Hi Bill ,

My friend has lost 6lbs in her first week on Atkins. As a result of this, she has decided to stay with the plan although she is introducing a lice of bread a day to her intake and a few more vegetables. She tells me that she is hardly eating any carbs. I have a feeling that there will be quite a few hidden carbs that she isn't counting. She said last night that she only wants to lose another 4 lbs and then try to maintain her weight. If only it was a easy as that.

Thanks for your comments, I'll keep you posted with her progress.

lmfao. That is so not going to werk. It dosen't even make any sense. She's going to do induction for 2 weeks, say lose 5lbs of water....

Go on WW eat all those carbs... gain 7lbs ...

Go on Atkins the following week.... Lose 3lbs....ect..ect..ect

As for as her metabolism? LOL its gonna be dead with that yo-yoing crap.

Ya. She's gonna get real far

Eww! Sick dude.

Yo!

Well noticed . That will teach me to read through before I press the send key. Still you never know.....I was in Thailand last December and they had all sorts of dead insects they were selling on stalls for people to eat . I think they were dipped in some sort of flavouring and then fried. I must say that we gave them a wide berth. We did try the jellyfish though

Eww. You can shut up now.

lol.

If she's not eating "hardly any carbs" then she isn't eating all of the veggies that she is supposed to be eating on Induction. And if she's introducing a slice of bread a day, then she is indroducing a lot mare than "hardly any carbs" to her plan.

I'm totally confused. The only thing that isn't totally lowcarb on WW is the 5 mandatory servings of fruits and/or veggies and the 2 mandatory servings of skim milk. Other than that, members can use up their point allowance any way they want and still be on the WW diet. I don't know how many carbs they would be consuming, but it would be considerably lower than they're used to if they didn't eat the white foods or WW desserts or whole grains and cereals. Granted, if they were lowcarbing the WW "free foods" wouldn't be free any longer, but overall, I think WW and lowcarbing could be married if a person chose to count their WW points and their carbs. Just my 2 cents.
asugar

I agree that Weight Watcher's and low carb WOL could be combined. But my question is WHY? I don't see what the point would be. Weight Watcher's is based on low-fat and Atkin's is based on high fat. They are fundamentally different. WW has been very successful for lots of people and Atkin's can certainly claim phenomenal success. It is all a matter of what works for your body and psyche. I cannot stand weight watcher's. Too many regulations and a lot of focus on counting and keeping track - way too much structure for me. I like the cream, butter, etc. on Atkin's. I have always had trouble with my digestive system and I had spastic colon a few years ago (I lost a lot of weight with spastic colon but my hair fell out too). Atkin's WOL has cured my digestive problems. I feel better than I have in many years. My body just doesn't seem to handle the carbs very well.

I think your friend wants it all. By combining WW and Atkins she can have almost anything. I think she is unwilling to make a commitment to lose weight and make a choice. If we were skilled at designing our own foodplans I don't think we would be fat in the first place. Sounds like combining these plans is a way of not having to stick with either one. Just a thought. Cindi

Besides, I have better things to do than give my hard earned dollars to Weight Watchers. Like buying jumbo shrimp and scallops!

Hi Cindi,

I think she still has the mindset that if you eat fat you get fat!!. I won't see her until Friday so I don't know what she's been doing this week. Another one of my work colleagues is starting Atkins this week, so we should be able to keep each other on track.

BTW, she doesn't pay WW anything, She's joined that many times and never reached goal that she has all the literature -ROFL.

Hi all,

Maybe it's changed, but last time I went to WW (about 2 yrs ago), the mandatory foods were:
1 serving of protein
2 servings of dairy
3 servings of fruit
4 servings of vegetables
5 servings of starchy carbohydrates

So I agree with others that it would be crazy to switch between a high carb plan and a low carb one.

But you already know that, Paulie! Maybe if you can get your friend to actually do some reading on low carbing, that may help. Good luck with trying to convince her!

Rosebud

Last year WW was 5 fruits and or vegetables a day plus 2 skim milk servings. Other than that, the members could use their point allowance anyway they wanted to, although I don't think this is the intention of the lady who is considering switching back and forth between the 2 different plans.

I think based on what "the so called experts" say, perhaps she is afraid of what she'll do to her health if she low carbs only. Also, she isn't sure she can permanently give up bread and potatoes, etc. I also think she would lose weight alternating 6 weeks of each WOE. However, the first few days of WW she would endure every 6 weeks would be really hard to stick to because she would begin to crave carbs again. I know several people who have had very successful results with WW and a friend of mine is a lifetime member. However, just like lowcarbing, WW isn't for everybody. There are also some folks who are unable to stick to any WOE unless they have to fork over some bucks and go humiliate themselves on the scales every week.
asugar

Hi Rosebud and Asugar,

The WW system in the UK is now based on points. Every food has a points value based on its calorific and sat fat. An apple for example is a half a point. If I went to WW I would start on 20 points a day and really I could eat whatever I wanted up to that 20 point sealing. Actually the ad campaign in the UK for WW is "No food is a sin". This is a direct hit against another slimming club called Slimmers World who call their naughtier foods "sins" WW are now encouraging people to have more fruit and veg rather than just using their points on chocolates etc. It's funny, but when a few of us was doing WW at work, we all seemed to know the points values of the items in the chocolate vending machine

Helen, like a lot of us has been so used to eating low fat and filling up on "low point" foods such as fruit and veg. She also enjoys fruit which is rather limited when you first start LCing. She did say though that when she switched back to WW for a week and started eating the fruit again that her stomach really puffed up again. That was one of the things she really liked about Atkins, that she lost her bloated belly!!! I guess you can't have it all ways.

Like most things in life, there is no quick fix to weight loss. I think that if she is going to alternate the plans she will have to stay on each one for a few weeks at a time. She wouldn't gain anything from doing it week and week about.

WW does not advocate a 1000 calorie diet plan. Since you can chose to eat anything you want, you could eat entirely within LC and still be doing WW.

I agree with the folks who say that, in the end, you cannot combine Atkins et al. with WW, precisely because WW is based on the low-fat paradigm. It's built into the the point system. One teaspoon of olive oil is 1 point. Come on! Mayonnaise? Forget about it!

I tried it, but to stay within my point quota, I had to not count olive oil. Then it dawned on me: there is no need for the combo. Limit your carbs and that's all you need to limit. The WW point game seemed, well, pointless.

Sheldon