Hey, everyone. I've been thinking about the whole supplement thing (EAS shakes, bars..lite, LC, etc.) and I wonder if there is one kind better to combine with Atkins or not? Also, on the days when we don't workout (whatever free day we have).. do we take supp's then, too, or not, and is L-Glutamine ONLY taken on exercise days?

Thanks.

depends on what supplements your talking about. tell me what you take on the day's of your workout and i'll tell you whats necessery and what not. from the get go all vitamins are necessery and glucosamine too. besides that anti-oxident if you do take that is also good. so many supplements out there i have to know whats your intake.

Not sure which plan you are following.

Atkins with CKD? Atkins with BFL? Atkins with CKD is pointless because of the carb up days. Atkin's doesn't allow carb up days. You would probably be better with CAD.

I personally am following Atkin's with BFL as a workout routine. On the days I lift I have 1/2 steel cut oats and as a snack later I have an apple with peanut butter.

On aerobic days I eat what I normally would on Atkin's. The second week was pretty rough as I was not consuming enough carbs on the lift days. Which is why I now have the oatmeal.

So far in the three weeks I have lost 3.5 inchs and 1 pound.

Jalilah

I am strictly doing BFL but have decided to lower my carb intake on the days I don't lift. I take L-glutamine and my amino acids every day (along with vitamin supplements). I supplement my snack meals with 1/2 Myoplex Lite shakes.

I have found thru trial and error that not having enough carbs on lift days makes for some sorry strength.

You might want to browse thru Natruska's journal. She has a lot of good posts that will help you to incorporate the Atkins plan with your workout routine. I spent one evening reading and really got a lot out of it. I recommend her journal to everyone.

Hi, everyone!

I think I asked this one before I decided what to do exactly. I veiw CKD (just my silly way of thinking, I guess) as Atkins with carb up days! LOL. I mean, during the week I follow Atkins Induction totally---well, sometimes dropping the carbs to less than 20g, though.

The workout plan I follow is BFL.

Supplements:

Aktins Basic #3 (multi-vit)
CLA
Potassium
Acidophilus (to help keep candida at bay)

I know my supplements (combination of) must be pretty lame, but I can't afford too much else...especially after we were burglarized Friday night.

I have Glucosamine, but it kept knocking me out of ketosis, and when I finally got my "The Ketogenic Diet" book I read that glucosamine converts to glucose in the system, which CAN knock you out of ketosis. So I don't take that anymore.

I'm sure I need creatine, but I'm not sure if I can find any without the sugar.

Also, I found a ZERO CARB whey protein drink at GNC, but it's $50...which is impossible right now due to the recent events.

Thanks for the input and help, everyone!

(((bracing myself for the supplement lashings)))

Jalilah,

I don't mean any offense, and I appologize in advance if this seems a bit harsh, however you either do Atkin's or you don't. Atkin's does not allow "carb-up" days. If you are going to do CKD then go for it. If you are going to do Atkin's do that, but the two can not successfully be combined because what good you do on Atkin's during the week is totally blown on the weekends.

What you are doing is not Atkin's at all, and you could confuse a lot of new people by saying you are doing Atkin's but allowing binge weekends. That is basically what it comes down to isn't it?

Those of us doing Atkin's with BFL as our workout routine follow a pretty strict Atkin's diet, during the week including our aerobic days. Only on lift days do we increase our carb intake slightly.

On lift days I allow myself 80 carbs a day. Rest of the week including weekends is maintained at around 40. Without the added carbs on lift days it is almost impossible for me to finish the workout due to muscle fatigue.

As for supplements, I take a multi-pack and add in L-glut. That's it. I eat tons of fresh veggies and fruit during the week so the supplements are just that.


If you find Atkin's is too strict carb wise, take a look at Protein Power or CAD. Those two are a bit more flexible in the range of carb intake and how.

Janet

Sorry, AgonyCat. I didn't mean to confuse everyone, but here's why I say I'm doing "Atkins during the week:" I eat ONLY induction foods. Nothing allowed on OWL. I also follow the Atkins rules regarding caffein, aspartame and splenda.

I think, from what I've read in the book so far, that CKD is a bit more liberal than Atkins. I read both PP and CAD and don't think it's at all for me. I don't want to do a 60min free meal....I would hate that. After reading the books, I think CKD is best for me now. I may change later on if necessary to TKD, though.

Believe it or not, almost all the folks I know on Atkins who've been stalled or plateaud for weeks and weeks are now "tweaking" the program so it will work for them again.

I don't mean any offense either, but my friend freaks out when she sees how upset when hard-core Atkids get when someone tweaks the program or cheats, etc. She used to tease me about being in "The Atkins Cult." I just laugh. Heck, even Dr. Atkins says that there is a small number of people who don't do well on his program.

Heck... since what I'm doing has started to work well (didn't do well last week), maybe I'm developing my own diet... maybe I'll write a book? hehe. Naaaahh. Just kidding.

No offense. Most people see Atkins the way you do. I see it as "If it's going to be for life, you better make it work for YOU."

Okay, to set the record straight.... I do CKD and BFL together.

Again, I apologize if I've confused anyone.

