Exercise is NON Negotiable....

[*Lisa*]

Exercise is NON Negotiable if you are following Atkins. Says so in Dr. A's book.

I mean, not to boast or anything, but I do have a degree in the English language. I've read that part in the book (written in my 2002 English translation version) at least a dozen times and I understand what it means. And I mean no offense to anyone in any other language....I love languages, its my livelyhood . I'm just pointing out ahead of time that I am capable of reading and comprehending what I read---writing on the other hand, well, that's another degree later (I hope...lol).

I even made sure I understood what non negotiable means once before. I'm a lexicon nerd, I can't help it sometimes. Non-negotiable, basically you don't get to negotiate (or decide, debate) whether or not you choose to exercise or not while following this plan. It's plainly written right there in the book---exercise is non negotiable. And Dr. A goes on to say that if you're not exercising, you're not following Atkins.

Okay, so we're supposed to follow Induction to a "T"---two weeks, that's all it takes (we can go longer if we need to). Dr. A spelled out the whole plan in the book and why it works to add the rungs in one at a time. And he made sure to make a point in two places in the book that exercise is ESSENTIAL to losing weight successfully on Atkins.

And yet, I'm a little concerned why there's post that say "you don't need to exercise" or that someone admittedly (thank you for being honest, really. I appreciate it and hope we can help change that) that they don't exercise.

So, please forgive me, but I have one question that I really need answered because it's really frustrating to read post that say "you don't need to exercise" or " I don't exercise and I'm losing weight":

Where did readers and Atkins followers get that it is okay not to exercise while following this plan?

Thanks ahead of time answering my question because I'm just so darn confused about that. I mean, I could write a post 10 pages long why anyone should exercise and why we are required to exercise and what exactly exercise could consist of---but I'll save that for my dissertation for my Masters Degree

[gman]

I agree. Exercise is essential to good health. I think it's the best thing about doing Atkins. I am feeling a lot better. I know part of it is being off the carbs that cause a foggy always tired effect. But a bigger part is getting in shape with exercise. As an outcome I'm also more confident and more positive. If anyone is not exercising they are missing out. I encourage you to start small and work your way up. For me, biking was a great way to start. Now I bike, run, work out with weights, do the stability ball, push ups, sit ups...and plan to get into more activities. I'm having fun with it. I look forward to working out most evenings. It's good for my schedule, plus I figure I am burning up can carbs I have for lunch and dinner. I take a rest day once or twice a week. If anyone reading this is not yet exercising, I encourage you to start - you'll feel better and move into a healthier lifestyle.
Glenn

[Greeneggs&ham]

(OK already. I'll begin my C25K on Monday...)

I think most people who begin this WOE with a large midsection likely haven't exercised to this point and since we all like to procrastinate, we tend to put off any additional elements of the diet until we have our eating plan worked out. Think of us as preferring to ease into the shallow end rather than diving head first into the deep end on Atkins.

Then of course we have that big Induction WHOOSH that is fairly typical on Atkins and we think to ourselves, "Wow, I lost all that weight just by changing my eating habits. I didn't even have to exercise." And so we continue to follow the eating plan and don't give exercise a second thought until after we have complained about stalling for two weeks.

Now at this point a wise chick from Idaho might suggest adding exercise to our new lifestyle to get the weight loss in motion again, but since we haven't picked up a dumbbell in years and prefer not to sweat in our (now looser) clothes, we prefer to argue that it wasn't necessary the first few weeks so why now?

After a few more weeks without another big woosh, we give up on the plan and return to eating our ice cream, potato chips and sesame chicken. After all, Atkins is just another one of those gimmick diet plans that doesn't really work. I'd rather eat like every other obese American and work on my fitness level instead. Spoon to mouth. Spoon to bowl. Spoon to mouth. Spoon to bowl. Man, I can feel my forearms cramping already!

[fat4now]

Thanks *Lisa* for the little push. I could always use a nudge to get me going or motivated. Not only do I need to start exercising, i need to do it for life.

