Please don't attack me for asking...

[cdj6209]

The Atkins diet has been working pretty well for me, and is the only one I've been able to stick to. Now I realize that this is NOT a crash diet....however, once the weight is gone, say you follow the food guide pyramid and exercise regularly....I know water weight will be regained....but will the weight pile right back on....btw, I am not overweight, just trying to get to the lower end of my healthy weight spectrum......also, my aunt did atkins and said something about how every couple of weeks you're supposed to have a 'carb' day.....but I've read how unhealthy it is to confuse your body like that. No, I don't have a lot of weight to lose, and like I said, I know this isn't a crash diet....

[book]

hehe.. most of us are pretty convinced the food guide pyramid is just wrong wrong wrong... and was backed by lobbies with a vested interest in pushing grains...

listen. When you 'finish' Atkins you can eat perfectly 'normal.' As long as your idea of normal does not include twinkies or bag of doritos at a sitting. When you finish Atkins hopefully you will still eat 3 or more cups of veggies a day. When you finish Atkins hopefully you will still eat adequate amounts of protein. When you finish Atkins hopefully you will keep drinking your water... and you will think of canteloupe and strawberries as dessert, and not eclairs. And if these things are true of you then you will still basically be 'doing Atkins' because you will be considering the carb count, and very likely if you are exercising the amount of carbs you can eat and not gain will be a decent amount, one easily achievable as long as you avoid refined sugars and junk foods.

In your case especially I don't see you piling the pounds back on. You learned about this plan while still within a reasonable weight and don't appear to be a huge 'carb junkie'. It is the severe carb addicts who will always need to be vigilant, and frankly we don't mind because this has worked to get us past it... we don't want to go 'back there.'

by the time you reach your goal you will have learned a better way to eat. This success will encourage you to stick to low carb principles. Stay away from sugar and empty foods, and you should do fine.

book

[Esdios]

It is hard to say if they will pile back on for you or not. Since you are already within an acceptible weight range weight will only come off slowly. In the end it all comes down to calories in vs calories out. Diet, exercise, water, herredity, general health etc etc and so forth all effect the calories out though.

The traditional food pyramid was pushed by those with a vested interest in it, but it isn't worth ignoring it on that basis, it does have some merrit to it. In fact combined with propper water intake and exercise it will work for a third to half the population to maintain a good weight or not get fat in the first place. Could these people do the same thing on one of the other new pyramids they USDA has come up with probably. When it comes right down to it you could lose and maintain on a number of different plans if you do what is neccessary on it (assuming you can figure out what is necesssary). There will be the plan that works for best for you, but it is up to you to figure out what it is.

[cdj6209]

Thank you book and esdios! I figured that since this plan has worked for me, even if I thought about it, I wouldn't be able to not count carbs in some way or another after I reached my goal. I suppose it really has affected me. Thank you both for helping me out

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