I see posts of people saying their families don't understand the low-carb diets and are giving them grief about it so I got to wondering what made people decide to take a chance on this diet?

As for me, I stayed away from it because I was afraid of the cholesterol level. I had spots on all 4 eyelids that I knew were cholesterol deposits and I didn't want to make that go higher. Frankly, I have been on this diet for less than 2 months now and I can see that they are actually getting smaller.

But, the thing that turned me toward this diet was my sister lending me her copy of one of Dr. Atkins' books. There was something in it that made me totally see the light. It was the section where he talks about people in the old days rarely dying of things like heart disease or diabetes-like illnesses. As a genealogist with years under my belt I knew that was true! I'm sure it happened but from my digging into old death records I had not come across that one myself. Women usually died of child-birth related illnesses if they didn't die from actual childbirth. Men usually died of farming accidents or just plain old age. Lots of deaths resulted from drinking water illnesses. Some died of carbuncles - another name for boils. We all know that thyphoid fever and tuberculosis were most often fatal illnesses back then. Heart disease does not enter my family tree until about 1920 exactly as Dr. Atkins had stated. Another frequent cause of death are the war related cases. It was amazing and that statement just hit home with me.

This has just made me curious about other issues than weight that made people throw media caution to the wind and give this a try?

To be honest....I never even understood what Carbs were!. I got very sick early Feb this year and I drank a ton of water. I decided when I got back to work I would only drink water at work to try to better my health. I went online to research the "good" benefits of drinking water...and while I was on the site. An atkins pop up came on. So I was curious and decided to click on it. I read alittle onthe site then decided I should try this. SO I slowly cut out carbs for about a month. THen I got serious. I bought the book and read it cover to cover. I then started induction...and the rest is history.

SO glad I found ATKINS...

Very good points. For myself, I'd seen both the weight loss and the improvement in sugar levels in a diabetic friend. I was desperate for something to work and tired of plans I couldn't stick with.

My mother tried it first. She was thrilled about the weight loss, but she also told me she had improvements in the way she felt and her cholesterol levels fell by 67 points! It was just another reason to read the book, and then I was convinced.

I saw two women here at work losing and looking great. I was doing low fat/low calories for about a decade and believed in it completely, even though I stopped losing and was ALWAY HUNGRY.

I went online to prove it was unhealthy and learned the opposite.

I figured I would just give it two weeks....

March 17, 2003-I didn't recognize a gal at work I hadn't seen in a year-and asked her what she'd done. She mentioned Atkins, so I looked it up on the net. I read enough there to realize I wouldn't have to pay for anything but a book and jumped into Induction the next day. I lost 16 pounds in two weeks! I lost steadily until August when I started slowing down. Now it's November and I've been cheating here and there since mid October-always around dinner. I've taken stock, and decided to jump plans to CAD/CALP to see if it helps get me back into weightloss. If not, it's back to Atkins in January.

Great thread!

My first 'experience' with LCing was my sister-in-law who started The Zone a couple of years ago. She's always had sugar-related physical problems and was so happy to have found a way to lose weight AND get her blood sugar under control. I was interested in The Zone and she gave me some info on it. The 'block' thing just completely bamboozled my mind and seemed entirely too complicated. I seriously thought about embarking on that path, but just kept procrastinating.

About that same time I also heard of Atkins, but from what I had heard, it didn't sound healthy at all. One co-worker of DH's had gone on it and after a while he was looking pretty bad.

As time went on, though, I became more curious and wanted to do more research. I was having trouble with blood sugar and have one sister who's diabetic, and I am in the completely high risk category. One thing I wanted to know was how long did Dr. Atkins live on his diet? A few months ago I found the original book at a thrift shop, and that answered that question. At the time I was busy and just laid the book aside. One evening I walked by it and thought, 'Hey, I'm going to read that thing!' I picked it up and the rest is, as they say, history!

My only regret is that I didn't research this WOE when I originally thought about it, and didn't read that book when I first thought it!

What got me into low carbing seriously was out of control blood sugars (I'm diabetic) and blood pressure that was sky high. A friend suggested that I should check out Dr. Bernstein's Diabetes Solution, so I got the book that day, read it and that was that. I haven't looked back except for an occasional cheat in 2 1/2 years.
Friends and family who know what I looked and felt like before I started never tell me that this is unhealthy and my doctor is very pleased with my results as am I. Every time I see my doctor, he just tells me to keep doing whatever I'm doing. No more blood pressure meds. No more blood sugar meds. Normal blood sugars round the clock and normal blood pressure as well as dropping a signifcant amount of weight.

