“Dean”:http://www.deanesmay.com commented on my “Atkins”:http://www.momathome.com/viewfromhome/life/atkins_study.php entry:
bq. I ran a mailing list for people who used the Atkins diet. Many of them had lost 50 pounds or more and kept it off for years. One lady had taken off 165 pounds and kept it off for over 5 years. Now, here’s the thing: Weight Watchers refuses to release any statistics on how many people who use their programs are a success story. Why would you diss people who are finding something that works for them, is what I’d have to ask.
I was going to add a comment, but I think what I have to say is better as its own entry.
I’m not dissing anyone. I’m dissing the diet industry that puts all the emphasis on seeing the scale move down and not enough on what happens after that.
I often compare my weight loss journey to having children. When I got pregnant I knew it would take a certain amount of time, give or take a week or two, to have a baby. The point of getting pregnant was to have and raise a child. I knew I was making a lifelong commitment (God willing) and that the pregnancy itself was just a means to an end. I started acting like a parent when I was pregnant. I put the baby’s needs before my own. I slept more, ate better, made financial sacrifices, etc. When you’re pregnant, especially with a first child, you can sometimes get very focused on the pregnancy and all the biological changes going on that you don’t even think of what it’s going to be like to actually have a child. It seems like the pregnancy is lasting forever. It was certainly the longest 7-8 months of my life (starting from when I knew I was pregnant). But now my daughter is 8.5 years old and that period of pregnancy seems like a tiny dot in the big picture. Everything that I’ve done since is far more important.
Weight loss is the same thing. What method you choose to lose the weight is not as important as what you do when you lose it. I don’t care if it takes 3 months or 3 years to lose 10 lbs. or if you’re cutting out pasta or fat or whatever. What matters is that it’s something that you can just do. If you can live without bagels and potatoes and fruit for the next 20 years, more power to you. But at some point the food industry is going to get bored of Atkins as they do everything else and they’re going to latch on to the next fad. You won’t be seeing low-carb this and low-carb that everywhere.
Weight Watchers has 40 years of history. The program has changed, but the philosophy of “eat less, move more” while eating a balanced diet from all food groups hasn’t changed. While Weight Watchers may or may not release their data, it’s a lot easier to find 50 people who have had long term success on Weight Watchers than it is to find long term success on Atkins. We just don’t know enough yet, and these slanted “studies” combined with things like a low-carb menu at Burger King bother me.
I’m not dissing anyone who is happy with Atkins. Lots of folks are losing weight quickly on it, and that’s great. But to me it’s like someone who is in their 8th month of their first pregnancy talking about the joys of parenting. Having a baby is easy. Really, it is. It’s just physical pain and it goes away. Raising a child is the challenge. Any diet is a fad until you can incorporate it into the way you live your life and it’s flexible enough that you can adapt it to any situation. I’m sorry, but I don’t think Atkins has that flexibility to make it long term. Only time will prove me wrong.
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