It was fantastic at first, who wouldn't love being able to eat fried eggs? Cheese? Bacon? Sausage? And lose weight? Count me in!

Then week 3...Oh joy, more eggs. Every day. Another hamburger patty, another piece of chicken, another taco salad.

Month 2...Too much butter makes me feel sick and I've never liked mayonnaise anyway.

Month 3...I've lost 30 pounds but my weight loss is stalling because I'm uninterested in the food and I've started eating too much cheese (more than we're allowed to eat). I crave OATMEAL...yes, oatmeal. I want a sweet crisp apple. I love whole wheat rice and pasta, yogurt, nuts, crisp salads, and fruit are some of my favorite things. I have trouble eating veggies on any plan, and it doesn't help when the kind of vegetables I can eat are limited. Most of them I don't even enjoy eating.

If I moved past Induction and got into OWL (on-going weight loss), I would be able to add berries, nuts, and a few other foods. Apparently it will cause me to lose weight slower. However, it's recommended that someone who has a lot of weight to lose stays on Induction for a while...so, that's not really an option.

There's another problem...I can't just "switch" diets. I wish I had stuck with calorie counting instead so I had more variety. If I switch from low-carb and start counting calories instead, I'm going to gain weight immediately because of adding in carbs.

I'm going to stay on-plan, of course, because my weight is more important...but how am I going to do this for months? On Atkins, you literally can't start eating apples or oatmeal until pre-maintenance...which is 10 pounds before goal. Blah.

not much help, but here is a

I didn't care for Atkins - it's hard to believe it's okay to eat all that fatty meat. I am following South Beach, which is a little gentler in its approach and it seems a little more sensible.

I know what you're saying, though, about missing the enjoyment of carbs. I remind myself that this super low carb stuff is temporary and I will enjoy small portions of those foods again later, but for now I just want to feel more fit.

I eat a lot of vegetables in large portions, like steamed broccoli with lemon and salt and large salads with meat in them. Check out the South Beach book. You could probably switch over without losing much ground. However, you will still be very low carb for a while longer if you stick with their Phase 1 for two weeks as suggested.

Plain peppermint tea is a nice distraction from cravings, by the way.

On Atkins can you eat things with tomato sauce? I like to make Italian low-carb food, like portobella mushrooms baked with pizza filling. That is a nice change of pace. And meatloaf (breadless) with spicy pizza-spiced tomato sauce.

I feel your pain; Atkins worked wonderfully for me in the weight loss department, but both my body and my brain vehemently disagreed with the plan. I had similar troubles in the late 80s with low-fat, high-carb plans. When I did the Cambridge liquid diet plan, it was so low in sodium and so relentlessly sweet that I found myself obsessing about eating iodized salt straight from the shaker like a deer at a salt-lick. I lost 30 pounds on it, but I wouldn't put my worst enemy through the misery that the plan was for me.

Apparently some people just aren't meant to be more focused eaters; I guess I'm a broad-spectrum grazer. Maybe you are too?

If a plan isn't something you can live with in the long term, maybe there are ways to tailor it to yourself and make it a plan that you do enjoy. You've done really well on Atkins and it wouldn't make sense to leave it for a passing oatmeal jones, but if you find yourself so preoccupied with fantasies of "forbidden," but healthy foods like apples and berries that you're white-knuckling your way through every day, it might be time to try tweaking the plan.

What's keeping you from moving away from induction and into ongoing weight loss after three months? Is there a particular weight or time at which you're planning to move into OWL?

Induction can be followed safely for up to 6 months, so I wanted to stay on it for 6 months and then move to OWL. I don't necessarily HATE it, but I do feel very limited with my options. I almost feel like the food is too rich. It's recommended to eat a lot of fat though so there's not really a way to get around that.

In OWL, I can add cottage cheese, ricotta cheese, almonds, brazil nuts, cashews, sunflower seeds, macadamia nuts, pecans, pistachios, walnuts, blueberries, cantaloupe, raspberries, strawberries, lemon juice, lime juice, and tomato juice.

Honeydew is one of my favorites, I also love ricotta cheese, almonds, etc. I would be able to make shakes with berries or have strawberries and cream. It actually does sound good, I would be able to get my "fruit fix" without going off-plan. I'm really afraid that it's going to stall me, though.

im on low carb to. Its death! i live on carbs! although its really working. keep up with it!!! dont cheat or u will have to start again

but stick with it. it will totally be worth it

Of course it's an option to move onto OWL, or any other programme.

