I thought this was way to good to be true. After years of always feeling hungry I was especially doubtful about the claims of decreased appetite.

.....sooooo happy I was wrong!!

-Ash

I thought it would effectively help me lose weight but I never thought I could actually get to a goal weight and I never thought I would actually be able to eat whenever I was hungry and be satisfied.

Those were all pleasant surprizes!

I WANTED to believe it, but in my heart didn't. So I went into it 'as an experiment' because low-f, high-c diet that had worked in the past was no longer working for me (become 'insulin resistant'). I was sceptical about the science, thought the books were probably just a cynical money-making exercise. Desperation and frustration forced me to put my doubts aside - thank God - initially and this forum has kept me on track since.

I went to the local department store in July 2002 to buy some new clothes. Well the size I REMEMBERED fitting me, no longer fit. Something drastic had to be done. After years of the low-fat/low-cal school of thought being pounded into my head, I thought drastic would be trying low-carb. Now, I'll never turn back. Also, I had tried plenty of low-fat/low-cal diets in the past with short-term success, only to gain all the weight back and then some. Carb and caffeine withdrawal was no picnic but I was surprised at how relatively easy this WOE was. I voted "cautiously optimistic" in the poll.

When I came across the book in January 2000, I was desperate. For the whole of 1999 I was on a 'detox' diet, which was basically all 'whole foods'. I survived on Brown rice, honey, bananas, and lots of whole grain bread! Hardly any protein at all. In that year, I gained 15 lbs. (which is alot when you are 5'2") I was falling asleep straight after dinner every night, and I think I had 3 periods the whole year. It just didn't make sense, I looked and felt terrible, and indeed 'toxic'.

Within 3 months of lowcarbing I'd lost the 15 lbs, and the last 3 years I've lost another 5 and gone from 35% BF to 23%.

The thing that irritates me the most about the nay-sayers (I'm talking so-called professional nutritionists and doctors) of this so called 'diet' is that they have no concept or understanding of the real health implications of the carbohydrate rich pyramid they promote. They close their minds, stick their fingers in their ears and go na-na-na-na-na.

EVERYONE will lose weight by eating this way. AND you MAY benefit in other ways you never thought possible. I would love to get that message out there!

I have to eat low carb as I have PCOS so this seemed the natural option for me. What swung me, really, was the fact that I can have olive oil and cheese. I am of Greek descent and these two things 'make' my cooking. Every low fat diet banned olive oil and real cheese and every time I cooked I felt like I wasn't cooking real food. Once I'd worked out lunch menus to take to work I was off! I'm not looking back. This way of eating seems very natural and right to me.

Yes and no....

YES because before low carb I ate low fat and 0 fat without losing a damn pound. I read an article somewhere about lowcarb, meaning only stay away from cereal and pasta...which is what I llived off of. That particular article didn't say anything about having to eat fat. Did that, lost weight.

Then NO a year later when I first heard about Atkins where you eat alot of fat....

Jude,

No. I didn't think it could possibly work. Sounded too good to be true. But here I am 4 months down the road 20 lbs (!!!) lighter. And I feel better. Can't even remember how I used to eat.

Wish I had taken my measurements when I started but it was just after the Christmas holidays and I didn't dare.

I will always be eternally grateful to Dr. Atkins for getting me off sugar. It was making my life a misery.

my response that is. I knew that my mother lost on it. In fact, it was the ONLY time I ever saw that she lost weight. She'll tell me now that she's lost 15lbs or whatever, but that was the only time I ever really [I]SAW[/I ] a weight loss. And yet, with all the media and doctors, I still had/have doubts. Some of it is religious. The bible says fruit shall be as meat to you. However, it also says you shouldn't eat fat. Which actually SUPPORTS Atkins. He says high carb/low fat. But, later in the bible, you can eat certain meats. Those that chew the cud and have split hooves. So, beef is okay. But not pork. Pigs don't chew the cud. So, I guess I'm going to H~ll since I eat sausage. However, in Matthew, Jesus says that food just goes through you. I'll look it up and edit this...

When I first read about low carb, I knew instantly that it was what my body needed. For me, either these low carbs experts were right or I was a complete freak-- unable to lose weight even while exercising heavily & practically starving on "healthy" low fat foods.

The big question for me was could I do it? Could I really give up the carbs that I now realized I was addicted to? Could I live off of food that I had to cook (one of the reasons I 'hate to cook' is that I'm BAD at it!)?

Well, 2 1/2 months later, I have conquered the addiction & I'm still alive. To be honest, there have very few foods I really miss. I sometimes wonder if I will be able to do this the rest of my life. I guess, like any other addict, I have to take it one day at a time.

Thanks Everyone!

I can relate to so many of your comments--it doesn't matter what age we are, where we live in the world or how much weight we want to lose. Even after 10 months, I still have a hard time believing I can lose weight and enjoy eating at the same time.

I think the most difficult phase is going to be maintenance. Right now I'm obsessed with low carb...planning, measuring,
counting, devouring this forum--or thinking about doing all of the above.

I hope I have the good sense to stay in focus once I reach goal.

judy

I was one of the "cautiously optomistic" because all of the diets I'd been trying resulted in weight gain, rather than loss. Then finally, my doctor recommended the Atkins diet in September 2001. I decided to give it a good try and stick with it until the new year. By then I'd lost enough to make me a believer and I've just kept at it to the results that I have today.

Marlaine

I read Atkins about 2 times once in the 70,s and about 3 years ago.Then a friend lost 50lb,s and so did a neighbor......So I bought my own addition,read it and was hoping it could help me...
Was very suprised to lose 3.5 the first week.Water lose..Put it

back on and now am back down to 125 and still going.Am not stopping until I hit goal.Realy had to take the time to get my vitamins in order.(yuck)All the years of ephedra and caffine etc..no more..Just good old real food .A life saver.

My sister told me that her best friend's parents, sister and brother in-law all had lost significant amounts of weight on Atkins so I knew it worked. It amazed me because without reading the book I just couldn't understand HOW the diet worked! So I went out and bought DANDR and started the diet. It worked well and I loved it!

What a great thread!

Even though I read Dr. Atkins book through and everything made perfect sense to me, I still was very cynical. I didn't believe I would lose all that much weight (this has been pretty accurate, actually - my body is pretty stubborn when it comes to weight loss so I didn't expect to lose a whole lot, but I have definately gone down) and I certainly didn't believe that my energy level would rise and my appetite would be under control and I wouldn't crave the sweets like crazy. Within the first two weeks, low and behold, everything happened pretty much as Dr. Atkins book promised (except for the whoosh weight loss, but like I said, I expected that). I've been trying to convince my mom it works but she is too attatched to the low-fat way of life. So she jumps from one fad diet to the next, unfortunately.

Tam