What made you try low carb?

[Donna I.]

After reading Mammac-5's thread, I got to wondering how everyone came to learn about and decide to try low carb? For me, I was seeing a psychologist for depression, mostly because of my weight. I kept trying and trying to diet and with each failure felt more like I had something really wrong with my mind. Other people could do it, why not me? Anyways, she gave me a photocopy of Dr Schwartzbein's introduction to Suzanne Sommers diet book, which explained her studies of carbs and diabetics. It sounded so logical, it made me want to know more. And I certainly didn't know anyone that had ever tried it. I looked up low carb on the internet and started reading. This was 1998 and there wasn't quite the selection as there is now, but I came across Dr Atkins name enough that I checked out his site. I still wasn't convinced that I could eat bacon and eggs without gaining weight, but I was desperate enough to try it. I gave it two weeks and was amazed to find that I didn't gain weight and my cravings were gone. I actually had control over my appetite. I didn't really stick with it enough to lose, but I was sold. So in between having my next 3 babies I lost 20 lbs then bought the book and lost 70 lbs and now I am back for good. Each time I re-start I learn more about low carb and health and I know that I will eat this way for the rest of my life.
Whew! Pretty long. Anyways, I am curious as to how everyone else was made aware? (kind of like the movie "The Matirx" where you learn everything (about lowfat) was a lie?!) :idea:

[foxgluvs]

It was when I had tried every other type of plan out there with litte success and a lot of failing, and my Step dad started out on Atkins and he lost 14lbs in 3 weeks - and I seriously thought, hang on.....this must work - so I tried it for two weeks and never looked back!! :D

[nepeta]

I had a nutrition class where the teacher based all his ideas on low carb. He talked about how he had turned around his own health after a stroke.
A few months later I went on atkins( as well as joined a gym) because I wanted to lose for health reasons, and to get off my blood pressure medicine.

[camaromom]

I was seeing my endocrinologist. She was deciding whether or not to change my medication for severely elevated cholesterol and triglycerides or not. She told me the other thing I could do is to try Atkins. I asked what will Atkins do for me? She told me to buy the book. I bought the book, picked a start date and haven't looked back since. Oh, and by the way, my cholesterol and triglycerides are now normal, although I'm still working on raising that HDL.

[klc145]

My doctor actually suggested it...I printed off the food lists that night and bought the book that weekend.

[Trinigirl]

Hi Everyone,

My SIL was talking about loseing some weight and wanted do the Atkins Diet. So she went out and got the book and did some reading. Then one morning she called me and said I am starting Atkins today, I then told her that we could do it together. So we started, I did not read the book at first, she emailed me the list of legal foods for induction and I went shopping. That is how I started, I went on a Diet and found a Way of Life.

Joy

[AmandainBC]

I know a lot of people who have had amazing success doing Atkins. They were always full and had energy. I tried all the other diets and was grumpy starving and so incredibly tired. Finally I asked myself what the heck I was doing and bought the Atkins book it was the best thing I've ever done.

[Bobi-p]

Thirty-six years ago, after the birth of my first son, I had to lose my pregnancy weight gain. The new "Atkins Diet" had just come out and after reading some information and seeing that I could eat all the foods I love, I was sold. This last time I gained weight was after the death of my husband, so here I am again. However, in the 1970's there was no such thing as support Forums via Internet!

[pre3teach]

I had a friend who saw the Hellers on Oprah...she told me about the plan over the phone and I looked the rest up on Oprah's web page...I started before even getting the book and it was awesome. Easiest diet I have ever been on. I back slid about a year or so later (tryinng to eat "normally") I am on the plan again and I love it!!!!! It is all about that insulin!!!!

[Enomarb]

I was on strict low fat for my cardiovascular risk factors, and I just got fatter and fatter and my lipids got worse no matter what. So I decided to do something different, read a lot of LC books, found CALP and have been doing this ever since.

[HalfPass]

I had tryed what I called Atkins a couple years before and actually gained weight. But then a woman in my office, who did read the book, started following Atkins and having some success. Having hit about rock bottom and having tryed everything from low fat to the Hollywood Juice fast, I decided I had nothing to lose. I started July 1, 2003 and have not looked back. Unfor. the woman who got me started did not stick with it and as far as I know(she left my office) is bigger than ever. Several others in my office use Atkins to lose weight periodically, then gain it back. But for me it is a way of life that works for me, and more importantly, one I can live with for the long term. It really is not a diet at this point, but commitment to a way of life.

[Nakkira]

My mom started Atkins back in '96. I had no idea it was Atkins at the time, she just said it was low carb, no sugar, no potatoes, no bread. So, when I turned 21 and started gaining a bunch of weight I thought back to it, looked it up and here I am.

