You didn't lose 21 lbs on Atkins. You lost 21 lbs because you were eating a very low number of calories, which just happen to be mostly protein. Why respond to me? Ask yourself that question. You did. Jealousy? I don't think so. You can tell me "in your face" after about 5 years of this.

Not exactly. If most of your calories are coming from protein, you're not following Atkins. In reality, on the Atkins plan 60-75% of your calories are coming from fats, not protein. Roughly 25-30% of your calories come from protein with the remaining 3-10% from carbs.
While many here are consuming less calories than they were before they began low carb, and that's certainly no secret, it doesn't exactly qualify as a low calorie eating plan as many find (myself included) that they can eat considerably more calories on low carb (1,800 on low carb vs. 1,250 on low fat) than they did on low fat and still lose weight at a better pace as well as not feel hungry all the time. I don't know about you, but I really hate being hungry all the time.



And some here could meet that challenge. Myself...well...it's only been a bit over 2 years, so I guess I'm not in the "in your face" category just yet by your standards nor would I want to be. This isn't a competition. It's just something that works for a lot of people who have tried everything else and failed for one reason or another.

Lisa,

Thank you for a very civilized response. As I said before, I do not wish anything bad to anyone. I hope that everyone loses weight and is happy. It's just that, as you can see in this thread, I constantly get challenged by people that are obsessed with their diet and think that there is no other way.

The reason I started Atkins in the first place, and maybe I didn't do my research well enough, is that he states in the book that noone should be hungry on his diet. Everyone's definition of "hungry" is different and the reason I'm fat in the first place is that I love food. A 6 oz steak only awakens my appetite. I can put away a 24oz porterhouse and still have plenty of room for desert. To me, being satisfied is having a complete meal.

You guys find small bits and pieces in Atkins book where he says that this diet is not a license to gorge etc. This, however, is well hidden in a big message that we should not be feeling hungry and should be eating untill we're satisfied. That is all I was trying to do and that did not work for me.

For some reason, people take the fact that I don't like this diet as a personal insult. It is those people that I refer to as a cult. It seems that the more they shout, the more convinced they are that they're right. Kind of like political rallies. If there is one thing I learned about life is that in the long run, those who shout the most end up doing the opposite of what they shout about. Ever had a friend who kept on saying that he will never betray you? An employee who said he will never steal from you? What happened? It's a defensive mechanism for people to try to convince themselves and others that their weakest areas are really their strongest. The more they shout, the more they believe it themselves, but the weak areas don't become any stronger.

Diet is the same way. Those who shout the most will not succeed. Shouting is simply a show of their insecurity.

http://www.echonyc.com/~mjfahey/what_to_eat.html

ieatmeat, you may be interested to read this link?

Ive put many years of research into diet and nutrition, and I am excited about low carb because it suits Me best. I really hope you can find that same excitement and satisfaction with something. Try also Protein Power, Barry Groves , CAD? these little tweaks matter because we are all individuals.

I cant deny at the moment, I am eating less calories, but the same amount of calories on a low fat diet would leave me so hungry and dissatisfied.

Perhaps thats my personal "metobolic advantage" in a nutshell ?
good luck.

edit for a ps: see my signature line. It hasnt been easy....but Im succeeding, thanks to the support. Try a journal ?
people would help.

I did lose 21lbs on Atkins, as that was the particular way of eating I was following at the time - I didnt chop a leg off or anything! I was successful on a low fat diet prior to that, losing 33lbs. I may have been consuming more calories on the low fat diet as I was eating a lot of carbs on that plan, but I don't pay any heed to calories. If it works it works and thats good enough for me (Providing it doesnt make me ill...). At this point in my life Atkins isn't suiting me so I'm on CAD instead which is still a carb-controlled diet, but I do feel much healthier on these sorts of plans.

I'm sorry this way of eating didnt work for you, I truly am (And yes I take back my 'in yer face' too.). It's always disappointing to try a new plan that others had success on and find that it doesn't work for you and I hope that you do find something to suit you.

One thing I do feel strongly is the wonder why you keep coming back here. You wish us luck, that we should all use what works for us, 'If this diet makes you happy, go for it', then try to wind us up with your Eggo waffles, tell us we're all brainwashed and that we can't take the opinion of anyone who disagrees with low-carbing.
This way of eating doesn't work for everyone, the same as low-fat diets don't work for everyone. We are all trying to lose weight and become healthier. I am sorry that this plan didn't work for you and you can see that this way of eating DOES work for us, so why do you keep trying to discourage us from doing it? We can feel the plans working for us, we can see the results on the scale and in our clothes. I don't understand why you are so concerned about what we put into our stomachs. Surely it's worse for us to have huge cakes and sweets than this.

I wish you all the success in your search for the right plan for you, and I ask you - please stop trying to coerce us into terminating the plans that are right for us.

ieatmeat...

Your message as a whole is somewhat confusing. You obviously want to lose weight or you wouldn't have bothered to try low carb in the first place, you would have kept on with what you were doing. On the other hand, you don't seem to want to restrict yourself or what you eat in any way and want to lose weight while eating as much as you please of whatever foods you please. That's not going to happen on any weight loss program that you might choose; you will need to restrict something whether it be fat, calories or portions if you want to shed pounds. So what does that leave you with?
It's been the experience of most here who have tried both approaches (low fat/cal vs. low carb) that hunger is greatly decreased once your body gets used to burning fat for energy instead of carbs, but that may take a week or two. Fats and proteins are generally much more satiating then starches and sugar. The fiber from veggies further adds to the ability to not feel hungry between meals.
Next, by learning to eat only until you are satisfied (ie no longer hungry) instead of when you feel full (at which point, you've probably overeaten), you start to learn to listen to your body's signals that tell you "You can stop eating now, I've had enough". For some, that may take a bit of practice and more self-awareness than they've exercised in the past because that little voice that says "enough" has been silenced for a very long time. It may also involve slowing down when you eat so that your body has enough time to know that it's full before it's over-full. It can take up to 20 minutes for your stomach to register that it's full and send that signal to the brain.

