Swapping diets - LL to Atkins

chunkychicken

Full Member
Hi everyone

Please can someone tell me if you can effectively swap from LL over to Atkins without damaging weight already lost in abstinence? Do you swap over gradually or just go for it and start afresh with a full atkins type menu?

I have used the Atkins programme very succesfully in the past - but I got lazy and very rarely ate my veg allowance (just lived on meat and cheese/mayo) and soon started to feel rough and came off it. I would like to lose 1 1/2 to 2 stone so would be starting off with induction and remaining in induction longer than the initial 2 weeks.

Any help or personal experiences would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks
Laura
x
 
I think I must be stalking Dancing....I seem to be replying after her on all the threads LOL. Again her reply was spot on. I switched from CD to Atkins and didn't gain a lb....I lost a couple then went on to lose a few more. I've been maintaining for a while now, but have decided to give SSing another go to shift a dress size. I love Atkins...it does work 100%, but I don't want to have to 'think' about what I eat. I love the fact that the choice is taken away when ssing.

Good luck with the switch and let us know how you get on.xx
 
Hi and thank you for the replies

Dancing - I have decided to give Atkins a go as I am finding returning to abstinence very, very difficult. It is making me miserable and a pain to live with !! (my poor OH!!!)

I think the main reason is though that I have managed to succesfully lose weight - and I know that I am great at gaining weight ... but I am still looking for a WOE that will work for me in the long run. When I say "work for me" I mean a programme that I can lose and maintain weight with so I can leave the binge and fast rollercoaster behind for good. I find that being able to jump back on abstinence at any time is not teaching me how to maintain my weightloss and is also allowing crooked thinking to have free reign.. I think we have all done it - slipped up a bit with eating and then thought "well if I am going to have to go back on packs then I will eat everything in sight in preparation" - then I will go on to put on another 1/2 stone or more before I even start abstinence! Its so silly - but knowing that crutch is there is causing some seriously unhealthy ways of thinking and behaving. So I need to find a way to manage my weight that doesn't cause that way of thinking.

I hope that makes sense.

Thanks again
Laura
 
Hi Laura hun,


Dancing & shaz are brilliant for advice and answers to questions, they certainly have helped me!

Well personally atkins works for me, last week I tried to ss and lasted for 3 days before I got so hungry I ate some protein, so what I have been doing is a mixture of both, sometimes I have a shake for bkfast and lunch and then an atkins meal in the evening which is perfect for me as this is when I feel hungry the most, and also I can join family in eating. Now this works for me, I have also eaten food all day, it depends whether I want eggs & bacon in the morning, mostly at weekends. I lost 4lbs last week and sneaked on scales this morning and have lost another 1lb, so it is working for me.

wannabeslim another member here on atkins, lost an amazing 11lbs the first week, it does really work,

you must drink water like on LL or CD, huh I'm a fine one to talk, I'm the worlds worst for keeping up my fluid, but it is essential to keep glugging.

Great bunch of people on here, to help out in anway.

sue xxxxxxxxx
 
Hi Dancing - thanks for the reply.
Yes I do believe that for the majority of people Low Gi is the way to go. I find I can maintain using this quite comfortably as I don't feel deprived of anything - but if I try to lose weight with Low Gi the losses are so slow that I start to binge. Like you said - I get on well with Ketosis (it is my friend) and certainly as you move up the phases of Atkins your diet becomes more and more "normal" and well balanced - unlike the induction phase when you would kill for an apple LOL. The biggest issue with Atkins is how much it costs me... eeek but then after hopping on and off LL for over a year - I have just come round to the idea that being slim seems to cost me money!!!!

Hope everyone is doing well with their chosen Programmes - I know a lot of you seem to be doing more of a hybrid SS and Atkins type plan... does anyone know how many net carbs there are in the LL shakes? is it just the total Carbs in the packet or do we only look at the sugars?

