So I have been trying to lose weight for the past year. Well, let’s be honest now, for the past 2 years. After many tries, I finally stumbled on a diet that worked for me. I am using “worked” on purpose because although the diet worked, I couldn’t help but go back to my old eating habits (fries, hamburgers, my undying love for cheesecake, wine, pizzas, I could go on…) therefore, I managed to gain it back. I’m telling you, leaving with a boyfriend is not the most helpful in terms of weight! we eat the exact same amount and I gain 10lbs while he manages to lose! However, for anyone in my situation, here are a couple things I have done to lose weight. Then a colleague of mine told me about Atkins. So, I started dieting all over again, this diet worked wonders for me. I couldn’t believe that I could eat cheese, bacon, burgers (no bun), steak, etc.. and still lose weight! In the first 2 weeks (induction phase), I lost16lbs! I was strict with it and followed it to the letter. So, here it is and hopefully it works for you. If you want to read up more details on it, go to www.Atkins.com. I has four phases.
Phase 1 – Induction
You eat no more than 20 g of carbs from vegetables mostly. You are not allowed starchy vegetables, fruits, grains and bread. This is supposed to kick your body into Ketosis where you body goes from burning carbs to burning fat for energy. Also, less carbs mean less insulin which equals to less fat. NO ALCOHOL.
This phase is supposed to last 2 weeks and you could lose up to 14lbs.
Phase 2- ongoing weight loss
In this phase you eat more vegetables that contain fibre and increase your carb intake slightly.
Phase 3 & 4
These are basically maintenance phases where you increase carbs while maintaining a carb level that will not stimulate weight gain. Meaning that you can not go back to your old eating habits as you will gain all the weight back!
I found the diet to be easy for the first 2 weeks during which I lost half of the weight I wanted to lose. It did get harder at times for me because I love bread, pasta and everything starchy, probably how i gain the weight in the first place 
Well Good luck! The diet is quite popular who have been able to lose weight quickly.
December 12, 2007 at 5:31 am
I’ve found that there are three types of eating–habitual, emotional, and self defeative. Diets address the habitual eater. However, no one is only a habitual eater. Most of us are a combination of at least habitual and emotional. And those who are quite heavy are definitely into the self defeative realm.
Most people know what they need to do to shed weight. What they don’t know how to do is to:
1. Acknowledge or recognize the emotions that lead to eating.
2. Embrace the emotion so that they can move beyond the need for food.
3. Love the part of their body that is out of proportion or heavy.
4. Stop hypnotizing themselves with their own thinking into wanting or desiring food.
When they learn how to do these four basic things, they can forget about food.
And yes, physical exercise is important, but so too is exercise of the mind important.