The whole craving sweets thing and being a guy thing only is really sterotypical. I hate sugar, never liked the stuff, never will. Desserts will never be my weakness, never will be. Now breads could easily be my downfall.

NOW....on exercise and athletes doing enough to eat burgers, fries, etc to keep their weight at an optimal level. Well, I do have something to say about that. I have a few questions to ask about that. You see, I DO have some experiences to draw upon to speak to.

When I was younger, I was an elite athlete, spent all of my time training. This means eight hours a day. I didn't even go to school, I was tutored. So, that's a LOT of training. I did this until I was fourteen years old. What I can tell you from this experience for myself AND from seeing other athletes is that they DO NOT eat burgers, fries, pizzas, etc. They absolutely do NOT eat junk food at all! They eat what they considered a healthy diet, but basically they still watch what they eat. Now, there is also something that is prevelant in this community. Eating disorders. If, as has been said, these athletes can eat whatever they want and just exercise it off, then why are eating disorders so prevelant in these communities??? Do you know why they are prevelant?? Because several of these athletes have slower metabolisms and the diets that they are prescribed are low calories, high carb and they have a hard time keeping weight off even doing eight plus hours of intense exercise a day!! This, by the way, is Olympic level athletes. Would you honestly say they are not exercising enough????? I would NOT!!!

Now, I have ALSO been in the military. Not just any military. The United States Marine Corps. While in the Marine Corps, I was on the Marine Corps run team. We ran 10 miles a day. This is plenty of exercise. Yet, because I have a slower metabolism, for whatever reason, had a hard time getting really thin unless I really really cut down my calories. There were NO burgers or fries in my diet. Believe me.

Atkins is not necessarily the ONLY way to eat for ALL people. Just because you can find a few people that can maintain weight or even lose weight without the benefit of Atkins, that does not mean everyone can "just exercise more to lose weight." This is a gross generalization that smacks of ignorance and is based on a very small subsect of personal experiences.

As far as the argument that we just need to exercise more or more "intensely", I really don't think ANYONE could argue that an elite Olympic level athlete isn't exercising enough nor a Marine is exercising enough???? I dare anyone to say that's not enough exercise. If you do, then that's just plain craziness!!!! QED!!!

Edited to add: Oh, I forgot to add that while I did the eight hours of training until only 14 years old, I didn't quit training completely. I kept going through high school and through college too. I just had that pesky school get in the way!! So, I still did about 4-5 hours of training then. So, maybe that wasn't enough then. Hmmph.

Ok next update.
Have been at 294.6 for three solid days. This is over 2 weeks since I went off. I have been lifting 5 days a week and sandwiching protein shakes. I generally have been hitting 800 cal of cardio before lifting.

I've been weighing myself every day and monitoring my progress. I don't want anyone to get the idea that this is just what I am letting happen. I have control limits and act on my weight when it hits that point.

So your saying that you've stopped doing Atkins, yet your continuing to lose weight? what a miracle among the low carb faithfuls. And to the lady that asked If I was against Atkins.....I am not, Ive said from the beginning in this guys defense that just because hes not doing Atkins anymore doesn't mean hes gonna gain all this weight plus some over night. My whole point was the first 2 pages was people criticizing him for going off the diet and saying how he was doomed to fail....well judging by his update he sounds like he doing just fine. And there is a lot of eating disorders in the gymnastics community as well as the ballet people. I played soccer for the army for 4 years, we ate burgers all the time, pasta and pizza before games, its called carb loading before a match. And im not still at my starting weight.. I just dont have a neat-o ticker, or the desire to update the stats. Thanks for your concern though.

Am I reading right that you were at 288 on your last day on Atkins (23 May) and now you're at 294.6 about two and a half weeks later (10 June)?

6.6 lb gain in 2.5 weeks, yes?

Feel free to correct me if I've misread something along the way.

Emma

I wish I could LOSE 6.6 pounds in 2.5 weeks.

I totally feel you, there! I seem to be having "spurts" of weight loss, though. I'll go a whole week without losing anything, and then lose like 5 lbs in just a few days. My total weight loss averages out to just under 3 lbs per week, but for three and a half weeks I didn't lose a single ounce.

