Atkins vs Weight Watchers

[Tracy Savage]

I've done them both and I have to get busy again! I like different things on each plan, WW is easier to live with but results seem better on Atkins. Any opinions?

 

[DWGal210]

I am doing WW and I prefer that. I've done Atkins, too, and I just thought it was harder to live that way for the long term. Plus, I don't think all that meat and cheese is good for you without balance elsewhere; sure, you will lose weight if you stop eating pasta and bread, but to me, eating 4 cheesburgers with the buns is still not "teaching" yourself to eat healthy. Also, I didn't like that with Atkins, you are restricted from certain fruits and veggies do to their sugars. All in all, it was just too much work for me.

I also like the points with WW since I can be anal and like to have a way to track myself and know when I can have treats and such.

Good luck!

 

[lovetoscrap]

Have you tried South Beach? It is a more reasonable and liveable version of Atkins.

 

[Tracy Savage]

I am doing WW and I prefer that. I've done Atkins, too, and I just thought it was harder to live that way for the long term. Plus, I don't think all that meat and cheese is good for you without balance elsewhere; sure, you will lose weight if you stop eating pasta and bread, but to me, eating 4 cheesburgers with the buns is still not "teaching" yourself to eat healthy. Also, I didn't like that with Atkins, you are restricted from certain fruits and veggies do to their sugars. All in all, it was just too much work for me.

I also like the points with WW since I can be anal and like to have a way to track myself and know when I can have treats and such.

Good luck!

I'm a point saver too! The WW treats are so good too! It is nice that you can allow youself them. You have to feel human.

 

[Tracy Savage]

Have you tried South Beach? It is a more reasonable and liveable version of Atkins.

I have. but it seems alittle more complicated, I don't like to think that much about planning every meal.

 

[AshleyW]

PLEASE don't do Atkins. It's completely unreasonable for the long run, and is actually very unsafe. It puts you at a much higher risk for heart disease, and can also cause: ketosis, constipation, loss of potassium and other electrolytes, and type 2 diabetes, among various other things.

Weight Watchers is a lot better option.. you're actually getting a well-balanced diet and it's teaching you how to live a healthier lifestyle, instead of depriving you of what your body needs to be healthy.

 

[minkydog]

I've done both Atkins and Weight Watchers and I must say, I *far* prefer Weight Watchers. I'm not a big meat eater anyway and I found that I craved veggies and fruit on Atkins. On Weight Watchers I can eat everything in moderation.I don't feel at all deprived and I have more energy than before. So far, I've lost 30-lbs.

 

[minniecarousel]

I've done both. Yes, I lost faster on Atkins, but once I added more carbs, I started to gain. On WW, you can eat anything, as long as you track it and stay within your points. I dabbled on the South Beach diet, and it's a nicer balanced "atkins"-type diet.

 

[threeboysmom]

OK, I'm going to jump in here and give my opinion because I seriously hate it when people who are misinformed about the Atkins diet feel the need to criticize it.

Atkins is NOT about eating all the hamburgers and cheese you want. Not sure why people always seem to think this is true.

Have you read his book? If not, you have no authority to speak.

The first two weeks on Atkins is called the induction period. This is where people criticize the diet because they think this is how you have to eat the rest of your life. It's not. It's for the first two weeks... possibly 3-4 if you have a lot more to lose. You're eating eggs, meat, VEGETABLES, and limited amount of cheese for this period. You will lose quite a bit of weight during this time.

After that, you slowly begin adding GOOD carbs back into your diet, and I emphasize slowly... one at a time... so you can keep an eye on your weight and make sure you're still continuing to lose. You add nuts and berries (yes, FRUIT, people!) You also increase your vegetables from 2-3 cups a day to 3-4 cups a day. How many of you eat that much daily? Hmmm???

As the weeks go by and you continue to lose weight, you begin to add in even more foods, slowly increasing your carb intake, making sure you're still losing weight, but at a slower rate.

Once you're close to your goal weight and ready to enter into the maintenance phase (which I am in), you can begin to add in your whole grains. You're also upping your VEGETABLES and FRUITS.

As you increase in the GOOD carbs, you're slowly decreasing in the fats.

If you've followed all the steps, once you hit your goal weight, you should have a very good idea of the amount of carbs you can eat that cause you to maintain your weight - not lose anymore, but not gain anymore either.

Atkins is a way of eating for LIFE. It is not just a diet to lose weight.

