Here's a question for those of you on Atkins for a significant amount of time. Is Atkins a means to an end for you, or have you truely embraced this plan as a WOL for the rest of your life? I'm curious how many of you plan to eat this way forever and how many plan to add quite a bit of carbs and sugars back in once you are at your goal.

As for me and my house... This is the most amazing WOL and we will be eating this way from now on!

I will never eat sugar again. I may have the occasional baked potato, slice of pizza or chunk of watermelon, but I will never go back to the sugar-laden desserts I used to love. Ugh.

I anticipate no problem eating this way for the rest of my life.

Probably won't do the strict low carb thing after reaching my goal, but I will continue to eat healthier; more fruits and veggies, whole grain breads, drink lots of water. What I won't go back to doing; all you can eat pizza/chineese/whatever buffets, eating two very large meals a day, drinking sodas all day long at work, and big bowls of ice cream right before I go to bed at night. I'm sure there's a fine line between eating the things I love and keeping healthy, just need to find that line so I can stay on the right side of it.

This is for a LIFETIME!!!! There is no need to start it if you are not going to do it for a lifetime because you will just gain the weight back.....That is why we gain when we CHEAT!

I'm going to have to go back to eating a Rio Star grapefruit and watermelon in the summer and fall apples at some point. They're just too good to leave out of my eating. Maybe I need to check out the SB diet.

I honestly haven't committed this as a WOL yet. In fact, I only swore myself two another 2 weeks as a WOE. But, I think I'll definitely be ready to commit to 3 months and see what happens.

It is a Way of Life for me. DH is diabetic and it is helping his health tremendously so we will be healthy. Now I will also eat apples and those CHestnuts which are a little carby, but that is because I have the trees in my yard and I just can't let them go to waste. BUt we don't have to have any sugar in our house for the rest of our lives.

Have a great day!!

I'm not going back to pain and drugs, if I can help it.

This is the most amazing WOE for me, and I plan on sticking to it. The best part is not even craving the carbs I can't have.

It's my way of life...I love it! The only thing I can see myself adding is fruit.

Talking about Atkins as our WOL has gotten me looking ahead. Since I have so far to go until Maintenance, I haven't really read that part of the book yet. I've found some interesting info. there.

I find at this point in my journey, I am afraid of the day when I will have to start increasing my carbs. Afraid of the cravings returning! I have to agree with lotsawater...

If I understand Maintenance, we will be adding back some fruits, and whole grains but never sugar or white flour on a regular basis. "restrict your consumption of sweets made with real sugars to the occasional slice of birthday or wedding cake for really special celebrations. Those of you who have had a sizable chunk of your life made miserable by sugar may even decide, after graciously accepting them, to quietly deposit those pieces on somebody else's plate." (DANDR Lifetime Maintenance chapter)

I plan to get the Atkins for Life book and memorizing it

It's Atkins all the way. I am never going back. I feel great, I am eating better than I ever have in my life and loving every minute.

Okay, okay -- I haven't been doing the LC thing long at all -- just a month.

But what a month!

I can go on like this forever, I hope. The only thing I'm a little worried about is adding back the higher GI veggies and fruits in due course, as well as grain products. Sure hope they don't cause a return to carby cravings.

We'll deal with that when the time comes, though.

Yes all excellent points and a great question to start. Originally when I decided on this lifestyle I knew that some changes would need to be made and also down the road as my WOL, that many would have to stick around.

I find myself close to my goal weight and I've gone as far as testing out days where I do kinda cheat and as long as I keep a few things in mind and don't go overboard, I do not go up in weight. One of the things that I’ve learned is that if I do have a day with higher carbs and sugar, I make sure that the next two days are "good" days. I try not to let myself go too many days in a row.

What I am trying to do is to teach my body to get happy and relaxed at this weight. I think our bodies are always looking to find stability and if you work at staying at a weight long enough (a healthy one that is), it just makes it easier to remain there further on even if you do go astray at times. My only concern would be the potential cravings of slowly adding more carbs.

Hi

Hopefully for me, this is a way of life. I know where my last way of life and way of eating sent me... gaining a few pounds every year, until I suddenly had allergies, asthma, and my way of life was leading me to a possible early death, like my mother at age 54.

I love(d) walking, but I couldn't even walk up stairs or escalators for a while. I used to work at a Wine store, and it was honestly embarrassing when I was so tired that I would trip on the sidewalk or stairs. I was concerned that people thought I was drunk!!!

Once I lost the weight, NO, I couln't run up four flights of stairs, but I am able to keep my energy constant all day, so if I do choose to walk up stairs at the end of the day, I don't trip over them or huff and puff at the top.

What I have to keep in mind is not how hard it was to get here (cuz it wasn't hard at all!) but how I feel now versus how I felt then. I'll still have my ups and downs, but the ups are way more common now!

I don't need to super-over-indulge with everything in this life. Everything in moderation, even carbs.

Mare

For life! Although I must say Dr. Atkins was the one who hit me over the head with a two by four - I am starting to say LC WOE or LC WOL. I first read the Zone and in my work had a couple people who were on the Zone and used to tell me, "gary you don't have to eat those fries" as I ate them. The Zone was too difficult for me to construct all new menus and keep track of Carb/protein ratio. I never really did it because of that. Atkins on the other hand worked because there was no menu planning. Just throw out the rolls, bread, pasta, sugar, rice, potatoes. It fit me because I could easlily let go of all those foods.

Atkins taught me how to eat. I have no intention going back to size 38 waist and the pains I felt.

I have enough choices on my menu to be satisfied - I believe that is an important key to do any diet as a WOL. Now even all the restaurants are adding low carb selections. My last business trip was a LC dream - TGI Fridays, Ruby Tuesday, Hardees.

Hurray for Dr. Atkins and LC WOL!