Take care peeps
Laura
 
Hi Laura- I've never done atkins before but im on the W8 matters program (basically exactly the same as LL) for 2 months and have lost 2.5stone in this time...im now starting to really think that i might like to loose my last chunk of weight a little slower and in a tastier way!! i have been researching atkins and making up foodplans for weeks now and am absolutely obsessed with the idea of starting on it!! My W8 councellor has persueded me to stay on the VLCD program for another 2 weeks at least...but them i'm def gona start atkins. I was reading someone elses blog and they said they put on 7lbs going from LL to atkins in the first week, but i bet its all that heavy meat sitting in your tum!
Have you switched from LL yet? how are you getting on?
Gemma XXX
 
How will you know you are getting all the vits and minerals you need to stay healthy on Atkins? Eating alot of meat/fat can cause other health issues too. Ch/chicken, are you not a LL councillor???
When i was on LL, i kept convincing myself that i should just eat and go on Atkins cos i will get the same results!! But i believe that was my internal chatterbox playing havoc with me! It would have been, eat something atkins, then, damn im a failure couldnt succeed with LL, Bugger it, pass me the chocolate cake! And Boom, success down the pan! Am not saying this is the case with you, each to their own but just hope you make a healthy and wise decision
Good luck
 
Hello everyone

Hot debate all round isn't it.
Firstly - Surfsummer - congratulations on losing 2.5stone so quickly you should be very proud of yourself. So far I have stayed off the scales as I am aware that swapping from the calorie restriction of LL to Atkins can "shock" the body a bit and cause you to retain water. Therefore I am giving it a whole week to calm down before I jump on the scales to see what is happening. I have been checking whether I am in ketosis though and I have been the whole time i have been eating. I certainly don't feel like I have put any weight on, in fact I would guess that I have lost a bit - but like I said it is too early to tell officially - I plan to weigh in on Monday and will report back what happens then.
As far as I am aware, I "should" either stay the same or lose a little bit in the first week as I swap over and then start to lose at the usual rate for atkins after that. That is the theory anyway - so we will see what happens. If I were you I would let me be your guinea pig and stay on W8 as planned and then make an informed decision once all the facts are in...

Jellybabie - thanks for your input. I can see that you are just concerned for me that I am making an adult informed decision and I take your point that when you are on packs your chatterbox will tell you just about anything if it thinks it will make you eat. However, I have very strong opinions about LL - which I do not wish to air on this forum and taking those into consideration, I am looking for a well rounded solution that works for me (personally - not for everyone) so that I can gain confidence that I can manage my weight long term.
I believe that Atkins may just be the way forward. While I am on the induction phase (no more than 4 weeks I might add) I am using a full spectrum multivitamin (as advised by the book) to ensure my nutrition is as supported as it would have been on LL. I drink more than the alloted amount of water and I make sure that I eat my full 12 - 15 grams net carbs a day from vegetables and salad. I have done Atkins in the past in a very lazy way and lived on meat and cheese and grease - and although I lost weight I did not feel well doing so. This time around I am doing it by the book and being very careful.
However, one of the reasons that I am finding my weight maintainence difficult is beautifully illustrated by your original post... "aren't you a LL counsellor?!"
No actually I am a Locum counsellor, which means that I cover groups when my main counsellor is away and I take RTM groups reasonably regularly. To do this I had 2 days training (fairly intensive but 2 days nonetheless) as opposed to the 2 years a full counsellor has. So yes, I work for LL but that does not make me a saint either. In fact, I have found that listening to people talk about food on a regular basis and hearing about everyone's struggles with maintainence has just made it all the harder for me. It is like someone who cleans for a living - they get home to a filthy house of their own because they have had enough of it by then.
I am not making excuses for myself here - I hope you understand, just trying to prove a point that I am only human like the rest of you. I know the theory inside and out - but trying to find a way to slot it all into my life is taking more time than I initially hoped. Along the way I have realised that I use packs in a very unhealthy way and that I need to move forward with a WOE that will fit me for life.

I hope that explains everything clearly enough for you.