How can you say that eating meat, eggs, vegetables, fruits, and whole grains (i.e., NATURAL foods, nothing processed) is UNHEALTHY???

I have successfully lost my weight and have continued to maintain it eating this way.

Nobody can go back to eating junk (white flour and white sugar and processed foods) and not gain weight. That's how we all got fat in the first place! Atkins eliminates all the "junk" so that not only do you lose weight, but you live a much healthier lifestyle.

 

[minkydog]

OK, I'm going to jump in here and give my opinion because I seriously hate it when people who are misinformed about the Atkins diet feel the need to criticize it.

Atkins is NOT about eating all the hamburgers and cheese you want. Not sure why people always seem to think this is true.

Have you read his book? If not, you have no authority to speak.

I have read the book.Everybody is different. I have done the diet, several times. I could not stick with the protein heavy diet for 2-4 weeks. This has been my experience. I'm glad Atkins worked for you. It didn't work for me. I stand by my post.

 

[jme829]

OK, I'm going to jump in here and give my opinion because I seriously hate it when people who are misinformed about the Atkins diet feel the need to criticize it.

Atkins is NOT about eating all the hamburgers and cheese you want. Not sure why people always seem to think this is true.

Have you read his book? If not, you have no authority to speak.

The first two weeks on Atkins is called the induction period. This is where people criticize the diet because they think this is how you have to eat the rest of your life. It's not. It's for the first two weeks... possibly 3-4 if you have a lot more to lose. You're eating eggs, meat, VEGETABLES, and limited amount of cheese for this period. You will lose quite a bit of weight during this time.

After that, you slowly begin adding GOOD carbs back into your diet, and I emphasize slowly... one at a time... so you can keep an eye on your weight and make sure you're still continuing to lose. You add nuts and berries (yes, FRUIT, people!) You also increase your vegetables from 2-3 cups a day to 3-4 cups a day. How many of you eat that much daily? Hmmm???

As the weeks go by and you continue to lose weight, you begin to add in even more foods, slowly increasing your carb intake, making sure you're still losing weight, but at a slower rate.

Once you're close to your goal weight and ready to enter into the maintenance phase (which I am in), you can begin to add in your whole grains. You're also upping your VEGETABLES and FRUITS.

As you increase in the GOOD carbs, you're slowly decreasing in the fats.

If you've followed all the steps, once you hit your goal weight, you should have a very good idea of the amount of carbs you can eat that cause you to maintain your weight - not lose anymore, but not gain anymore either.

Atkins is a way of eating for LIFE. It is not just a diet to lose weight.

How can you say that eating meat, eggs, vegetables, fruits, and whole grains (i.e., NATURAL foods, nothing processed) is UNHEALTHY???

I have successfully lost my weight and have continued to maintain it eating this way.

Nobody can go back to eating junk (white flour and white sugar and processed foods) and not gain weight. That's how we all got fat in the first place! Atkins eliminates all the "junk" so that not only do you lose weight, but you live a much healthier lifestyle.

I lost over 100 lbs on Atkins in less than 8 months. I felt better than I ever had, more energy, blood tests went from bad to good...etc...

Unfortunately for me, I pretty much stuck to induction level eating and didn't phase thru the rest of the diet properly (and yes, i read the book many times over-it was just stupidness and laziness on my part) so when I started to transition back to other food, I went overboard and gained pretty much most of the weight back. I think I have some kind of issue, whether it be an addiciton or low willpower, because when I have access to certain foods (cakes, cookies, chips mostly) I tend to "binge" eat them and then I feel horrible (both mentally and physically). I keep trying to get back into Atkins, because I know how great I felt and looked doing it, but my mindset just isn't there. I AM however, trying to make better choices overall when it comes to eating, sometimes I still go waaaaayyy overboard, but for the most part, I am starting to be able to control it better.

But please, read the book before you criticize. It isn't all gorging on burgers and bacon. I too, hate when I hear people griping about but haven't made any effort to find out the facts (and not what some t.v. person is telling you).

 

[JerseyMamaBear]

love love love weight watchers! lost 30lbs and kept it off for a year and a half prior to having my daughter. As soon as I deliver, any day now, I will jump right back on it. As a life member they give you 13 weeks free after a baby so I have no excuses.

 

[AshleyW]

The only thing I'm going to add: there is a reason that the American Medical Assocation, American Heart Association, Johns Hopkins, American Kidney Fund, etc. will not endorse the Atkins diet. The American Diabetes Assocation has endorsed it, as long as you only follow the program for UP TO one year. Otherwise they do not consider it healthy.

