Atkins works really well for >90% of the people who try it. The myth about total abstinence from carbs is based on a "grain" of truth: during the first 2 weeks you keep total carbs to under 20 grams per day. That means one small green salad and one portion of low-carb veggies (e.g., broccoli, asparagus, green beans) per day. all the meat, fish, eggs, and most of the cheese you can eat. After 2 weeks you add carbs back in gradually. You can go off the diet for special meals (I had a wonderful pasta nero in new york Thursday night) as long as you go right back on it. Unless you are a Vegan it is a pretty easy diet. If you ARE a Vegan, your weight loss is really fast since for two weeks you can't eat ANYTHING (LOL). I agree with laz' comments on soda, chips and other high carb junk food, too. Ken On Jan 10, 2004, at 3:21 PM, lazarus wrote: > On Sat, 10 Jan 2004 13:12:20 -0600, you wrote: > >> I really should do something. I've been looking at Atkins, but >> *that* just >> seems like too much work. > > If you only need to lose a few pounds, the cheating way to do Atkins > is to cut out the major portions of carbs from your diet. For > instance, I usually don't gain any weight at all if I simply go to > diet sodas. (I have to use Diet Rite or Hansen's Diet, since I'm > violently allergic to Nutrasweet). 2 litres of Coke a day was packing > the poundage on me. > > Then look at dropping the bags of chips and stuff and going to better > carbs, like fruit or my favourite, jicama. Just cutting out the > excess carbs can actually bring down a bit of weight. The whole > programme is really only necessary if you need to do some serious > weight loss. I need to go back on it. I lost 65 pounds in about 4 > months, but put it back on when I dropped off the programme > altogether. Got custody of my 12 year old daughter, and suddenly > there's dry cereal in the house, which is my arch-nemesis. I found > it easier to quit smoking than to stay away from Cheerios and Lucky > Charms. The dry cereal even overcomes the diet soda regimen. Evil > Cereal. > > > -- > > laz > > I am the Dread Pirate Roberts #23546. > Ask me about franchise opportunities! >