Dancing - thanks so much for looking up the information on the LL foodpacks for me - it was very kind of you. I have so many left over that I will def use them a bit more once I have moved out of induction phase - mainly for convenience as I find Atkin's type breakfasts difficult to plan and make at work (I start work too early in the morning to eat at home before I leave). But a vanilla latte always hits the spot!

How is everyone today?
Thanks
Laura
x
 
Hi Chunkychicken,
I've come off from Cambridge this week (sole sourcing) and switched over to Atkins (albeit vegetarian atkins).
I'm on day 3 , and the scales are showing a 3lbs gain, but I'm certain that's the weight of the food I've been eating, plus I'm still suffering from constipation that SS caused :) I think it's a wise idea to wait until the end of the week to weigh, wish I could!

Feeling so much better, and surprisingly more in control too, as I'm making the right food choices and not just downing shakes!
Best of luck on your journey :)
 
Hi moonbeam - good luck with your switch over. I am also feeling much more in control around food now I am on Atkins. I think it is a lovely combination to be able to eat and still keep the security blanket of ketosis to curb your appetite.

While I was in abstinence, I found I couldn't stop thinking about food. Every time I would pass my fridge I would open it and look inside - I didn't eat anything but it just made me feel so sad and isolated. It sounds really melodramatic to say that now - but that is honestly how I felt at the time. Then when I did break the diet I would go quite literally wild in the aisles. I would just grab whatever I could and cram it in - no thought for whether I was full or not, whether I was enjoying it or not - I just shoved it in because at the back of my mind there was always this threat that I would soon be back on packs and not be allowed to eat again.... like I said - it sounds so crazy now that I am in control - but that is what was happening.

On Atkins, I KNOW that there will be food, and I KNOW that it will be tasty. I KNOW that it will fill me up and I KNOW that I will be full far sooner than I expected to be. It takes all the "where's my next meal coming from" panic away. In fact, I find that I am not even thinking about food until mealtimes - which I have to say - is a big victory for me. I think in a nutshell - I feel sane on Atkins and I always felt FAR from that when I was on foodpacks.
I know that this says more about me and my issues than it does about the LL programme - but then my issue has always been with having a balanced diet rather than losing weight (I am pretty good at that bit) - staying still weight wise for any length of time has always been my problem - and you can't solve that with foodpacks.
Anyway - I am waffling at you - but thanks for the well wishes and stay off those scales - it will all come good again soon enough.

Dancing - I hope your day is not too crazy and that SS'ing goes well. I think Atkins at the mini-meet is def a good plan as you can make Atkins work in most situations without too much stress and just fit in and enjoy the day more. Have a lovely time
Take care
Laura
 
I love the Atkins diet. I am ssing at the moment, but have been invited to a engagement meal on Sunday. There is no way I'm going to say no. I'll ss until Sunday evening then have an Atkins meal. I've done it before when SSing and know it works.

Well done you guys. You all sound in the zone.......good luck with weigh in.
 
ChunkyChicken, You waffle away! :)
I think we're very similar! On Sole source I had a very similar attitude, obsessing about what I couldn't eat, then when I fell of the wagon, Id have the mentality " I've blown it now, might as well eat all that stuff I've obsessed about all week, then start again tomorrow" It just doesn't work for me. Loving this WOE at the moment, can't believe I had cheese and mayo for breakfast!! :)
Also trying to maintain the water levels, but its hard, as I feel so full all the time!
 
good luck laura

sue xx
 
Help guys!

It is my sister's birthday this Sunday and she is having her "do" in an "all you can eat Thai buffet" place.

I have no experience of Thai food whatsoever - can anyone with more experience suggest some dishes that I could pick at safely?

Many thanks
Laura
x
 
hi moonbeam, I'm on cambridge but only have around a stone and a half to 2 stone left to loose and I was looking to change to a low carb diet, such as atkins when I'm near goal weight as a way to slowly regain normal eating habits, I too am a veggie and have struggled in the past with low carb diets, how are you finding it so far? I normally am fine for a week or so and then I feel rotten and cave in to the carb monster!!

