I think it might be Sorbitol that's in the candy (or something like it). I know that's what they put in the sugar free candy and if you eat too much...well you know...

Try La Nouba. Its the only decent low carb chocolate that i've found.

Re: I Like My Carbs
 

Everyone loves carbs, its just that most carbs are bad for you.

I've been on Atkins since late September, and I've lost 45 pounds.

I have more energy than I've ever had.

I don't get sick anymore.

It may not be for you, but its great for me and millions of other people.

Umm it's not just water weight. Yes you do lose water weight but it's not just. People all of a sudden don't become cut by dropping all their water weight. As for all the crap you ordered, congratulations you did everything wrong. That was generally all stuff mass produced to appeal to people in later staged of the diet. I highly doubt your candy had laxatives unless you bought them. So again, if you actually read into it and did it right...

Oh and by the way, people work out while doing this. I really find it funny to see all these chubbies who don't work out, don't get their vitamins and nutrients, just eat the high fat crap, and gorge on the "atkins candies" and expect to lose all their weight asap. And then they complain about being tired and not losing anything but water weight, why??

-Rudey

Agreed.

If you want to lose weight, do it the old-fashioned way -- count your damn calories. The time in my life where I was losing the most weight, I was eating complete trash -- doughnuts, ice cream, bagels loaded with cream cheese, grilled cheese sandwiches. I just didn't eat a lot of it. Did I lose weight? Sure, lots of it. Was it good for me? No way.

Most recent study I read compared a group of dieters on a low-fat diet and one on a low-carb diet. The low-carb group lost faster at the beginning, but actually put some of that weight back on by the end of the study. By the end each group averaged the exact same amount of weight loss. But I think it's the fact that you tend to lose fast at the beginning that keeps a lot of people on Atkins -- because they see results. And if that works for them, great. It's just not going to work for me. I've spent way too long screwing around with diets and disordered eating and exercise patterns to go on a diet that I can't live with. The most important thing for me is to make permanent changes that I can sustain.

And I'm sick of people ripping on those who drink diet Cokes with Big Macs. I mean, yeah, obviously it's not a good way to diet. But if you replace regular Coke with diet and you're drinking one can a day (lots of people drink more than one can) you're saving, what, 150 calories a day? Over a thousand calories a week? It adds up.

I agree w/ this...to an extent. I think a lot of the problem is also our lifestyle. People today are much more "on the go" than our grandparents were - it's all about convenience. Who has time for a home-cooked meal when you have to drop the kids off at soccer practice and gymnastics and piano lessons after a long day at work? It's much more convenient to just swing through the drive-through on your way home than it is to go home, cook and then clean up the mess in the kitchen.

My grandparents lived very long and healthy lives - my grandfather passed away in 2001 two weeks before his 97th birthday (my grandmother, although she is still alive at 91, is in very poor health b/c of her myastheniagravis - no clue if that's spelled right. :(). Everything they ate, they grew in their garden. For years any meat they ate (chicken, beef, pork), they slaughtered themselves. Everything that was canned, was picked from the garden and canned themselves. Every meal they ate was homecooked. Bread, dumplings, and jelly was homemade. They did not live on McD's, BK or microwave dinners. Sure, they were alive during the depression, but they continued these habits far beyond the point of not being poor anymore. It was a lifestyle that stuck w/ them.

edited for clarity

I think the idea is that we generally don't eat enough vegies in our diets. The south beach diet is good not because it makes you not eat carbs (because your body actually can't live without glucose), but becasue you are forced to eat vegetbles. You could get the same results if you simply lowered the number of calories and tried adding veggies.

It might add up but when you're inhaling your daily caloric and fat intake in one meal. It would be better if you could just stop eating the big mac and drinking regular coke.

Do what works for you. You don't see people on here telling you that your diet is wrong and how you work out is wrong. Either you're healthy or you're not. Either you're overweight or you're not. If you can be healthy and not overweight by juggling and eating fried twinkies...great.

