Can I jump in here Shanna banana? I had a teen in my youth group at church. Her name was Shanna. Schwarzbein has a more balanced approach to the Adkins diet. I really think the trick to this woe is to never let yourself get hungry. I eat as soon as hunger pains start. I almost always have non starchy veg with protein. Next to no pop and 8 to 10 glasses of water a day. I do use caffeine but am trying to cut down eliminate aspartame. I limit my starches to 15 grams a meal/snack. I have been being very good during the week and only weigh on wednesdays. That way I am not depressed if I put a pound or two over the weekend because every wednesday I have been down. Of course I am only 5 weeks into this and I may plateu soon. Another trick (I think) is I am not weight training as this adds pounds. Of course they are good pounds but I am so over weight I want to loose more before I start to train and get in shape. I figure I give my self one year to loose a hundred pounds and then I start working on physical fitness seriously. 3.5 years from now my wife and I celebrate our 20 year anniversary and we will rewed with me looking better than I have in 20 years. If all goes well and the Lord blesses we will celebrate our honeymoon in Hawaii. I am going to start walking as soon as the weather breaks. My work i s pretty physical so that helps some too. Let me know where you want to go to finish the other discussion.