atkins buddy

I have strarted atkins, and was wondering if anyone has any advice or has done atkins?

Yes...good luck!  I'm gonna go eat a piece of cake ;)

LOL @ finewine!! That is so messed up!! Anyhow, seriously, Atkins is fine if you want to lose weight, but to keep it off, you need a lifestyle change not a diet.

I tried it, and I lasted less than a week.  I'm not a big meat eater anyway, and I hate cutting out whole food groups or making certain foods off limits.  For me, it's easier to count calories.  My friend and her husband did Atkins and both lost a lot of weight, but their cholesterol went way up, so they stopped and ended up gained most of it back.  I agree with lilborykuamami, to lose weight and keep it off, you really need a lifestyle change.  That being said, if you still want to do Atkins, I wish you luck, and I hope it works for you!

If I might make a suggestion, if you are looking to do a low carb diet I believe that the South Beach Diet is much healthier for you because it also concentrated on low fat, which atkins does not.  Additionally, the South Beach (in the later stages) incorporates more healthy eating habits that are great to maintain after the first two weeks.

I have known many people that have followed South Beach and have found it easier to keep the weight off as opposed to those that have been on Atkins and either the weight has come back or they have experienced other health problems (much like what cecilyb03 mentioned)

When I started this journey almost a year ago, I started with the Atkins diet.  The first 20 pounds I lost on this; however, then I ended up in the hospital having my gall bladder removed.  It's not a particularly healthy diet to follow, so from my own experience, I'd recommend you look toward a healthier, more balanced diet option.  It needs to be a lifestyle change, not a temporary fix.  The Atkins diet doesn't provide adequate nutrition to meet basic daily needs AND it pretty much forces your body into a starvation mode.  The upside is that you don't feel hungry on this diet.

Hey there,

I did atkins for about 3 months.
First 2 weeks I lost 8llbs. then around 3 per week for the next few weeks.
Then I started to gain, lots and quickly too - I stuck to the programme, addidng in carbs slowly and in the recommended order. It was so frustrating! I was weighing myself daily and getting really upset.
I ended up about 8llbs over the weight that I started at.

So - I had a break from dieting for a while. To let my body get used to eating grains and carbs again.

Then I found this site:
I (along with some great advice and good tools) have lots around 9llbs, I have another 7/8 to get to my goal and I know that I will reach it.

Atkins is a quick fix - not a solution.

A balanced diet (with the odd treat - daily if calories allow) and excersise really are the key.

Good luck 8)

I would like to add my Atkins experience...

Last Fall I lost about 40 pounds (quickly, in 3 months or so..?) doing Atkins.  My family kept telling me that cutting out all carbs was NOT healthy but I didn't care, I just wanted to lose weight.

I felt horrible ~ exhausted, crabby, P'ed off~ all the time.  I was always yelling at people.  I was NOT HAPPY.

Please reconsider what others here have said, and don't just cut out all carbs, and try to not eat high fat, or restrict too much!

Take care!

I lost over 60 lb son Atkins last year. It was great and it happened very quickly. I had to add carbs back slowly though. Much slower than the program calls for. I stayed on the intro 2 weeks for about 2 months. (No more than about 20 net carbs per day) Now that I have baby weight to lose, I look to Atkins again. It is good if you can stick to it. You need to go from Atkins to a low carb lifestyle. It is hard but you can do it with willpower!! Good luck.

Diets don't work because you end up going off of them and then you gain it all back. My sister did Atkins and lost some weight but she couldn't stick with it and gained it all back and then some. I gotta say, I'm loving South Beach. The first 2 weeks is Atkins-esque but after that you've got a great way to eat for life. I geniunely like the food I eat, I'm losing weight and I'm rarely hungry. Been doing it since April, and don't see any reason to change back to my old ways. 

Atkins is not a bad choice, although if you are a carb addict atkins will be very difficult and might be a waste of your time.

The first two weeks seem a little more restrictive but the later phase of the diet seems nutritionally adequate to me.

Good Luck!

People keep saying that diets don't work. Especially the Atkins diet. I believe crash diets don't work - but Atkins is a lifestyle change with a dramatic intro. The first couple of weeks can be difficult. I think only the first few days are hard - after that I have more energy and I don't feel like I need a nap after meals. Slowly carbs are added back into the diet till you are close to the weight you want to be. You will probably need to be low carb forever - to keep all of the weight off - but I think it would be better to eat a few less carb and fit into the skinny jeans :)

Good luck!!

i tried Atkins a couple years ago. i lost about 15 lbs the first 2 or 3 weeks...and then stopped and gained it all back plus more. it makes you cut way too many carbs. i was always soo tired and had no energy. honestly, i wouldn't recommend it, but that's just me. it's up to you. good luck either way!

I did Atkins and lost a lot of weight about 5 years ago.  I bounced back with a vengeance.  If you cheat just a little bit on Atkins, it hits you much harder than if you cheat a little on almost any other diet.  Some people find they can make the lifestyle change.  I couldn't. 

