Jessica - its all down from those measurements! It's good to have beginning measurements, so store them somewhere safe so you can check back. Also, do ALL your measurements, I do my neck, wrists, ankles, I also measure 2 areas of my stomach area, 3 areas of my thighs! It's very nice to see those numbers come down

Broccoli, I love broccoli, it's my staple I think. It's low in carbs, good in every other way I've done atkins in the past, but love fruit SO much and switched to South Beach because you bring the fruit back in sooner. Do what works for your body, it may take some experimenting. One of the things that helped me ALOT with Atkins was taking a multivitamin.

You have made some GREAT changes, so keep at 'er. It will come off, and the slower it comes off the better I'm told.. altho I wish I had a magic wand to make it come off tomorrow

-Aimee

My weight loss has NEVER been steady no matter what I do, so I have learned not to expect it to be steady! I might get on the scale to find the same weight for a REALLY LONG time (eight months!). I might drop a couple pounds over a couple days! I think there are a lot of variables in weight loss! Some things that DO seem to help are drinking enough water and eating enough fiber. A month ago I started using Fitday. I found that for that L-O-N-G plateau of EIGHT MONTHS I was eating many more calories than I THOUGHT I was eating!

Something else I have found is that since I have been exercising every day, I sometimes can drop a size without ANY change on the scale! You may be like that, too!

Be patient and read all you can from those on this site who are the biggest losers. They definitely know their stuff! Check out the maintainer's site. Those chicks and roosters are totally awesome and really know what's going on to be able to KEEP the weight off! I admire them so much!

Good luck on your journey! I hope you find the answers you seek!

Cheryl

JerseyGyrl, AWESOME!!!

Jay

JerseyGyrl, I'm glad to hear it! There is a healthy way of doing Atkins, of course, and I'm glad you've done it that way--but I have known numerous people who cut out bread and pasta in order to increase meat and cheese; I'm sure you have known such people too. There's something about Atkins that appeals to certain lazy dieters which frightens me (and I'm thinking in particular about my obese MIL...I worry about her ticker). Done properly, and with veggies, it's perfectly fine. My concern is for people who choose the *unhealthy* Atkins route because it seems 'easier' than calorie counting or a whole foods diet or a real lifestyle change.

Anyway, cheers to you. (I am a former Jersey Girl myself--exit 9, chica!)

This is what I was saying in my earlier post...there are many people who live the Atkins lifestyle, and do so in a very healthy manner-eating lots of salad and veggies, fish, chicken, etc...but then there are also the ones who try to "cheat the system" and eat bacon, sausage, and pork rinds all day, topped with an Atkins ice cream bar.

There are the lazy dieters who are going to try and cheat the system, no matter what plan they follow-and they are not going to get the results that they want, because of that. (Low fat dieters eating lots of fat free ice cream and Snackwell's cookies in the 1990's for instance...or Weight Watchers members eating all sorts of "1 point" junk foods-and not enough healthy stuff.)

No matter what plan you choose, be sure that you are really eating healthy and letting the plan work for you, not you "working" the plan.

Jessica, I don't think anybody was calling you a lazy dieter, I think the conversation moved from misunderstanding the diet to people that just skim the requirements on the official site and take off with what looks best. And it just happened to be on your thread...I think you honestly thought you were doing right, but you just have the old book. Try reading The Atkins Essentials. It's got the whole program plus a lengthier maintenance phase. Dr A updated a lot of the plan based on newer research about good fats, antioxidants, and other nutritional info.

Have you been to the PCOS forum? We have a bunch of PCOSers (I'm one of them) that are all losing weight in different ways, but with one common goal and one big obstacle. It is a subforum in Dieting with Obstacles.

Hope to see you there!

Sorry, JessicaBT, I think you're taking things too personally. I re-read every post here, and I can't see why you're so upset. I don't think anyone was putting you down.

Sounds like you're bouncing around a lot, and that's good because you'll want to try different things to find the program best for YOU. But I'd say it's a good idea (1) to find out all about a program, whether it's Weight Watchers or Atkins or South Beach or whatever, before you start, and (2) give a program longer than one week before you decide it's not working.

Also, many of us Chicks have been doing this longer than you have, and so we might have opinions worth considering--or not! You don't have to do anything we say! But if you put up a thread, you can expect to get some replies.

Good luck to you!

Jay

I too reread all the post...not once did i think we were "putting you down'. We all have our opinions. I too was educated today on atkins. Most ppl i've ever known who have done' atkins did it via cheese, meat, bacon etc. I think there was a lot of good advice from the Atkins ppl to help you out. (i still don't think atkins is for me...can't give up the fruit)... but no one called you lazy. We were all giving help/support. Everyone at some point in there post either praised you for trying to loose wt or told you good luck. You really need to relax some. I even reread mine..which stated i didn't like atkins...but i still wished you the best just told you to read all the facts like i'd tell any friend. We ARE here for support...and if you'd slow down, relax, and reread those post...there were many helpful hints/suggestions that would help you on the Atkins tract. I think you are getting too worked up. No one had accused you of anything, we were just giving advice. And free advice and just that...advice...take it or leave it but try to relax. That is also the way you should look at the wt loss. It will happen if you just relax. Journal everything and exercise (do a wide variety of things). Good luck.

What is the recommended precentage of carbs that Atkins suggests?

We should find Lilybelle to leave a thought in this thread.

Susan-
Atkins has an induction phase, or first phase, which lasts two weeks. The basic premesis of it is to rid your body of its carbohydrate stores-putting your body into a state called ketosis.
The induction phase has you on 20 carbs a day-which is VERY little-basically what you would get out of a couple low carb veggie servings like salad greens or broccoli.
After that, since everyone is different, you slowly add in carbs. You have to fiddle with it and slowly find out how many carbs you can add and still lose-for some people it might be 30 a day...for someone else it might be 70. You have to find your particular level-what works for you. You stay with that level until you reach goal, and then you slowly add in a few more carbs, and find out what level you need to be at to maintain your weight loss.
It doesn't work with a certain percentage of carbs-like 60% protein/40% carbs or anything like that-you are counting the actual carb grams per day.

Hope that helped.

Funny how you guess exactly what you know is the appropriate thing for us to do. Boo hoo to you. I find the people on 3FC incredibly helpful and supportive. They sure helped me get my weightloss going when nothing was happening. Sure, they did give me a bit of a reality check about my "plan", but their suggestions worked like a charm. Girl you really do need to take a chill pill! LOL We mean well, don't take it the wrong way! Remember, in life there are always 2 ways to look at things..try looking at the positive in a message or words rather than the negative and you might find yourself better off.

I'm sorry you feel that way Jessica, because I can honestly say that I haven't met a friendlier bunch of people who are always willing to lend an ear, answer questions, give advice, share their knowledge or just chat about life.

This is truly one of the largest reasons I am losing weight and keeping to my plan and I'm surprised you felt the need to be so defensive against the posters on here. In all honesty, your last post wasn't the friendliest and on this website, just like in life, you catch more bees with honey than vinegar as the old saying goes.