Atkins and low-carbing is so publicized these days that unless you live in a paper bag you must have heard of it. Can you imagine what it was like doing Atkins in the mid seventies???????? I did it and to make it worse I worked in a greasy spoon type resturaunt - I was about 16 and used to bring my own lunch to work
even though the cook would have made me anything I wanted to eat I found it easier to bring my own so I wouldn't be tempted by the daily specials - I would eat breakfast there no problem - eggs and bacon skip the toast and homefries, and eat my homemade lunch - They used to laugh at me and say I was bad advertising - it was a small family type resturaunt and the clientele were all regulars and my lunch became quite a joke, because I was not overweight (just thought I was) they would tease me about my bacon and egg breakfasts - telling me I was going to get fat. I had learned about this diet from my mother who had several small Dell Pocket Books on low carb diets (you know the ones that used to be 25 cents at the checkout counters) she had Atkins, The Drinking Mans Diet and the Airforce Pilots Diet - all variations of Atkins.

Anyone else here who did Atkins or low carb back when it was REALLY unheard of?

Actually, yes! I wasn't doing Atkins, but in the early 1980s I followed a plan called the Carbo-Calorie diet. I had my nifty little book I carried everywhere, and if the foods weren't in the book, I knew exactly how to do the formula to get how many carbo-calories in just about everything!

My lunches at work were absolutely the laughing stock of the entire school where I worked! I ate fish for lunch most days (or leftover hamburger patties) and some type of vegetable, generally speaking, green beans.

I only wish it had been as informative as the early Diet Revolution book, which I never even heard of until just recently.

Yep. I did. Did you ever try making the recipe in the original Atkins book for rolls? Tasted exactly like ground glass. I lost the 15 pounds I needed to at the time in about a month. Those days are gone, but this current version is so much more livable and I foresee doing it indefinitely.

Kay

Kay



No I never tried any of the recipes, in those days I was so young and my shopping consisted of a few pounds of hamburger meat, some sardines, tuna, mayo, and egg, with some salad ingredients. I tell ya it broke my heart to have to give up ketchup and miracle whip. As an Atkins Pioneer I'm sure you know there were virtually no low carb substitutes available in those days so the menu's had to be really basic and simple.

My Mother and quite a few of her freinds lost a lot doing Atkins the tough way (no such thing as low carb bread or pancakes) and I lost too - even though as I said I wasn't at that time actually overweight - the problem was I got caught up in the misunderstanding over the water gain the minute carbs are re-introduced into the diet and came to believe I could never eat carbs without gaining weight. I see this as a really common misunderstanding that can be dangerous, because obviously people freak out when they eat more carbs and see a 4-5lb increase in weight, they start to think that they'll gain this much every time they eat that many carbs. I hope that more people who have had success on Atkins or other low carb plans will post about the initial water gain when re-introducing carbs and stress that this is to be expected and you will not gain 5 pounds a day.

And yay for all the new low carb products available !!!!!!!!!

A good friend's mother was doing Atkins in the early seventies, and was really pleased with her weight loss, about fifty pounds at that point. But all you heard was how bad it was for your health, scared me away from even trying it, and she gave up.
Only to put on about a hundred more.
When I started Atkins I went on the Net and found all this great information (like here!) that made so much sense to me. So I didn't have any health doubts when I started.
It's too darn bad...I could have been doing this in my early teens! And I think my life would have taken a few different forks.
Funny to think about.

I was going to pass on this thread because I never needed to lose weight until now. But, I naturally ate low carb when I was skinny. I was one of those kids who were teased about being too skinny. I was not a bread or pasta eater. Doughnuts made me gag. So as I reflect on my old way of eating and why it made me skinny. I also recall times when I had no appetite, probably because I was in ketosis all that time. So, unknowingly, I was doing Atkins and now I am relearning it.

Yes, I did the original Atkins back in the mid-70's when I was in grade 12 .. so age 16. I drank a lot of Tab and Fresca, and ate D-Zerta like it was going out of style. Which it did!! LOL!!

My dad was on it also, so at least someone else in the family was there for support. I remember also that my one girlfriend was going to Weight Watchers with her mom .. and it was a lot more lowcarb and higher protein back then than it is now, for sure! 2 bread servings a day, and potatoes or rice were not allowed until maintenance. Meat portions were much larger than today's "points" allow.

I lost 20 lbs and kept it off until I went to college at age 19. Nursing ... of course there I had the fear of fat and cholesterol pounded into my brain. I gained the weight back and more. After I graduated, as soon as I had a little money to "splurge", I joined WW .. and thus my dieting career was begun!!!


Doreen

KoKo,

Just wanted to say that I love the pictures that you posted of your pond. Your yard is an extension of your artist eye. And your paintings and drawings! They are BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!!!!!
Please post more!!!

