Anybody else out there NOT able to stay on Atkins over other diets?

[Mickeyhugger]

I'm definitely not here to bash anyone who prefers Atkins over other food lifestyles (wish I WAS able to follow them). However (this is day 3) I woke up this a.m, and realized I just couldn't go on. I wasn't hungry. I just felt sick and had absolutely no energy whatsoever. This happened last time I tried (this past summer) and I thought I could try to make a go of it again. (I'm always motivated to continue on any diet once I drop the first five, and figured Atkins would be a great 'jumpstart.')

WW has always been my best success. Four years ago I lost 30 + lbs, yet I've gradually let 7 lbs find their way back to me. :sad2:
I'm actually at a healthy weight for my height, but my major weight is all in my butt, hips and thighs. I want to be able to slip into my black formal dress for DCL again in November, and hopefully Carnival in March. I want to lose 10. Only thing is, we're going to the World in two weeks, and I have to have my normal indulgance of the Brown Derby Cobb Salad, and Chef Mickey's dessert bar.

Have any of you been able to lose 10 in a month? Also, were any of you here also not able to stay on Atkins for the same reasons as me? Thanks!

[teachingmykids]

I did Atkins last fall. I loved the "not hungry" part of it, but couldn't take all the meat (cost and taste wise) The tired part is normal, if that's your only objection, you might give it another week. It was just too severe for me, my family doesn't care for much meat and I got tired of cooking twice.

[ZerasPride]

I'm not doing Atkins per se, but I am doing low carb following the South Beach Diet with a little Atkins thrown in. I will say the first 4 days of low carbing I felt like I was hit by a MAC truck! I had heard there are physical symptoms from sugar withdrawal but I wasn't prepared for how wiped out I felt - headaches, chills, feeling sluggish and just generally yucky. Everyone that I know that has done low carb says the same thing. The reward is (and the day it happens varies from person to person) that after the initial withdrawal period (Day 5 for me) you have so much energy and feel so good! I didn't believe it when people told me it would happen but I'm living proof of it. I haven't had a day when I've felt bad like that since.

So I'd say if you truly want to give low carbing a try, stick it out for the entire 2 week induction period and then make a decision if low carbing is for you or not. I wish you the best no matter which program you chose and I hope you're able to fit into that black formal on your cruise!

Btw, I lost 20 pounds during my first month on South Beach but I started off with a lot of weight to lose.

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I'm not an Atkins fan--I am pro-South Beach and my post reflects that.

EDITED TO ADD: I did think that SBD was a pure living H-E-double hockey sticks for the first 5 days, then it got better. You basically are going through a detox similar to people who quit caffeine as your body purges those urges and figures out how to use other foods more effectively.


A quote I heard on Z88.3 in Orlando--"The difference between a success and a failure, is trading what you want the MOST for what you want NOW".

Keep reminding yourself of what you want the MOST---and if you keep trading, well, you will never succeed.

You want the dessert bar? That should be your last trade until your cruise.

You want to fit in the dress--but you want those 2 staples of your WDW trip. First of all, I think the Cobb Salad might be South Beach Friendly (or at least not evil even if a couple of ingrediants might be taboo)--which is good for South Beach--and the dessert bar--well if you start South Beach/Weight Watchers today or tomorrow--you could be okay for the dessert bar and amazed at how sweet the items taste and how little you need to indulge your sweet tooth--then go back to eating healthy the rest of the trip.

I did South beach--and it is the first time EVER that I lost weight in the areas you mentioned. But it's a lifestyle change. Eventually you can have an indulgence--when you get to phase III..you've got to decide what is important for you. If whole grains is not your thing--South Beach will not work. There is a way to combine South Beach (for the healthy foods part) with WW (to make sure you are eating enough but not too much).

I don't like any kind of counting--fat grams, points, calories, carbs--hate it all. South Beach--no counting anything (except to just be aware if you are overeating--but once I stabilized that I quit counting).

I know my MIL is always dieting except on her b-day, holiday(s)--the day, week, and/or month surrounding them. Her diets always fail--not b/c she induldges in one must have--b/c she will go off of her diets for weeks at a time and eats all the WRONG foods. I would love to support her--but she hasn't asked for advice--and it "appears" to everyone I lost all my weight running when that simply is not the case.
Personally I think her metabolism is sooo screwed up from yo-yo dieting that nothing but a strict change in how she eats will do a darn bit of good.

I chose a lifestyle change several years in the making--and when we visit the relatives I am always bringing bags and a cooler of food or at minimum, grocery shopping when I've arrived. They think I'm a picky person or that I'm weird b/c I do this--but you know what, it works for me!

Good luck--and whatever diets you decide--I think you should still enjoy your salad and dessert bar this one LAST time and remember how enjoyable that cruise will be later this year ;)


(sorry for the tough love--I sensed a cry for help--HUGS to you for trying to be healthy!).

[Mom of Sleepy, Bashful and BabyDoc]

Hi Mickeyhugger...................

I did Atkins for a long time(or should I say, I kept giving it a shot. lol).

I loved the way I ate on Atkins. I loved the no hunger. I loved how I felt. I loved that I could lose 4 pounds a week for the first few weeks. I just couldn't stay on it. I TOTALLY believe the science behind it. It makes so much sense. And for someone that has trouble with diabetes or leaning that way (like I use to be), it has a lot of answers.

This is going to sound weird............but, it was more of a psychological thing with me. I started viewing a lot of what most people would call "good" food, as evil. This is not really the diets fault, I view it as my own. I think I just got tired of the "stay away from THAT food" stuff. Does this make sense??

I now input everything that I eat into fitday.com. I try to make good choices, watch calories, and try to eat foods that aren't as processed. For example, I make homemade bread out of rolled oats(not quick cooking oats), whole wheat flour, unbleached white flour, and honey. I cook with raw sugar or honey, we eat brown rice instead of white, and I put flaxseed oil on my salad.........stuff like that. I do allow myself to have indulgences, like ice cream, cake, cheeseburgers, blue cheese dressing, etc. but I try to be careful. No food is on the "evil" list anymore. :D

But..........................to answer your question about Atkins.........you are feeling just the way you should for the third day. Keep going and it will get better. If you really want to give it a good try, I'd keep going. Do your 2 weeks induction then add a piece of fruit or something for the next two weeks. After that, if you don't like this way of eating, stop. But I would give it a chance. A lot of people like this way of eating, and like I said, I use to. I TOTALLY support someone who is on Atkins. It certainly did cut out a lot of the "junk" that I use to eat.

Sorry this was so long....................... :blush:

[Mickeyhugger]

Thanks for all of your replies. :D

I probably COULD do Atkins if I was on my own. But as another mom here said, it was too hard to cook 'twice.' But another, I need all of my energy. Once I week, I 'babysit' for my invalid mother (to give my elderly dad a break.) It requires lifting her, helping her do her necessities, etc. In fact, it's what I was going to do today, but the Atkins plan did me in. I felt too sick.

I've heard good things about the new WW 'core' plan, which (I think?) is similar to low-carb.

I just need to get my mind-set, and focus on the long-term. I'm grateful that I've never slipped fully back to my old ways of eating. (2 sodas each day, fried foods, 2nd and 3rd helpings at dinner.) This weight I've put on in the past few months was being too 'careless' at Thanksgiving and Christmas. (I love to bake!)

I think checking these threads each day will be a big plus too. (Haven't visited W.I.S.H. in a few months. Glad to check back here!)