I'm curious as to how long people have been on the Atkins Diet?
I was on it 2 years ago with great success, lost 34lbs and was at my fighting weight.

Then I started to miss breads, pizza and stuff and convinced myself that being a vegetarian was the real way to go. I also did Dr. Weil 8 week program as part of that. That didn't last a week. I ended up on and off Atkins and the Zone ever since. Luckly I only gained back 15lbs in all that time.

So, I'm curious as to how long people have stayed with Atkins?
I'm really interested in hearing from long timers, like those who have been on it steady for more than 3 years.

Please share!

Jim

I don't think anyone here has been LC for 3 years. I might be the vet at 2 years and 8 months.

Wouldn't trade it for anything!

Karen

2 year and 2 months The key is to make this a way of life, if that means having a slice of pizza once in a while then do it, but get right back to low carbing with the next meal. Save the splurges for special occasions, keep them in check because it becomes so easy to have a "special occasion" every weekend!

I just hit 1 year this month and I know I will continue to eat this way for the rest of my life.

After all.... why quit something that makes you feel so good?

I will have been on Atkins 3 years in June. Actually, I began after listening to Dr. Michael Eades, Protein Power, on the radio and immediately bought his book. I started LC at that time but purchased many of the other LC books in the following months. Atkins' New Diet Revolution was my second book and I switch to follow Atkins more closely than Protein Power.

Don't get me wrong. I like Protein Power and many of the other LC books, but my major disagreement with Protein Power was the negative comments about saturated fat. Cutting back on saturated fats cuts out many very nice LC foods like butter, coconut, coconut oil, hard cheeses, fatty cuts of beef, limiting eggs, etc. I have done very well eating these foods with the saturated fat.

The best information on fats is:

Know Your Fats by Dr. Mary Enig

Atkins Nutritionals - Big Fat Lies

Kent

Hi Kent! I posted with you over at Dr. Weil's site.

I found this place through the link you provided at your webpage.

Thanks
Jim

3 yrs and 3 months today!
although i've had some trials along the way i know it is the best thing i've done for myself and for me it is truly a WOL

Been doign atkins for 10 weeks today.. WOW dosent seem like its been that long... I have really enjoyed this way of life... I dont plan on going back to the way I use to eat.. This has been sooooo good to me.. Feeling better all the time... Not only has the weight thats has come off feel great.. But knowing that Im doing soemthing that is good for me....is even better...

Tammy

It been almost 8 months for me. Though two of them were on/off months

Hi Jim,

Welcome to LowCarber.org. I still post on Dr. Weil's message board once in a while but not much.

Kent

While I'm only coming up on three months, I saw a post from one of the newbies recently who has been LC for 5 years but just recently backslid and is now getting with the program again.

I don't think you will ever find very many people active on the boards that have been doing it a real long time and have been maintaining. I think most people (not all) will get on with their lives and participation in the board will be a gradually decreasing part of that life until they stop altogether. Some will swing by from time to time and others will come back if they have problems. But most will just quietly move on to the next phase of their life.

My husband and I started the Atkins diet in August, 2000, so I guess that makes it 1 year and 8 months. We immediately noticed health benefits: my husband's GIRD disappeared the first day, as did the puffy ankles that had been plaguing my existence for years. The first week my BP went from a little high to normal.

The next summer I went into Maintenance, despite the fact I was not done losing weight (I wanted to be able to eat a bit more fruit). That turned into a year of Maintenance, then a couple of months ago I did the Induction step again and now I'm back to losing weight.

For us this is definitely a WOL. Between feeling great and having done all that research on how the body uses fats, proteins, and carbs, we could never go back to a high carb diet.

And best of all, besides being healthy, this is such a satisfying way to eat. I can't imagine why I ever fell for the idea that it's necessary to starve yourself to be healthy; that doesn't even make sense!

Karla

For me, it's been over 2 years. I love eating this way. Sometimes the weight loss really slows down, when I get frustrated by this, I do induction level carbs for a few days to give me a little kick start. If I really crave something, I'll have a little bite.

I'm back on in full force since the first of this month. After my wedding, (3-9-02) I gave myself a "break" for 3 weeks and gained 20 lbs!!!!! I'm down 10 already and feeling so much better.

This is just how I eat now....

I am on my third week of doing induction and ridiculous as this sounds this is really due to not fully understanding the difference between induction and owl in terms of recipes....

Can anyone help - if you could just outline the main difference between them, I would really appreciate it...

Miriam

As far as I know, the main difference is the number of carbs you take in. 20 for induction and for OWL, you increase your carb intake by 5 grams every week until you find your CCL- crital carb level. The max amount of carbs you can eat and still loose weight. It's different for everyone.

I believe you can pretty much use any recipe as long as it fits in with the number of carbs you can have.


Hope that helps!