I read about it in Woman's World, and it looked interesting to me. I think at this stage in my journey, I'm wanting to mix things up a little bit, and this seemed appealing to me, though I've never been tempted by Atkins (though it seems to be working well for you, Shellie!).

The way it's described in WW, you eat very typical food pyramid type foods for five days a week. Lots of whole grains, fruits, veggies, lean protein, etc. That's what I've pretty much been doing seven days a week anyway. But on two consecutive days, you switch to a specified low-carb diet consisting of high-protein, relatively low-cal nutrition bars (2 per day), unlimited veggies, six ounces of lean protein per day, a whole cantaloupe per day, unlimited no-cal spices, and unlimited no-cal beverages.

I'm on Day 1. I'll do it tomorrow as well, and if it works, maybe do it next week too. I'm interested in knowing if anyone else has tried anything similar and what their experiences have been. Apparently, it's something that WW adapted from LA Weight Loss Centers, and if the stats are to be believed, it gets good results.

I haven't tried that, Laurie. I think mixing up what you eat once in a while is a great way to keep your body guessing. I don't know that I would get too hung up on the cantaloupe and low-cal nutrition bar part of it (but then again I loathe cantaloupe and can't control myself around anything candy bar shaped! ), but otherwise it doesn't sound like it could hurt. Let us know how it goes!

I don't think I'd take very seriously any diet that involved eating whole cantaloupes. Somehow I can't believe there would be a lot of scientific evidence to back something like that. I try not to do anything I can't stick with longterm and I can guarantee you I'm not going to be eating whole cantaloupes for the rest of my life.

I'd also worry that day 6&7 wouldn't be enough calories. Sticking with the food pyramid but varying slightly the amt you eat from day to day sounds like a better way to mix it up to me.

I am not sure I described it well. This is just a sample of a possible menu when you carb cycle that was provided by the magazine. I can't imagine that anyone doing carb cycling longterm would stick with the same menu each week, 'cuz y'all are right. I can't imagine eating these same things every week for the rest of my life. But it is giving me a new awareness of what I'm eating and when I'm eating it, so it's a good experiment, regardless of what the scale verdict will be. I'm also not a big protein bar eater, either. I'm much more whole / natural foods oriented. The cantaloupe actually fits well with that philosophy, though, as the nutrition offered seems like a good exchange for the calories I'm consuming, and I find them to be filling. The biggest surprise, though, has been how very, very filling the protein bars are, and how much it reminds me of eating a candy bar - an experience I've not had for many, many months. In fact, I am going to do it again tomorrow just so that I can justify eating those protein bars at least one more day. But you're right, CC. If I had these in any quantity on a day that I'm not feeling controlled, I could potentially eat large quantities of them. **SIGH** And the calorie count does have me a bit concerned, too, Vanessa, as I have to eat a whole lot of green and orange to ward off the hunger. But for two days - I can do it, and I don't think extra veggies is going to cause any long-term damage. I'll see if it makes any difference on the scale. I know it's probably just the diet advice du jour, but it seems like the whole "mixing it up" concept is being pushed everywhere. I just wanted to see how it works in this particular iteration.

From what I understand your carb cycling to be, it's like cutting carbs two days a week right?

Every diet I've ever looked into that asks you to cut something out (Fat Smash, SBD, Atkins, etc.) has you do a 10-14 day "detox" period. Basically, it's giving your body time to get whatever it is (carbs, sugar, etc.) out of your system before slowly adding back in healthier options.

In my (very uneducated) opinion, I don't see how two days of little/no carbs would be an effective tool. It doesn't seem like enough time to make any changes.

Let me know if this works for you though. It's an interesting idea that I'd try if you got results from it.

Yes I did this last week, Thurs & Fr after reading the mag -- because I was DESPERATE about losing .5 lbs for weeks on end, I wanted to speed it up a bit.

I stayed on my regular diet (kind of a Sonoma diet thing) 5 days and the sample diet they had for two days. Waited another four days to weigh and finally budged the scale 3 pounds!!!

So, I will be doing it again, I've ready various things in support of it the basic concept (which is going lower calorie/carb for 2 day increments, then a more varied and approx 1500 calorie diet 5 days.)

The 2 day thing didn't feel hard to me (although it would for a long term diet)

I actually know this really skinny woman who fasts flat out on Wed....she read in college that "mini fasting" every week was good for your metabolism etc., she's never had a weight problem and going on 50 now.