Any ex-atkiners here?

[Isiar]

Hi there!
I began Atkins last june and I really like that woe...However my lipid profile got very bad so I want to shift plans and since SBD is still low carb and cut out saturated fats seems like a nice plan for me.
I would like to know if there's any ex-atkiners here so they can share their experience with the shift...any weight gain ? Do you started with phase I or you go directly to phase II?
Comments, suggestions?

[Zuleka]

Hi, I was also on Atkins. After Christmas I couldn't get back into the swing of things. I'm on SBD now.

I'm on Phase I. I started 3 weeks ago. I had friends cone from out of town and cheated. I restarted last week , and lost 4 pounds. This week it's my birthday and Valentines... cheat cheat cheat. I don't go all out and cheat , just little cheats. Next week I have surgery, so I really won't know how I'm actually doing on the diet till next month. When I get into normal mode.


I wish you luck. Keep in touch.

[Zuleka]

BTW: I see your from Costa Rica.... I live in Miami. I was born in Cuba. Do you speak spanish?

[WeeOne]

I'm thinking about switching. I bought the book yesterday and I have been reading it. I'm not sure if I agree with the whole saturated fat view but, I think part of my problem is that I eat too many calories throughout the day. Calories in my eyes DO matter so by cutting out some saturated fat I will be cutting out some calories so I'm willing to give this a try.

Wee

[Isiar]

Hi there!
To be absolutely honest, I was in a mindframe of: "If I can't have the carbs, give me the fat!" and my eating preferences fit Atkins very much...I could honestly stick to it the rest of my life...Problem was my bad results in lipid profile so my SBD detour has been a kind of obligated one...
I ordered the book last week but hasn't arrived yet! I'm looking forward to receive it so I can began the plan!
Zuleka, of course I speak spanish! Feel free to visit my journal whenever you want. I would love to share the frustrations and success of this journey with someone who speaks my own language...It's often difficult for me to vent in english!

[Isiar]

Calories in my eyes DO matter so by cutting out some saturated fat I will be cutting out some calories so I'm willing to give this a try.

Wee

In my case, fat really helps me to be on track...so I'm afraid of reduce my fat intake AND incorporate some other carbs instead. Oh well, I'll give it a nice try!

[Kimmerz321]

I'm a former Atkins, former South Beacher who is now trying to do a hybrid between the two. I've found that for me (and YMMV on this), when I eat a lot of saturated fat, I stall out. And when I eat some of the stuff that you are allowed on SB (brown rice, whole grain bread, etc), I also stall out. So, I've combined the two to get the best of both worlds - I eat lots of low-fat, low-carb stuff. Lots of fresh vegetables, chicken, and fish. Some fruit a few times a week. It's been working really well so far. Good luck!

[WeeOne]

Dora, I know when I eat higher fat I eat less and yes that keeps me on track. So I do plan on eating good fats on SB. I am going to stir fry things in olive oil like crazy and eat salads dressing and mayo made with canola oil to keep my fats up enough to keep me satisfied. Adding carbs is a scary thing for me. I'm going to start this on Monday so I'm mentally preparing myself.

Kimmer - that is an interesting approach and something that I will definately keep in mind. I do know that if I start eating brown rice, I'll allow white rice, then potatoes then I'm right back to where I started.

Could you please post a typical day's worth of meals. I'm very interested. Also, do you eat LC breads or do you stick to the more natural breads that are lower because they have a lot of fiber. (Sorry if that sounds confusing) Do you eat the LC yogurt or regular?

Thank you.

Wee

[Engine9]

Thanks for the post I was wondering myself if anyone was switching or combining. I am trying to combine because I like the carb limitations but SB seems to be more heart healthy so I am confused at the moment. I will keep on reading and hopefully find the way to go.

[Indigo_]

I switched. I didn't do so well on Atkins, presumably because of all the fat. Weight loss was reeeeeallly slow. IMO SB is healthier. Just my 2¢.

Actually, I didn't switch--not technically, anyway. I gave up on Atkins, then after the holidays I went on SB.

WeeOne, if you check out my journal you will find some of my daily menus.

[Emagine]

Atkins ended, SB to begin!!

I just did a post too about it. I look forward to learning more!

[Isiar]

Emagine, good luck!
I'm looking forward to receive the book so I can join!

