I've stuck to Atkins since day one (or so i thought)... just realized that i've modified it to suit my body and lifting routine...

Since i started atkins i've been eating a lot of meat (not very lean), eggs, etc... I loved all of it but the only problem was, that i'm very sensitive to the Ana-watchamacalit Acid (I read this in Protein Power and from other posts on the forum), soooo i had to cut out eggs and meat with fat (like bacon, beef, etc)... if i don't cut them out, i'd get this terrible rash bellow my chest... but since i've stopped eating too much fat (i guess that's where the acid comes from) the rash is slowly going away... It's not that i'm scared of the fat, i'm scared of what the acid does to me (the darn itchy rash)... so basically i eat pork (lean) in moderation and try to stay away from the beef and egg yolks...

How about you?

The thing with Atkins is induction is the only strict phase. Even then there is such a long list of acceptable foods everyone can customize it to thier tastes.

After induction when you move on to OWL it is your responsibility to make good food choices. You have to learn what your personal carb level is, what foods you can and cannot tolerate and so on. Once past induction most people have a modified plan because there is no set plan.

I drink coffee and booze and probably don't get enough veggies. Other than that, I try to just eat meat, eggs, cheese and salad.

You are correct, everyone makes adaptations to suit their needs. I did not want to cut out caffeine from my diet so I have my coffee. It makes me feel bad though that Dr. A said that anyone drinking caffeine was not really doing Atkins. I feel that I am doing Atkins even though I include Maxwell House in my diet. I don't consider this a modified Atkins. I think people who say they are on a modified Atkins diet, do so because they think that Atkins is nothing but meat and eggs and nothing else ( so they add their veggies and some fruit to the diet, which is another phase of the Atkins diet ) or because they don't want any negative replies from naysayers.

I don't know...I don't think I've modified it much...other than thinking of myself on a modified Induction. Which means I'm really in OWL, but whatever. I started adding some of the LC ice cream and nut butters in over the last couple of days, even though it's only like day 10 for me and not 15 I do drink caffeine, in my coffee and tea. It's not so much that I need the caffeine as it's just a pain looking for decaffinated everything. Other than that...I'm pretty strict with the plan. My main modification is avoiding splenda as much as possible -- it seemed to break me out terribly the first time I tried Atkins, so much that I had to quit after a month when it just wasn't going away. Some people say that breaking out at first is normal, but it wasn't showing any signs of slowing down after a month and I couldn't take it anymore. And this time around, I've cut out the splenda and sugar alcohols for the first week or so, and I've found that I'm not breaking out. Now that I've been off of sweet things for a while, I find that splenda is too sweet. I'd rather drink sparkling water than a diet rite, and I'd rather have my coffee with just cream and no splenda. It's weird. The atkins shakes seem too sweet for a snack now, and before I was drinking them every day at work because they were easy, and I really liked them. Go figure.

Modified ... Hmmm ...

I have one or two cups of heavily leaded coffee most mornings, I have 1 diet coke a day ...thats about it.

but, I modified myself right into another "diet". And I'm not even following that one "precisely". I'm using TKD in that I eat a small 25-50gr snack before I work out. Then I have two small meals consisting of a green salad and about 4oz of meat, then I eat "whatever" for dinner. I don't mean it's a free-for-all. I just eat a regular meal (Reward Meal, but I don't like that name. Food is not a "reward"). That part is CAD/CALP. I'm supposed to eat 1/3 protein, 1/3 lc vegetables, and 1/3 other carbs.. I've been doing this since Monday, and have lost part of a pound.. Even though my calorie count was way up there. I had lost some on induction, but then I stalled. If I run into that again, I'll probably try induction again. I guess I have to keep my body guessing, just like in weight lifting. Where you change your routine every so often to keep your muscles from getting aclimated to the workout.

I drink coffee, diet pop, and occasionally alcohol. If that means I am not doing Atkins, well then I should write a book myself.

brobin

I drink coffee...I do not eat red meat (a holdover from my "vegetarian" days....I just have a genuine distaste for it now)....and, presently, I'm on the tail end (I hope) of an anti-candida regimen...and that means no sugars or sugar substitutes (except stevia)....no mushrooms....nothing with yeast....etc....

I lost my first 40 pounds with straight Atkins. Struggled with it after that. I've bounced around with low carb and body for life for a while.
Recently I found Tom Venuto's book (bodybuilding) and really found it a fantastic read. I suggest it to anyone who really wants to learn about nutrition and how are bodies work.
I think in order to fully understand it you need to read it so I won't go into much detail, but basically when you have a lot of fat to lose you work on a 3:1 low carb/high carb days.
It takes 72 hours for your starvation hormones to kick in. Don't allow that to happen and you don't allow your metabolism to slow.
If anyones interested its www.fitren.com

I actually put out a post a while ago asking about this (as I was wanting to do a modified Atkins myself). It surprised me how many people responded. It made me feel better about tayloring Atkins to suit my own lifestyle.

I started out doing a modified OWL which only meant for me that I wasn't counting carbs in legal veggies (and also not adding legal fruit to my diet - fruit doesn't appeal to me ). Now I've modified it further where I basically don't count carbs in anything I eat although I've been lcing for a while so I know I'm keeping to about 30-40 carbs a day. This has a psychological effect on me - I feel much less restricted that way. I'm still eating mainly low carb foods - meats, poultry, dairy (though not yogurt), eggs, lots of legal veggies, fats, nuts (not going overboard on these). It seems to be working well for me.

Tam

I drink Diet Coke, but tend to stay below 35 carbs a day most days. After induction, I never measured anything. If I wanted a big salad, I had a big salad. If I wanted cheese, I ate some. I do keep kind of a mental ledger on it, but the days I've run it through Fitday, I've been more or less in line with the 35CPD limit.

There are also days when I'm probably 20 or less, and some where I'm 50+. I don't eat stuff that isn't on the diet, other than LC stuff like tortillas and taco shells.

When I break it (which has happened only once), I break the bejesus out of it.

Both of my girls are on sort of a modified version. The oldest wasn't losing weight very well, so just completely quit counting her carbs. Now she's losing like crazy! I think she eats between 30-40 carbs a day. The other one is on a 40-carb day for the next while.

My modifications? Hmmmm, does one tiny bite of breading from a fried shrimp count? Or, oh yeah, I've got it! One or two decaf Diet Pepsis a week when I'm in town and fill up my mug at the gas station.

For the most part, I stick with legal foods.

I have modified atkins by not eating meat. Dr. atkins said it was near impossible for vegetarians but by now I've seen things very differently.

also like kyrasdad after induction I haven't really measured anything.

How did I modify Atkins - let me count the ways:
Never gave up coffee;
Didn't give up alcohol - DH and I regularly have a drink after work - but I did switch from beer to wine;
Switched breakfast to an apple and cheese (before the end of Induction) to get the added fibre and to satisfy the craving for fruit;
Had occasional very small servings of potatoes during OWL - potatoes with skins on are a good source of potassium which I need because of my BP medication
Allowed myself occasional treats, i.e., cheesecake while at a restaurant, chocolate (dark, bittersweet, in small portions) to avoid feeling deprived

My main strategy for dealing with the "forbidden" foods was to limit the portion - counting out 4 rice crackers at 1.5 grams of carbs per cracker, buying a small single-serving bag of potato chips, etc.

I may have slowed down the OWL because of the above but even when I stalled, I could tell I was losing fat because my jeans kept getting more and more droopy. Eventually the whoosh fairy would visit and I would drop 2-3 lbs in a hurry.