Low Carb diet aka Atkin's

[RedMacGregor]

never too late to start..

just ditch the grains & sugar..

feed your family vegetables & meat.. money isn't really an issue either, buy meat from a butcher, get a quarter cow from a butcher, grass fed, for $2-$3 a pound, already wrapped for the freezer.. steaks, hamburger, roasts, yum. you're in texas so have your husband go kill a hog for pork. catfish is plentiful & cheap, and awesomely good for you if wild-caught. spend a saturday every now and then fishing, good exercise & sunshine for the whole family & great eating. Offsetting the cost of the bait & tackle with what you would've spent at the grocery store.

focus on vegetables and meat (beef, pork, chicken, fish) & more vegetables, use the potatoes & such sparingly.

i stewed a whole chicken yesterday with some canned tomatoes, onion, garlic, carrots and celery.. it was amazing.

[Christi]

Just wanted to update:

I have officially lost 10 pounds. I know it isn't much, but it is encouraging to me. I have cheated and had carbs twice. So that put me back a little. I also see a change in the way my clothes fit. I think some fat is turning to muscle, which is nice.

Just thought I would let everyone know how I was doing.

[sgreger1]

Good job! 10 pounds isn't easy to lose, especially in a relatively quick time period.

[tom502]

I am trying to do quality carb vegetarian. It's not easy when the wife is throwing meat and snack foods in the basket.

Good job on the 10!

[Unsmooth Moment]

Currently sitting at 197 pounds (5' 11) I will be attempting my second go at ketosis (extremely low carb diet) After about a couple of weeks I plan on adding in a few carbs (fruit carbs, no grains) and go from there. I was pretty successful with this earlier but hit the wall and craved the hell out of grains. I think I can do it now with classes finally be over for the spring and I can do more outside activities. I will be trying to shoot for my goal of 180 pounds, and I know that is very manageable because I have an athletic background from highschool and I can still do some things, such as jog a mile without walking, etc.

I think one of the first things I will be trying is the couch to 5k Running Plan.

[Unsmooth Moment]

down to 186, havent cut out carbs just stopped eating fast food and sweets

[tom502]

I'm a diet failure. But with my health conditions, an Atkins, or carb controlled plan is what I should be doing. I swear, I watch Intervention, and my carb addiction is just like those dope addicts. I tell my wife I need to go to an inpatient detox facility that can de-carb my body. I mean it too. Does one exist?

[ratcheer]

I started this last Tuesday because my husband said he was going to do it. Most of you remember the issues with him supporting me on a diet and how it was making it hard for me to stick to it. Well he decided he was ready to lose the beer belly and bit the bullet. So I got angry about it then took advantage of the opportunity to lose some weight w/ the support.

I am down, as of this morning, 7lbs. That is a pound a day. I am sure the majority of it is water weight since I can't see a difference in my clothes or anything, but still pleasing to see the numbers go down for once.

I think I remember tom502 mentioning cutting out carbs, I was just interested to know if anyone else shared my love/hate relationship with the wonderful carbs too?

Yes, have you read the Atkins book? The original one, The Atkins Diet Revolution. It explains how the diet was not originally conceived as a weight loss diet, but as a tool to help diabetics with their heart problems. The book clearly explains the insulin cycle and how it chemically and physically addicts certain people to carbs. When they eat carbs, their bodies process them in such a way as to set up a craving for more carbs to keep them feeling good.

Note that it is not the same for all people. Just like some people can have one or two alcohol drinks and stop without any effort, but alcoholics keep going once they get started.

Anyway, please get the book and read it. It can explain it a thousand times better than I. Also, beware the newer "Atkins" books that are released with his name on them but are not really his book. They are just trying to sell you stuff you don't need.

By the way, I went on the Atkins Diet for several years from about 1999 to 2002. I made it from 235 lbs down to 180. I went back to carbs mostly due to emotional depression after 9/11. I am back up to 240, again. I need to listen to myself and go back on the Atkins Diet.

Tim

[truthwolf1]

I went on my own high carb lot's of bread and pretzels/crackers diet and lost a lot of weight.
It was strictly lowfat to no fat and my body just melted off all the extra weight.
I have gained a little over half of that back over a decade because of adding fat and a sit down job for the last 4 years.

[tom502]

I've done well, while I was on a low-carb diet, but my personal problem is a lack of self discipline, plus I really believe I am addicted to the bad carbs, like a crack head, which makes it hard too. But another book, I liked but never really tried was the T-Factor Diet, and it's like the low-fat version of Atkins low-carb diet. It's basis is that eating fat, makes you fat, and to restrict your fat grams to 20-60 a day. I do believe the recent findings, ala low-carb, have found that it's mainly carb intake and not fat intake, but then, I've never done such a low-fat diet, so I can't personally know if it would or not be effective for me. It does seem, though, if one did keep their daily fat grams 30 gs or so, it would have an impact on the calorie count, though I'm not a strong calorie believer, but it seems it would have an effect, just eating less than one normally would.