[Kimmerz321]

A typical daily menu for me:
Breakfast - egg beaters scrambled with green and red peppers, pepper, and a bit of cheese (the 2% kind - it has less fat but melts pretty well, unlike the icky low-fat stuff), or occasionally a low-carb muffin (I keep them on hand in case I'm running late, but they're a bit higher in fat than I'd like)
Lunch - Big green salad with Romaine lettuce (it has much more in the way of nutrients than Iceberg), peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, and occasionally a little bit of chicken. Tossed with zero carb, zero calorie dressing. Sometimes, a little bit of 1% cottage cheese along with it.
Snack - cucumbers dipped in hummus, a tomato with salt and pepper, or a piece of fruit (a small apple, a pear, or a few strawberries)
Dinner - A piece of chicken (I found a wonderful recipe for tequila chicken that I make pretty frequently) or fish (seasoned with whatever I have around), a serving of vegetables (usually broccoli or cauliflower), and if I'm going to work out that evening, I'll have a small serving of whole-grain couscous (gotta have energy).
After dinner - A piece of fruit (if I didn't have one earlier in the day), or if I'm dying for chocolate, a sugar-free fudgsicle.

[acey417]

I haven't officially started the SBD yet. I'm using this weekend to
prepare the kitchen and the mind. I'm jumping ship from Atkins. I've
been on Atkins since the beginning of the year and am just not
getting the results I want. I love the low carb (controlled carb,
low glycemic, etc.) lifestyle. I feel better than I have in a long
time. I'm off antidepressants. I have energy that I never had
before. But something just wasn't jiving right with Atkins for me or
hubby. We were actually putting on weight. We talked about it and
decided it was probably the sat fats we were eating and had already
decided to cut back on those when I ran into a friend who's been
doing SBD since August of last year and lost 40lbs. She had been on
Atkins before getting pregnant and after the baby came realized
there was just too many alarm bells going off to resume Atkins again.

This way of eating makes so much sense to me. I must admit I'm a
little worried about transitioning from Atkins to this. It seems a
bit more restrictive, but we are telling ourselves we are just doing
an induction type thing again...without the bad fats. It's going to
be strange not having to count carbs, though. I'll still be keeping
track of what I eat every day because I'm anal like that and am
trying to determine if I have a thyroid problem. I'm kind of pre-
freaked about Phase II as well. My head understands the reason
behind adding in those low GI carbs, but I'll be darned if my heart
isn't scared silly.

I'm glad to know there are others out there who are going through the same thing.

Good luck, everyone!

[Isiar]

Hi there!
I'm having troubles for the switch...lol! My mind was Atkins wise. I'm making a kind of transition. As Amy says, induction without saturated fats.
I don't have any need to add bread of any kind and feel a little scared to add more carbs... :confused:
I bought All Bran for breakfast but havent eat it yet. Sometimes I missed my brie cheese w/ coffee. Definetively SBD feels more like a diet for me. At least at this stage of the game. Hope that it becames more like a way of eating...
Keep in touch!

[Monika4]

In a way, I am combining too - low fat, low carb. The reason I call it more SBD than Atkins is that I only use low fat, and have occasional fruit or whole grain bread. When I cheated and try to get back on track, I think I am sometimes in Ketosis too - which you aren't supposed to on SBD. But I share your worry about adding grain. I consider them (whole grain bread, whole grain pasta) a treat, not a cheat, but not regular food either.

Interesting, that SBD feels more diet to you, Dora. I felt it was less restricted - but that maybe was because I really couldn't imagine never having any fruit. But for me the major differences were low fat cheese and low fat sour creme instead of regular, and that doesn't really feel so different. Good luck!

[hislady]

Hello Everyone!!

I am a bit confused. I went to the doctor yesterday and she strongly dissagrees with the Atkins WOL because of the clogged artery deal. I understand because I wondered about this too. And I also wondered about eating fruit and grains with my ongoing stomach issues. There always seems to be some constipation or heart burn or something. This limits my fried foods alot because the grease just kills me!!

Now she said the SBD was a better choice because its kind of lc and kind of lf. The Atkins WOE has worked for me I have went from 200 to 186 since Jan 1 and I am loving it. I want to or need to loose another 36 lbs or more but I don't have a problem doing it gradually like a couple pounds a week.

