I began Atkins Feb 16 and it's going really well. I have a question for anyone who has reached thier goal weight and moved on. Did you continue the LC lifestyle or move to a regular healthy diet? I only ask this because I've thought about it quite a bit and I can't see myself not eating pizza, pasta, bread or having some OJ or milk now and then. Any input on what you did and how it worked out would be appreciated. Thanks

Well, I haven't moved on to maintenance yet, but I do have a plan for it. I am not leaving lc-for me it is a regular healthy diet. I do plan on having one night a week where I will be able to eat anything I want (except just plain sugar!). Some people might be able to do more, but I am pretty carb sensitive. You might want to check out CAD (Carbohydrate's Addict Diet) which allows you a reward meal once a day. That might be a good maintenance option for you.

Evenflow, this is a question I would also like to know. I know that it will be difficult for me to go back to eating carbs (my body has become quite carb sensitive since I started Atkins) and it will be a painful process, but I am hoping that done slowly and in moderation I will be able to eat a more 'normal' diet just in moderation. I hope someone tunes in and states that it was possible.

Gail

LOL, this probably isn't what anyone wants to hear, but I'm a realist, not an optimist. I've also made the same mistakes over and over again, but luckily I've learned from them.

I've come to the realization that I'm a carb and sugar addict. It wasn't until I accepted this that I was able to move on and regard LC as my WOL. I no longer have longings for carbs or feel deprived. It's been 80 days since I last had anything illegal and the longer I do that, the easier it gets. If you are thinking about this 1 month into your diet, I'd ask myself if I've added enough variety into my eating. This WOE is very decadent and satisfying when applied properly. There are a number of other reasons why you could be feeling deprived too.


LC is a regular healthy diet. I'm one example of someone who had to start LCing to reclaim her rapidly declining health.

If you are wondering about maintenance, you'll find that people differ. Some can maintain at 125 grams of carbs/day if they are very active. Atkins states that most maintain at 60 grams/day (or 420/week). Some can eat little portions of forbidden food while others can't. The idea is that when you maintain, you'll have to accept some level of responsibility in what you can do. Are you addicted to carbs? Can you stop yourself and get back on track? What got you into trouble in the first place? (for me, eating whole grain pasta would be the better than eating sugar). Your personality will be the determining factor in how you plan to maintain. And believe me, maintaining takes work.

I don't think that the odd cheat is a horrible thing. There's a lot of talk about "planned cheats" to convince your body that you aren't starving. But there's also an inherent danger to doing something like this. I supposed as long as you accept the consequences, there really are no rules.

In the very end, losing weight is easier than maintaining weight. Your body will fight you tooth and nail as you diet b/c it thinks it's starving. This isn't speculation, but hormonal fact. The bad news is you'll need to accept this and prepare for it if you want to maintain your weight successfully in the future.

Wanda

Evenflow,Paleonath and Gkeenan,

Good Morning

When you all reach your goal, or wish to stabalize for a while before losing more, you might want to look into a plan like montignac or sugar busters. Montignace allows whole grains, pasta, legumes and fruits - it is more of a controlled carb than low carb plan although the carbs are DEFINETLY lower than many diets would be. My carbs when doing Montignag are between 80-140 per day. The difference is they are all low on the glycemic index - and the glycemic load - the effect the carb ingested has on your blood sugar. The diet is not as high in fat as Atkins, and no carbs or calories are counted. Fat and high GI carbs are not eaten at the same meal, and full fat cheese is to be eaten by itself or at the end of a meal.

There is a lot more to it but that should give you an idea.

You might think about picking up a copy of Atkins for Life, which is oriented toward maintenance instead of weight loss. Even if you're still a long way from maintenance, I think it's always good to know what the road ahead will look like.

The single most common thing I hear about Atkins is, "Oh, I couldn't handle never eating X again," whether X is pasta, bread, sugar, or whatever. Sometimes, X is something like oatmeal, fruit, or beans, and all of that can be added back as you move into maintenance. Or there are acceptable lower-carb choices, like whole-grain bread and brown rice, which even LCers and low-fatters agree is superior. You are encouraged to add all of these back in maintenance mode and tinker until you find a way of eating you're comfortable with. LC maintenance really isn't all that strikingly different from low-fat maintenance -- we eat pretty much the same foods, albeit in different proportions. In fact, you can already start eating most of this in OWL, although you may have to give up something else to make them fit in your carb count.

More often, though, X is something that even traditional "healthy" diets recommend be eaten sparingly -- potato chips, ice cream, french fries, cake, cookies, pizza (my vice). When I hear someone complaining about having to forever give up one of those foods, I just want to scream, because the truth is that the LC attitude on that stuff is EXACTLY like the low-fat attitude. Both Dr. Atkins and Dr. Ornish will tell you that those things just don't belong in a "healthy" diet on any more than an occasional basis, even if you're in maintenance mode. If you're eating them regularly, you're very likely to gain back the weight and undo all your hard work. I don't know of any diet in the world whose maintenance mode includes a piece of cheesecake every day.

Most everyone who isn't a diabetic or a sugar/carb addict plans on the occasional indulgence in maintenance mode, but everyone's definition of "occasional" is different. It depends on your individual metabolism, your tastes, and your self-control. Personally, I am not much of a sweets eater, so I don't plan on eating them unless there's a really good reason (my mom's famous holiday cheesecake, a really nice restaurant, wedding cake, etc)., and to be perfectly frank, I've eaten them in those circumstances anyway, in small portions as pre-planned indulgences. Same goes for pasta and white bread -- I just don't miss them enough to want them regularly, and whole-wheat versions will probably be enough for me. Pizza, now, will probably happen once or twice a month, but I'm going to try to be smarter about how I eat it (two slices and a salad, instead of four slices). Other than those, the only maintenance changes I'm planning on making are yogurt and fruit every day.