Chris as I said before...the Atkins works great as long as you stay on that low carb diet for the rest of your life. Lifestyle change is the only way to permenant weight loss.
I think it is great that you are doing so well, keep up the good work, I just have heard a lot of stories of people gaining back more weight 6-8 months after they stop the Atkins diet...
Moderation...smaller portions and excersize is the key. I agree that things like candy, pop and beer should be totally eliminated...but I think it would be almost impossible to maintain a lifetime of avoiding fruits, breads, grains and other sugars.
Just some food for thought...myself I am a huge proponent of Weight Watchers as I have said before. What they preach is serving size and keeping within your daily caloric and fat intakes by reducing portion size (you would be amazed at what an actual portion of food is) and keeping daily track of what you are eating. It gets you in a habit of knowing how much you should be eating...you can't go out and have that Big Mac every day with super size fries, but you can have a cheesburger and a small fry which is about what you be eating.
I'll also stand by the fact that cutting out pop/soda/beer is huge...switch to diet if you haven't. I was anti-diet mainly based on taste but once I got used to it I rarely drink the sugar stuff any more. Way too sweet and way way to high in empty calories
OK...I'm still at around 212-215. Looks like my last few posts were right about the time I found out the news myself. Since my wife can't diet anymore, it sort of gives me little motivation to do it too Haven't really made an effort to lose weight but so far I have avoided the pregnancy 15 that goes with pregnant wives. I put that on big time with JediMAX. Hope to keep that off and continue on maintaining, and possibly lose some more weight. Tough to do without a gym membership in the Winter in Minnesota though
I'm glad you posted that about the Atkins diet, OCB. I agree, I am more than happy for anyone who is having luck with this diet, and losing weight, and I'm not trying to discredit them in any way. I was actually an Exercise Phys. major in college (although I don't work in it now), and had to take countless hours of Nutrition classes along the way. The long term effects of the Atkins diet on the vital organs is unknown, and just like OCB said...really the only way to maintain things correctly is to make a lifestyle change. I personally don't believe in "diets" for this exact reason, I really think you just have to change your eating habits. But...to each their own. The only reason I'm posting this is just like OCB said, to offer the other side of things. Be careful with some diets, although they might help you lose the weight...the long term effects on heart, kidneys, etc. could be counteracting that. And you are right about portion size, when we went through that in college we were amazed at how small many portion sizes are. I think if more people understood that, we wouldn't have nearly the obesity problems we have in this country...although the fast food joints don't exactly help that any. I hope that this didn't sound "preachy" in any way at all...best of luck to any of you who are trying to lose weight, in whatever methods you are using. I just wanted to post this to offer the other side of the coin, because even though I don't know many of you personally...I do care about your health, and would hate for you to have health problems because of any extreme diets. To each their own, and good luck to everyone