You are all right. I should avoid mentioning atkins by name. I am just proud of the weight i lost and how i did it. I don't think we should avoid mentioning atkins like we are all under ground devil worshippers ,but i guess it is easier that way. Thanks for the advise.





Jon

Your post was so dead on for me, it could have been written by me!

Now that I've been doing this awhile no one at work every says anything negative to me.

There are a few guys here and they started doing WW and I know I've lost more weight and in the end will lose more than all of them...that's a small satisfaction.

Anymore I just don't say too much....

It's not that we're ashamed of what we're doing. I just don't have the energy most days to debate someone on the merits of low carb vs. low fat.
OTOH...if I'm up for a good debate, stand back.

You're so right it's not worth arguing. For now on when someone asked me how i lost the weight I am just going to say I am on the all sugar and bread diet like them. J/k




Jon

I called my mom today and she asked me how I was feeling. I asked her why, because me and the b/f was having a spat and she just happened to wonder how I was feeling on that very same night. So anyway, her and a friend of mine were watching a tv show about atkins that said that atkins was bad for you liver and other various parts, I don't have to name them because we have all heard it before. I told her I feel fine and have never had any bad side effects from atkins and that I was getting a little bit tired of the doubts about atkins when it is so obvious that it works for people so well. My b/f works for target and he said he has had another person come up to him and ask for atkins products again which are in the back but not on display for sale. I love the chocolate chip muffin mix myself. So, yes I feel your aggravation about having to defend my lifestyle right and left, but you know what I say, I have lost a considerable amount of weight and continue to and that weight loss is a very personal venue that every person has to find what is right for them. So atkins isn't right for them, oh well. Let's just continue to lose weight and eventually they will come around.
Have a good day, Belle

Jon, this comes up all the time for most of us...it's a pain, but your first reply was right on...that's what I usually tell them "the tides are turning" and "the public is finally realizing how deceived they've been"...

Now I usually just say, "I watch the carbs..." and do my own thing.

I had a discussion with a friend a while ago who was spouting the same stuff about liver damage, etc. I told her that yes, she's so right about us considering our health... for years I was such a low-fat guru and was so PUNISHING to the LC people...because I was going with the public opinion... but once I got educated, I went 100% LC and immediately lost weight and got healthier!!

And that's the honest truth in my case. New things are scary... but she is now on Atkins!

(And if push comes to shove, MYOB works too! )

Ha! I can really relate to this thread!
I am sick of hearing how bad Atkins is for you, but now that I have lost more weight, if I only say "low carb/low sugar" people want me to give them all the details, so they can try it! If I say "Atkins", they look at me with a horrified look, as if I've said "cyanide" or something", then they say a couple of the 'you're going to kill yourself comments' and don't want any info on the way I eat really. This gets them out of my way pretty fast. (I notice many say, "Oh, I did that once, BUT... and have some terrific reason why it doesn't work at all for them, even tho they want me to know they beat me to trying it many years ago.. weird. As if it's a competion to know and try this WOE first?! (and they often have the strangest reason why it didn't work...recently heard, "I never got my period while on it.", so were they on it a week or something?! :-) or, "I only gained lots of weight on that".....!!? What can I say to that?

I feel if I confidently say "Atkins" and show a weight loss, I am helping myself to get the conversation over quickly AND being a radical in doing my little bit to help turn the tide!!! I get very tired of explaining low carb, what foods, etc.... basically spending many minutes a day describing Atkins, even tho they don't know or want that. If someone seems really sincere to learn I give them the Atkins website and a couple other websites (this too!) and they can investigate if they have the "calling" to look deeper and maybe give it a try.

One thing I find harder to deal with is when I see people particularily on Weight Watchers (which I was on for years, different periods) and they are eating for example one apple and trying so hard to handle the hunger, when I know they are on such a difficult, unsuccessful (long term) path.. I want to grab that apple out of their hands and hand them a piece of LC cheesecake!!! Still, if they are eating WW they are usually in the high motivation/hopeful stage and I don't want to discourage them or butt into their business... I say nothing or not much... but for me this is the hardest one.. watching people I really feel apathy towards miss the LC boat when they are wanting to be healthier/thinner just as much as I do.
Cheers,

Hi all,

Laurie, the thought of watching a hungry person who yearns to be thin and healthy mournfully munching an apple is so sad.

I am not a proselytizer, and not even a very successful example to follow, but I am glad that some people like you are "doing my little bit to help turn the tide."

