How long have y'all been on Atkins? How do you stay motivated? Also, do all of y'all use the keto strips??

His,
MrsTU

Hi Y'all,
I have been on Atkin's for 3 weeks now and lost 14lbs. I use the strips. They help keep me motavted, plus my clothes getting loser helps also. My aunt and grandmother where over weight and I do not want to be that way. I planed on getting on Atkin's to lose the weight then getting off it but, I feel so good and it is so easy I will stay on it. This is great.
Good luck to all.

Oops!! I also wanted to ask..... for those of you that have been on Atkins for a while, do you still keep super strict count of your carbs (like use fitday)? Or do you pretty much eat what you know to be low carb? I am getting REALLY tired of counting carbs. I know what is low carb, but still feel too scared to not count them!! LOL! If that makes any sense!!!

His,
MrsTU

I still keep count. It has only been 3 weeks for me and I am sure I will do so till I am in the 3rd faze. Then I will still keep count but maybe not with fit day. I am sure it is a good idea to keep count till you are at your goal weight. I know it is a pain but it is for your own good. That is just my opinion.
Good luck.

I've been on Atkins for 4 months and lost 19 pounds and my doctor just called and congratulated me on lowering my cholesterol!!! She asked what I was doing. I told her I was on Atkins. This is the same doctor that told me Atkins was not healthy and I shouldn't do it.

I use the keto sticks mostly for fun but by using them, I have learned that I can now get back into ketosis in just a day or so when it used to take 4 days.

I stopped logging my carbs a few weeks ago because I went on vacation and then missed a few more days and then just stopped. I do think it's a good idea to log them because after a while, you may get out of control--at least I will.

My motivation is knowing that this is the only plan that will work for me without being hungry all the time. And NO MORE LOW BLOOD SUGAR!!!

I've been on Atkins for almost 9 months now. I didn't weight until afetr the first 2 weeks...I weighed 315 at that time. I know I was at least 320 when I started, maybe even as high as 330. If I lost the same amount my first 2 weeks as I lost the third, I was 325. I didn't get the book until 3 weeks in...so, I didn't know to have tests done. As result, I do not have any starting numbers. But, I had my blood drawn a few weeks ago:

Cholesterol -- 175
LDL -- 122
VLDL -- 19
HDL -- 33*

Triglycerides -- 96
Blood Glucose -- 84

*My HDL is a few points below normal...But, considering I had just come off a diet high in grain [Grain Lowers HDL], with almost no meat [Saturated and possibly Monounsaturated Fats raise HDL], and with most of the little fat I ate coming from Trans and Polyunsaturated Fats [Both are known to lower HDL], my HDL was probably non-existent before going on Atkins.

6 months, 72 lbs. I really don't need motivation to eat this way anymore. I enjoy it and do not wish to go back to eating the things that got me so fat to begin with. I just never think about the old way of eating.
As far as counting carbs and ketosticks. I haven't done either one in well over 2 months. I just know how to eat this way now without giving it any thought. My weight loss has remained constant at about 12 lbs per month.
The one thing I will not stop doing is coming to this board. It has been such a life saver.

I started around mid-may. So a little over 3 months. In those three months I've lost around 33 pounds so far. What keeps me motivated is not only the weight loss, but how healthy I feel. I'm not longer hungry, I have more strength and endurance, I am eating very healthy and a ton of veggies, I'm saving money shopping and not getting those frozen dinners, and many other reasons.

I was using the keto strips. I ran out and don't really have the money to get more. I did use fitday religiously. Then one night I relized I was trying so hard to get good "ratios" and cals that I was no longer enjoying this WOE. I have been on it enough to know what I can and can't eat. I cut out fitday completely, then went to wher eI just entered my info at the end of the day. I found I could stay between 20-30 carbs a day without keeping count at all. I did come in low on calories and protien though.

I do use fitday, but not for carbs or cals anymore. I use it because I'm trying to raise my protien and calories. The big difference though is I don't let it dictate what I am going to eat. I just have my meal, then enter it later, not worrying about how many carbs, cals, or what ever I should or shouldn't have at that meal. My weight loss picked up and I enjoy eating much more again.