I realized about ten years ago that carbs were causing me trouble with my blood sugar levels. I ignored the symptoms, however a pharmacist told me that I could fight the symptoms with a little protein. Then, little by little I begn hearing about eating low carb meals could help one to lose weight ( I began putting on weight soon after I had a horrible drop in blood glucose ). Then, last year a news cast was on tv about the Atkins "Diet" and how it proved to be better than the American Heart Association's diet. That is when I took action, began further research, reading, exploring until...Eureka Mr. Watson, this is elementary!!! The more I read about it the more it makes, crystal clear, sense to me. DH is impressed with my accomplishment and knowledge on the subject and wants me to go into business with this knowledge. I don"t know how I would do that?! But every piece of information is a piece of enlightenment.

Thanks for all of your replies and a big CONGRATS to those of you who are successfully controlling the medical problems along with the weight loss! Just yesterday I was telling hubby how I'm still amazed that I can freely eat as many eggs as I want to each day because for years we've all heard how bad they are for us. Just that one section in that book jumped right out at me and from then on I was a low-carber. As of today I have lost 22 pounds in less than 2 months so something obviously works in this diet. Even though I may cheat now and then I do believe I can reach my goal doing this.

May you all have happy low-carb lives so you may live long and prosper

My husband went on the Atkins diet to lose weight, and seemed to be doing well with it. The thing that made me start was that one day into his second week, he told me about all of this energy that he was having. I haven't had energy since the birth of my first child, about 3 years ago. Most of my lack of energy was from severe depression. I also have a 7 month old baby. I never had the energy to play with them, or even get the housework done. So I decided to try it. 4 days into induction I started to feel like my old self. Since then, my depression has gone from severe that lasted all day to mild that only occurs sometimes at night. I have gotten more energy to play with my kids, and the house looks so much better. Now, I am happier than I have been in years, and would not even think of going back to my old WOE. When people ask what the change was, I tell them that I am on the Atkins diet. They usually roll their eyes at me, but I don't care. I know it works!

Stretch marks...
I had been on Atkins before, (over a year ago, I believe) and the reason I went back on it was because I formed these hideous pink and red stretchmarks below and to the left and right of my belly button..I said screw this, Ive never had red stretchmarks before, and I didnt want to start now.. Now Im just working diligently to get rid of them...and to keep more from appearing.. it sucks..

I started low carbing because of a very high cholesterol level, problems with shakiness because of unstable blood sugars, and a few excess pounds. Low carbing has cured all of that. But in addition, I've been told by my dentist that my teeth and gums are in much better shape! In fact, he thought I was on long-term antibiotics (which I'm not) because my gums look so good. Has anyone else been told that as a result of low carbing?

Weight was the number one motivation of course - but I have worked it out for myself that carbs are my enemy, so it made sense to choose LC WOL.

I remember trying to loose weight for my wedding, I was eating virtually no fat, all carbs, and couldnt work out why I didnt loose weight. My calories were pretty low, I was eating 2 slices toast with jam for breakfast, a plain bread roll for lunch, and vegetables for dinner. I had my final dress fitting and stopped trying to loose weight, I was eating porridge for breakfast (I love porridge - I think you 'mericans call it oatmeal), nuts for lunch, and meat & veg for dinner and suddenly I started loosing weight!! I lost 2 kg in a month (I was already very skinny) without trying, when I hadnt lost an ounce in months. All I could put it down to was the bread I was eating.

This is a great thing to think about, especially when you're feeling low on low-carb .

For me, I've always been on and off diets (since I was 14) so I was always on the lookout for a new way of eating. Weight had something to do with it but my big issue (as with many) were binges. I just got so sick and tired of eating "right" for a few weeks then following it with a binge that would last days or a week and then beating myself up for being "bad" and going on a diet to be "good" again. The one who turned me on to low-carbing was my mom - which was ironic because she only stayed with Atkins for a week because she can't get out of the low-fat mentality! It sounded a little strange to me after eating low-fat for so long to be liberal with fats (but this was the way my mom presented it and before I read any lc book). Then my sister started to do research on it and she pointed out how much it made sense. She started with Schwartzbien principle (she is a vegetarian and that was the most veggie-friendly one she found). I bought Atkins book and read it and found she was right - it did make a lot of sense. I especially liked that you don't go hungry on lcing. So in Jan 2002 I started Atkins - and have been on and off ever since. This time I'm back on for good!

Tam