I guess that I'm the one who commented on the possibility of gaining the weight back if you don't do all four phases of the plan. In my defense you do not mention that you have been on Atkins for 8 years in your profile or in any of your previous journal entries, so I apologize for not being a mind reader. From the information you posted it appeared that you were potentially going to skip some very important steps and I just wanted to make you think about not doing that. Heck, losing the weight is hard enough the first (or second, or third) time, I just hate to see people set themselves up for failure by not doing the plan correctly and then blame the plan. Yes, Atkins is a wonderful plan and I am happy that you have had success with it for 8 years.