I don't even mention what I'm eating. If I'm eating out with others I order a salad like Cobb or Chefs and an appropriate dressing and let it go at that. The only people I've told about this are my sis and my daughters. It was my sis that convinced me that it works. I was doubtful when she said she was doing it but she's at 130 and looks wonderful. One of my daughters is on it and doing great though she had only a few pounds to lose.
When I go to the potlucks I take a meat dish and then have some of that and some green salad. Nobody even notices. If I don't eat dessert, well, "I'm full already."

folks, we're at the leading edge of sociatal revolution, hehe, to steal a phrase.

In reality, we are the folks who spread the word about this WOE. Dr. Atkins doesn't need to spend much in advertising, we do it for him!

So here we sit, rather lonely over all, eating high fat foods and loving it, leaving sugar to those who don't know better or refuse to learn, and WE ARE HEALTHIER FOR IT.

Can any of us say that we've been here before? On the leading edge of a vast conspiracy? those are strong words, and there wasn't much of a cover up, but these days there is so much trustworthy info out there, that the establishment is forced to 'consider' alternatives.

We know the truth of how our bodies work, I feel I have a duty to tell my friends and family what I have learned because it would help them too.

as far as arguing with ignorant people goes, I'm always up for a debate, can't help myself! I have a friend who went to college for cardiac health, and ripped me up and down for eating low carbs. On a long road trip, we had it out, hehe. She told me of all the processes the body goes through, and she is very knowledgable. Where her argument fell through, was when I asked about the natural process in which our bodies burn stored fat!? She had no answer, there is no documented process, according to the AMA.

There is a girl I work with who is doing slim-fast and she is always tired and hungry and talking about having to fight her cravings and 'be good'. She's always gives in to cravings, as well, like getting so hungry she buys a plate of fries to eat. I on the other hand, rarely want anything like that. We had ice-cream at work yesterday. While everyone else was gobbling it down, I didn't even want any. When I do feel cravings, I like the signature line that achio4444 has: "My cravings for carbs are not as strong as my cravings to be thin and healthy!" I also tell myself that one bite of cake or ice-cream is not worth all the work I've accomplished in the last month - or the four lbs I would have to lose all over again, while I sit here in my size 12 jeans that I haven't been able to wear in six months! bwahahahaha hehe <teasing>

I also say that I have given up sugar and am cutting out most carbs. I have quit trying to explain. There is someone on this forum, and I apologize for not being able to remember who, that has a quote, along with their name, that I often "borrow". It goes something like this..

"I tell people that I have been on the fat, lazy bastard, spagetti, beer & potato chip diet for 20 years. Now I'm going to try that dangerous Atkins diet"

This one gets a laugh EVERYTIME!

Good Thread,

Joy

You know I am just honest with people. I am on Atkins and proud. The only way to change the falicies these people belive is to discredit there incorrect facts. I like to tell them I low fated and yoyoed for 10 years and boom I was 252 and now I am on my way to 120 pound with 90 pound taken off . I tell them that this is the best i have felt in years and I know my body so well now. I can detect slight changes in myself.
Now and then you get the ones that think you are killing yourself and to them I say well I am sorry you feel this way but this is my body and I will do with it what I please and I will live longer and healthier.
So stand up and be proud .
HI MY NAME IS LYNN AND I AM AN AKINS-A-HOLIC!!!!!!!
Happy low carbing smuffy

When I first started Atkins 9 months ago I got a few people who said, " that is so bad for you." Funny thing is, most of them are now on Atkins.

Even the lunchroom at work is getting use to all of the Atkins people and are making more Atkins style foods. The are now making customer made omlets and always have a bunch of bacon and sausage prepared every day. They only had donuts, muffins and bagels a few months ago. I know about 20 or so people who are now on it at work. I only knew one before I started. Tide has defanitely turned around here! Woohoo!

I was recently diagnosed with a skin disorder, and a lot of no-no foods are considered to be triggers. If someone points out that I didn't have a potato, or rice or chocolate, it's easier for me to say, "I've had to cut out a lot because of my skin," and leave it at that.

It's not that I want to be sneaky, but almost everyone I know suffers from defeatist syndrome. I know that if I mentioned a new WOL/WOE, I would be scrutinized at every function/dinner/gathering, and I really don't think anyone needs to do that to me. I already know that once I get thin, people will be watching and waiting for me to gain the weight again.

What I really want to know is, WHY are people so concerned with what others are eating????? I couldn't care less about my cousin's dinnerplate.

-busygirl