Frequently Asked Questions

What are the main features of the Atkins Community?

The Atkins Community has been redesigned to create a streamlined community experience for people who are interested in health, nutrition and the Atkins way of life. You’ll find:

• Improved discussion forums
• Enhanced community features like customizable member profiles, community polls, ratings and comments
• Blog posts by nutrition experts
• Interactive tools to help you keep track of your progress and help you succeed, such as weight and carb trackers, private journal, saved recipes and a body mass index calculator.
• Product review pages where you can rate and review Atkins products
• Articles and classes where you can learn more about healthy nutrition
• Social tagging features that let you share content you like

To explore these features, click the Forums, Blog, Members and Product Review links at the top right corner of your screen, or login to your profile to access your personal interactive tools.

How do I use the interactive tools in my profile?

Registered Atkins Community members can access the interactive tools -- weight and carb trackers, private journal, and store saved recipes -- from their profile page. For information on how to use each of these tools, see our getting started page.

How do ratings work?

Registered Atkins Community members can rate site content, blog posts, products and instructors. The Ratings section of your member profile will list all the items you have rated. If you enjoyed a particular piece of content, a product or an instructor's posts, click the stars to rate the content, product or instructor. The stars will indicate the average rating among all users who have rated that content, product or instructor. If you're a community member, you can also rate other users' reviews and forum posts as helpful or Atkins-savvy.

What are the yellow stars under the content title, instructor name or product name?

These stars give you an interactive way to rate content, products or instructors on the Atkins Community. If you enjoyed a particular piece of content, a product or an instructor's posts, click the stars to rate the content, product or instructor. The stars will indicate the average rating among all users who have rated that content, product or instructor. If you'd like to see your rating, simply hover your mouse cursor over the stars. You can change your rating at any time by clicking the stars again.

How do I access my member profile, and what is in it?

Every registered member of the Atkins site has a basic member profile. You can access your profile by clicking Profile in the blue Welcome box at the upper right of your screen.

When you click Profile you can change your account settings, control your public profile, view your current and completed courses, and review your course and instructor ratings.

You can decide what information you want other students to see while on the message board. Your user name will be used to identify you on class rosters and message boards.

Your profile contains these sections:

• Bio: You can write a bio about yourself by clicking Edit your personal profile and scrolling down to the bio window. If you want others to see your bio, be sure to click the box that says: Display bio in public profile.
• City, State and Country: You can display your city, state and country by clicking Edit your personal profile and scrolling down to the bio window. If you want others to see your city, state and country, be sure to click the box that says Display Address in Public Profile.
• Avatar: This is the image that appears beside your user name in reviews and forum posts. You can upload an image by clicking Edit avatar. If you do not add your own image, a generic blue image appears beside your user name.
• Courses tab: This tab lists the courses you have enrolled in. You can also review courses here and fill out surveys.
• Ratings tab: This tab lists the ratings you have given courses and instructors.
• Posts tab: This tab lists all of your forum posts. It also lists how others have rated your posts as either helpful or Atkins-savvy.
• Reviews tab: This tab lists all of your Atkins product reviews. It also lists how others have rated your reviews as either helpful or Atkins-savvy.

To change profile information or change your account settings, click Edit your personal profile.

How do I customize my member profile?

Your member profile contains a variety of information about you, which you can choose to make public or not. To access your profile, click Profile in the blue Welcome box at the upper right of your screen. You can customize your profile in several ways:

• Bio: You can write a bio about yourself by clicking Edit your personal profile and scrolling down to the bio window. If you want others to see your bio, be sure to click the box that says: Display bio in public profile.
• City, State and Country: You can display your city, state and country by clicking Edit your personal profile and scrolling down to the bio window. If you want others to see your city, state and country, be sure to click the box that says Display Address in Public Profile.
• Avatar: This is the image that appears beside your user name in forum posts. You can upload an image by clicking Edit avatar. If you do not add your own image, a generic blue image appears beside your user name.

What is an avatar and how do I add one to my profile?

In addition to a basic user profile, which lists the current and past courses a user has enrolled in, a profile can include an avatar (graphic identity), which will be visible within a profile and also next to their reviews and forum posts. Access your profile by clicking Profile in the blue Welcome box at the upper right of your screen. To add an avatar, click Edit avatar, then click Browse to upload an image from your computer.

What are badges and how do they work?

You will see three different types of badges next to member user names on the Atkins site:

• Phase: The phase of the Atkins Diet the member is in: either 1, 2, 3 or 4. To earn this badge, members will provide information about their Atkins phase when they register. Learn more about Atkins phases.
• Helpful: Members earn this badge when their posts and reviews are rated helpful by other members. Members within the top 30 percent, receive Gold, Silver and Bronze badges.
• Atkins-savvy: Members earn this badge when their posts and reviews are rated Atkins-savvy by other members.

