I've been doing CAD for one whole week now after switching from Atkins where I had successfully lost weight. I haven't lost weight on CAD. I haven't gained weight on CAD. I feel more "normal" eating this way than I did on Atkins. I felt it was a good time for me to switch with it being right before the holidays. This gives me the opportunity to sit down at Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner and eat the same things that everyone else is eating. If I had stayed on Atkins, I could have enjoyed the turkey, ham, salad and some of the vegetables. That is not the way I want to eat for the rest of my life.

In all likelihood I will go back to pure Atkins at the first of the year to rapidly lose the rest of the weight I want to lose and then I will switch to CAD forever. If anyone wants to cluck their tongue at me because I switch plans, I will just advise them to "read the book" where it is expressly written that sometimes that is exactly what needs to be done. And besides, it's my decision to make. Just like it is going to be my decision to stick to CAD once the weight is gone. And who knows, maybe some of the weight will move after a few weeks doing CAD and I won't want to switch back.

The thing is, find what is right for you and tweak it to fit your body. Just like pantyhose, these diets (translate that into "way of eating") do not come in one size fits all regardless of what anyone would have you believe. Different things work for different people. Find some role models and read their journals to see what worked for them and what didn't and emulate it if you want but make your own decision as to whether it is for you or not. I believe I would have lost weight if I had done nothing more than give up.....dessert, or bread, or potatoes; not all at once like you do on Atkins. It's just that I lose it so much faster when I either give it all up on Atkins. Hopefully, I will lose some on CAD but to be honest, I am happy with CAD at this point in my life because I felt deprived on Atkins. I don't feel deprived of anything on CAD but to Atkins' credit, I believe I needed the discipline of Atkins in order to do CAD successfully or I might have been tempted to cheat on my CM's. I am not tempted to cheat now and I am thankful to Atkins for that.

Enough from me..........