My Dr. also mentioned that I was self canabalizing (sp?) and that ketosis is bad. But everywhere I read on the forum it says ketosis is good.

I have been babbling but I am a little torn. Not really knowing what to do. I need to still loose weight. Can SBD give me the same loss the Atkins does without the heart and stomach problems??

[Engine9]

I wish I could tell you for sure that your weight loss will be the same but I don't think anyone can do that because your body reacts differently than anyone elses. I switched to SB from Atkins for the reasons your doctor gave you, it was a personal choice. If your concerned about stalling after such great success, try for a SB/Atkins combination-simply modify a few things. Go for leaner cuts of meat, lose the butter things like that. The thing I have noticed is the fat you were able to eat on Atkins kept you feeling full, longer but SB makes up for that I think by being liberal with the veggies. As far as ketosis I think on any 1st phase or induction we all go into a form of that, I am not trying to put down doctors but most I have come in contact with are all about the food pyramid, and may not have really reserched the low carb way of eating just as they have very little reserch on vitamins and things like that. I hope I didn't confuse you more. Good Luck

[hislady]

Thanks a ton Engine9!!

I just have one other question. Are items like Pork Rinds/pepperoni allowed on SBD or do I have to give them up?

[Engine9]

During phase one pork rinds are not an option because the only pork you can eat is very lean-pork tenderloin as an example. I am not sure about turkey pepperoni, they do allow low fat lunch meat and that might qualify. Put that question on the SB forum board and someone there may be able to answer that one better.

[faery]

I find that SBD has been less stressful. I find I am no longer obsessing about the number of carbs, but just the good ones. Its taking me a little longer to lose because I do eat things like whole wheat pitas and sometimes I have whole wheat pasta, but I do feel much better and I am still losing.

[raven0573]

I like South Beach better because of the lower fat aspect. I couldn't stand to do the fatty meats on Atkins. Atkins works really well for my husband but not for me. You do have to modify South Beach according to your liking. There are a lot of great South Beach recipes on this forum to go through.

[SusanKH]

My question is, Is weight loss slower on SBD than Atkins? Just curious.

[Meadow_001]

SB isnt slower than Atkins for me, but I had a really hard time losing on Atkins. Since I started SB a few weeks ago I've lost 2 lbs and lost enough inches that I should really buy new pants. The change is significant enough that when I was at this weight a few months ago my pants were fitting exactly and now they are practically hanging off me.

Now, I guess you could credit some of that to exercise, but I've only exercised a week out of the time I've been on SB and I did the same sort of thing on atkins with no result (exercise for a week and then stop out of laziness).

I think whether or not the weight loss is slower depends on your body, everybody is different.

[vbrowne]

I am an ex-Atkinser. I haven't read the SBD book and have switched over to just a healthy eating plan - I was really missing fruits and was getting a bit worried about the long term effects of all the fat I was eating. There is cancer in my family and want to do everything to maintain a healthy lifestyle. What I'm getting at really is that from what I am reading, the SBD looks to me just like a healthy eating plan - lc + lf, sensible portions, calorie counting, etc. Could someone explain to me in a nutshell how this is a "diet / WOE" rather than just sensible eating? Thank you for your help.

Vikki

[5cats4me]

I've done Atkins since December and have lost 15-20 lbs on it, but I missed the grains very much so a few weeks ago I hopped over to Phase 2 of SBD. I call what I'm doing Atkins Beach! I still eat some (but not a lot) of sat. fat, like in my cheese and an occasional slice of bacon, and I don't deny myself the wings that I'd grown so fond of, I just only have them once a week instead of 3 times a week! I do now, however, eat things like old fashioned oatmeal, a kashi waffle, or 1/2 of a whole wheat pita with my tuna salad. I only have one of these things a day, and usually a piece of low GI fruit or some berries once a day too...I need to eat like this forever, and I didn't feel that either plan to the letter would enable me to do so without that "diet" feeling. So I eat those fattier foods and the whole wheat grains in moderation, and the rest of the time it's veggies, salad, eggs, lc yogurt, sunflower kernels, cheesesticks, ham/turkey rolls, an occasional lc chocolate bar, or any of the many yummy recipes I've gotten from websites! This is working for me, I've dropped 2 lbs since the switch (if you call it one!), and I feel satisfied!