well i'm on the atkins god help me my dad needs to urgently shed weight and can't excersise due to arthritis so i'm keeping him company i love lifting and was wondering weather its a good idea to lift on the plan the protein is ideal though poor quality but the lack of carbs might really hinder my work outs. well i'm not able to train for 2 week as i pinched a nerve in my neck so my arms been numb since saturday. but i wanna get into it any suggestions?

I've never tried it myself, but folks on another list I'm on had just the problem you mentioned - not enough energy for lifting due to the lack of carbs. Personally, I've found a 40/40/20 (protein/carbs/fat) ratio to be ideal for lifting and building muscle.
Cindy

I've tried Atkins and weight training and they don't mix well at all...no energy! But since you're off workouts for a while just try it with your father for the couple of weeks.... Like Cindy I like 40/40/20 ratio, but I always seem to get 33/33/33 ... and I still lose weight...

You can do Atkins using high quality proteins, or try South Beach. I don't think there's any Atkins rule that you have to eat poorly. I don't think you'll have much success building or maintaining muscle on no carbs, but 40/40/20 is not carved in stone, either. I do best on 50P/25C/25F.

Another way to stay on a diet with your dad but have enough energy to lift would be to add a portion of a carb to your pre and post-workout meals. This is assuming that you do the 5-6 small meals a day thing. If not, I'd suggest adding a portion of oatmeal to whatever meal you eat before you lift, and then a post-workout recovery drink: protein powder and a fast acting carb, like fruit. If your dad isn't exercising, he doesn't need the extra calories or the carbs for lifting.

Another option: look into a plan called NHE (Natural Hormone Enhancement) or CKD (Cyclic Ketogenic Diet). They are both based on eating very low carb most of the time, with periodic "carb-ups" to replenish glycogen supplies in the muscles and liver. They tend to be very effective fat burning diets, but require that you jiggle your lifting scheme so that you do your heavy lifting right after the car-ups, then a gruesome, full body depletion workout before the carb-up. Both diets take some getting used too, and IMO are not terribly healthy in the long run, but you might be able to adapt them to something you and your father can both do. If you want more info and can't find it, PM me and I'll see what I can find. I did CKD briefly about a year ago and lost some weight, but hated the workouts. Also, the carb-ups were a real binge trigger for me.

Hope this helps,
Mel

well i been trying for just over a week now. i'm finding it hard to recover and on my usual routine of lifting to max of 3x8 reps. i have to have nearly 5 mins between changing excersises. but i'm struggling on i'm lucky in the sense that i can build muscle by looking at them mind you same with looking at food

I am currently following C-K-D diet, as Mel mentioned, and did so about 6 months ago or so for 6 weeks. It is difficult in some regards, but I've had success with it when I've done it. I don't think we're allowed to post links here, but I can give you a link to a message board dedicated to CKD, if you want to send me a PM. The primary reason I'm doing it is because I just can't shake my sugar cravings when I try to follow BFL. Once I grow tired of cheese and pepperoni, I will likely go back to something closer to BFL. You might also want to look into a Targeted Ketogenic Diet. It is similar to atkins, with the inclusion of pre- and post-workout carbs to fuel your workouts. The goal of both CKD and TKD is fatloss while building/maintaining muslce.