have you hear of anyone doing this?

[aliciacassarino]

so i was talking with someone about atkins who told me that they had lost a significant amount of weight on it, and they told me that they would do a strict, clean induction for 2-3 weeks, then carb-out one day; pizza, doughnuts, chinese, you name it, then the next day go right back to 2-3 weeks of strict, clean induction. she swears the one day of carbing out, although she gained, kickstarted her back into induction loss results. kind of like 3 steps forward, one back, i guess.

has anyone done this? thoughts?

note: i am well aware this is NOT the correct way to atkins, nor am i advocating it. its merely a topic of discussion.

[PrincessKiki]

Re: have you hear of anyone doing this?

My soon-to-be sister in law was talking to me about that same thing last weekend!!

She heard about it at the gym and said that the key to doing that is that you have to be lifting weights daily. Not so much cardio, but lifting. Why? I don't know.

I for one think that doing that would make my tummy totally sick!

[Richt]

Re: have you hear of anyone doing this?

Alicia

Yes to answer your question, I have heard people say they were doing it. And to be honest, they didnt keep it up for long. They were soon back to eating carbie foods full time again. It's so easy to fall once on the slippery slope.

Great post by you, I am sure you will get lots of different opinions. But for me, I couldnt have a "cheat" day as I would soon be craving those types of foods all over again.

Rich

[aliciacassarino]

Re: have you hear of anyone doing this?

rich, i totally agree, it would be such a slippery slope to be on. and i keep thinking that god, she must have had a lot of willpower.

[dreamof145]

Re: have you hear of anyone doing this?

This is not doing Atkins. The purpose of Atkins is to learn to eat low-carb and make wise decisions every day for the rest of your life. If you partake in occassional cheat days, it not only messes up your metabolism, but soon you'll be craving junk food more often and give in because you'll make promises to go back on plan after the cheat.

To me, this plan has been a life-saver. It has made me aware of my choices and given me the tools to lose my weight and keep it off. No food is worth it in my opinion...there is always a substitute food that you can eat legally in place of the high-carb versions. I'd never do this as I have seen too many people think they can control eating off plan occassionally and then find out too late that they have gained the weight back.

[sallyseachange]

Re: have you hear of anyone doing this?

I'm with Becky. I reckon that having a regular binge day would play havoc with your metabolism and make further attempts to lose more difficult.

[VGrace]

Re: have you hear of anyone doing this?

My bro in law and mom did that years and years ago! I didn't know anyhting about Atkins and just assumed thats the way it worked,they both lost LOTS of weight but like Rich said its a slippery slope and they were both back to eating bad carbs and gained it all back plus some.

[EmDee]

Re: have you hear of anyone doing this?

Back when I was a smoker (I quit 7 yrs ago for good), I quit a lot. Quitting wasn't my problem ~ staying quit was. I would invariably say "oh, just this one" or "it's ok tonight while I am out drinking" but it always led me back to a pack a day habit.

With the weight, I am using the lesson I learned in finally quitting smoking: don't cheat! Change your mindset, change your lifestyle, change the bad habit for good ~ stick to your guns and just say "no."

So, I don't think I could do that plan very successfully.

[Brook]

Re: have you hear of anyone doing this?

What you're talking about is a version...an icky version..but a version none the less of carb cycling. It is effective, but it's not the Atkins way. There's a right way and a wrong way to do it. If you want to read up on it, that's what you need to read up on.....carb cycling. But Atkins isn't the place for it!

[Just Friends]

Re: have you hear of anyone doing this?

I just read an article recently on carb cycling but it did not involve eating high carbs. It involved 5 days of low carb and 2 days of extremely low carbs. So five days may be 40-60 carbs and 2 days of 20 carbs. I suppose there are different versions of this floating around. As a newbie, I have to have set rules to follow. Back and forth would throw me off real fast.

"Just a Friend"
318/235/185
WLS 2005, loss to 235
Started Atkins 8/30/07

[ShannonK]

Re: have you hear of anyone doing this?

I have absolutely tried the two day a month of cheating!! Ha. It sure doesn't work for me. I always add an extra day ( or so on ) to it because I am planning to re-start induction anyway. It just doesn't work. Nor, is it worth it. The sickness and then the re-induction flu.

No, thanks...

[CATBLUE]

Re: have you hear of anyone doing this?

Man.. I know I'd be so sick... I actually thought I was allergic to wheat the last time I had a little bread. My stomach cramped, I had gas, and other unpleasant things. It was awful and so not worth it.

[Jace]

Re: have you hear of anyone doing this?

After my roommate say my success on Atkins she gave a half hearted attempt at trying it herself except that she would do the carb cycling thing. It worked as far as the scale was concerned, but mentally it tore her apart as every time she began induction again she would have to put up with the inevitable flu as well as not being able to break her addiction to carbs. Eventually she decided that the one day of binging was more pleasurable than the two weeks on induction and just gave up.

While you may see the initial numbers you like on the scale, you don't break your addiction to carbs, you mess up your metabolism, and you get absolutely no solid footing for having a lifelong way of eating. She only kept with it for a month, I can't really see binging then reinduction for the rest of ones life being extremely healthy. But like many people she wasn't interested in learning a new way of eating, she wanted a quick fix to a problem that 20 years of bad eating habits created. Doesn't work that way I'm afraid

[tigress1369]

Re: have you hear of anyone doing this?

I am on extended induction, averaging between 12-20 carbs a day. But personally I go out once a month with my BF for "date night." We get all dressed up make reservations a couple weeks ahead of time at a fancy restaurant, and go all out for dinner. I remain very Atkins for breakfast and lunch.....always order a simple tossed salad with dinner and pick whatever I want for dinner, and we split a dessert. I have noticed that I have never ordered pasta though when we go out....it kinda seems like a waste of a cheat.
I also always eat my meat and veggies first, and when I am just about full I will have a few bites of whatever carb came with the meal.

I usually see a .5-1 lb add on in the morning, but I am right back on my regular schedule, and lose it plus some the next day without fail. I also always add on extra exercise in the days before and after. I find going out that one night a month keeps me from going crazy. There is no reason to crave or cheat in between because I have a nice dinner out to look forward to. If there is a family function or celebration coming up I save my "cheat" day for that. It may not be "right" but it is what works for me, and I know that just because I go out to a nice dinner and dessert, it doesn't mean that I have to start my next morning with doughnuts.

[Hoping]

Re: have you hear of anyone doing this?

Yes! I've heard of it and in fact I asked about it when I started because I was confused. I read the book and it didn't say anything about it and then I asked on here (I think people took it as I wanted a cheat day) because the first time I did Atkins I hadn't read the book and was going off of what my friend had told me. And sure enough, I didn't stick to it doing the whole cheat day every 14 days.
It's difficult getting back on the bandwagon after you've fallen.