I can understand how some people would think Atkins gives permission to pig out. I never pig out. Out of curiosity, I totalled my calories for a couple weeks and saw that I eat 1200-1400 calories a day. I don't go over-board on fats. Eat lean, healthy meats, veggies, salads and fruit everday. Not only is this woe physician supervised, He is a hepatologist and put me on Atkins. My Blood pressure, Blood sugar are now within normal and my liver-enzymes have went down four-fold. Cholesterol and Triglycerides are improving. For some, I know this woe is not what helped them, for me it saved my life.

I think that is the way a lot of people see Atkin's dieters.. as pigging out on mostly saturated fats. I don't eat pork skins. I eat grass fed lean meats, organic veggies, and I have detoxed myself of artificial sweetners. I eat more good fats, and way less of the bad stuff. Some people only tend to imagine a person with 2 fists full of bacon, and that's not how it truly is. Just because Atkin's says you can have a certain something in his book, doesn't mean we eat it. :) Everyones different.

I'm utilizing ideas from both plans - counting calories and avoiding "white carbs". I learned a lot about empty carbs on Atkins and the Zone diets and this knowledge has helped me find a "happy medium" between the two kinds of weight loss methods.

I think there are a lot of misconceptions about Atkins from years ago when there was much more emphasis on eating huge steaks smothered in butter, lots of cheese, etc. The diet has since been modified to include more healthy vegetables and some fruit. There certainly have been many people who have lost weight and kept it off on Atkins.

The main reason I didn't stay on a low carb diet was because I found it a little too restrictive - I like a slice of sprouted grain bread with breakfast and oatmeal several times a week. I know there are people who simply cannot stop at one slice of bread so they are probably better off to avoid it altogether (I'm that way with chocolate!)

Let's all be supportive of our individual choices - we're all fighting a battle against a common enemy - excess body fat!

I have heard a lot of positive things from you Atkins ladies. If you're losing weight cutting back on your carbs and trying to focus more on getting protein from lean sources and not going nuts on saturated fat then that's great!

I actually have to say that you are far more disciplined than I. Bread I can take or leave but if you tried to take away my brown rice or whole wheat pasta you better watch yourself!

LMAO! That's hillarious.. I felt the same way about bread until I finally came out of detox. <grins> I could have poked someones eyes out for a scone!
So again, I repeat that everyone's different. There are those that take higher advantage of eating the super bad stuff, or gorging because they can. There are others who try and be more responsible for what they are putting into their mouths. What ever works, works.. but in the end, it's just a personal choice.

Thanks for all the insight ladies.. :)

I will say that now that I am reaching the maintenance part of Atkins that I have incorporated having Oats for breakfast. In a couple weeks I will add wild rice to my menu and eventually sweet potatoes. I want these other foods too but will be cautious in slowly adding them. I have occasionally had a slice of whole wheat bread by Sara Lee that is only 6.5 carbs and count it in my daily carb count. Maintenance offers a little more variety that I am excited about. Good luck to everyone.

Just some quick insight from my husband about Atkins prejudice. He works in your typical white-collar techie office and he's seen so many of his co-workers go on what they called "Atkins". In reality, all they were doing was eating nothing but meat for months so of course they lost weight. Then they started shoveling carp back into their mouths so they gained it all back again.

I think many offices have seen this phenomenon. Folks (mostly men, it seems) using a meat-only diet and callling it the Atkins diet without so much as paging through one of the books, showing great weight loss, then failing spectacularly when they go back to their old ways. Others see this (my hubby included) and begin to think that Atkins is just a fad diet that doesn't work. Really, any WOE can be turned into a fad if it's done without education.

Personally, I think the media has a lot to do with these low-carb fad dieters. When the Atkins media push happened a few years ago it was referred to repeated as a "eat all the meat you want, and little else" diet so people picked up on that and forgot the rest.

It's sad to see a WOE that works so well for so many people I know personally (not me myself, but I'm just werid that way) turned into something that may go down in history as just another fad like juice diets and miracle pills.

Thanks for the posts. I know that I eat very healthy. I have plenty of veggies with my meat and have included fruits since the very beginning. I have checked my calories and they run 1200 -1400 a day. I don't eat as much fat as is recommended, but don't use low-cal dressings or any low-cal products. This woe is something I can live with. I don't have sugar cravings and I feel so much healthier. I don't think of this as a fad diet and know many people who have been extremely successful with Atkins. I am now reading the Atkins For Life book and learning as much as I can about Maintenance. I know that many people on 3FC's are eating differently but I truly believe that each person needs to choose what works best for them individually. I would never say that anyone else's way is wrong, it's simply a personal choice. I started this thread one evening when I felt like I was attacked in the general support forum for choosing Atkins as my way of life.

harrpotterbarn had a great point, a huge amount of people have no real idea what following Atkins really consists of, they think it's just steak for three months....

In my humble opinion, and from my experience, I think that people who are unhappy with themselves will do whatever they can to make sure that other's stay unhappy as well.

there are at least two people I know of who strongly advised against me doing atkins (a.k.a. "THAT DIET WILL KILL YOU!") and are now doing the atkins diet :D

Just smile and go on...we all have to do what is best for us :)

Lacey