former atkins-ites on south beach?

[valkyrie9]

hi,

i'm currently following the atkins way of life and have been for about a year (off and on). i'm finding it increasingly difficult to follow atkins (hence the "off and on") and was wondering if south beach might be a better, more liveable option for me. i am worried that increasing carbs might cause weight gain but i do feel that atkins is now too high fat for me, not to mention restrictive. i find the limitations are what led me to fall off the wagon so many times, so to speak.

i'm interested in getting some feedback from other former atkins folks who have switched to south beach regarding the pros, cons, differences, etc.

i've just started looking into sb, so i've been going through the sb website and will buy the book if i decide to switch.

thanks!

[u2charlene]

I was going to pose this same question...I have been doing Atkins off and on for 6 months or so and I'm planning to change over to SB on Monday, for the same reasons you mentioned. I would love to hear anyone else's experience in changing plans.

[lottoloose]

hi i was doing atkins too,but im too much of a fruit and vege lover to be told no i cant have fruit or i can only have this much of veges, so im doing my own thing and loosing quite well . 15 pounds in three weeks,plus plenty of water. i dont eat processed food. i also exercise when im not being too lazy.
good luck to to you wherever you go

"what the mind can percieve,and believe it can achieve"

[Monika4]

I have only tried Atkins for a few weeks and decided it could never become a way of life for me, thus I switched. I have followed this forum for a while, and the adding carbs and not counting seems unusual - I couldn't count for Atkins either since I can't go to my salad bar at work and start weighing. The induction and the maintenance phases are similar, it is how you get there - phase 2 or OWL - that is different.

Because SBD is low in animal fat (not all fats), it is often hard to find processed stuff - bars, candy, ice creme - that are both low fat and no sugar.

The other point I would stress is not to add all the allowed carbs at once. WHile there are a lot of allowed carbs in SBD, you need to test each one. I can't eat fruit and whole grain bread and whole grain pasta all in a day. some can, many can't. you need to set your priorities. I would continue Atkins but lower your fat intake by limiting cheese and other dairy to no fat or low fat, and your meats to fish and chicken breast, no processed meat. I would do that for a week - I know, it is the hard part of both diets - and then add one of the SBD allowed carbs - a whole grain slice of bread or whole grain cereal in the morning, or if you crave fruit, a fruit in the afternoon (not morning - the book stresses that fruit should not be in the morning). stick to that for a week and if you are still loosing nicely, add another carb the next week. Introduce them slowly.

The other important thing seems drinking water (should sound familiar) and having enough snacks. Always have a snack around - and I agree with you, I love the fact that my snack can be an apple! Good luck

[csolyn]

Hi ladies! I was following Atkins for about 11 months. I just switched over to SB because I was having trouble sticking with it, and I just felt like I needed more options. I know that Atkins and SB are very close, but not having to count carbs has made me much happier. I haven't cut out all my fat, but I have cut my sat fat down a lot and upped my fruits and veggies big time. Since being on it I have dropped 8lbs and I allow myself one cheat meal a week if I exercise everyday. The cheat is something small, but it doens't seem to effect my weightloss like it did on Atkins. If I cheated on Atkins I gained. I am loving the Beach and think this WOL is excellent. Check out my journal for more info. I only made the switch 3 weeks ago. :)

[helena_c]

Hi all! Charlene, you sound a lot like me-off and on Atkins for about 6 months, planning to switch on Monday to SBD! I'm going to switch to it on Monday, I will have finished the book by then and then its away I go. I'm also a big fruit lover so this plan will be right for me when I finish phase I. ANyways, looking forward to posting here!

[marissauk]

Hi,

I successfully lost a lot of weight on Atkins but then stalled for several months. Because summer was approaching, I decided I wanted to eat more fruit and less fat, plus I was getting bored. I switched to South Beach - started eating more fruits and added milk, seeds, beans, some whole grains to my diet, reduced fat considerably (switched to low fat or fat free and stopped lavishing butter and mayo all over the place) and promptly started losing again. So yes, the wider variety of SB suits me fine.

Marissia.

[bakababa]

I've lost 10 lbs. the first 2 weeks and stalled for another 2 weeks on Atkins.

I was on Induction for 4 weeks. Then the past two weekends, I had so much carb from eatting our and parties. I couldn't believe I've gained back all 10 lbs. back today. It only took 2 weeks (to be exact, two weekends) Wow! (And I ran 30-50 minutes on a treadmill 3 times/week)

Now I'm back to ZERO weight loss.

Tomorrow, I'm switching to SOUTH BEACH because I am so sick of meat (not a meat eatter to begin with) and would love to eat more veggies :)

-------------------------- :help: -------------------------

QUESTION:
1. Though the book said it doesn't care how much carb you eat during phase I, I would think it's about the same as ATKINS? Less than 20g. of carb? (but less bacons? :)

2. Will I lost 10 lbs. during Phase I like I did when I was on Atkins Induction Phase? Or Induction or Phase I can be done only once? (Well, at least I wish to lose 1-2 lbs per week)