[southbel]

I was very unhappy with my weight, but I KNEW that I loved food way too much to try the uber-restrictive and tasteless low-fat options. I also did not want to join WW or something or that ilk because I am not comfortable in a live group setting like that. I had heard vague tidbits about Atkins via the news, internet, etc. Of course, it wasn't positive, but I heard one thing pretty consistently, people lost weight and they got to eat REAL food. I figured I would research it myself before believing the bad press out there. I read the book and it made sense. Since one of my degrees is a biology degree, it really made sense.

I decided to try it since I had just started a new job. I quickly lost 20 pounds, but got lazy. After all, I lived in a place with great restaurants and I didn't want to be deprived. Really, it was just because I had not made the decision to really change my WOE. However, I managed to keep off those 20 pounds. So, after being off plan for a while, I came back the end of July 2005. I have managed to lose an additional 40 pounds and am loving it! I plan to continue this WOE for life. I am happy, like what I eat, and am finally losing the weight. LC is the first thing that has ever worked for me and that I actually want to do.

[Luzyanna]

I watched my best friend lose nearly 80 pounds on it. When I was young, I struggled with a few extra pounds and lost the weight and kept it off for years. After having 2 children especially at such a late age, I just could not get the weight off by low calorie dieting and was having so much trouble sticking to it. I was not even wanting to do Atkins but once I started, I couldn't stop. :lol:

[kallyn]

At one point I decided to be a vegetarian. This actually caused me to have heart problems, in the form of weird palpitations. It turns out I had a condition called mitral valve prolapse. I found a kind of "natural solutions" pamphlet on it, and the pamphlet said that it could be exacerbated by the insulin surge that carbohydrates produce. It made perfect sense, as since I had gone veg I was eating lots and lots of rice and beans.

So I started reading more about food. I started with http://www.beyondveg.com and it just took off from there. Now I am palpitation-free and skinnier to boot. :D

[zorra_1]

I was on strict low fat for my cardiovascular risk factors, and I just got fatter and fatter and my lipids got worse no matter what.
Similar story here! I had pretty high blood pressure for a teenager and was sick of getting fatter and feeling hungrier while eating LF!

[Stephbob]

Well, I'd heard different people talking about Aktins Diet and how you could lose weight on it, but I didnt think to try because I was 15, and I considered it to be just like every other diet. So I just tried to eat healthy. Then one day, my mom came home with a leaflet from the British Heart Foundation outlining the rules of eating low carb (yes, low carb by the British Heart Foundation!!!) which someone had given her at work. She tried it and tried to get me on it, but we were eating all the wrong foods. So we quit after a week. Over the years I've tried several times to get back onto the wagon, but not been able to do it. It wasnt until last April that I started to do it right and lose weight, but then my boyfriend ended up in hospital so I had to eat anything I could get my hands on. I didnt have a choice of food. I started again then in October because I was so disgusted with myself, and got the book, did it right, and here I am! lol

[3shewolf8]

This is a great thread!! I was toying with the idea of going low fat. My husband told me "I am not trying to say that you need to loose weight, but this guy I work with is on the Atkins diet, and he is loosing weight so fast every time I see him, he looks different" I thought to myself, why not? I gave it a go. It has been almost 3 years, and while I am not at goal, that is my own fault by the way, I am pretty dang close. The thing that most people don't understand is, this isn't a "diet" it is a way of eating for the rest of your life. It works, and you never have to be hungry again!! I LOVE IT!!

[Duparc]

I started low-carbing so long ago that it is now difficult to recall the era. I think it was in the 60s when researchers first discovered that eating fat makes one thin and I immediately jumped on the bandwagon and rapidly lost weight. From then onward, whenever I gained weight I found it easy to return to this diet to once again shed it.

Later in the decade c1969 by eating a combination of low-carb and low-calorie (although those movements were then unknown) my weight rapidly dropped from 16 stone to just above 12 stone when, for the first time that I can recall, I had a waistband measuring 36 inches (I'm 6' tall) but I looked gaunt and haggard!

In the early 70s Dr Richard Mackarness, Consultant Psychiatrist, restored the mental health of many of his patients through, what was then known, as the stone-age diet. His book is called, 'Not All In The Mind'.

Like Kallyn I too took up vegetarianism (1974) and soon afterwards began to suffer from health problems including heart problems but put it down to advanced ageing as I was then in my mid-40s so stuck rigidly to vegetarianism on the mistaken belief that it was doing me good (which it wasn't)! The diet, in comparison to a meat diet, tended to be low in nutrients and high in carbs and also very high in those so-called health-promoting polyunsaturated fats that just also happen to be excellent immune suppressants!

September 1990, after almost 17 years as a vegetarian, I was rushed to hospital where I underwent a quadruple by-pass as my main heart arteries were blocked at the point where they enter the heart muscle. I was informed, prior to the operation, that I had only hours to live! I do not drink nor smoke, was only slightly overweight but, was always active. I had reported, from as far back as 1976, cardiac symptoms to my GPs (plural, as I was in a mobile occupation) but was always misdiagnosed! The frequent diagnoses was indigestion!

