or if you don't know a bakery wizard of your own. Good luck to you and press forward!

LReneeWalker

I have tried every diet on the planet it seems like. I have done HMR, Weight Watchers, Nutrisystem, among others. I have found through personal trial and error that the low-carb lifestyle works for me. The weight loss you see in my signature is for two weeks worth as of this posting. I have a lot more energy, my hunger is down, and I feel great. I'm going to go to the doctor in a couple of weeks to have my blood drawn but I've been a lucky fat guy as far as not suffering from high cholesterol or diabetes, not even close. Don't listen to these folks that say once you come off you'll gain it all back. The people that do that go from atkins induction level carbs to eating regularly again and fail to go through the transitions. Some of my friends are examples of that. They hit their target and go back to what they were doing and balloon right back up. Keep in mind I am not staying below 20g/day. I set my sights at <40g/day and have noticed tremendous progress. My bane is sweet baked goods so I have a friend of mine who has a custom cake business baking me custom deserts with no more than 6g/serving of carbs. As a sidenote the Cheesecake Factory sells a cheesecake with 6g/slice if you don't feel like making any yourself or if you don't know a bakery wizard of your own. Good luck to you and press forward!

Thanks! I am sure if I do "go off it" I will gain it back. But that is with any diet. I dont plan to go off it. I plan to do each phase and learn how to eat for ME!

Runninginafatsuit

No offense to most of you who are against Atkins, but did any of you read the book? It seems that a lot of people think it's a "no carb" diet, when that's not at all what it is. Please read the book and get educated before condemning something you know nothing about.

FYI, if your friend or whoever, just ate meat and cheese while doing Atkins then they were not doing Atkins, they created their own diet. This is why Atkins has a bad rap because people claim they are doing it but are NOT.

TXgirlMandy

In college, I lost 40 lbs on the South Beach Diet. I kept it off for 5 years until I had my first child. I don't know if I would consider it a low-carb diet. The first few weeks are basically no carb and then you reintroduce whole grains, fruits, etc in moderation. I really, truly feel like the SBD taught me how to eat healthy for the first time in my life. Using the basic knowledge I learned from SBD, I was able to keep the weight off without actually counting calories, carbs, proteins, etc. I had 2 children in 2 years and I am looking to lose 20 lbs now that we are done having kids. I am so grateful that I did do the SBD before. I know I have a lot less weight to lose now because of it and I feel more confident that I can do it and keep it off because of my success with the SBD.

ETA: I am 5'1" and on SBD I went from almost 140 to around 100 in less than a year.

terraskye

Bumped to read later as I have to low carb for health now

supamommax3

not sure if anyone has mentioned this but have you looked into The Insulin Resistance Diet - it is balancing carbs and protein and making sensible carb choices . I am not doing it as a fad diet but am using it to change my eating for life , it is really easy to understand and work with

abigailmariecs

It works, but it doesn't stay off if you don't stick to it. He should get his cholesterol checked first, because it can cause cholesterol to raise. As long as his cholesterol is fine, then he should go for it. His energy level is going to be really low for the first couple of weeks (if he is strict about Atkins).

My mother and I both did this diet. We both lost a ton of weight. She has managed to keep it all off but only by sticking to it and tracking everything so she knows what she has taken in carb wise. I was not so lucky...I fell off the wagon so to speak about a year after I had started it and never really got back to it. This time around I am focusing less on low carb and more on overall diet to help build my awareness of nutrition so I can stay on track.

I would have to second the zero energy part. the first day was a breeze and I did not understand why people were warning me about being weak. By day two I knew exactly what they were taking about. For this reason if he is working I would suggest he start it on a Friday because day two and three were the worst days by day four while I still felt very weak I noticed that it was starting to level off a little.

bluebird321

I've been averaging about 70 or under in regards to carbs for about 15 months and it has worked out well for me.