why people gain so much weight back after going off of atkins if they watch their calories, and how i can minimize that if i want to switch over to something like weight watchers?

I think people gain so much of it back because most don't realize just how many carbs they were eating in a day. I knew I ate a lot of carbs, but I never thought it was hundreds or even a thousand somedays! Maybe another reason is because your body is in fat burning mode so it automatically takes the carbs and stores the glucose until it realizes to switch back over? I dunno, this is all my own personal guesses so I could be totally way off. Seems to make sense though. Plus you have to add in all the sugar along with the carbs again.

Im interested to hear what others think too.

Yup, that sounds about right. If you switch to say Weight Watchers. You get to eat whatever you want. So say you want a cookie. If you check out how many carbs are actually IN a cookie you'll see why people gain the weight back.

even if they are watching their calories very closely? how can then gain weight if they don't eat more than they burn?

i haven't decided yet. i've been off atkins all weekend and honestly feel kind of gross. i may just stay on and add more veggies and fruits.

Well, look at it this way. Some people are allergic to bee stings. Some to dust. Some have food allergies----so it's like we're allergic to carbs. Our bodies don't handle carbs well so carbs get turned to fat. Eliminate the carbs and some people feel better and lose weight.

This is just my opinion but if your going off of atkins for a day then I believe its water weight that you gain. If you go off totally, I believe its water weigh which can be ALOT and then you start gaining actual fat. Plus when you go off and you start eating carbs you feel more hungry which would lead you to eat more and more calories.

But the initial weight gain I think is water.

Eating "normally" caused me to crave food... didn't matter what I was eating just as long as it was a lot of it. If I ate a couple of peices of bread then I would want a couple of more.... really think that has a great deal of why I gain my weight back after my last diet... which was portion and calorie controlled.

With Atkins- I am conscious of the amount of carbs I am eating....the carbs are the key because when people get "off" Atkins they may initially think well a bite of this wont hurt.. or one cookie wont hurt or oh this hamburger with ketchup and the bun wont hurt and what happens is you go from eating controlled carb intake to eating what you want and hence the wieght creeps back on. It is one thing to eat a pretzel it is something else to eat a handful... where it is totally different to eat the whole bag.

Another thing, I think a lot of peoples weight problems are not wanting to admit that they are actually eating too much, with Atkins people don't feel deprived and when they stop they continue to eat the way they have gotten acustom to....


This post probably doesn't make sense.

No, it totally makes sense.But when I see the term "go off" i see short term mind set...I realize that I will probably never "go off"...just add until I stabilize and stop losing.

Yep Marie- unless it starts messing with my health, I can see no reason change this way of eating, just augment and adjust where it needs to be adjusted and go forward. Seems to be the only way of eating for me to lose with, with out feeling completely deprived and having to watch every portion and every calorie which is totally miserable.

Well actually I went off Atkins and stayed off about a month and just ate like a normal person and didn't gain one pound back...I guess it just all depends.