And if so...how has your success been.

I started off on ATKINS back on 4/6/02 and lost 27 lbs thus far but last few months (3 to be exact) my weight loss has been very very slow - 2-3 lbs a month at most BUT I have lost inches which I am happy about. I think my biggest problem is not being consistent....I feel that I cannot live my life on a plan that doesn't offer me some sort of variety once in a while (i.e. fruit, pasta, etc.) and I mean ONCE in a while..not daily.

CAD allows a reward meal but no alcohol - - not that I am a heavy drinker but I do like to have a glass a wine on the weekends.

So, I was wondering how people are coping and how they are LCing....

I've been the poster girl for mixing plans -- and it's not a good idea. I think those of us who do it start for the same reason you did -- whatever we're doing doesn't work as well any more and/or we don't feel well -- or "right" -- on whatever we started out with.

Everybody tweaks, and I think that's a good thing -- tweaking means bending a plan a little. But because the science is just a little bit different for each low carb plan, mixing them may not be helpful.

A lot of people on Atkins don't seem to go beyond induction. He doesn't want you to stay on 20 carbs for life. Have you tried adding carbs back in a few at a time -- 5 grams each week, as he suggests? that might be what you need.

If you're working out, you might want to look into the CKD forum. During the week you workout and eat low-carb (Atkins induction-style) and on the weekend you do a full body workout and then carb-up for 12-48 hours. There's more to it than that but that's the jist of it. During the carb-up you eat high GI carbs but very little fat. There's no lack of variety and I often find myself wanting to end the carb-up early and return to low-carb. I don't want to cheat during the week because I know the carb-up is coming in less than 5 days.
I don't weigh myself but I've seen some inch loss in the last few weeks. I also use the Body for Life exercise plan, except for the final workout.
I agree with alto, you don't want to keep jumping around from plan to plan. I know it's not part of the plan, but I do occasionally drink alcohol during the carb-up. Fruit is not allowed during the carb-up, but you can have some fruit before your final workout. Pasta is allowed during the carb-up except you shouldn't have it w/butter, cheese or cream sauces (too much fat).

You could call it 'mixing plans,' or you could call it one plan with some exceptions here and there. In general, if you're being fairly consistent and only having alcohol/pasta/fruit once in a while, you'll probably still lose weight - at least until you're near a healthy weight. You'll acheive sufficient insulin control.

The tough part comes when you really want to tone up and get that last 10-20 lbs off. That's where I am right now. I cheat 'every now and then', and guess what? There's no way I'll ever get that weight off unless I really turn the screws to myself and be strict.

So I'd say it's okay to break the plan every now and then (even wine on the weekends). Mixing plans may work, but not nearly as well as sticking to one.

I think I've tried just about every plan out there As the new plan states "MHP" I'm doing a little of everything. I'm approaching Maintenance and I'm eating for that now. I've taken something from this plan, something from that plan and mixed it all together to come up with "My Own" plan. This is something I think everyone goes through to some extent as they learn more about LC and all the options that are available to them.

IMO, you must first give what you're doing an honest try before deciding to move on to something else. We all want results, regardless of what those may be (fat loss, inches lost, controlled blood sugar, reduced blood pressure etc) but we must also realize that we aren't as in control of the situation as we'd like to believe; our bodies have a big say in the when and the how.

Nat

I cycle 2 plans, traditional LC and CAD with good success (1.5 lbs lost per week over the last 6 months). Just can't stand the lack of variety, and my body never settles into one mindset (ie stall). I do 3 weeks of LC, 1 week CAD, 2 weeks LC, and a weekend off completely. If you are interested in more information, check my journal.

I do kind of a modified CAD, with my "reward meal" in the morning--I drink 2 oz. of juice and eat 2/3 cup of hi-fiber cereal with skim milk, all of which are Atkins no-nos. I've tried strict induction and was miserable--I was constipated and I actually gained weight using heavy cream instead of half-and-half in coffee. That cut my carbs in half but tripled the calories, which was too much for me. I do better with a few more carbs and less calories.

I've been low-carbing for over a year, and I'm constantly tweaking my diet. If I gain a few pounds, I "untweak" whatever I did. But if I don't gain, I figure why not? It is, after all, supposed to be a WOL, and you have to be happy on it. I have a glass of wine 2 or 3 times a week, it doesn't seem to bother me. If it did, I'd cut it out. I put real sugar in my coffee (gasp!) because Splenda gives me problems. But it's only 2 tsp. a day, it's not like I'm eating cake and cookies.

I've found FitDay to be invaluable in tracking carbs and calories and pinpointing problem foods FOR ME (like the heavy cream). I think "tweaking" your program is OK if (and only if) you're giving it a fair chance to work before you start fiddling with it AND the adjustments you're making are reasonable. IMHO, an occasional glass of wine is reasonable, Krispy Kreme donuts for breakfast are not.

YMMV.

Skywind

You can have wine on CAD! I mix Atkins mostly in the late spring through early fall and CAD during the winter through early spring (I have SAD). In addition, if I do have special occassions, holidays unless I stick to Atkins (depends on food/feellings) I use CAD to enjoy the meal and back to Atkins.

