Janet - hop aboard! Welcome! There is a post just below on Fat Flush - same idea as Atkins from what I see. I post on Diet Pals - we do EVERYTHING, anything, our own thing and basically just keep each other going. I have a friend who has been doing Atkins and has lost a lot of weight. Saw a very good health show of someone who has a lifetime of yo yo dieting and found Atkins suits her and her weight is now staying off - she loves meats, has learned to use the right types of fat (which you need) and still keeps her carbs at bay. My success has been with a more balanced diet - weight watchers. Whatever you decide to follow, feel free to make new friends, join any thread you like and ask questions. You could even start a new thread on whatever diet you choose. We love new faces around here and have lots of encouragement. I use this forum as a journal, every day to reinforce my commitment to myself, write about the bad days too - moods, foods and all - I dust myself off and try again. Whatever you decide to follow, please post no matter what. Hi ya, from Scotland! (I'm waving and yelling - youuu hooooo!) McPeg

I have this one and it's pretty good. I'm not wild about the rice krispies and keep thinking I'll replace them with something else, but I haven't figured out what to replace them with. It's still OK with them, but I'm leaning toward replacing them with frosted mini-wheat cereal. Homemade Granola POINTS® Value: 3 Servings: 12 Preparation Time: 10 min Cooking Time: 30 min Level of Difficulty: Moderate Each 1/2-cup serving of this healthy, homemade granola is drastically lower in fat than most store-bought varieties.  3 cup uncooked quick oats  2 oz ready-to-eat crisp rice cereal, about 2 cups  6 Tbsp honey  1 tsp canola oil  1/4 cup apple juice  1/2 tsp ground cinnamon  1/2 tsp ground ginger  1/2 tsp vanilla extract  1/4 cup slivered almonds  1/4 cup dried cranberries  1/4 cup raisins Preheat oven to 350°F. Mix uncooked oats and puffed rice cereal together and spread on a non-stick baking sheet with sides; bake for 10 minutes, stirring once. Meanwhile, mix honey, oil, apple juice, spices and vanilla together in a cup. When oats and puffed rice are done, spoon into a large bowl; set pan aside. Add almonds to cereal mixture and stir to combine. Pour honey-spice mixture over cereal mixture and mix thoroughly to distribute and coat completely; spread mixture back over pan. Return pan to oven and bake for 15 to 20 minutes more, stirring every few minutes. Remove from oven and spoon back into bowl. (Note: Be careful that granola doesn't burn - especially cereal along sides of pan.) Stir raisins and cranberries into mixture; let cool. Store in an airtight container. Yields about a half cup per serving. Annie

I have been on the "Fat to Skinny" diet which is 20 grams a day of carbs. I started the Monday after Thanksgiving..had no problems making it through Christmas and New Years. I was down 10 lbs. which seems a little slow for such a drastic diet.. but I am also hypothyroid. Last weekend I went to a birthday party dinner in which everything there was high carb.. so I ate that one meal and then went back to my 20 carbs a day diet. Weighed myself that Monday and had gained 5 lbs! Now I remember that low carb doesn't work well for me. I don't know why I thought it would work this time. I'm sticking to the plan this week since it does keep me away from sweets... but starting next week I'll start a higher carb diet that I had good results with in the past (I had to quit that because I had a bad case of systemic candida from antibiotics). The Fat to Skinny website does have some good informative videos and recipes. Good luck! Here is a link that might be useful: Fat to Skinny forum

Thanks Dawn. I'm loving the tortillas because while I can't stomach straight eggs anymore, I can handle a breakfast burrito just fine. I will have to try those rolls. I ordered some bagels online that I am curious about. I also found some cauliflower pizza crust at Whole Foods that was pretty good once loaded with toppings. I should probably stop trying to replace everything bad that I used to like with low-carb alternatives and instead focus on whole foods, but it's such a drastic change for me that I'm doing what I can to stick with it, even if it's not ideal. Like you said, maybe once I get used to it i'll simplify my eating. It's funny - I would have thought that it was my sweet tooth that was my downfall but it's clear that it's the bread that I'm missing. I haven't wanted anything sweet, probably because I hate the taste of artificial sweeteners and stevia. My original goal was under 20 net carbs but i've adjusted it to 30, which helps because my meat replacements all have a few carbs, and I'm able to eat a lot of vegetables (my brussels sprouts were taking up half of my daily carbs). Seems to still be working.