Immediately following the operation I returned to eating a normal diet and my weight began again to increase so I returned to low-carbing (still to my knowledge not then recogised as LC just a fat/protein diet). Until last year I used the diet to maintain weight but in the meantime read extensively on the subject so had learned something of its potential benefits.

While surfing the Internet last September I serendipitously came across this site where I learned so much more from the posters and the additional information submitted by them over the past 15 months. During this period I have experimented extensively on variations to the diet and learned from personal experience that the body requires a little carbohydrate but, only a little each day, with the remainder of the diet being protein with plenty of saturated fat which, of course, was recommended by the late Dr Atkins. Through tweaking the diet I find that I can control my weight which is delightful but, I am still in the process of experimenting although not quite so extensively. There were problems at the initial stages to the diet (like chronic constipation) but I have overcome those. Today, I am in remarkably good health and still believe that I have a future.

By way of an 'aside'; through those past few months of experimenting I have began to wonder if sugar (cane and/or beat) is the causal effect of Alzheimer's. It would be nice to hear the views of others on this issue.

My wife's favoured comment about my age is, "You are not old, just long-lived"!

[rabbit12]

I chose Atkins because it is easier for me not to have to "count" anything for the most part, and I think that it is easier to eat out with this kind of food plan...I also live in a city with great restaurants! Oh, and I actually went on this plan 31 years! ago and lost weight..Of course, honestly, I lost it a LOT quicker then!!!

[fressca]

I was doing low fat at the time; my next door neighbour was doing low carb. We were walking back to our respective houses after feeding the horses one morning, talking about what was for breakfast.

"I'm having Cheerios with skim milk", I said.
"I'm having a three-egg omelet with ham and cheese", she said.

And I thought, hmm, there's something wrong with this picture!

[raven_1051]

I saw a picture of myself and knew that something had to be done. So I decided to give low carb a try and it has worked!

[Bon]

I saw the results of LC eating on two people: a friend and my hairdresser (at the time).

That weekend, I bought the DANDR paperback in Wal-Mart. I read most of the book that Saturday (through the Induction chapter). It was the most logical, eye-opening read... I was convinced. I started the very next day (and my DH took the journey with me).

Having struggled with yo-yo-ing most of my adult life, this WOL was the greatest gift I could have given myself.

I may stumble, stall, cheat (a tad)... but I will never EVER go back to the way I use to eat.

God Bless Dr. Atkins... he has made so many of our lives healthier and happier!

[Racemom]

My doctor had been overweight for as long as I had known her. When I went in for a check-up one day...(it had been over 8 months since my last visit)...she walked into the room, and my chin hit the floor. She had lost 91 pounds! She tried to help me with my weightloss before...in the form of diet pills. They would work...but I'd just gain the weight back after I stopped taking the pills. She told me all about Atkins and how it changed her life. She told me which book to buy and I took it from there. I started in the spring of 2004. Lost some weight...but quit and gained some(but not all) of it back. Restarted in Oct. of 2005 and I'm never going back again!!!


btw...took my daugther to the Dr. yesterday and my doctor has gained a lot of her weight back. We talked about my current weightloss and I think I've got her wanting to restart induciton. LOL!

[AndrewH]

I started working at GNC back in late '98. The '99 diet season brought in a ton of people looking for Atkins products, bars and shakes mostly. Curious about this "fad" diet (I'd never heard of it before), I took home a copy of the Atkins book. My boss and I both went on Atkins and we each lost a good deal of weight (I think I lost 40lbs, IIRC).

I wasn't convinced it was the healthiest thing in the world (I mean, all that fat!) so I reverted back to my old eating habits and gained back all the weight plus another twenty.

Fast forward four years and my pants were getting too tight. I could not bring myself to buy a new pair in a larger size, so I decided to look into low-carb again. I am now convinced that it is the healthiest way to eat; humans simply were not designed to eat the vast amount of carbs "traditional" Western diets throw at us, nor were we designed to eat grains.

I started Atkins again in '03 and have been very successful. I'd still like to lose another inch off my waist and two or three more off my belly, but I feel great and am quite happy with my food selection. I honestly don't miss the junk I used to eat. I've had a couple cheats and feel so horrible the next day or two that I swear I won't cheat again.

[icetea4me]

I was living about 45 minutes north of NYC about a decade ago (1995) and listend to the Dr. Atkins show on the radio. I came across it by accident. I followed the diet and went from 210 to 190 rather quickly and stayed at that weight for a few years.

His radio show was good but he was rather short with some of his callers. The radio station replaced him in 1996 with Dr. Hoffman who pushed the Salmon and Salad diet which is at least related to the Atkins Diet:

http://www.wor710.com/wor02.shtml

MJ