Atkins VS Weight Watchers

[white2dark]

Which would you prefer? What one would you think is easier.

[Tan Down Under]

Atkins is the king diet - no way around it.

[white2dark]

I heard that it is not good for you. Have you tried it?

[~*HoneyBee*~]

Atkins' is the bomb...Please don't judge it until you read his books. I tried WW, and even though I did lose I couldn't keep it off and it left me very hungry. Atkin's has helped me in more ways than one. Not only have I lost weight and kept it off, but my allergies are gone and my skin looks radiant.

I know a lot of people are very skeptical about Atkins and they immediately what to slam it without doing any serious research. But seriously, in a nut shell Atkin's teaches you how to eat the same way our ancestors did before the processed foods and the food guide pyramid were ever thought of. The only reason why it is so low in carohydrates is because you are cutting out refined sugars, flours and starches. Those products are not natural anyway, and only kill your system slowly.

The Atkins' Diet Revolution book will really open your eyes to the hidden truths about the mainstream American diet, and why so many people are overweight, dying from heart disease and suffering from diabetes.

www.atkinscenter.com

[Sc0tt]

Never tried either.....but I don't think i could do either!

_________________
[ This Message was edited by: ForeverTan27 on 2004-02-05 17:20 ]

[cupcake65]

once you run out of your points for the day on weight watchers..dont you have to stop eating? what if you eat all of your points at breakfasT?

[Sc0tt]

Quote:
On 2004-02-05 17:22, cupcake65 wrote:
once you run out of your points for the day on weight watchers..dont you have to stop eating? what if you eat all of your points at breakfasT?

then ur screwed!!!

[~*HoneyBee*~]

Weight Watchers is loaded with sugar and deprives your body of the essential fat you need daily. Yeah you lose in a sense, but when you screw up once it all comes back. It's way to high in empty carbs and the point system is such a joke.

[cupcake65]

YEAH! SO THERE!!STAY OFF W.W

[Bonnie]

Neither one has the right attitude to proper eating or fitness! Sorry, but it's true! I commend the people who have succeeded in losing weight either way, (esp. Honeybee), but you must adopt a holistic approach to eating and exercise. I can get all weird and Asian here but I won't!

[~*HoneyBee*~]

LOL...I do exercise and no Atkins' is not nationally off balance. You say it is, but you never have stated why? So, I am curious to know where you get your logic on this from.

[cupcake65]

anyone like the raw food guy???

[Bonnie]

You mean the guy who wants to live to be 140? Well, he can have it! I still like to live it up once in a while! Honeybee, if you're exercising and feeling good, I'm not going to argue. I just have real problems with the way people take the Atkins or Weightwatchers to an obsessive level. That's all!

[cupcake65]

the guy with the wooshy bushy blond hair? yeah him! he makes some pretty darn good stuff..i wish they had a place like that here..

[~*HoneyBee*~]

Quote:
On 2004-02-05 17:38, cupcake65 wrote:
the guy with the wooshy bushy blond hair? yeah him! he makes some pretty darn good stuff..i wish they had a place like that here..


Is that guy in California that owns that resturaunt, and has a lot celebs eating his food?

[Sc0tt]

I'm not really against them as long as you have carbs. Having no carbs really is not good for your body and everyone needs them.
To maintain a healthy lifestyle you need to have
1. Raise your heart level (working out..) 4 or more times a week for atleast 30 min.
2. Eat healthy
3. Don't smoke or drink
4. Don't Tan JK!

LOL you're asking why i'm acting like mr know it all? Well we just studided that crap in health, its pretty easy so i thot'd i'd throw it in
oh and i added in the tanning part

[Bonnie]

I managed numbers 1 and 2 on your chart Forever! I guess I won't live to be 140!

[Sc0tt]

Quote:
On 2004-02-05 17:43, bonnie wrote:
I managed numbers 1 and 2 on your chart Forever! I guess I won't live to be 140!

theres a lot more i just don't feel like pullling out the ol' health book to list on iamTAN

Although, I was skimming thru my book while studying and there was a sectio non tanning and skin care!
I should tell my health teacher that tanning isn't as bad as it looks!
But i would nevre do that!

[cupcake65]

yep thats him...crazy isnt he..i vould live on raw food..if was fixed for me every meal

[Blondie41280]

Id say if your looking to go for one of those 2 diets you listed weight watchers. It sounds like that would be better for you long term health wise.

[Mrc4608]

I do south beach! It's easyto follow past the first two weeks!

[cupcake65]

south beach...hmmm dont know about that one

[Mrc4608]

Quote:
On 2004-02-05 20:21, cupcake65 wrote:
south beach...hmmm dont know about that one

They have a website. It's really easy to follow! JMO

[Sc0tt]

My aunt does South Beach.
I don't do any diet because I don't need to. Well, I probably need to eat healthier but weight wise I don't, fortunatley.

