I was wondering if you all could help me with the difference between atkins and IP. I've read about both but I'm curious as to your opinions about them. They seem very similar. On Atkins do you go into ketosis? Thanks!

The Atkins diet allows more fat grams and calories. I tried switching to Atkins because the bars and shakes are much cheaper but I did not find them as filling as the IP products.

Atkins is also a low carb ketogenic diet. It is not medically managed. It is free form on the food you can eat. You do an induction period similar to the IP phase 1 weeks 1-3. You also go in phases if you follow the program.

It does restrict many of the things we restrict but, it will allow higher fat and calories in the diet. Many people on atkins will lose weight and have an increase in bad cholesterols as a result of too freely eating the highly saturated fats.

Outside of that, I am unaware of any differences.

Hi JerseyGyrl!

I don't mean to sound ignorant, so please don't take this wrong. I just don't know much about Atkins. Your sig says you have been on it since 2004. Does that mean you are still following it even at your goal weight? You have an amazing loss! When do you start incorporating healthy carbs in moderation, or are you still in ketosis everyday?

Maybe it is just a lifestyle change and you stay eating "on plan" forever? I'm unsure.

I chose IP because it teaches you in stages to go from low carb back into a more balanced diet with healthy carbs, and how to handle maintenance. I'm sure Atkins has stages too, I just don't know about them. I'm not sure I could eat like this the rest of my life!

Thanks for all the info everyone!

You did awesome on Atkins! Congrats on that!!
Did you just buy the book and follow it?

Thanks for jumping into our thread and sharing from your personal experience! What a great treat!

I also appreciate your clarifying my point. It is what I was trying to say. I wasn't trying to say anything is wrong with atkins, I think it is a good program. I just meant that if someone chooses to eat very poorly on Atkins, even without including carbs it is possible, the downside is it could create an increase for some people in bad cholesterol like triglycerides and LDL.

Hi Xanthia,

You hit the nail directly on the head, for me, Atkins is my lifestyle forever I have been doing it since April 2004.
Atkins is a 4 phase plan....Induction, OWL (On Going Weight Loss), Pre-Maintenance and Lifetime Maintenance. Induction is basically 20 carbs per day with 12-15 of those carbs coming from veggies & salads. During OWL, you slowly incorporate more veggies including starchier veggies, fruit, nuts & seeds, legumes and lastly, whole grains. Pre-Maintenance concentrates on finding your personal carb level for continued weight loss or for maintenance and of course, Lifetime Maintenance is all about doing Atkins for life
I'm a stong believer is choosing a plan you can do for life and doing it

I've had success in the past with Atkins, but keep falling off the wagon after a while. I'm back on Atkins and am trying to stick to low fat, low carb options! Just need to commit to a lifetime of healthier, low carb, low fat, yet enjoyable food choices! I can do it!!!!

Atkins is not a low fat diet.
If you are looking for low fat, low carb, you might want to look into the Ideal Protein plan. I had huge success on Atkins in the past but after many re-start tries (and fails) I started IP and it has been way easier! IP removes many of the options and simplifies things.

I agree Lisa! I did Atkins in the past, and initially the losses were fantastic (actually identical to when I started IP too). But I found after time it became to confusing to try to figure out what to eat, and then I stopped eating and probably went into starvation mode and stopped losing. I am not a cook, I am busy and I need the convenience of IP. My fiance has just switched from Atlkins to IP, he had about 25lbs left to lose and they just weren't coming off on Atkins. He started IP on Saturday and has lost 6 or 7 lbs already.

Hey there I'm new to this group and this is an old(er) thread. I hope someone can still chime in! I am about to mix a bit of Atkins shakes and snack bars into my IP diet because I am about to run out of $$$ for the IP food I consume each week. I am finding that the Atkins vanilla shakes have fewer sugars and the same or more protein as the IP vanilla shakes. The snack bars are also the same: the same or fewer sugars and the about the same protein. I was quite surprised by this. The food is very good too. Is there something I'm missing?? I don't intend to completely switch but I need to make my IP food stretch as long as possible into the end of this year since my flex spending is zero now. I did, however, make very good use of my tax-free dollars! YAY.