Please give me some opinions on CAD! do you lose weight steadily?
 

Hello everyone,

I'm currently on Atkins and have been considering CAD. could you please give me some of your opinions and experiences on CAD.

- is it a slow weight loss
- do you find it difficult with cravings because of the reward meal
- any other pro's / con's
- example day menu

please give me some advice, I'd love to try it but fear the reward meal temptations.

any stories, info you'd like to share with me and others please do so.

I'd love to hear from people who have been following this WOE for a while and have been successful.

awaiting your replies,
cathie :rheart:

I am losing much faster on CAD then I did on Atkins. It is a slow steady weight loss that is probably averaging a pound a week. Alot of us on CAD are people who were stalled on Atkins for a long time.

I dont have any cravings on CAD as long as I do it right. I know that alot of people who dont understand what CAD is and how it works think the reward meal will cause cravings. Cad is a plan Designed for CARB ADDICTS. It is designed to make you have no cravings at all. I cant help but think people who did experience cravings did so sort of out of placebo (because they thought they would so they did) or that they didnt give it enough time to detox their system, or they did it wrong. (not the right foods at CMs) CAD works by stablizing your insulin so you shouldnt really be hungry at all. On atkins I needed breakfast, lunch, snack at least in the afternoon and dinner. On Cad, I eat 2 meals a day and dont even think about food until pretty close to reward meal.

Now if you do it wrong you WILL have cravings. CAD is actually much stricter then atkins in all but your reward meal.

Pros and cons. hmmm I feel better on CAD then I did on Atkins. I have alot more energy. I dont feel deprived of the foods I loved and missed and knowing I can eat anything I want if I just wait till the right time makes it alot easier for me to think of this as a way I can live for my whole life. Atkins was easy for me really. I actually enjoyed it, but CAD is a cake walk.

an example of a daily menu....

Yesterday I had
B coffee
L left over spare ribs , cottage cheese a pickle
RM Wendys burger, fries, greek salad and half a frosty.

another day
B coffee
L left over chicken wings, slice of cheese, pickle
RM Speghetti with meat sauce. (real pasta) Garlic bread, Big salad, 3 tablespoons Ice cream.

I too went from Atkins to CAD (no CALP back then) many years ago and lost steadily, .5 - 1 lb per week, but I am a slow looser on any diet. I then proceeded to get pregnant and gained it all back. :eek:

Finally this Jan I got serious again and started Atkins. I was going on vacation and decided to go back on CAD and still lost weight. Then I tried a few weeks on the Zone, which didn't work out for me, and I'm back on CAD.

I do either stall or gain when my TOM is here.

I do some CALP options including eating snacks if I need them.

Typical Day:

B: Coffee, 4 oz mozz cheese
or
two fried eggs with two slices bacon

L:
Usually a big salad with Ranch dressing with one of the following:
Egg salad
Chicken Salad
Seafood salad
Chicken Breast with a little cheese
Hamburger patty

D (which is my RM):
Last night I had two slices pizza and oatmeal (sugar and milk)

Usually I have some sort of meat, potatoes, low carb veggies and cereal for dessert. I try to make sure I get all my food groups, but I don't balance like CALP.

If I need a snack, I usually have a boiled egg, cheese or other type protein. But after awhile on CAD I find I don't need snacks and sometimes don't need breakfast.

As far as cravings..no after the first few days, those left. If you find you still have cravings, post your menus and we can see if something is triggering you. Also I found GTF Chromium helped with these.

One thing for me is I had to learn to slow down when I ate. It takes about 20 min for the full sign in me to kick in. If I eat fast, I still think I am hungry and keep eating. But CAD was the first time that I actually learned what full was. What a wonderful thing to be the one saying "How can you still be hungry?" instead of it being said to me :thup: .

CAD loss
 

I definitely lost steadily on CAD and found it a much easier way of eating for life.

I'm a person who can't take the idea of never eating something I like ever again. I like it much better to eat what I want once a day.

I do try to balance the RM as much as possible and I DO eat treats with the RM. Usually chocolate, as I love chocolate. Sometimes I just really want a banana. I have kids and fruit sits on my counter all day staring at me. I love fruit and miss it too much if I can't eat it at all.