I don't get upset when people "tweak" or "cheat" but being a moderator and having to answer questions from new people, it does get old trying to explain that "what they read on this board about so and so doing xyz" is not what they should be following per induction rules

So it's easier to clear things up so no new people think it's okay for them to cheat on the weekends *IF* they are not doing some sort of workout routine that warrants the added carb ups

I'm not sure how you think I see Atkin's. I view Atkin's as doable for me and I have made some adjustments that suit my way of life. Hence the added carbs on my lift days. For beginners I will stress a "by the numbers" objective because it is easier for them than trying right off tweaking when they have no idea what they are doing or why.

As for stalling or platued? Try 8 months last year, and I have been at the same weight since May of this year. Am I tweaking? Nope. I know in due time the weight will start moving off. I am seeing a difference in inches just not the scale. I was down to 147 back in April and have been gaining/losing the same 3 pounds over and over again.

Oh, I wasn't referring to you!! LOL... I can't say anything right today. I'm glad there are moderators on this board----WAY glad! I was on another un-moderated board, and man.. to this day it's a nightmare!!! Plus, the moderators here are SUCH a wealth of knowledge. You guys are MUCH appreciated.

And I totally see where you're coming from, which is why I tried to clear the air in bold print so it wouldn't be missed.

You're much more patient than I am. I want my health as soon as I can get it. No crash diets for me---no way Jose---but I'm not 21yrs old anymore and I've lost my mother to congestive heart failure, uncles to the same, and my sister will be next (she's over 300lbs). I don't have years to take off 20lbs. From the get-go Atkins never worked quite right for me, and after 6mos I realized that it just wasn't working for me the way it was. But I knew that LC'ing WOULD work as a whole. This is when I began reading CAD, PP and started researching CKD. I think I've found my niche, something that works for me---finally.

As for my experience on Atkins, it got to the point where not even inches were coming off, and I wasn't feeling good AT ALL. In fact, I felt like death warmed over until a friend of mine helped me do my first "carb up." Not one meal, but two days worth. I felt like someone switched my body with a 20yr old's!!! WHAT a difference! But, at the carb level I was at on Atkins (OWL) to make me feel "alive," I wasn't losing pounds OR inches either one.

Then, when I decided to start going back to the gym on top of all my dance practices, teaching dance, and performances... I knew Atkins wasn't going to work for me AT ALL. I got into BFL and loved the workout----but hate LF eating. So, I decided to combine the two (Atkins and BFL). Didn't work. After feeling EVEN worse than I had before, AND no inch loss at all, I decided that I needed something else entirely. So, CKD came in. I LOVE it, and it works for me! The inches are coming off like crazy now (last week was a total fluke----retaining tons of water from TOM, although I thought it was something else), and best of all---- I feel like a living, breathing human being again! And that definitely is half the battle of getting to the gym.

anyway, I've got tons of friends who are still on Atkins and doing great. And there are those who, like me, don't feel well on it and so moved onto something else. It's all good----and we do after all have to choose what's right for our own body and lifestyle.

Interesting discussion!!!

And again, I'm SO SO GLAD that you moderators are here!!! You have NO idea!

Have a good one!

Wow with all of that you've almost convinced me to try CKD. I don't think that Atkins is working well for me anymore either. Hasn't been for some time.

Probably because I can't seem to stick to it at the level that will work for me. I've gotten to the point where only induction level seems to work, and I can't stick to that for long. Carbing up intentionally? Sounds like heaven. Whenever I do "carb up" I feel guilty and like I've totally blown any progress I ever tried to make.

CKD and BFL though, now that sounds rough. Sounds close to impossible. What do you do about the depletion full body workout day? I mean if you work out the whole body you aren't doing BFL, and if you don't you aren't really doing CKD... Too isn't CKD where you only work out the first three days of the week and then Friday or something? I'm confused about how you could do both.

Anyway you mentioned whey protein. There is some EAS whey protein that they sell at Walmart for like 8 dollars for a jar. It is low carb the 'Advantage' type. I don't know about zero carbs, but not too high.

Hi, Sherry!! Wonder where you've been hiding!

Actually, I thought it would be crazy, too...doing BFL and CKD, but it's working for me!

Here's how "I" make it work for me:

Let's take this week as an example... I'm doing lower body Monday and Friday, and Friday is my depletion workout. I do my REGULAR workout BFL style (lower body), then do the CKD style upper workout. I know one of the suggestions for CKD workouts is work the body in "X" fashion, but in the book it also mentions "warm up sets." Sound familiar? I've also went to Lyle's BB and mentioned what I was doing and so far I've not received any feedback telling me it's wrong or wont work.

Also, it's easy to keep the carbs low during the LC phase when you carb up on the weekend--either one or two days, and Lyle said a lot of people carb up only one day and are quite happy with it. I may do this, but not sure. I'm also NOT doing candy on day #1, but am using honey on oatmeal or mashed sweet potatoes, rice, etc.

So in actuality, I'm not having to adjust the workout much at all, with the exception being that CKD style workout for the portion of the body I'm not working normally-----to workout the whole body before the carb up. Like I said, it's working for me.. and if it aint broke, I'm not gonna fix it!!

And I hear ya on the Atkins thing. I does happen a lot more than people think (it not working for some).

Maybe I'll see you in the CKD area?????