[Shrinkabell]

Hi.

Just wanted to introduce myself because I'll be snooping around these boards regularly. I'm Nicole from Sydney Australia. I'm 22 and I'm a fulltime arts student. I've always wanted to do acting, but always felt too fat and concious of my body to do it, so I made a decision to turn my life around and stop betraying myself. I did Atkins about five years ago for 3 months and the weight practically fell off with minimal effort and exercise. Unfortunately, a personal crisis paired with a trip to carb heaven (Italy) knocked me off track and I fell back into my old eating habits. Since then I've been trying out other diets. The snack all day diet ala the 'rabbit' diet, low g.i diet, shakes etc but nothing has made me feel as full and less tempted to splurge on a piece of cake as Atkins did, so I'm coming back armed with a determined heart and a gym membership

Nice to meet you all

[Shrinkabell]

OK, so it's not going to plan! I've been doing it for 3 days now and all 3 nights I've had heart palpitations which never happened the first time around or on the so called balanced diet before this. The second night when I had them, I googled atkins and heart palpitations and saw it was a side effect for some in induction that can be fixed by taking potassium, so the next day I went and bought some tablets that contain them, but it didn't make a difference.

I tossed and turned in bed with the thumping heart, then got up and ate a banana and about 10 minutes later the palpitations became extremerly mild and I finally went to sleep. Scary stuff

I think I will be withdrawing from Atkins

[JerseyGyrl]

I'm sorry you feel Atkins isn't working out for you Mind if I ask exactly what you've been eating?

[kaplods]

Shrinkabell,

I tend to do poorly on induction, also; and my husband can't do it at all (because he's on insulin and other blood sugar lowering meds and our doctor advised against it). Before giving up low carb, or reduced carb or low GI carb(like South Beach); you might consider other reduced carb options, skipping inductions or "doing Atkins backwards."

By doing Atkins backwards, I mean starting with a carb level of say 100 g and see how that feels, and reduce your carbs (or increast them) by 5 to 10 each week until you find the carb level that you feel best at, and can lose steadily on.

I'm not on Atkins, rather I do a lower carb exchange plan; but reducing carbs has made such an amazing difference in my appetite and weight loss ability. I know the low carb plans aren't for everybody, and which plans work best for each individual varies greatly, but if you find you have a problem with carb portion control, there are other carb-restricting alternatives you might consider.

[makingachange]

I felt awful the first week of induction, and then really really good. But if I had heart palpitations I probably would have stopped as well. I am sticking with it, but you have to find the right diet or WOE that suits you best. It's not easy for any of us. I started on shwartzbien at 45 carbs a day, than switched to Atkins, that way I tapered down gradually.

Good luck!