I hope that whatever plan you decide to choose to reach your weight loss goals works and is something that you can feel comfortable (and not hungry) with, but if you find that it isn't, I'd encourage you to give low carbing another try. But next time (if there is a next time)...please follow the plan as written and listen to the advice of those who have been following the plan successfully for a while.

I don't know how many times I've replied to ieatmeat with understanding of what he is going through, and none of the 'defensiveness' he is accusing so many others of. The fact that he has never responded to my posts (which echo a lot of his sentiments & theories re: low-cal, etc.) makes me wonder if ieatmeat just wants to argue...

Maybe you should read

The Fat Fallacy : The french Diet Secrets to Permanent Weight Loss by Will Clower.... you can take a peek at the book here. It might suit you better.

Thanks, this looks like a good book. I will read it.

I actually wanted to thank ieatmeat for starting up this thread and keeping with the subsequent debate. These types of conversations are absolutely critical for everybody following any kind of low-carbohydrate diet and if we don't step back from the book once in a while, we run the risk of approaching the subject with blinders.

Atkins developed his plan over decades and most of us here have done great deals of outside reading, trying to get our hands on to whatever research we can. As ieatmeat noted though, none of us can claim to be "experts". The University of Chicago hospitals, for example, recently did a short-term study into the possible links between kidney stone formation and low carbohydrate diets that many of us are familiar with (http://www.uchospitals.edu/news/2002/20020801-hplc.html)
This is one of the foremost research hospitals on the planet and even there, independent research into the long term effects of LCing is limited to a study group followed over a period of only a couple of months. I have read Atkins multiple times, i trust his wisdom, and I believe him when he gives us the results of his research and work. At the end of the day though, good science needs to provide us with enormous, idependent, and very long term statistical studies to know what the impact of a low-carb lifestyle will be. The science of nutrition in general is one that is extremely complex, impacted by many external forces and factors, and just now is starting to get the kind of attention it deserves.

I believe in the low carbohydrate way and I am at peace with it. I trust and buy into what research I've read. It would be really easy to just get frustrated with ieatmeat for "not getting it". In fact, I have a lot of respect for him as he's forcing us to take a step back and see where are arguments are coming from - something we all need to be doing periodically.

I like this;



"I believe in the low carbohydrate way and I am at peace with it. I trust and buy into what research I've read. It would be really easy to just get frustrated with ieatmeat for "not getting it". In fact, I have a lot of respect for him as he's forcing us to take a step back and see where are arguments are coming from - something we all need to be doing periodically."



Yes, it's like they told me in the Army, "Know your enemy better than you know yourself".

Someone else, on another string said "Don't try to teach a pig to dance. It wastes your time and annoys the pig".....this person is convinced he's right and we're wrong. That's fine with me. I've been wrong since March 1st of this year, and have dropped 67 lbs as of this morning. Sure there were a few times when the same weight showed on the scale for a couple weeks at a time, but I knew I was wrong and kept going. I'm gonna stick with being wrong until my goal is reached. I'm gonna wrong way myself for another 80 lbs, then I'll continue being wrong every day for the rest of my life so that I can enjoy the company of my beautiful wonderful family, my terrific wife and be a testiment to being wrong and loving it.

I think we are like cars - some of us are manual shift and others are automatic. Both take us places, but one takes more hand and foot coordination!

regards,
manual shift

Why bother talking he or she obviosly was never really intending to stick to this way of life. Dont waste your breath. We all know we are loseing even if it sloooowly. After im sure he or she didnt gain all there weight in one week now did they. Frankly i have never felt better and i have lost 30 pounds and i have never counted a calorie. For now i am quite pleased and i am no way brainwashed. Just because someone cant stick to something doesnt mean they should be negative to those who CAN. Sorry for you...

This is all highly fascinating to me. This whole argument feels like two sides butting their heads against the same brick wall, from opposite sides obviously.
It's probably fruitless to even offer my 2 cents.. but for the sake of fun I will.

I think dr. Atkins was dumb to lead us to believe you can eat as much as you want. Getting that idea stuck in your head is very dangerous. Not to mention impossible. If you are counting your carbs, the only way to keep under 20 carbs and eat as much as you want would be to eat pure animal tissue or else limit what you eat. Every slice of cheese, every ounce of cream and vegetables adds carbs, so you are very limited in how much you can eat.

Other than that, there are a lot of health benefits in this way of eating, as has been stated in many posts before me. The problem with low fat diets is all the poisons and additives they put in their so-called "food". Anything that follows a program of eating whole foods rather than chemical-injected junk will do your body well. Also Atkins doesn't say fruit is bad. He even allows berries, honeydew and cantelope in induction. After that, when you are allowed more carbs you can eat whatever fruit you want, in moderation. As long as you stay under your carb limit.
I also have problems with my weight on Atkins. If I eat too much food, including protein, I gain weight. Everybody's bodies are different. Some people can eat as much as they want, of whatever they want, and lose weight or stay the same. There's no easy way out. There is no way most of us are going to be able to gorge ourselves on any kind of food and lose weight. But some ways are easier than others, and I've never found a better way than low carbing to lose weight.

just my thoughts for the day.