Help me decide
 

Hi all, I'm very new to this site so - HELLO! http://www.lowcarbsite.com/images/sm...on_biggrin.gif

I'm just coming to the end of my first week on the Atkins diet & I can see the results on the scales already http://www.lowcarbsite.com/images/sm...on_biggrin.gif - though this is not my first time on Atkins - I followed induction for around 5 months a few years ago and had great results....then I let things slip and I regained most of the weight I managed to lose (80 pounds).

Anyhow, I've started the diet again with the intention of dropping as much weight as I can before my upcoming family vacation....the question is - do I stick to the diet whilst I am on vacation?

My initial plan was to follow induction for a month, have two weeks "off" (where I can give myself some vacation treats in moderation) and then restart induction on returning home.

The trouble is now I'm a week in & I can honestly say its been hard and has taken a lot of effort - I am in two minds now....
It's like a cartoon - i've a good angel on one shoulder telling me not to cheat and a bad angel on the other telling me that it won't harm to stray a little......

Have any of you interupted induction like this?

It's a choice you'll have to make... stay on the plan and continue your weight loss. Or, go off it and regain what you lost before your vacation and start all over again when you get back. If the indulgences are worth that, do it. If not, don't. You will gain weight if you don't stick to the plan. You'll go back to burning glucose. You'll gain water weight as your glycogen stores are replenished. You can come home and take it off again... it's not permanent. Just be prepared for it. Oh... and even "in moderation" will do this. Personally, I've never regretted NOT eating ice cream... or chips.... or other high carbs foods. But every time I DO, I regret it. It's never worth it.

But that's me.

Will it be worth it to you?

Tril

Carlins...I am in the same dilemma. I leave for the beach up at lake Michigan in a week and to be honest I know I will stray a bit. I love to go to the beach with my fam and have freshly picked blueberries and strawberries. I have been vacationing there for 26 years and I am NOT willing to give up certain things.

Also, once a week we go and get ice cream as a family and I don't know if I want to opt out on that either. It is a tough decision. I have decided to counter it with more excercise in the form of swimming, canoeing and paddleboating, and making sure veggies are still my primary food source.

Good luck with your decision. Whatever you decide will work out for you!

Trenna

If you do it, you'll almost certainly gain weight.

My opinion:

Don't do it - but not because of the weight gain.

It sounds like you're still thinking of all the high carb foods in a positive fashion - you call them "treats". Atkins will help you lose the weight, but once you lose it, the odds are you'll gain it back again if you immediately go back to a high carb diet.

In a cruel twist of fate, it'll be "ok" to have them - right after you stop wanting to have them in the first place.

A low carb diet is a lifestyle, not a tool to achieve a goal, and it's self-defeating to dream of a day when you'll have achieved your goal weight and can eat all the carbs you want - it's not going to happen.

Just one man's opinion, and it's not based on personal experience, but rather the stories of others. I'm sure others will chime in with firsthand experience though. If they don't, go into the progress forums, and look at Joeblow's and Bagadonitz's threads going back years.

"A low carb diet is a lifestyle, not a tool to achieve a goal, and it's self-defeating to dream of a day when you'll have achieved your goal weight and can eat all the carbs you want - it's not going to happen."

Bingo. And if it does happen... you'll be back here in 6 months starting over, only you'll probably have more to lose this time. If you can't see yourself eating this way for life, don't start. Find something you CAN do for life because what you do to take it off, is exactly what you'll have to do to keep it off. Period.

Can you satisfy your "enjoyment factor" with "sharing" a dessert, or truly limiting yourself to 1 piece of pizza with a big helping of antipasto? If so, and you can get back on plan afterwards, you may be OK.

It DOES take will-power to say, "No thanks!" If it is important enough to take "time off" just remember to move back to maybe 20 grams Induction and stay there for a few days.

IF SO, good luck. I can't do that. I work too hard for that half-pound loss per week now. I try very, very hard not to cheat because I know that I have to think differently. This is NOT short term. It is NOT a "quick weight loss" thing for me. I have to change my brain to remove food from the gratification center's response to stimulus.

But whatever you do, do it without "rationalizing" it. It is what it is, and you made a personal choice to do it. You can get back on track tomorrow.

Thanks for the replies guys - no one has told me anything I didn't already know...I am going to try and stick to it - I don't want to undo the work I've put in so far.

Whether thats right or wrong - the main focus and drive for me has been losing weight, as being over weight has been a source of unhappiness for so long.
Atkins is the most effective way of doing that for me.
I have no intentions of returning to my old mega carb consuiming ways - i have more reading and research to do about continuing on Atkins long term.....but there is time as I go on with Induction.

Thanks for the words of advice everyone http://www.lowcarbsite.com/images/sm...icon_smile.gif