Switching from a lowish, low glycemic index plan to Atkins will not produce the big weight loss that those who are are starting low carb for the first time experience or those who have switched from High carb weight gaining situations.

In part you have already started the metabolic adjustment. It is not really possible to lose more than a pound or two of fat a week in any weight reduction programme. A lot of the Induction weight loss reported is water. What you should be looking for is permanent weight and size reduction but also increase in muscle tone. Muscle weighs more than fat so you can sometimes not lose a pound but lose fat, gain muscle and also lose inches.

Atkins recommends that for a two week period you reduce carbohydrates to less than 20 carb grams a day. It is not the case that the less carbs the more weight you will lose. That means that 10 carbs is not "better" than 20. The <30 carbs that Protein power recommends is not necessarily "worse" than 20.

20 is the level that experience has suggested is the bar under which virtually everybody will reach Ketosis after a few days. It is a level that after about a week the craving for carbohydrate or the sweet tooth has just about ceased as far as the body is concerned. Takes a while longer for you head to catch up with the idea.

You will lose weight on most diets be they low carb, low fat, or low calorie. The problem is what happens when you stop. The weight returns. True Low carbing works because the change of eating habits are permanent, you eat enough food, you are not hungry and the learning process of finding the carb level that you can maintain for life once you reach your target weight (and you will reach it) is all part of the programme.

Low carb eating, Atkins or whatever, strikes at the fundamental metabolic truths of weight gain in a way that calorific theory dosen't. It explains why some people get fat and others do not and yet they eat the same things. This truth is what should convince you.

The following is undeniably true:

Carbohydrate is converted by the body into a sugar in the blood :glucose. Increased blood sugar levels in turn raise the insulin level. Insulin is the hormaone that controls the sugar level. Some of the blood sugar the insulin stores as Glycogen in the Liver and in muscle. This is the store of energy for the body. Too much carbohydrate and we have too much Insulin. Insulin then converts the excess glucose into tryglceride - a form of fat. It is stored around the body in all the places you don't want!

The problem we have is that each individual has a different or has developed its own metabolic process and sensitivity to Insulin. Your thin friend (we do have them) who eats carbs as if they we going out of fashion and stays thin more than likely has a reduced sensitivity than you. In some people such as Type II diabetics the Insulin mechanism has got so much out of control that the body is really suffering and blood sugar is totally out of balance. Medication has to be given to restore the balance or they have to lower their sugar/glucose intake. They are forced to go low carb.

There is no trick or magic formula to Atkins,PP,CAD or any of the low carb plans. There strength is in the greater effectiveness of the weight loss process and a range of healthy, non processed foods to sustain you for life that they promote.

Although I started the "Atkins" diet. I no longer refer to myself as on it. It is just the name of a Dr. who was the first to lay out some of the metabolic facts of life for me. Dr. Eades then gave a more scientific input on the benefit of protein to add to what I now knew about the problems with high Carbohydrate.

From then on it was up to me. Plus a little help from my friends on this forum. They have encyclopedic knowledge and have all been there done that and got the tee shrt before me.