Overall I've been doing atkins for 4 months and have lost 36 pounds. I have about 18 more to lose. Recently, I started keeping a food journal and found when I have lc candy I stall for that day. If I still keep my carbs under my daily alllotment, is there anything wrong with having half of a regular candy bar? That wouldn't hurt, would it?

Hi there,

Yes, it would, actually. Anything containing sugar gives you an immediate insulin hit, with all sorts of problems. It's not the quantity of carbs that count, it's the quality. And sugar is renowned for setting off binges.

One of the many reasons we strongly urge people not to try to do this without "reading the book," is that this is all explained in it. So, you really would be doing yourself an immense favour if you buy yourself a copy of Dr Atkins' New Diet Revolution.

Rosebud

Sure, why not?

Then next month, why not have the REST of the candy bar? I mean, it's kinda STUPID to throw away food, right?

A few days later, gee, I really liked that candy bar. I think I'll have another one...

That's how I rationalized myself all the way back up to 223 lbs.

YMMV.

It's not just the binge. The insulin response would store any fat you've eaten that day. There would also a drop in your gluclose as the insulin compensated, leaving you weak, hungey and feeling blah. Cholesterol and other health issues you worked hard on balancing would also get out of whack.

A one time bite of a candy bar probably wouldn't do all this, but if you are consistantly eating them, then yes. The regular candy bar would stall you far more then the LC one.

When you hit maintanance it is ok to rarely have a higher GI treat. What you need to do though is rea dup on the Glycemic index and the difference between carbs. Get Atkins for life since you are so close to goal. He has easy to read tables tha tlist foods to eat often, in moderation and rarely. He also discusses the glycemic index more if I remember.

You could also look into CAD fo rmaintaining, which would allow you a little more freedom during your reward meal. The rest of the plan is much more strict and difficult then atkins though and again you have ot read the book first.

Go to the Atkins web site and look at

The importance of the glycemic index part 1
http://atkins.com/Archive/2001/12/15-182703.html

Part 2
http://atkins.com/Archive/2001/12/15-589297.html

The glycemic index
http://atkins.com/Archive/2001/12/15-72914.html

You might also want to look at the Science area to see the studies behind the glycemic index and glycemic load

I think a regular candy bar would make a lc candy bar stall look like a runaway freight train by comparison. When you eat low carb candy, your weight loss stalls, so when you eat real sugar, you'd probably GAIN.
This is where it actually makes sense to think of good carbs/bad carbs. Dr. Atkins wanted those 20 grams a day (or so) to be of GOOD carbs like vegetables and nuts. He says to in his book; in fact, he addresses exactly what happens if you spend your carbs on sugar instead of vegetables.

I think Ladybelle gave WONDERFUL advice... maybe you should try CAD. If it's that or sabotaging yourself on atkins

Wenzday has a point. The plan I'm on, the Carbohydrate Addicts Diet, would allow you "real" candy, but under some strict guidelines.

king have you tried counting all the carbs except fiber in your lowcarb bar? I've had similar thoughts and experiences to yours. I decided not to eat any of them. When I get to goal I'll figure out a way to have my chocolate. In protein power they give an example of a person that had regular candy everyday. It satisfied them and didn't start cravings. So at least one person was able to do that. I know I couldn't.

I have. That day all I had with carbs was a salad and that bar, so there's no way I went over my daily allotment of carbs (30-40). That's why I'm baffled. Also, have you ever had a day like this?: Yesterday I ate perfectly: meat, cheese, salad, and about 4 liters of water. Went to the gym and ran for 20 minutes and then lifted too. No loss today. I seriously think sometimes that weight loss is as random as the stock market.