Excercise is key!!

[admorris11]

If you want to actually enjoy life and eat things that the "Atkins Addicts" would fall on the floor over, just excercise. Since going through Induction and hitting my goal of 220 in 25 days (lost 16 pounds), I now eat foods that I once enjoyed but w/out the guilt. I work out with heavy weights 3 days a week and walk briskly with my dogs the other 4 days a week for apprx. 30-45 mins. I eat pizza (as much as I want) usually once a week and a dessert of my liking usually once, maybe twice a week and have not gained a pound in over two weeks since being off of induction. For me personally this works great. I know that I enjoy certain foods enough that realistically I know I am not going to cut them out cold turkey for the rest of my life. I would rather work out (which is fun) and eat pretty much what I want then spend the rest of my life counting carbs and having a stroke if I mess up and eat a packet of real sugar. I see far too many people on here stressing over things that they should not be stressing over. I almost feel sorry in a way that this diet has that much control over how someone feels about themselves. Another benefit to this is that my body looks better than it has since I was in high school (now 30). One positive to the Atkins diet though is that I did learn to eat spinach and lettuce. Those are two vegetables that I had never eaten before this diet.

just my thoughts.

[Betty]

Well admorris, the title of this forum is Atkins for Life, and what you are doing is obviously not Atkins.
Personally, for me Atkins is not a "diet" in the sense that I will do this for awhile and go back to the way I was "ba" before Atkins. This for me is a change in lifestyle and how I eat. I am at goal and so I don't count carbs as rigidly as I did before because I pretty much know where the most carbs are. For me I am in charge and not the "diet" as you suggest.
I also don't think anyone should stress out if they do "cheat", slack off, etc. They just need to pick themselves up and move on. Of course going on and off this WOE is not good either becasue then a person is yo-yo dieting and that does nasty things to the body.
The bottom line is each person has to make a decision for themselves.
So best wishes to you and the way you have chose to go.

[admorris11]

My intent was not to jump on anyone for doing this diet, if it came across that way I do apologize. My point is that I do not think someone should feel as though they have "cheated" if they choose to eat something that is not listed on the all important "safe food list". A diet does not change your body, the only thing that changes your body from the inside out is excercise. If all you (not you personally) do is the Atkins, whatever made you the way you were pre-Atkins will eventually make you that way again...whether it be 1 year, or 5 years from now. If you really want to change your metabolic and body chemistry, you need to excercise. That I suppose is my point. If you take offense to this then what I wrote above probably applies to you, if you do not take offense then it does not.

By the way lgndkpr, you looked great in your before picture and still look great now!

[Perry]

Using you're logic admorris, no one ever needs to worry about the foods they eat. Exercise is the saviour!

It is a balanced low-carb diet in combination with exercise that changes your metabolism.

Like lgndkpr said.... best wishes with your chosen path.

[admorris11]

Actually Perry4397, if you go back and actually read what I wrote initially you will see that I don't eat like there is nothing to worry about. What I said was that I eat a pizza usually once a week and a dessert of my liking usually once or twice a week. Where did you get the idea that I do not worry about what foods I eat? I simply stated that I do not and am not going to feel bad for what you guys call "cheating". To me it's called "eating" and it has worked for me a majority of my life. And I agree with what you say that exercise must be a part of your routine, no matter what routine that is. If it is not then you are destined to be fat once again, as no 'diet' will change your body type...it will only put a bandade on it.

good luck to everyone and enjoy life a little!

[Tommy]

::Just my 2 cents on the matter::

Maintenance is the point where you have reached your goals and can now eat more food choices. The object of maintenance is to make sure you do not regain your weight and have to start all over. At this point you are allowed to eat different foods including the occasional junk food. Your biggest concern at this point is knowing what you can eat with out gaining weight. Your weight will always flucuate but the point would be to get it under control before it got more then 5 lbs past your goal weight. This is the part where you have to find out how many carbs and calories your body can handle with out gaining weight.

I myself am now enjoying my pizza again (by the way I'm still losing some weight too). I dropped another 5 lbs since being in maintenance. So whether its pizza, dessert, or another food all together, this is not cheating. I thinking if you were gaining weight because of it and ignoring it, this would be cheating. The fact that you are still here indicates that you still do have a concern about your weight and therefore are following the Atkins WOL.

[Iapetus999]

I just want to add that the insulin spike associated with overindulgence in carbs can cause lasting bodily damage.
I don't see a problem doing this occasionally but on a weekly basis it may be too much for your body to handle.
You might as well not watch carbs at all.
The ideal situation is to eat enough carbs to maintain your weight even with heavy exercise but spread them out during the day to avoid spiking.
That may mean up to 6 smaller meals instead of one carb fest.

[Twodogs]

The ideal situation is to eat enough carbs to maintain your weight even with heavy exercise but spread them out during the day to avoid spiking.
That may mean up to 6 smaller meals instead of one carb fest.

Now that is GREAT advice! I also enjoy the occasional pizza, or toast under eggs when I'm having breakfast out.

I have maintained my 80kgs since reaching my goal, however in the last week or so, have found myself getting really hungry shortly before meals. Currently I've started taking a protein shake to work to have about an hour before lunch, and am having a handful of nuts before dinner, and that seems to work for me.

I don't exercise much and have a sedentary(sp?) job (programming) - my carb level is reasonably high (and its the wrong type of carbs....2 - 3 glasses of red wine most nights seems to put it up), but I find that with my current exercise/lifestyle, if I drop below this carb level, I go back to losing again.

The funny thing is, even after having pizza, I am usually showing that I'm still discarding trace levels of ketones the following day. I think I'll take iapetus' advice and try to space out the carbs to 5 or 6 meals a day, and see how that goes.

[admorris11]

[quote="Iapetus999"]You might as well not watch carbs at all.
quote]

Now that just doesn't make sense for you to say that. Because I enjoy a pizza once a week and eat a dessert maybe twice a week, I should just forget about limiting carbs for the remainder of the week???

I figured I would update everyone since my original post on exercise. I have lost another two pounds (down to 21 and was really not even concerned with more loss at this point (I know this is hard to believe since I am not an Atkins ****). I realize that what I am doing goes completely against most people's advise on here, but it seems to be working for me. I truly believe your body needs more carbs then what Atkins allows when you are working out and exercising regularly. Now if you are a couch potato and get NO exercise whatsoever then following Atkins to a tee is probably more crucial. Just my $.02.

Thanks Tommy, I am glad someone on here understands that I am still interested in Atkins, just not going to let it rule me or my way of life. Your comments are much appreciated.

Damn that pizza's good ain't it?

To everyone else, good luck!