Earlier this year I tried really hard with low carb, to the letter; but after a few weeks of losing my weight began to roll back, I felt dreadful, could barely leave the bathroom, exercise? I couldn't even walk into town.

It didn't suit Me.

So I went onto a higher carb intake, and have continued to lose weight at a steady rate. 42lbs in 5 months. 13lbs to go to my interim target, 50lbs to go if I decide to go for thin. OK, not super speedy loss, certainly not compared to the low carb promises, but I can walk, I can exercise, I've stopped feeling like death on two legs.

I was horrified that it didn't suit me, I'd thought low carb was the Wonder Way to go; but feeling that bad physically was absolutely definitely Not worth persisting with.

Well, I know its not encouraging to discourage someone from their chosen diet buuuut...I've been losing weight by just cutting out simple carbs and going with 100-125 complex carbs a day. Maybe the restrictions on all carbs is leaving a bad taste in your mouth like it did with me? You shouldnt gain weight immediately (or if you do it should taper back off within a couple of weeks as I have learned) by just cutting out simple carbs...but I dunno. Maybe consider it? Go to Complex only and keep the protein coming!

Just my two cents, I'm obviously no dietician but I hope whatever you do or dont do works swimmingly!

It's not for everyone. Part of making this a lifestyle change that you can stick with is finding something that works for you. I've tweaked my plan TONS to lose this weight. I'm finding that I personally do SO much better on a low carb plan... but not everyone does. If it makes you feel crappy it's better to find something that doesn't make you feel crappy NOW than to suffer for a long time. This shouldn't be a painful experience. Weight loss can be easy if you find a way to make it easy on you .

Just my opinion!!! Best of luck with your goals .

I'm a low-carber, not a no-carber. I always eat 0 carbs for breakfast (Eggs and whatnot) as a general rule, and then for lunch and dinner I can have whatever I want in terms of carbs. (while trying not to over do it of course) I find that it sets up my blood sugar to be more even and makes me not as hungry throughout the day. If I eat any kind of bread/ oatmeal for breakfast, forget it. I am hungry again 2 hours later and snacking throughout the day.

I'm still losing weight although slowly, but that is better for me because I've lost weight very quickly doing atkins before and gained it back. But I emotional eat so not saying this will happen to you! For me, I've learned that absolutes just don't work for me. If this advice does not work for you, feel free to disregard!! I've just really been focusing this time around on finding a plan that is sustainable to me for life. You have to find what that is for you.

You can switch diets. You can move out of Induction. You can tweak your diet however you want. You're just not allowing yourself to . Like others have said, low-carb isn't for everyone. If you're getting sick of your diet and it's making you unhappy, or causing you to feel unwell, then you need to allow yourself to change something, or risk feeling worse and worse.

I know that it's scary to think of your weight loss slowing down, but it's not a race! Whether you lose 12 lbs in a month or in two months-- you still lost 12 lbs. And adding more carbs in slowly won't necessarily make your weight spike up. Even if it does, it most likely won't be a fat gain, but water weight and other factors.

So I'd really suggest moving into OWL or switching to another plan, at least for a month or so, to see how you feel. You can always go back to Induction at a later time if you decide to.

a good recipe book may be helpful. We sometimes go for simple and easy, and need fancier and high flavour foods sometimes. Get a good low carb recipe book, have to occasional level 2 food day.

Well, it doesn't make me feel bad. I feel fine. I'm just bored with my food choices. Once I get to pre-maintenance and then maintenance, I'll be able to eat more grains and stuff as long as I stay in my carb range, which I will be able to maintain. It's just right now I don't have a lot of choices, and I still have a lot more pounds until pre-maintenance. That's a long time until I can have some brown rice or a piece of watermelon, you know what I mean?

Low carb isn't for me either.

I've posted a number of times about my inability to drop my last five pounds. Many well meaning posters have suggested I try low carb. I don't like rejecting suggestions but I've done low carb in the past and while it worked I was miserable. I felt slightly sick all the time. had no energy and was tormented by cravings. I really don't care for fatty meat and while I love cheese I can get darn sick of it after a while.

What I do now is avoid processed carbs and high fructose corn syrup and try to keep everything else in balance.

I wish low carb was a viable option for me because then I wouldn't be struggling. But I know I can't eat that way and be healthy and happy.