It may work for some people, and that's great. But when it was initially developed, it was never intended to be a lifelong diet. It was ORIGINALLY intended for morbidly obese patients who needed to have heart surgery - they needed to lose lots of weight very quickly to lower the risk of performing surgery.

 

[Mary Anne]

I've never done Atkins so I cannot comment on it. I have however done WW and for me it works. It's a live it not a diet.

 

[ComplicatedPink]

First of all, I want to say good job for those of you who have done the research before starting any diet and being informed! That said, I am not a fan of the Adkins Diet.

I am an exercise science major with nutrition minor so I don't have a degree but do have quite a bit of knowledge on health and fitness. Every nutrition class I have ever taken has highly discouraged this style of dieting. Not to say that you won't have success in losing weight, but the long term effects on the body can be harmful.

As a previous poster said, it can have some serious harmful long term effects on the kidneys, heart, and even increase the likelihood of diabetes. Not necessarily due to a possible higher consumption of fats, but the lack of carbohydrates. Your body works the best with carbohydrates. When you don't have an adequate amount, the body is forced to use it's second string of energy so to speak. That being said, eating a donut and candy bar is not equal to whole grains.

Was Adkins a doctor, yes. Does this mean that his way was the best way,...?

I would highly suggest WW. They teach you how to control portions, how to eat a more balanced diet, and how much to eat in order to find the energy balance your body needs to preform life functions with the calorie deficit the body needs to lose weight.

Good luck with your weight loss and make sure you do your homework!!

 

[threeboysmom]

As a previous poster said, it can have some serious harmful long term effects on the kidneys, heart, and even increase the likelihood of diabetes. Not necessarily due to a possible higher consumption of fats, but the lack of carbohydrates. Your body works the best with carbohydrates. When you don't have an adequate amount, the body is forced to use it's second string of energy so to speak. That being said, eating a donut and candy bar is not equal to whole grains.

I couldn't agree more. But you have to choose GOOD carbs - lots of vegetables, fruits, nuts, legumes, and whole grains.

You CANNOT eat carbs from white bread, white flour, sugar, white rice, heavily processed foods, etc. and expect that to be a healthy way of eating...

That is why I like Atkins. It encourages me to make healthy choices for life.

 

[minkydog]

I couldn't agree more. But you have to choose GOOD carbs - lots of vegetables, fruits, nuts, legumes, and whole grains.

You CANNOT eat carbs from white bread, white flour, sugar, white rice, heavily processed foods, etc. and expect that to be a healthy way of eating...

And that is the key to any diet--throw out the processed foods, refined sugar & flour, start cooking whole grains, fresh vegetables, whole fruits, don't drink your calories and get more exercise. And if you can't control your urge to eat junk food, then you can't have it in the house. Period. If I just *have* to have chips, I have to get into the car and drive to the store. It's just not worth the trouble.

 

[TheDisneyGirl02]

I love WW! I'm currently doing the program and what I love not being restricted by certain foods. For me, it's something that I can follow in my everyday life.

I did read the Atkins book years ago when my endocrinologist suggested I try that diet. I started it and by lunchtime couldn't handle it. I'm not that big of a meat eater so it was tough for me to have the meat only from the sandwich. Needless to say, WW has worked a lot better for me.

My aunt (who is a big meat eater) has done very well on Atkin's...however her hair started to fall out. For a while, she had to wear a baseball hat to cover it up. I know she has introduced some carbs back into her diet at this point, however the damage had been done.

OP, I think you need to do what you think is best for you and you only. Best of luck!

 

[tasha99]

Atkins isn't about eating a bunch of bunless cheeseburgers; it's about eating meat and vegies in the beginning, then branching out to meat, vegies, fruit, and whole grains. It seems like it gets mischaracterized a lot.

 

[ez]

I have to say the older I get the more I cannot lose that extra 5 or ten pounds without seriously cutting out the carbs....especially in the last couple of years (I am almost 47) I have watched so many woman in my family who once had beautiful figures literally balloon once they got in their 40s and 50s. I think for women carbs really become the enemy as you get older. I'm not saying to totally get rid of them but really really watch them. Like pasta which I used to eat once a week, is more like once every 2 months for me now, no buns on my burgers that sort of thing....but a ton of veggies I am a veggie nut!