As for everyone else I think the whole binge in preperation of starting ss is so common, I used to do it all the time (I was at university and so would quite often come out of it so I could have a drink when I went out) and I would find myself eating huge amounts of food that I didn't even enjoy and I felt really sick-quite often ruining my night out, which was the whole reason I came off s.s in the first place!!

Although diets like cambridge/lighterlife/lipotrim are fantastic for loosing vast amounts of weight quickley they also encourage bad habits of eating and I don't think this is said enough. I have lost a total of 8 stone, 5 1/2 on w.w and the last 2 1/2 on cambridge and although it was slower on w.w I never felt like I had bad eating habits, I never binged and starved as cambridge has caused me to do.

However saying all this it is a very good diet and I intend to stay on it to shift this last bit of weight but I just wanted to get a few things off my chest that I've thought for a while!!

Good Luck to everyone on their weightloss journey, we're all in the same boat.

xxxxxx
 
Laura: I've had a look in some books for Thai suggestions, and The low carb options are: Clear soups without noodles (tom yam, poh tak or tom kha gai) salads such as som tam, or yam nua (hot/sour beef) Steamed fish or seafood, stir fried chicken, meat or seafood dishes, Thai curries (except massaman that has potato), sliced duck, beef or chicken cooked with spices. Obviously spring rolls, dumplings, rice, and noodles are out, as is anything that is sweet. Satay sauce is fairly low carb, as it's peanut, but not really an induction food. I'd stick to the meats and salads if you can- Hope you find something nice to eat in amongst it all! :)
 
Princess cj, 8 stone lost! wow Good luck with shifting the last stone and a bit! I'm sure you'll do it in no time.
I do wish I had the willpower to stick to Cambridge, but it's my third time doing it, and I just couldn't take another day of it!

I've found with this weightloss malarkey that doing a VLCD is like being on a motorway, totally boring, but gets you to your destination the quickest, I've decided to take the "scenic route" now to get to my destination, takes longer, but far more enjoyable! :D

In total Ive lost 5 stone so far, using various diets, but for me to stick to it and be happy, I need to;
a) enjoy the food I'm eating
b) Be able to go out and have something to eat and enjoy it without feeling guilty
and c) fit it around cooking for my family, going out for meals etc

Low carbing definitely ticks these boxes, I had the most amazing lunch today, which didn't seem like "diet" food at all! Veggies, nuts, mayo, olive oil, then had a coffee with double cream, yum yum!
 
moonbeam- Thank you! Yes I totally agree about the motorway theory-its a good way to describe it :)

mmm your lunch does sound good, I understand exactly how you feel about needing a diet that you can fit around your life. I'm 21 and being on cambridge often restricts me on going out with my friends because I don't want to be the boring one drinking water while everyone else has alcohol but then I think I suppose its a small sacrifice to pay if I will end up slimmer and happier in the end, its just hard telling yourself that at the time!

Well done on the weight you have lost so far and I hope the low carb thing works well for you until your at goal. I definitley think I'm going to try it when I finish ss. I actually think that moving up through the maintenance programme ends up being quite expensive as you have to pay for packs and then buy low carb food(more expensive than things like past, rice etc..) on top of that!

xxx
 
Atkins

Hi ladies, I am currently starting wk 12 tomorrow of LL have lost just under 4 stone and as 2 ladies in my group are 2 wks behind we are continuing our group for an extra 2 wks which is fine. I have also said that I will do 4 wks in development to shift the last bit that I want to loose. Am thinking then about whether I do RTM or go onto Atkins/Low carb GI diet. My thoughts are highly triggered towards The low carb option as I feel that I have to eat at some stage and do I want to be introducing food back into my diet over another 12 wks? I did low carb for 5 days when I went away 4 wks ago only had 1 meal a day and my cereal bar in the morning and lost 4lbs so I know it works. You are all so positive with your threads that I think it is going to be best for me just want to check how many of you where first timers with LL or CD or is this second time around and you made the wrong choices. Many thanks I look forward to your advise. p.s. sorry for waffling ;):):)
 
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