[Tuliedave]

Exercise can be very daunting for anyone who has never done any exercise! It is an essential component of good health. Weight loss is 80% diet, 20% exercise. It is easy for folks to say, "Well if exercise only counts 20% toward my weight loss, it can't be that important!" WRONG!!

Exercise increases blood flow, it increases the flexibilty of your vascular system, which makes it easier for the heart to move blood through your body (read lower BP!) and it stimulates your metabolism, plus more benefits than there is space to list here.

See your doctor before you start!!

Then walk a 100 yards if that is all you can manage. Each day or even every other day do a little more, walk farther or faster or both. If you exercise a little every day for six weeks it will become a habit. You will eventually feel terrible if you miss your exercise.

I'm almost 62 years old. I should have started trying to live another 20 years a long time ago. I didn't. I began an exercise program 6 months ago. Riding a bicycle, walking, then riding to the gym each morning at 6 am. Lifting weights and working upper body one day, lower body the next. I have recently added swimming to the routine.

For me it was exercise first and now I've returned to the Atkins lifestyle because I want to look as good as I feel. It isn't too late for me to try and live another 20 years or more. Even if I fail, the quality of the years I do have left will be much better! Exercise is "NOT OPTIONAL!".

[colleenieweenie]

You are SO right Lisa!

I was one of those people that thought you didn't have to exercise on Atkins...

Round 1 on Atkins was 6 years ago. I lost 29 lbs. I was 110 lbs and a skinny fat person. I lost so much muscle and looked awful nekkid. But I was happy fitting into a size 2 - that's what drove me -the # on the scale, the size clothing I wanted to be in.

Round 3 on Atkins (started Sept 2007), I hit the exercise HARD and it has made all the difference - I've got muscles! I feel confident enough to rock a bikini this summer. I like my butt! My butt cheeks don't clap when I run anymore. Soon, I should be able to bounce a quarter off my hiney

Exercise does SO much. It is NON-NEGOTIABLE - Great post!

[*Alexa*]

I can understand why people think it is ok not to exercise, because as much as the Atkins approach advocates exercise - it is easy to slip into thinking of the 'diet' as the food, and the rest as add ons.

Having said that, it is essential to exercise and I LOVE it. It's been kind of a long road to feel so good about exercise that I have to be careful not to overdo it. I think the way schools taught sports (not sure if true now) puts people off. I think there is scope for both competitive and individual activities. If I have children I'm going to try to help them see the fun of exercise early on too.

Tuliedave is right about starting slowly and building up. I started with light areobics tapes. About 2 years later I tried exercise biking and weights. I've also dalied with swimming, football, gym machine, areobics classes. Now kickboxing is my thing. Find something you enjoy - there is bound to be something!

[SunnySmile501]

Excellent thread! I think the reason is that out of every 10 people, at least a couple are going to take the easy way and only do the "diet" insomuch as they can do without being out of their comfort zone and still get some results. Then, in order to try and justify only doing the "diet" with less than full effort, they try to get other people to join in to say that you don't really have to follow the rules to get results.

It's the same with people not wanting to give up alcohol on induction and they make posts asking others to respond if they have continued to drink and have lost weight, nonetheless.

It's okay to do the 'diet' your own way, but just don't expect the same results as if you did follow the rules as they were written by the man that spent his career developing the diet for maximum weight loss and regained health. Dr. Atkins didn't like to exercise, but he did it anyway. The last thing he did in his life was walk to work on an icy, bitter-cold morning when he could have ridden in comfort in a warm car. He died practicing what he preached.

Sunny!

[liv]

Great reminder Lisa.
I have admit I was one of the persons who was reluctant to start to exercise. Just not something I had done before and I did not think I would like it all. So it took over a month before I reluctantly started something. And yes I started small and tentative but I started. Now I like it a lot. Exercise has probably become more important than the eating part of the diet for me. (I eat right - it is probably because I don't need to focus that much on the eating as it has become more old hat.)

[pstansel]

And part of the issue is in the first week, most of us feel like crap So yes, I plan to resume exercise. I just need to have enough energy to open my eyes in the afternoon first