Atkins-- Good for some not for me

by Tammy
(Arizona)

I have done the Atkins diet a few times over the past 10 years. I could not stick to the diet for more than 3 weeks at a time. The diet is not really all that hard but restricted.

I was never hungry on the diet.. actually I had much less hunger while on it. The food sounds great... at first. Eat all the meats and cheeses that you want but no carbs except for 20 grams per day in the form of certain veggies.

20 carbs of veggies is not much at all... basically it was a high fat and protein diet with very little veggies. I love veggies and limiting myself to such a small portion was very hard for me. Eating so much fat on this diet also just made me feel sort of gross.

Eating out at restaurants was not very hard at all... you order a double bacon cheeseburger and don't eat the bun. Special occasions were hard because you couldn't have cake at a b-day party or snack on a lot of the appetizers... It also sucked when people asked why you wouldn't eat certain things and they give you their 2 cents worth on what they think of the diet.

I don't think I'll ever do the diet again... I did lose weight quickly but once I went back to eating breads and pastas I gained the weight back. And this happened 3 different times.

One very positive thing about this diet is that I had no acid reflux while on it. I have managed to keep that under control still by just limiting carbs but not to the extent as the Atkins way of life.

If someone has enough will power to follow all the rungs of the Atkins diet I'm sure it would work great for them... it's just not for me.