I am hoping this is the last diet I will ever be on. But, I've hoped that before and somehow, well, here I am again. I'm on Atkins for the first time and this is SO different than the way I've been eating for all my life. I think I was a classic case of carb addiction. So when I read the Atkins book, I said HOOYAH!!!! this is my problem and this is my solution!

Everything is going well so far, but I wanted to ask you vets how you were able to maintain. When I get down to my goal weight in three or four months (and I'm confident that I can), what can I do differently so I don't gain the weight back? I'm a little discouraged by the number of people i see on this site who are back for a second or third try at the low carb woe (although I admire them for trying again).

I guess I just want my food battle to be OVER. I've spent the last three years hating myself for not having the strength to drive by Hardees without going in for one of their sumptious strawberry shakes...or eating a whole pan of brownies...or grabbing eight cookies and slamming them down instead of one.

I'm actually much happier with myself when I'm in a disciplined eating program. It feels good to be in control again. But, I'm interested in what you vets did to make the transition from DIETING to just living.

What works?

Nervous already.
Cisco

Hey, Cisco.

It's a gradual transition from Atkins stage 1 (induction), to Atkins stage 4 (maintenance). Stage 4 is where you stay for the rest of your life if you want to maintain your weight loss. Most programs are staged as well. If you've done it slowly enough, maintenance becomes "just how you eat."

Sure, many people are back for another try, but I think they'll admit that they skipped stage 4 and tried to return to many or most of their former eating habits. I think that's partly due to how most people think of "dieting" in the Western world. "Diet" until you've lost weight and then go back to "normal." Well, guess what, that "normal" is what got us fat to begin with. The key is to find a new normal.

That's why the gradual approach is more useful. It gives one time to develop a different approach to eating.

It can be done, and it's not so much a big "discipline" deal as changing one's head around.

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Cisco,
It is doable, if you mindfully follow your new way of eating for the rest of your life. With that said, I have been a member of this site for a long time and am well past the initial losing cycle. However, life sometimes gets in the way and we get off track and lazy. I gained a number of pounds and am once again working to get it off. The good thing is that I have easily moved back into the program and am finding my way back to goal.
The truth of the matter is..... your battle with food will never be over. If you are like me and many many others, you will always be fighting little battles. This plan just makes it so much easier to continue that fight.

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Judy
Goal = <135, Current status = RIGHT ON TARGET!
Never give up. Never never never never give up -- Winston Churchill

Hey Maggie and Judy, I SO love people like you who are the first to throw support to us newbies.(Us newbies are SO needy!) I was on an infertility list a few years ago and I was always amazed by people like you who were so giving and spent so much time helping others. Thanks from all of us. You do more good than you could ever know. Just one more question, I love the counter some people have on the bottom of their messages. I found the place where you can make a counter, but I can't figure out how to get it to appear on the bottom of my messages. Can you help?

Cisco

I think most of us here ('specially me, LOL!) have played a number of games with our weight prior to finding this way of eating. And, even then, maintenance does not mean a "fixed weight" for life. Metabolism is a moving target. Numerous variables change, day to day, year to year, hormones shift, babies happen ( ), other less happy events distract us.

It's the tools that you learn along the way to your goal weight that make maintenance do-able.

If you're talking about the ticker factory counters, I think the web site helps you create one and then gives you a URL to paste into your signature. Let us know if you run into a problem and, sure, we can help.

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Cisco- I hear ya, and it's a good question.

I started LC'ing in Nov of 2003 with over a hundred pounds to lose. I've lost 100 pounds. I am, however, still overweight to some degree and my weight still bounces around, largely connected to how strict I am in monitoring my food choices. I don't know if it's more or less helpful to know the person giving you advice is far from perfect, but that's the reality!

There are times that I am more or less focused, and there are times when I'm stressed or busy and allow a little more carb creep into my life than is best for me. These are the things that often sidetrack people from what I see. It's usually not a wholesale rejection of low carb. It happens the same way many of us have gotten heavier over the years...a little here, a little there. If you ever hear yourself saying the words, "Just a little won't hurt," beware. That's a red flag you're headed south. The "just a little" often also resurrects the craving monster and tears away at those well-earned feelings of control that come from making solid choices.

What I am consistent about, however, is that I am ALWAYS a low carber. This is not a diet anymore. This is how I eat. Sometimes I'm a stricter LCer than others, but I know if I were to abandon LC, the gifts it has given me would abandon me just as completely.

Everyone has to find their own answer, but I am convinced the main difference for many is the transition from diet to way of living that really begins in the head. If you "cheat" on your diet, for example, what do you do? say "The day is shot, i might as well enjoy the weekend, and restart monday," right? if this is just how you eat and you eat something that isn't normal for you, it means nothing other than you might want to cut back a bit at dinner. you know?

I do very respectfully disagree with the idea that weight will always have to be a struggle, though. And perhaps it's semantics, but the word choice does matter for me. My weight will always be an issue that I need to be conscious of, without question. But I refuse to consider it struggling anymore. I prefer to think managing my weight will always entail effort - I like Judy's word "mindfullness" in particular, very Zen! - and that is something I can live with, as the payoffs are worth the effort.

And I'd have to agree with Maggie that if you do follow the stages of your plan, you'll definitely be ahead because it's intended to help you integrate it into your life. I am sure my path would have been easier had I been more compliant about following the phases more closely. (I just hate rules...LOL)

Fact of the matter is, this IS a leap of faith in many regards. By getting your hopes up this is gonna be "the answer," you're opening yourself up to potential disappointment. But it's a leap of faith that's well worth it in my mind.

Keep asking those questions, because your own answers will get clearer to you as you go, and I am 100% convinced that changing your thinking is every bit as important as changing your eating habits.

Peace out, fellow traveller.

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