[Zoseph]

A week ago I started Atkins, before which I hadn't tried any diet other than limiting calories and exercising. It was easier for me to cheat when counting calories because there weren't any rules. I felt like I couldn't fail if there weren't rules. In the first phase of Atkins, there are LOTS of rules, specifically what you can and can't eat. If you don't follow the rules, it doesn't work. This is obviously true for any diet, but the fact that it's been proven to work and is a "real" diet is what's really helped me stay on track. Has anyone else found that rigid, restrictive diets have helped them not binge?

[abluvion]

The rules of Atkins aren't what helped me not binge, but the lack of simple carbs and sugar. My binge urges are not nearly as bad when I cut out carbs like that. There is good research behind the hormonal response to carbohydrates, which leaves us unsatisfied and always wanting more - which I think plays a pretty good part in at least the physiological side of things. (See for instance Gary Taubes' Good Calories Bad Calories).

Low-carb helps me control urges, but cannot eradicate them. As for rules, I can't do anything so strict long-term, not because of bingeing but because the lack of variety impedes my sanity. Atkins lasted only a month or so with me until I got tired of the same old things. If rules help you though, more power to you!

[kaplods]

For me, the opposite is true (though when I was younger I also gravitated towards plans with lots of rigid rules, because I assumed that lots of rigid rules meant it had to be more successful. The more a diet sucked, the more I expected it to have dramatic, almost magical results).

For me, rigid rules make even the slightest slip seem like a huge tragedy and it can feel like "one wrong move" ruins everything.

Originally Posted by Zoseph

If you don't follow the rules, it doesn't work.

This is especially what I mean. Some diet plans perpetuate the myth that one small slip somehow "breaks the spell." For low-carb diets it's often mystifying ketosis (ketosis doesn't guarantee weight loss - if you ate 6,000 calories of induction-friendly foods you could be in ketosis but not be losing weight. Likewise, being out of ketosis doesn't prevent weight loss if calories are low enough).

Originally Posted by Zoseph

the fact that it's been proven to work and is a "real" diet is what's really helped me stay on track.

Calorie counting is a real diet, and it has been proven to work. I hate when people think that the only legitimate or real diets are those written in a book by a famous and popular diet book authors. Calorie counting, exchange plans, and even plans of a person's own designs are real diets.


If rigid rules help you, more power to you, but are you planning on sticking with the rigid rules forever? If not, do you have a plan for transitioning to fewer rules?

For me, that's the biggest problem with rigid rules. It's hard to adapt rigid rules into a forever lifestyle. I think one of my biggest obstacles in the past has been dieting by a method that I didn't really want to do forever. This time, instead I've approached weight loss "backwards," deciding what I was willing to do forever, and learn how to do those things.

I don't want to get to goal and have to change the way I look at food AGAIN.

Maybe you do plan on using rigid rules forever. Some people do, and do fine with it. It just doesn't work for me.

[haggis]

I agree with abluvion - it is the lack of simple carbs that help. During the early stages, when the insulin is adjusting itself, I get a desire to eat. The fact that I can't eat carbs, but can eat ham, helps a lot. I feel psychologically satisfied.

Once you have gotten used to living without many carbs you will need to cut down to see sustained weight loss, but the strictness of the low carb rule makes it easier to get started. A word of warning, however. It is hard for some people to go completely carb free all of a sudden. Those who suffer most from hypoglycemia may be more prone to getting light headed the first few weeks. They don't talk much about this in the original book. If this happens, it is ok to have a small healthy carb snack, but the goal is to go without this after a week or so.

[Zoseph]

@ abluvion: That's a really good point. When I had an Atkins Advantage bar, it made me want more sugars/desserts/ANYTHING sweet. I've stopped eating them and it makes such a difference. It's amazing.

@kaplods: I never said that any diet that isn't written or published isn't a real diet, hence the quotation marks used around the word "real." I was using the term loosely. I only meant that Atkins has a very specific plan that's basically put in front of you, step by step, and that's why it helps. You've read a lot into my post and I didn't say or imply most of what you wrote. Small slips on any diet are not a big deal. Big slips are. A diet like Atkins prevents me from slipping up at all. Slip ups make it easy to binge, which I think it's true for many people. Of course I don't plan on following rigid rules forever - that's the whole point of Atkins. You find what foods you can eat without gaining weight and how many carbs you can consume without gaining weight. You gradually find what works for you.