[cupcake65]

thanx..im curious..i like to be informed on all this stuff..ive only heard of it not whats its about..time to educate meeself

[cupcake65]

well.. its similar to atkins..and you can introduce foods back into your plan..the 3 phase thing seems different..doesnt seem too hard if this is the diet of choice..im just maintaining..not losing or gaining..i know its a stuggle and what works for one doesnt work for all..if it makes you happy then thats what you need to do..

[Mrc4608]

Quote:
On 2004-02-05 20:23, ForeverTan27 wrote:
My aunt does South Beach.
I don't do any diet because I don't need to. Well, I probably need to eat healthier but weight wise I don't, fortunatley.

South Beach is not really a diet. It's a healthy way of eating...that's what makes it soooo easy to follow!

[MrJoshua]

My personal diet and training regimen will smoke all the lazy people diets, as I like to call them, out there. Just ask and I will clue you in before I start marketing it so I can make mass ammounts of money from fat lazy people

[cupcake65]

theres already a boot camp exercise video..is yours similar to that?

[sessa518]

my mom is on the atkins diet and it seems to be working good for her

[MrJoshua]

Quote:
On 2004-02-05 21:26, cupcake65 wrote:
theres already a boot camp exercise video..is yours similar to that?
Nope, those are a joke also. Mine is pretty easy to follow

[SassyRedTex]

It's all about eating healthy and exercising. An excessive amount of protein intake is not healthy and neither is sugar (refined esp.) or fat...it's all about moderation.

[MrJoshua]

Sassy quit telling hte secrets to my copyrighted diet

[SassyRedTex]

Quote:
On 2004-02-05 21:41, MrJoshua wrote:
Sassy quit telling hte secrets to my copyrighted diet


Oops, my bad...I guess there's no need to buy your book now?!

[divabutterfly]

I agree with Bonnie on this one - none of these diets are balanced, and of course, moderation is the key. My mother-in-law gave my husband and me South Beach diet book for Christmas. I read it, so I wanted to try it on myself before I can recommend (or not) it to my clients, but it made me feel terrible, I had the WORST headaches throughout the day, no energy, and I had to teach 2-3 classes a day. Needless to say, I quit it pretty fast
Anyways, the good thing about the book, it teaches you about healthy eating - what foods are better what food are worse for you, but the 1st phase is too restricted on carbs, even fruit isn't allowed, I don't think it's so healthy. JMO

[monkeygirl]

I'm doing what I call the semi-Atkins. I didn't do induction, and I still eat fruit. But I've cut down on starches in general, and sugar. Funny, I was doing the usual low-fat, watching calories kind of thing a few years ago, and zippo. But once I realized that the problem was the overload of carbs, my weight went down. Wayyy down, as in going from a size 12 to a 4. We had a hispanic neighbor who was completely overweight..well, all she ate was tortillas, not much meat, a lot of dairy and breads, potatoes, stuff with corn... It makes sense now, she was getting a lot of carbohydrates, not whole grains, and too much starch. She had a huge problem with ovarian cysts, which I also think is linked to her diet. And she just found out she has diabetes.

Anyway, yeah, I too believe moderation is the key, but I really do limit my intake of carbs, making sure that the ones I do eat, count, like whole grains, and fruits. Your body can sure use the carbs of an apple much better than the carbs in a sugar-free candy bar. So I try to limit my intake of all of the splenda stuff, and stick to smaller portions of natural foods.

[Vikingdotter]

Neither Atkins nor WW are "long time" diets - esp. Atkins is in the long run not exactly healthy; your body needs carbs, if you are doing cardio exercising (or just go jogging, bicycle riding, swimming ect.) . As boonie says, you need a "holistic" approach, if you want to stay slim AND fit and healty. Proper nutrition and proper exercising. For example: if you are training for a marathon run, a long distance bicycle race or cross county skiing, you need *much* carbohydrates, best in the form of whole grain (whole grain noodles, whole grain bread ect. - but also potatos are not bad.)

Monkeygirl, I guess you are right, moderation is the key. I limit my intake of certain carbohydrates, as sugar, and I eat much fruits and vegetables. (Unusual for a Swede, the Swedish cooking is traditionally not very "green" - but our knäckbröd (crisp ryebred) is healthy and we use to eat much fish.

