Hello all!

I like these little smiley things. Wiggle..heehee. NEways, how are you all doing! I started doing the Atkins diet over the summer when I needed to lose some weight. As you can see from my stats. I've been having a little trouble staying at my goal weight. I'm actually under right now! It's been hard to know how to gain weight while still staying on the diet. I've tried to up my carbs a bit, but I just end up feeling like I'm cheating. Anyone have any advice on that?
I'm a music theater major, so that puts on the pressure to be really thin. There are times when I look in the mirror in dance and really like what I see, but I know it's not really healthy. So any advice/suggestions on how to stay on the plan and gain weight in a healthy way would be great. Thanks!

Peace out,
Sophie

Hi Sophie,
Congratulations on reaching your goal!
How about writing up your story for our "Success Stories" forum?
Many of us will be inspired if you do.
As to your problem with losing more weight than you want (AAARRGH - I'm eaten up with jealousy! ), have you had a reread of the Atkins book? I'm sure he'll have something in the maintenance section that will help. Otherwise, you could go tp the Atkins website www.atkinscenter.com and seek help there.
Nice to meet you Sophie!

Rosebud

Greetings Sophie,

I agree that your problem is one that I wish I had - but then again a gym is nothing more than a place where fat people and skinny people go to sit around and admire each other.

What's your body fat percentage? If it's too low, and if getting it into the proper range would be unacceptable in your profession, then you might end up being faced with the unenviable choice of choosing between health and profession - or finding some type of acceptable compromise between the two.

Are you upping your carbs with good food - mostly fruits, nuts and veggies? If so, then just keep telling yourself that you are NOT cheating - because you aren't! If you are upping your carbs with sugar and starches, then you ARE cheating and doing it wrong.

HTH

Hi, Sabazel! Welcome :wave! Yes, our smilies dance -- it is nice

Congratulations on wanting to try and maintain a goal weight and not keep losing -- theater people can be under pressure to be underweight.

I think wbahn's advice is very sound -- add back the good carbs, not the bad ones. Adding nuts, too, perhaps? That adds both carbs and fats and protein.

Atkins suggests you add back 5 grams of carb a week (i.e., going from 20 to 25 carbs a day for one week, then 30, then 35) until you stop losing and that that is your best carb amount. So that's one thing to try.

You might also want to look into Schwartzbein, which has a chart that gives suggested amounts of carbs -- per meal -- depending on your weight/fitness level and amount of activity. If you're dancing, you'll need more carbs than the rest of us.

I hope you'll keep us posted on how you do -- I'm sure there are others who'll be interested in seeing how you solve this.