Ok, I only read the 1st post and skimmed the rest - so forgive me if I have missed something. But counting carbs and Atkins isn't the same thing for me. If I count calories, I get say...1800. When I was going to my nutritionist, she had me counting carbs and she said to keep it under 125. That's WAY over anything Atkins allows. But she said count the carbs and the rest will fall into place. But that didn't work for me - Cheese, meat - I'd eat way too much and be over anyway.

Now I eat 1800 calories and try to keep the carbs under 125 as well. But I only insist on the 1800 the carbs are a "strive for".

That's actually not entirely true. It's one of the myths about Atkins. In the book, you're told to start with 20 carbs per day, and after the two week induction, every week you add 5 carbs to each days menu. As long as you continue to lose, you can keep adding 5 carbs every week, so it's possible to be on Atkins as 125 g of carbs (it would take about 5 months on Atkins to get to 125 g). I'm not even sure that the book forbids adding carbs in increments higher than 5 carbs each week. I suppose technically if you jumped 25 and were still losing, it would still be observing the "spirit of the law" if not the exact detail. The book also gives many "suggestions" that are often interpreted as LAW, when the book clearly stated they were suggestions, not mandatory to follow the program.

Atkins actually gives no maximum amount of daily carbs. Whatever level allows you to lose at a pace comfortable to you - or if you're on maintainance, allows you to maintain - is the carb level that's "ok" on the plan. So it would definitely be possible to be on Atkins and taking in 125 - or even 200 g or more of carbs daily.

The biggest key though, is you're only supposed to eat when you're actually hungry - and stop eating as soon as you aren't (you're not supposed to eat until you're "full" or even completely satisfied - just barely enough. The book encourages you to stop after a certain number of ounces of protein even if you think you're still hungry, wait and make sure you still are before eating more).

Even though I had to abandon Atkins because I often can't tell when I'm hungry or not (and therefore could overeat non-carb foods almost as easily as high-carb foods), there's a lot more sense to the program that it is given credit for, and largely because parts of the book are not read, have been forgotten or are being ignored.

It's one of the reasons I don't trust much of the Atkins incriminating research - are they studying folks on OWL who are eating 0g carbs, 10, 20, 40, 60 , 80 , 200? Most studies either use long-term induction levels of under 20 g(which is allowed, but not mandated or even strongly endorsed by the Atkins program) - or the studies don't track the carb intake of the subjects - so one might be eating under 20 g of carbs, and another might be eating more than 100g.

This is an EXCELLENT thread! I haven't even eaten breakfast yet today because I figured I'd try, one more time, to decide which eating plan would be best for me.

What's said above, about trying to find a way to eat that you're working WITH instead of battling AGAINST, makes a lot of sense, and is something I hadn't thought about before.

Now I've just got to figure out whether to make eggs for breakfast (low carb), or a bowl of oatmeal with butter and brown sugar (count calories)...

I have enjoyed reading everyone's thoughts. I was struggling with what to do 2 weeks ago, but my husband and I are on day #14. I originally started this thread, because I just wanted to lose weight, and sometimes it takes more time and energy then we are willing to give. We are going to stick with the calorie counting, and it is going good for us. It seems to be the easiest thing to do, without feeling deprived. My husband has lost 8 lbs in the past 2 weeks, and I have lost 6 lbs. It is mostly just being aware of what you put into your mouth, and being aware of how many calories everything has. The best thing that has worked for us is doing it together, and also we have a dry eraser board on our fridge that we write everything down on when we eat, and keep the calculator handy. We plan before we go out to eat, and instead of just eating whatever, whenever, you just have to do a little planning. The biggest thing for my husband is having food around the house that he likes that will keep him within his range. He always thought, losing weight was either starving yourself, or eating awful food, but I have showed him that, that isn't the case. He loves eating wheat thins and with a wedge of the light laughing cow cheese, 60 calorie yogurt, 45 calorie bread, and we just have to make sure to add the fruits and veggies in. My biggest downfall is sweets, and if I would make brownies, we would eat the whole pan in one night. Now, I eat one, and know that I can't have another one until the next day. So, thank-you everyone for your input, and for you who are trying to decide what to do, like I was, you have to do what can be done for the rest of your life, not just to lose weight, because you will gain it back, if you can't continue to do it always. It just gets easier, becasue you finally put into perspective the portions you should be eating rather than just eating, because you want to. I was just overwhelmed in the beginning, because I wanted this to be something that my husband and I both can stick with.

frustrated mom , I think you've got it figured out. Planning is the key.

I combine a lower carb food plan with calorie counting. While I don't always stricly keep track of calories, I do almost always have a running tally in my head of how much I have eaten and how many more cals I will allow myself thru the day.