I went off Thanksgiving for the Holidays. Just starting back today. For more than a month it seemed to be staying off, but whamo.... today it is all back.
So I am starting over. I eat everything though.. I did not watch my intake of carbs. It was the holidays remember? Well, because I did not gain I just kept eating.. so now I pay the price.

I do not have any info about maintaining with low fat eating habit so I can not help you there. But if you have just recently started this, it might be awhile before it show back up so be careful. Starting over sucks...

Diana

When I switched to maintence, I only ate foods in the "#1 Eat Regularly" Atkins list. I still gained 10 pounds in 6 months.

It's not just maintaining the weight loss. If you go back to high cab/low fat, the insulin resistance, high triglycerides and worsened cardiac profile would be back in a hurry even if you did manage to maintain your weight.
A lot of us got where we are through high carb/low fat/just watch your calories. I for one don't plan on going back.

With in the last 6 months I lost 20 lbs. on atkins and starting at Thanksgiving I starting cheating. Sure enough within a few short weeks 18 lbs. piled back on. I could see this layer of fat all over my body. I didn't just binge out on refined carbs. I indulged in boiled pinto beans with avocado, parmesean cheese, diced onions with salsa, ( I live in mexico). Then I enjoyed quesadillas with corn tortillas, apples and some rice. I didn't pig out on starchy desserts it was stuff that I thought might not that bad, it was natural foods. Any way it did come back and I am bummed about it. I think with doing atkins its pretty much all or nothing. In the book it said a bite of refined carbs can mess things up for a week. And thats how it started for me, a bite here and there. I feel with consuming the amounts fats that you do in lc eating and combining that with to much carbs you heading for double trouble. I feel that with this recent weight gain it is much more cellulite type fat, and thats becasue of the fats you eat when eating low carb. I am still struggling to get through induction and kill the cravings and decrease my appetite again. I haven't been real faithful about carb counting, but atkins said just to add 5 carbs extra a week and see if you can maintain your weight and then up it another 5 carbs until you start gaining. I haven't made it that far yet. Lot of luck to you!

Man I went off in october wondering if I could switch to the point system and I lost my mind I ate dohnuts,cake with thick icing ,cookies by the hundreds.I loss my mind and I had to get control because I did't like the way I felt.I gained 15 wopping pounds back!!! I started Induction over again 1/8/04 and I have lost 4lbs. already.I missed this WOE and plan to go all the way this time!

This is my third time, the other two times I gave up after 3 or 4 months discouraged by a stall and went back to eating the same junk (soda pop, candy, pasta, tons of bread) that I got fat on in the first place.

In theory it does work for me - cutting back on calories to maintain my weight. The problem is, that i am always hungry when I do that. Eating complex carbs and sugars leaves me hungry and I do believe it is a chemical problem for my body. Carbs also set off cravings for me - the more I eat the more I want! So for someone like me it isn't really about moderation it is about what the food is. I love candy and when I eat it I cannot stop...first it is hours, then it is days, then weeks, then I have gained once again. Alas, this is how I got fat in the first place.......trying to be "moderate" with foods that I cannot be moderate with . Orchid

I don't plan to stop, but this story might be helpful to you:
For several years I worked out 1-2 hours a day, almost every day, and ate high carb, mostly low fat. I weighed 150 pounds and was a size 12.
Now I weigh 147 and my size 10's are BAGGY.
This makes me think that even if you kept the weight off, you wouldn't be the same size in clothes.

ADKPam, this is off topic, but I absolutely love your signature line, or whatever it's called. "If you are going through hell, keep going!"

My favorite quote thus far!

~Debbie~LoveSong~

Hi rose7,
I believe there are as many reasons WHY people gain weight back as there are people who do gain it back.

I had originally lost 85#'s following this wol and successfully kept it off for about 3.5 years. Unfortunately when my fibro myalgia flared up in the summer and a huge depression with it I threw all care and knowledge out the window. It took about 4 months for me to gain about 20#'s back.Slowly I introduced more of the white foods (flour, sugar, potatoes, etc...) a little here and a little there. It didn't stay just a little though, quickly my body thought it needed more and more of these foods. The cycle had begun.

You see I AM a carbohydrate addict. I can no more eat just a little of these things and quit than an alchoholic can have just one drink and quit or a drug addict can have just one hit and quit. I have discovered thru this forum that there are many, many people that are in the same boat as me. The real kicker is that many fruits and some of the vegetables have the same affect on my body (sugar addiction) as the raw sugars do. This doesn't explain how everyone is but this is my story. Fortunately I am now back in control and have been for about 3 weeks. I know moderation will never work for me. Blessings, Karen