Veggies, fetta cheese, gouda cheese, wine, eggs....and a drink of Baileys once every 2 weeks in my coffee.

I stay away from those bars they are bed luck and make me gain weight

Be careful when you do your own research. The reliability of the source matters and how many sources also matters. I think soy is still good because it's not controversial yet. Our media and FDA does a pretty good at protecting the public. As for protein bars and I'm doing it out of convenience and they do have a lot of vitamins and minerals included. I believe as long as I exercise and burn off the calories, I will continue to lose weight. What matters is how much calorie I take in (2500kcal/day). Any food eaten will eventually be turned into energy. I'm losing about 5-10 pounds a month with lots of exercise (4 miles jogging per day). True, whole foods is better which I will eventually turn once I get to my ideal weight. The protein bars and frozen microwaveable foods assists in my weight loss because I know how many calories I take in, I don't think I can do it accurately if I make my own food.
PS: I've eaten 12 Zone diet bars in a day with no problems, I think Atkins use too much artificial ingredients while Zone diet use little.

Below is the response I've received from Atkins, so the person who mentioned about glycerine is right. Most of the carbs comes from glycerine which is a sugar alcohol and can cause GI stress.

Thank you for your inquiry.

Atkins products are specifically formulated to minimize the impact of carbohydrates on a person's blood sugar level because elevated blood sugar and the resulting excess insulin production can inhibit weight loss, weight management and increase the risk of disease and illness and that is why not all carbs are created equal.

We accomplish this in our product formulation by understanding that not all carbohydrates behave the same way in a person's body. While most carbohydrates - sugar, which imparts 4 calories per gram, is the best example - are digested by your body and turned into blood sugar, other carbohydrates behave differently. Some carbs, such as sugar alcohol, glycerine and maltitol, are digested by your body but not turned into glucose. And, some carbs - such as fiber - can impart as little as 0 calories per gram, are not digested at all and pass through your body as waste. In either of these last two cases there is no noted impact on blood sugar levels. However, the FDA and other health organizations have not yet focused on this important biochemical difference and treat all carbohydrates as the same.

The nutritional information on Atkins food products is intended to help consumers understand exactly how we formulate our products so that they have the knowledge necessary to follow a controlled carbohydrate nutritional approach and eat healthy foods. Basically, this means that once you subtract the grams of fiber and sugar alcohols from the total carbs, the remainder is the Net Carbs.
In the case of Atkins(tm) Advantage® Bars, which contain glycerine, the math is not so simple. Because the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) now will not allow glycerine to be listed separately the way fiber and sugar alcohols are, glycerine carbs are included in the figure for total carbohydrates despite the fact that it has minimal impact on blood sugar. As a result, Advantage® Bars now show a higher number for total carbs. To clarify exactly which are the carbs you need to count when you do Atkins, there is now a new "Net Carbs" seal displayed in a circle on the front of the package. It excludes carbs that have minimal impact on blood sugar. The total carbohydrate statement, which appears on the Nutritional Facts Panel, will be much higher on our new labels to comply with FDA regulations. But remember that this includes glycerine and only the Net Carbs listed in the Net Carbs circular seal count when you do Atkins.
Example:
Atkins Chocolate Mocha Crunch Advantage® Bar
Total Carbohydrate (as defined by the FDA) 22 grams
Fiber 10 grams
Net Carbohydrates of interest to consumers who do Atkins 3 grams
(Mainly from the soy nuggets, cocoa and residual carbs found in the sources for the protein blend)
We trust you will find this information helpful. If you have additional questions regarding Atkins' products, please feel free to e-mail us again, or contact our Atkins Advantage Agents by phone at 1-800-6-ATKINS Monday to Friday from 8AM to 5PM EST. If you would like to place an order, our Ordering Department is available 8:00 am -8:00 pm EST Monday - Friday and on line at atkins.com click on Shop the Atkins Store for your convenience.
Questions about the Atkins Nutrition Principles can be answered by Atkins experts in the Live Discussion section on our website.
Atkins Advantage Consumer Affairs

[QUOTE=rsuryase]Be careful when you do your own research. The reliability of the source matters and how many sources also matters. I think soy is still good because it's not controversial yet. QUOTE]

Not to be controversial myself, but soy HAS been pretty controversial for a while now. Maybe it just depends on what circles you run in. My daughter has stage 2 endometriosis, so we know about the dangers of soy for her. Also, her husband is Chinese and it's pretty controversial about the effects soy has had on children in Asia.

Here is just one of many, many studies that have been done:

http://www.westonaprice.org/soy/soy_controversy.html

Anyway, good luck and congrats on your success so far!!

Actually, Soy is quite controversial these days, especially for men, because of its increased use in food products and because of its phyto-estrogens. In fact, I've been seeing lots of anti-soy articles in the mainstream news media in the past year, and when my daughter was struggling with a milk allergy, her pediatrician advised against regular soy use. In France they now warn against using it at all with children under age 6.

By the way I also drink 2-3 liters of Diet Rite Soda per day, it helps with my appetite. Diet Rite is 0 carbs 0 cal 0 sodium. I probably will stop when I get to my ideal weight in a month or two.

I'm not trying to be rude but if you are not reducing your carb intake and only controlling your calories and exercise why are you posting on a LC site? I think it would be more advantageous to you if you found a forum/site that is more suited to your lifestyle choices.

Also if you are not willing to change the foods you eat and the way you live your life now then what makes you think that you will be motivated enough to do it later?

I am on the low carb diet. Zone diet is a form of low carb diet. 40% carb 30% fat 30% protein. Atkins is a very low carb diet. I do Atkins at times too. Most people in the USA takes 50-70% of carbs in their diet. Any diet or lifestyle change won't help weight loss without limiting/counting calories. A calorie is a calorie no matter what you eat.

I never noticed calories since starting to low carb.. I never worried about them, and I guess I'm not overeating them.

How is Atkins 'very low carb' anyway? Its low for 2 weeks, but lots of people stay at 20 for extended periods of time.

How many meals do you eat per day? I read from many sources to eat six or more small meals a day to maintain a higher metabolism. I eat six or eight small meals a day which means I eat every hour, kind of troublesome but it sort of work, I'm losing weight.

Veggies, cheeses, organ meats -- in that order.

I used to eat 5 small meals a day, well, 3 meals that were small and then 2 snacks. Now, as of late, I eat only when my stomach is growling hungry. I don't see the sense in eating when I don't feel like it. It seems to be working better for me. I like feeling hungry, makes me feel like I'm not an overeater.

The problem is most people overeat when they get hungry because it takes 30 mins for the brain to realize the stomach is full.

I eat when I'm hungry.

I don't care whether that's one meal or 10 snacks.