________________
[ This Message was edited by: Vikingdotter on 2004-02-06 00:51 ]

[AussieShell]

[quote]
On 2004-02-06 00:51, Vikingdotter wrote:
Neither Atkins nor WW are "long time" diets - esp. Atkins is in the long run not exactly healthy; your body needs carbs, if you are doing cardio exercising (or just go jogging, bicycle riding, swimming ect.) . As boonie says, you need a "holistic" approach, if you want to stay slim AND fit and healty. Proper nutrition and proper exercising. For example: if you are training for a marathon run, a long distance bicycle race or cross county skiing, you need *much* carbohydrates, best in the form of whole grain (whole grain noodles, whole grain bread ect. - but also potatos are not bad.)


This shows that u don't know anything about atkins. You do eat carbs, first you go through induction, which is 20 carbs or less. Once you get onto maintenance, you can eat whole wheat products. Atkins is not 'no carbs', as people who don't know like to claim. I stopped it cause it was too much preperation for each meal, and I am lazy. (prefer a bowl of cereal to eggs and bacon for breakfast). I did lose about ten lbs in two weeks and felt great while on it though.

[CincyFan]

After reading everyone's responses it's even more obvious that there is no answer to this question. Each person needs to find the right combo of food and exercise that works for their lifestyle and body. If there was one definitive diet that worked for everyone don't you think we'd all be doing it? I've tried way too many diets to list and they each have their pros and cons.

I've done Atkins and I agree that alot of people that knock it have never read the book or researched the diet enough to understand that you're not cutting out carbs from your life. It just didn't work for my lifestyle or my body. I kept tasting metal in my mouth and it really upset my already delicate stomach.

I also did Weight Watchers for a while. And again people knock it all the time. Sure, it's very easy to cheat with WW. And yes you can have refined sugars, fats, and empty calories while staying in your point range. But, you can find a way to cheat on any diet. If you follow their plan, it stipulates a certain number of servings of veggies, fruits, dairy, etc. You don't have much room left to fit in a bunch of crap. It's the people that, for example, eat salads all day (zero points) and then spend all their points on an entire pizza that fail.

Last year I decided to give up on all this diet mess. I know that I don't want to cut out certain parts of my diet. I know that I want to treat myself sometimes. But, I do want to be healthy. So, I watch my calories, fat, carbs, all of it. I practice moderation, make healtier more natural food choices, and exercise. It works for me.

[Vikingdotter]

Aussie Shell, I know about atkins and I know it is not a "no carbs" diet. But it isn´t balanced on the long run - we should take 55 to 60 per cent of our calories from carbs - and it is a "fast" weight loss diet - if you lose fat quickly, it´s likely that you put it on again quickly. Ten lbs in two weeks are too fast - long time weight reduction takes long time (about six month for 15 lbs). And don´t forget exercising!

[njchica]

I've tried them both. Atkins made me feel horrible for the first week... headaches, fatigue, etc. Sure you lose weight quickly but I found it hard to find "ok" food for snacks or quick meals...

WeightWatchers worked for me. It really does help you to make good food choices b/c veggies and fruits are very few points while starchy carbs are more. So you can eat more of the good stuff or just a little of the "not the best" stuff. If you run out of points for the day, you have 35 extra points to use anytime during the week for a treat or whatever. You can also earn extra points through exercise.

[ladyboss]

I was on w.w. after my 3rd son was born and it worked well for me, it was easy and practical but I think my success was more motivational because of the meetings and having to be weighed in, I can be very competitive But overall I think it's all about common sense, if you eat healthy and in moderation and excercise the weight will come off.

[Sc0tt]

both sound miserable to me! My moms friend lost...oh geez atleast 100 pounds on weight watchers and I'm not kidding! I remember going to the pool with her 2 summers ago and she was big, not like huggge but she was pretty big. Now shes sooo skinny, its not even funny. She has a lot of that saggy skin you get when you loose a lot of weight on her legs, but it looks much better then what it did before.
She lost all this weight on w.w., and it looks good but I have no clue if its healthy.

[upsessedwittans]

Atkins does show results. However, you will gain the weight back right after you go off the diet. The only true way you will keep it off is if you follow the Atkins plan for life. Those who just look at it as a temp. solution to lose weight, it will work but you will gain it all back, plus maybe gain back even more than before. Weight wacthers would be my pick.

[liketotan]

Some excellent information had been displayed and some interesting points of view expressed. From what I have learned from experience is probably what a lot of people may not want to hear. The best way to loose weight and to keep it off, is to eat sensibly and exercise.

[AussieShell]

of course you gain the weight back - you gain the weight back if you go off any diet! Therefore, that's why it's referred to as a way of life, not a diet, by those who stay on it, and those who work for atkins. I couldn't stay on it, but that's just me. I know many people who had no problem adapting to it - I just couldn't.

[Sc0tt]

After reading all this and hearing this, I think I'd pick Weight Watchers too.