[weightylady]

Has anyone lost weight just by cutting out all flour (breads, pastas, etc.) and sugar, without actually following the diet plan? I'm just dreading the two weeks of induction on Atkins. Has anyone had success with that?

[StarPrincess]

Um, your question makes me question what you understand the Atkins plan to be. But sure, people lose weight all sorts of ways. I know a guy who lost 50 pounds and the only change he made was switching to light beer

Basically, if we want to be healthy, we all end up in a similar place. Rely on whole foods, proper nutrition, plenty of water, and lots of exercise and you'll find whatever groove works for you.

Induction is important to those of us who follow Atkins because it's very effective at breaking bad eating habits and food addictions. But everyone has their own path.

Good luck.

[weightylady]

Star,
Thanks for responding. I've been reading about your success and you are certainly an inspiration, as is everyone else on this board. The thing is, I don't really want to have to count my vegetables. I love salad and having a heaping portion of it for lunch every day. Guess I'm lucky I love it. But, that still doesn't stop me from having to lose 100 pounds. ('Cause I love donuts, too!) I guess what I really want to know is, can't I just eat meats and veggies, cheeses and fats and follow some of the yummy recipes and still be successful? Thoughts?

[lady_adnerb]

Weightylady--I don't count my veggies. Basically I really don't count anything. I'm pretty bad at it I don't keep track of what I eat. I just make sure it's on the "acceptable" list. There are slipups of course, but 99% of the time I'm good. So only you can decide what's right for you. If having carbs but just cutting them down works for you then great. If not, try something else until you find what does.
Good luck

[StarPrincess]

I count my veggies, but only to be sure I'm eating lots of them. I try to make sure that at least 1/2 my daily carbs are from veggies as opposed to drinks and frankenfoods. My thought is that as long as you're paying attention to the big picture, you should be just fine. I don't think veggies ever made anyone fat until we started finding creative ways to make them high calorie foods (aka smothering them in sauces). Like I said before, eat right for you and exercise - that's really about all it boils down to.

[Sonnet]

Hi weightlady, I strongly recccomend weighing and measuring your veggies during the two week Induction Diet phase if you want to see if this if the Atkins' low carb life style is for you. And after that, you probably wouldn't want to eat all that much salad anyway since the diet tends to fill one's appitite, but I know I eat about 4 times the allowed amount. Along with loving salads, I love broccoli with butter. Also, there's vegetable in salads that are not allowe, like carrots and others. sticking to the list of foods is very important so you don't eat hidden sugars.