-Rudey

Oh, and we don't have enough fiber in our diets either. veggies and high fiber foods are keys to eating well and feeling your best.

A Big Mac + a diet Coke = 600 calories, 33 fat grams. That sure as hell ain't your daily caloric intake unless you're anorexic or live in a third world country. The fat content leaves a lot to be desired but it still doesn't surpass the daily recommended limit. (The difficult part is, of course, not consuming too much more fat for the rest of the day.) A Big Mac and a large Coke, however, is 910 calories . . . that's gonna put a much more significant dent in your diet.

I'm fine with people doing Atkins -- hey, whatever works. This country's got a big obesity problem and if Atkins is going to cut back on that, great. So far, though, I've seen few reports that it has . . . maybe in the next ten years that'll change. The biggest thing about Atkins is that, like you and Rob are saying, there are too many idiots out there who don't know how to do it right. The reason why so many obese Americans claim they're obese is because there's too much conflicting diet advice out there. Whenever I hear that, it just blows my mind -- how hard can it be? Eat fewer calories and less fat, eat your fruit and veggies, do cardio 3-5 times a week and lift weights 2-3 times . . . it's not too tough. You have no idea how many times I've heard obese people say, "I've done every diet -- Atkins, South Beach, low-fat, etc. etc. etc. -- and I'm still fat." You know what most of them haven't done? Worked out. Learned about portion sizes. Learned to count calories. People like Atkins because they don't like the idea of having to cut back on food -- and lots of them think that on Atkins you can eat whatever you want as long as it's low-carb.

The only thing that bothers me about Atkins from a personal standpoint is when the food I like gets replaced at the grocery store or at restaurants with low carb versions (which usually have more fat or calories).

I'll keep my carbs. All I really eat are pasta, fruits, veggies, fish and chicken. My body can't handle a lot of red meat so if I cut out my carbs there wouldn't be much for me to eat.

What's been "Replaced"? It's all still there. The only thing I know that some places are replacing is certain fats.

-Rudey

I do low carb and lost 20 lbs on it last year. My whole family does atkins "lifestyle" which makes it hard not to at my house. The problem is you can't go off of it...it's a LIFESTYLE (as I learned the hard way in my first year of college).
As to which diet is better (low cal vs low carb) I think it all depends on what works for you and what you can live with without driving yourself crazy. I did read somewhere though, that people doing low carb are actually losing weight because they are eating more protein, so they are fuller after meals and dont snack and therefore eating less calories than they usually would...dunno if thats true tho?
Russel Strover makes good low carb chocolate candies and I just tried the Hershey's "1 carb" choc. bars and thought they tasted fine (keep in mind I haven't eaten reg. chocolate in a long long time) As for other food that are being marketed as "low carb" such as chips, chocolate, ice cream, etc...the whole point of a diet is to get away from this junk food anyways? I guess thought if you need the occasional "fall of the wagon"...these would be better than eating the real chips/choc/ice cream...:D

Why do you care???

If someone wants to go on a mud booger diet, because they feel like that's going to help them loose weight... Then let them!

I don't understand why everyone feels like it's their business to impose their views of how to loose weight to someone who is overweight... Can someone explain that to me???

Would you tell someone who can't walk how to walk???

Or tell a man that's bald how to grow his hair back???

Honestly though!

I'm on Atkins because I feel it's right for me. And so far, it's worked really well!

I had two options, loose the weight and chance something bad will happen to my health... Or stay overweight and know something bad will happen.

Uh, I choose to stay on Atkins.

If you don't like it, don't do it! Simple as that. Go on that mud booger diet, I won't mind!

I don't care what kind of diet someone chooses to follow. The thing that bothers me, though, is when I go to restaurants that keep expanding their menus to include all kinds of food for people on Atkins, but they never, ever come up with new vegetarian options. It gets old after a while seeing all the mud booger crap when I'd just like some nice grilled tofu or something.