Just wondering if anyone out there has tried a combination CAD and Atkins plan. I am using Atkins and am not ready to add in the CAD ideas yet, but I wonder if anyone has tried it.

My plan would be to follow Atkins during the week, but on Friday and Saturday nights would have the CAD "normal meal." (i know I shouldn't call it that, but you know what i mean). The only reason I am interested in this is because I (finally) have a busy social life and would really love to be able to eat dinner on Fri and Sat night without worrying about quality and just focusing on the 60 minute time limit in CAD.

Please let me know what you think and if you tried it, how it worked for you. Thanks so much!

Hi Shannie:

I don't know if combining plans will yield you the desired results, as each plan has its own quirks.

It's been awhile since I read CAD, but there are alot of things that are perfectly legal on Atkins that are big no-no's on CAD. Things you might not think would be problem or trigger foods like cottage cheese and broccoli.

If CAD seems like it might be better suited to your lifestyle, you may want to commit to making the switch 100%. People report good losses and high satisfaction on the CAD program when they follow it exactly as the Heller's wrote it.

That being said, many Atkins followers try to employ the CAD reward meal time limit to minimize damage when eating off plan, but I don't think that the strategy is as successful taken out of context.

You may want to snoop around in the CAD subforum and see what longtime CAD-ers may think. They are a very active and fun-loving bunch.

Hope this helps,
Lisa