Frustrating.

While this AFI dude makes some generalizations, basically one message is true. Many people make excuses for their current situation whether its finances, family situation or weight. Obviously as we get older, weight gain is the norm that we must fight along the way. this isn't any new concept.

However, the other variables listed play a big part of what we fight against: sugar, huge portions and processed foods.

Certainly, if the entire country ran 3 miles a day the numbers of obesity would likely be reversed and the one's in shape would quadruple compared to the other way around.

Due to technology, we aren't working on the farms 16 hours a day plowing fields and milking cows. Even farmers have machines to do this for them. So certainly the reason our fight is a never ending one is because we are way too sedentary for our caloric intake. this is how we arrived at our problem in the first place regardless of how we spin it.

How we deal with it is why we are here and not to point blame for being in the situation. Being here means someone has taken a step to make changes and be responsible for that situation.

Of course, the idea of being able to eat magic foods and stay thin is a great hook for anyone. Unfortunately that only lasts a short time for most so one must adapt. For me, that means exercising harder and pushing myself more physically.

What helps is remembering how I'd push myself running 6 miles or working out 6 hours a day just because i liked it before i knew what over-training meant when i was growing up. We'd play basketball nonstop for up to 12 hours in the heat on the weekends because we liked it then workout all day the next just to pass the time.

I often wonder if I had never done these things if I would have the motivation to do so now. Or wonder if others who werent fortunate to do so at a young or any age understand how it feels or the rewards of pushing yourself to the limits physically. Unfortunately I dont have all day to workout like I used to nor do most adults here. Its just not feasible.

Therefore, we are here to find a workable solution to maintain a healthy weight and a better lifestyle given the variables of our current world. For many, low-carb seems to be the easiest answer although its not always so easy. Exercising is a key component obviously as AFI states, however, his message assumes too much.

Simply exercising and not changing eating habits will do very little for most people. A combination of the 2 is essential as most here can attest. Though why anyone would come here looking to ridicule someone for being lazy is beyond me. Obviously we are all too lazy to some extent if we have any amount of weight we want to lose ( including himself ironically). We know we didnt burn more calories than we took in.

But thats why we're here, ain't it, sparky. If you have anything positive you want to contribute, chime in. Otherwise, Id suggest keep to your much too-assuming self.

Actually I jumped as high as 300 something in the days immediately after. My weight fluctuated wildly in the days after i went off atkins. Though at my weight its not all that much as drinking bottles of water until i am no longer thirsty can be a 5 pound gain.

In my stats I went from 330 to about 310 in the first couple of weeks on induction.

Could you stop by and update us on your weight in another 2 weeks or so? I'm interested!

NP thats the purpose of this thread despite all the people reading 2 lines and then flaming me.
I really think that this is useful information to have in the community. The big update will be after ive been off 2 months and I restart atkins. I'll get a bf assessment and we'll see how much lean body mass ive gained.

I'm not talking about Induction.. During Induction, I lost a little over 15 pounds. That said, I meant during my OWL.. I wish I could LOSE that in a week.. hell, two weeks even LOL. Oh well. Everyone is different.

The half ton man whose story was in the news few months ago could have more lean body mass than Arnold Schwarzenegger but this does not mean he is better. The value is in the body fat percent not in the lean body mass.

When you diet, you lose some muscles together with a large amount of fat. This makes you better even if it reduces your immediate ability to lift weights. After you reach your goal weight, you have a lifetime to regain your weight lifting ability.

It takes muscle to move fat around, so of course when we lose fat we're going to lose some of that muscle with it. Its kinda going like "ahh no more fat to carry around!" but it will come back when you work out and try to get it back. No biggie.. but yeah, that's why I agree with Samuel. I have more muscle than some people because I lift weights and use machines but even before I started to work out, I had huge arms (still do.. its kind of gross to me because I'm a girl) and they are mostly muscle.. same goes for my thighs.. I just had a little bit more muscle back then because I had way more fat that my body had to move around. Makes sense to me. But I may be going off on some weird tangent and it only makes sense to me. Its 12:30am.

25 June now, last weight update was on 10 June so by my calculations we're due for another update about now.

How is it going, Takh_Prime?