Everyone mixes plans. Every body and body chemistry is different. One plan does not fit all! That's the beauty of LCing.

I'm doing High Protein / Low Carb / Low Fat and thats working the best for me.

I did induction once by the book for 2 weeks, I actually gained on it.

My 2 cents,

I really took Atkins model of cutting out most the carbs and tried to keep them between 20-30 grams per day. Since I am doing resistance training I try to keep my protein at about 1 gram/pound lean body mass which is about 200 grams per day for me. Then I messed around with some BMR calculations and recommended Carb/Fat/Protein ratios, my own trial and error and have determine that I need about 2500 calories per day avg to loose weight.

I drink one 12 once cup of coffee per day. I try to get in a gallon of water per day. I played with some supplements to break a stall a month ago. I've also done a couple weeks of CKD which was fun, and I may go back to CKD once a couple non-related health issue are resolved. So I can't call myself an Atkins purest by any mean. I like Nats description of her own method.

My best recommendation is do what works for you. Get on a routine and stay on it long enough to determine if it is working. To me, this needs to be more that a couple weeks. Listen to your body, each of us are unique. If necessary start making small changes, remember to many changes produces to many variables, and it can be hard to tell which one produces a result. I dropped almost 55 pounds since late July, so I must be doing something right, for my body at least.

Regards,
Lux

I am interested in what you all had to say, because it is this weekend that I am going to sit down and find a "plan" that will work for me.

As of last week, I threw in the towel on Atkins - not LC, just trying to stick to something that is obviously not working for me. Even with my occasional cheats, since APRIL I should have lost much more than a net of 6 lbs. I'm more disgusted than I can say.

But come Monday, I have to look at something that will start taking POUNDS off of my body. There is too much fat on me!! I know that exercise is the missing ingredient, but my heart pounds right out of my chest after going out to get the mail. So my treadmill sees about 15 minutes a few times a week. I need to do more about fixing this.

As for diet...TeriDoodle recommended I look at Schwarzbein...I really do have a resistance going on, so maybe I'll read the book. But my concern is that I don't get on something that I can't follow. I need flexibility, yet I need simple structure. Atkins was becoming a breeze for me to follow, yet it isn't dropping the weight for me. I've given it a good long chance.

Any suggestions? I'm going to sit down tomorrow and try to design something that is different than what I'm doing now...could use any bit of input!!

I am, like someone else said, a poster child for tweeking this diet. I have been doing Atkins on and off since before he wrote his first book I started back in the 60's with the Royal Canadian Air Force Diet, which was low carb.

I have found that as the years passed, Atkins wasn't working as well for me. This time around it has been almost a standstill since I started in January even though I did it faithfully and kept charts, graphs, etc, daily. This summer I started to tweek it and now I'm now sure where I am.

I really feel that over the years with me doing Atkins followed by spans of carb fests, I not only gained over 50 lbs, but I also screwed up my whole system. I'm now reading about acid balance and so I am trying to get my body back to a proper pH. When I tested my system, I found that I was EXTREMELY acidic and from what I've been reading, this does not allow weight loss to occur.

I have been trying to keep the carbs as low as possible while adding fruit and rice cakes. Fruits and veggies are both to be very acid reducing and that is what I'm aiming for.

I can honestly say I feel wonderful. I feel like I am 30 years younger than I was just 5 years ago (that is when a PT told me I looked like a 90 year old woman). And by 30 years, I am not talking 30 years less than that 90, but less than my age. My whole outlook on life is better and I feel great. To me this is more important that the extra pounds I carry.

Carol

Nat, I love the new avatar

Once you have a program down pat and understand the principles behind LC, I think it's time to cut loose.

The problem is that by that time, carb-counting, ketostixing, and the paranoia that goes along with them becomes so ingrained that doing anything else does not seem possible.

People stubbornly hold on to 20-30 grams a day, or keep their fat intake up or down, or eat more protein or whatever. Your body and metabolism changes as you go along and you have to learn to tune into it and not be a blind follower to any one plan. You also have to look at your own best interest in terms of your own physiology.

Be open to the possibilites that are out there within LC. It's a very large safety net.

Karen

from my personal experience, when you limit yourself between 20-30g of carbs for a very long time, you tend to go on a stall. it is in fact upping the carb intake that will most probably solve the plateau.

for me, i am still in the process of tweaking my own LC plan. other than taking chromium, Xenadrine, and keeping my carbs as low as possible.....lots of proteins, vegetables......more coke light....more plain water. and i am more liberal on fries ....usually i count my fries accumulate to 40g of carbs at one sitting....maybe because i am taking those supplements....more relaxed on those things. sometimes when i get an urge, i admit i do go to the confectionary and get myself what i want....but after that i know 'it is back to business'.

guess that is why we have many different LC plans. some allow honey, some dont....maybe in time all of us fellow LC-ers should write how our personal plan works and name them after us. :P



*strongly agree*