I lost about 1 lb a week, average, but didn't mind the slower weight loss as I was able to enjoy life. I went to dinners with my hubby and ate like a "normal" person. (Roll and all.) I went to a big anniversay celebration, waited for my RM and enjoyed all the buffet had to offer (and didn't gain an ounce). I went to a Wedding and (same thing) enjoyed everything they had to offer (within my one hour) and didn't gain and ounce. Best of all, I didn't have to suffer from guilt feelings about "cheating" because on CAD, I'm allowed to do these things. :D

On another thought, I had one girlfriend who just couldn't do CAD because she just couldn't control her RM. She just stuffed herself silly because she needed someone to say exactly what she could and couldn't have. Needless to say, she went off of it and onto something else (weight gain).

Good luck to you.

Jeannie

slow weight loss - IT'S A GOOD THING!!!
 

Sorry about the Martha Stewart reference...

Yes the weight loss is slow, but this is a good thing since fast weight loss means fast weight gain...you just can't fool the body that way!

The reason many people give up on CAD at the beginning is because they feel old cravings sometimes, but a couple weeks down the road, the novelty of the "pig out" RM wears off, the cravings diminish, and you find yourself not wanting to finish all that rice on your plate.

I can count on about 5 lbs. a month of weight loss roughly, which means losing 60 pounds will take me about a year!

I couldn't do the atkins diet because, for me personally, any kind of denial means a train wreck somewhere down the line.

I used to be insanely ravenous before my RM at 4:00, all I did to change this was to change my RM from the afternoon meal to the noon meal and, like magic, no cravings, no hunger!

Now all I have a day is one CM and one RM, with no denial, no cravings etc.!!

...this plan is very personal, so what I'm doing may not work for you, but you can switch the RM around to suit your needs!

Good Luck!

Steve :doah:

I lose less than a pound a week. It is slow, but I am so happy with it. I really believe that this is something I can do permanently.

The down side....if there is one is that the CM's get pretty monotonous. Oh well. If that's the price to a yummy RM of food I love....I can survive monotonous. I did a liquid diet for 9 months! I know I can do this.

It's GREAT!

Tons of sample menus in my journal.

Deb

thank you all for your advice and support!
 

hi everyone,

just a quick message to say a big thank you for your replies.

I have been struggling with atkins for the last couple of months with no result but thanks to your info I am tempted to try CAD and bought the book earlier today.

Not depriving myself might be the solution, with atkins I always feel like I'm missing out on the real world and always manage to self-sabotage my efforts.

I will read through yr journals (hope that's ok) and get some daily menus and inspiration.

big hugs to you all from rainy melbourne,
cathie :rheart:

CAD vs. Atkins
 

I did CAD about 2 years ago. I loved it and did really well. I teach preschool and so there were always days when children had cake or cookies brought in for b-days etc. I would just save mine and eat it with my reward meal...eventually I got lazy or something and started to gain the weight back...I would have carbs and say ok this is my rm then would have carbs later too. I finally switched to adkins and lost again...

In oct I ate some candy and have been trying adkins ever since. I have only lost about 4 lbs! I have thought of Cad but am scared. I do like eating during the day..ie cheese eggs etc.

What do you think?Has anyone else had this problem?

I loved the having the rmeals and felt like I could do it for life. What happened? I just can't seem to budge the scale even if I am great for days!

Hi Karen:
 

First off, loved your signature.

Yes, I sort of had the same problem. I think it's all a matter of "how much do I want this." When I'm truly inspired, I feel like I can do anything. After I saw my vacation pictures at the beach last year, believe me, I was inspired to lose weight!!! :p

After 17 lbs off, I got lazy and wasn't as inspired. It was a tootsie roll here and a cookie there and then, "the heck with it."

I didn't gain any weight back, and actually continued to lose some, as I didn't go all out and just eat everything. I just didn't eat low carb.

I'm back lo-carbing now, but a little different than everyone else, since I'm pregnant at the moment. :rolleyes: But, I honestly think it's about how much do I want this. Sometimes I want cookies more. I can talk myself into anything, I swear. Right now, I really, really don't want to gain a ton during my pregnancy, so I'm trying to keep my carbs low but also get lots of good nutrition. I find I actually eat much healthier on this woe than I would if I just let myself go and eat anything.

Anyway, as to why your weight loss is stalling, check out the book CALP, if you haven't done so. It has many hints about reasons people don't lose or stop losing. Things I never would have thought about such as over the counter medications and prescription meds, diet pop, sugar subsitutes... Good info there.

Jeannie