When I was in 14 or 15 yrs old I did this diet called Stillman's Quick Weight Loss Diet...you eat nothing but protein...no veggies, no fats, no fruits, no breads..just meat, eggs, cottage cheese, etc....lots and lots of water....I stayed on for six days...then ate like a lunatic the seventh...then went back to the diet for six...and kept repeating the cycle. I lost a lot of weight that way. Then in my junior year of high school I skipped lunch every day...that was how I maintained the loss. But...that all changed my senior year when I got a job in the school cafeteria...we got free lunch every day...and poof...there went my diet.

Atkins came along for me in the 1970's. It seemed like a step up from Stillman's, and I knew I could lose weight on that diet...so Atkins wasn't difficult to follow. Follow it, I did...to the letter...no cheating.....not even on every seventh day.....but after a month I lost ZERO...ZILCH...NADA.....and I panicked and quit immediately. It marked the first time I did everything right on a diet without having any weight loss to show for it.

Many years later...here I am, full circle....back on Atkins, only this time I have a better handle on WHY I might not have been able to lose the weight then....the program has changed somewhat....I think it's a lot healthier now...and I recognize many factors in my life that could have hindered any possible progress....I've been struggling to discover my problems and have had a little success.....I seem to have a lot of cards stacked against me.....

Just like everything else, Atkins has evolved into a wonderful thing, if only people would stop being so skeptical and open their eyes!

Too bad we didn't know about deducting fiber 30 years ago

I just wanted to say your pond is beautiful and so is your artwork. Very intriguing. Certainly gives one plenty to scrutinize.

Re Atkins, I'd never been on a diet until I tried Atkins a few years ago. My husband lost about 20lbs and did great. I suffered through Induction and lost about 4lbs and gave up. I realized later I just didn't fully understand how it worked. I also was eating lots of honey ham which obviously messed up ketosis. I only recently came across the book again and understood it better than before. After buying the new DANDR, I don't know how anyone managed before Da Vinci syrups and Russell Stover!

I did Adkins back in the late 70's and again in the late 80's. Both times I was very sucessful and lost what I wanted to lose. I treated it like a diet and after I lost the weight, I went off it and gained all the weight back, plus some. Everyone telling me how unhealthy it was didn't help either. It was alot easier to lose back when I was younger. Now the pounds come off very slowly. This time I am commited to this way of life and I will not gain back the weight. I now know that this is the healthiest way to live. Although I still need to lose at least 30 pounds, I am lighter now than I was when I graduated high school, 29 years ago. I am extremly happy about the new popularity of the Adkins diet now, and I believe that in time, it will be proven that it is the best way to live, and will be accepted by the government agencies and medical societies that determine public policies.

I went on Atkins in the early 1970's. I had tried all the others by that time and never succeeded in sticking with them: wild hunger and carb cravings, although I didn't realize it at the time.

I tried Atkins and lost 45 pounds in less than 6 months. I still have the photos. But I treated it as a diet and didn't realize it should have been a way of eating for life. So all 45 came back and each one brought a friend. Drat!

In 1998, I was so heavy that I decided I would rather die from the "unhealthy fad diet" than stay fat. So I began. It's been a far from even road, but I'm still on it and it's now my way of eating for life. I was down to 198 in 1999 but then had pain, medications and 2 major surgeries that I allowed to keep me off the LC way for quite a while and, of course, regained a bunch. It's now going away again.

I did make the cheesecake and the Diet Revolution Rolls often back then. I even used the DRR in an opera later where they wanted me to stuff "pastries" in my mouth and still be able to sing almost right after. The "melt in your mouth" rolls were perfect & looked so big on the plate. Worked just fine.

I did Atkins in 1974 when I was a senior in high school,
I was working partime in a hospital kitchen at the time and
the cooks though I was crazy, until I took my apron off
one day and my uniform was just hanging on me.

I tried it again when I wanted to lose 15 lbs to join the Navy,
I was successful and was able to join.

This time I am planning to stick with it so I don't have to do this again.

Its must better now with the new recipes, new food and support.

Like DerBlumers I was on Stillman in high school. I definitely viewed it as a diet and thought I would go on a calorie counting maintenance regime once I had lost enough weight (I'm pretty sure that's what his book advocated). My diet consisted of hamburger patties, roasted chicken breasts, cottage cheese, and an egg now and then. Bacon wasn't allowed. It was a somewhat low-fat plan. My father had introduced me to Stillman, and he became aware of Atkins when it came along. I remember my first Atkins breakfast of bacon (pre microwave) and eggs cooked in butter. The fat content didn't make sense to my Stillman-brain. I couldn't make the adjustment at that time. Then I went away to college, and found that dorm life actually allowed for some regulation of eating and portion control for me. I didn't experience the freshman year weight gain at all.