Since May 1st I've lost 17 pounds. This woe is easy to me, since I have my Russell Stovers candies and Nature's own bread! This is also the only way I lose weight! It's easy to know what not to eat (sugar, bread) and there are so many great substitutions for what I ate before that I shouldn't eat now. I use the Ketostix more than I should! They do work for me. When they start to get darker, I ALWAYS have a loss. But I am never discouraged to see a light pink either, I just attribute that to my massive water intake!

I've been doing this since the beginning of May. Lost 49 lbs. I track everything in fitday and I also weigh and measure my food. I like knowing what my numbers are, not only my carbs, but calories and fiber too.

Also, it's a good tool if you have a stall or something - you can go back and analyze what you did differently that needs to be changed. Also, I think it's important so that you do not accidently go over because you underestimate what you're really consuming.

As for motivation, I find myself looking at my reflection whenever I can... in the frozen food aisle at the grocery, at the gym; I also love wearing the clothes I bought a few weeks ago that are now big on me. I also feel great.

Success brings its own motivation. That's why I think it's very important in the beginning to really stick to the plan as DrA wrote it, and honestly know what you're consuming, because I think that in the vast majority of people, that will bring quick weight loss, that will encourage them to continue. And as he said, exercise is not negotiable. I do it at least 4x a week. cardio and weights.

3 months ago, I NEVER NEVER EVER would had said I'd be at ~ 50 lbs lost in 3 months. That keeps me going.

I don't use the strips.

6 months.
What keeps me motivated is all the fat still hanging off my body, seems I put a dent in it but there is more than I realized. Clothes I'd like to wear and cant. The hope that this wont take forever even though it seems it has. The strict nature of the program that keeps me from overeating. The desire not to give up on myself. I stopped using fitday but once and a while plug in my numbers to see if I am going in the wrong direction. One thing I had to let go of was the myth that this is a fast weight loss program. I have lost quicker before by exercise and restricted calories, but gained it back when I resumed eating without restriction and stopped working out. I am happy to have the nutrition awareness that I do now.

I have been on Atkins for 4 months, have never used ketostix and don't weigh anything never have. The way I figure is this is a WOL so I am not going to spend all my time weighing everything for life, oh no. If I am to stick to this then it's got to fit in with me not the other way around.
But hey thats just me, I've lost 31lbs so I must be doing something right.

I took off about 18 months from this way of live after being faithful from May 1999 through June of 2000 and losing 100 pounds! I had some stress and simply decided I had lost weight, I was sure I wouldn't overeat like I did before, and heck I like bread I was down to 210 I should have some. Well from June of 2001 through the middle of 2002 I managed to gain back almost 70 pounds!! Last August 28th, almost exactly a year ago, I joined weight watchers, I just couldn't stand the thought of losing bread again. I lost 15 pounds on WW between August and April 2003, but it was a constant struggle and I was unhappy, and felt starved 1/2 the time, so May 1, I decided I had to come back to the only way of life that way successful to me and made me feel ok. I have lost 20 pounds since May, much slower than the first time I ever tried, but still more successful than anything else. And I feel so much better, I don't count carbs, I have done all that and know what I should and shouldn't eat, I use the stix if I think to, but not all the time like I did the first time. It took me a long time to learn that this wasn't really a diet but a way of life for me. I am slowly getting back in shape (of course as the weight came back on my activity slowed down, it is truly a vicous circle), and I do feel so much better. I am obviously still fat, but I can tell a difference and that provides motiviation to make the difference bigger, and the fact that I feel full, and have more energy simply makes life easier.

Good luck to you, and be smarter than me, keep going, you will feel better, and you won't have to lose the weight again!

Susan

Almost 7 months and lost 42 pounds!!!!!!

Ive been on Atkins almost exactly one month and have lost 10 pounds. While Ive generally kept my carbs way down, Ive cheated a little along the way, eating some sushi and drinkng a few beers. My weight loss has been fairly steady and I should reach my goal weight in about 6 weeks.