Members with the most Helpful and/or Atkins-savvy tags on their posts and reviews are given badges. The top 10 percent receive Gold badges, the next 10 receive Silver badges and the next 10 receive Bronze badges. The rankings are refreshed daily based on the number of tags received compared to other members of the community. If you're a user who has received one of these badges, your badge could be removed based on your activity and the number of ratings someone else received.

The badges look like this:

Phase 1  Phase 2  Phase 3  Phase 4

Helpful Gold  Helpful Silver  Helpful Bronze

Atkins-savvy Gold  Atkins-savvy Silver  Atkins-savvy Bronze

How do I change my Atkins Phase badge?

The Atkins Phase badge indicates the phase of the Atkins Diet you are in: either 1, 2, 3 or 4. Learn more about Atkins phases.

To change your badge, follow these steps:

1. Click Profile in the blue Welcome box at the upper right of your screen.
2. Click Edit your personal profile.
3. Scroll down to the Change Your Public Profile section. Follow the instructions to make the change.

My student profile information is incorrect. How do I change it?

To update your profile information, click Profile in the blue Welcome box at the upper right of your screen to access the profile page. From this page, click Edit your personal profile to:

• Change your password.
• Change your user name.
• Change your profile to change your e-mail address, name, location or bio.
• Change your e-mail opt-in.

Follow the instructions on the resulting pages to complete your profile information update.

How do I change my password?

You can change your password at any time. To create a new password for your profile:

1. Click Profile in the blue Welcome box at the upper right of your screen.
2. On the profile page, click Edit your personal profile.
3. In the Change Password section, enter your current password into the Current Password field.
4. Enter your new password in the New Password and Confirm New Password fields.
5. Click Save.

What if I've forgotten my password?

For your protection, your password is encrypted in our system. Because it's encrypted, we cannot look up your password information. However, you may follow these steps to have your current password reset to a new password:

1. Click Forgot your password? in the right sidebar.
2. Enter your e-mail address and click Submit.
3. Confirm that you want to reset your password by clicking Submit again.

Look in your e-mail in box for a message from Atkins with your new password. Use this password and your e-mail address to log into the Atkins site. This password will be a randomly generated password, so you may want to follow the instructions above to change this new password to one you can more easily remember.

What does the Share button on the Welcome box do?

You can share Atkins content with others by clicking Share in the blue Welcome box at the upper right of your screen. The Share button gives you quick access to some of the most popular social news and bookmarking sites. If you already have an account on del.icio.us, Digg, Technorati, or ma.gnolia, click the link for the appropriate service. You will be taken to a page where you can easily share Atkins content with others via your favorite social service. If you're not currently logged into the destination site, you may be asked to log in.

What is social tagging and how does it work?

You can share Atkins content with others by clicking Share in the blue Welcome box at the upper right of your screen. The Share button gives you quick access to some of the most popular social news and bookmarking sites. If you already have an account on del.icio.us, Digg, Technorati, or ma.gnolia, click the link for the appropriate service. You will be taken to a page where you can easily share Atkins content with others via your favorite social service. If you're not currently logged into the destination site, you may be asked to log in.

What if I don't already have an account on any of those social sites?

If you want to share Atkins with others but you don't have an account with any of the services listed, don't worry! Sign up with one or all of these sites by following these links:

• del.icio.us
• Digg
• Technorati
• ma.gnolia

Don't want to sign up with any new social sites? You can still share the site with friends and family by clicking the Invite a friend link.

How do courses work?

Atkins online courses are offered online and are accessible from any computer with an Internet connection. To enroll in a course, or learn more about it, click the Read & Learn button on the Atkins Community home page, then click the View button next to the course title. You can also access a course you're enrolled in by going to your profile (click Profile in the blue Welcome box at the upper right of your screen), then clicking the Courses tab to access the course.

Courses typically contain two to 10 lessons and include quizzes and assignments. These courses have a start and end date, and the course lessons are available at any time between those two dates.

During an active course session, you may interact with your fellow students and your instructor via the course discussion board.

We encourage you to rate and review courses and instructors; these ratings will appear in your member profile under the Courses and Ratings tabs.

Where do the courses take place?

Courses take place online and are accessible from any computer with Internet access.

How do I access my course transcript?

Your course transcript is a record of the courses you have enrolled in; it shows the lessons and assignments that you have completed as well as your quiz scores. To view your course transcript, click Profile in the blue Welcome box at the upper right of your screen. On your profile page, click Courses to view your past courses and your transcripts.

Can't find an answer to your question in the FAQ? Contact us for e-mail support.