From my limited experience (I know maybe a dozen people who've seriously done Atkins), I think men find this a lot easier to do than women -- I know a few guys who "revisit" Atkins for a few months every time they want to get back into shape, and then go back to their usual thing, and keeping that up occasionally works for them.  They seem to drop pounds FAST on Atkins and don't need to stay on it for long.  But all the women I know who've tried Atkins and lost weight have gained MUCH more weight after easing into the "maintenance" stage of it, and almost universally agree that they can never get back into Atkins again.

Minor but unpleasant side effects -- because of the whole ketosis thing, your breath always smells different, and not in a great way.  And your pee smells weird too.  And peeing daily on those ketosis strips to make sure you're in a state of ketosis is a huge pain. 

Consider Zone or South Beach.  Or just CC and good nutritional advice.  =)  Good luck!

Be careful when you're doing Atkins.  My boyfriend and I tried it a couple of years ago.  Because the diet requires you to cut out very important vitamins and nutrients, it really messed with my chemistry and my personality changed very quickly.  I became very mean and depressed.  My boyfriend decided that we needed to stop the diet before it got any worse and/or created any long-lasting problems.

I started doing what i think is an alternative Atkins diet 3 weeks ago. I lost 4 kgs so far.

So i did the 2 week induction and now i'm in week1 of phase2.

Basically what i didn't like in the diet was all the fatty food that you are supposed to eat like cream , fried stuff, cheeses etc

So, i stick to the Atkins acceptable food list but still do my calorie counting , so i never had any cream or very fatty cheese or anything fried.

I have my grilled meat and  fish which i love anyway and all the vegetables i'm allowed. And i add some cheese (feta cheese usually) and egg (not every day)

When i need a sweet i have one of the Atkins milk chocolate bars which taste yummy

Now that i'm on phase 2 i will be increasing my carbs by 5g each week

I will add milk next week which i am missing terribly and then nuts, fruit, alcohol, beans,grains, potatoes, pasta and at the end sugar but slowly slowly, all these while still counting my calories so i always have a 500-800 deficit (i think this is mega important). The way i see it, if i have a deficit in calories, how can i start putting weight by adding more carbs?

I don't find that i'm being deprived of a lot really (except for milk at the time being and fruit which i will add shortly anyway).

So, soon i will have a nutritionally balanced diet while not going crazy on the amount of carbs i consume.For my bodytype, i know that startch is what was responsible for my weight gain as i loved it and overdid it.

Has anyone tried it like this? Have you had any bad results health - wise?(cholesterol etc).

I hope it works. If it does, i will let you know!

 

Do some more research. Read up on Kitosis, which is the state your body goes into with zero carbs. Any plan that promotes high fat and no carbs does not sound like a good long term solution.
Check out South Beach, or Body For Life, they both promote "balance" as the key!

I think you have to understand how a low-carb diet works.  The first week or two you lose weight rapidly because your body is using up its carbohydrate & glycogen stores.  Every ounce of glycogen is attached to 4oz of water so the initial loss can be impressive.  However, should you reintroduce carbohydrates, the reverse happens and you blow up like a life vest with the toggle pulled.

After the initial drop, the dieter is then usually taking in fewer calories than normal.... no pasta, no bread, no potatoes.... so they lose weight as they would on any other calorie-restricted diet.   They can do this relatively easily because fat and protein act as appetite suppressants.   All the pseudo-scientific stuff about ketosis being the magic factor is complete rubbish.  Anyone consuming more calories than they use up in exercise will gain weight, regardless of whether or not they are eating carbohydrates.

If you believe the Atkins industry a high fat, high protein, low-carb diet is very healthy.  But a high fat, high protein, high carb diet is what kills most people in the Western World.  Slip up on Atkins, pig out on a few carbs alongside the heavy cream, and that's what you end up on.... cholesterol levels sky-high, blood-pressure to match, gall bladder groaning...

A better way to lose weight without eliminating a very important food group is to drastically reduce/eliminate refined, starchy carbohydrates and sugars from your diet BUT to enjoy smaller amounts of wholegrain, unprocessed carbohydrates instead.  Then make sure you are having a portion of lean protein at each meal.  The combination of fibre and lean protein together will reduce the appetite making it possible to eat rather less than normal without feeling hungry.

 

My husband and I are big meat eaters, so Atkins was perfect for us, we have not had any of the low energy, crabbyness etc... that others have complained about.

We also have our own garden so the veggie part was easy we just planted and grew what we would be needing.

IF your not a meat person then Atkins is not for you,   like with any diet plan you have to use common sense (which by the way isn't so common anymore!!!)

Original Post by irisguevara:

I have strarted atkins, and was wondering if anyone has any advice or has done atkins?

I have done atkins few years ago. It it is a great diet if you want to lose weight fast, but it is very unhealthy and as soon as you touch a carb you will gain it all back. The best advice i can give you is to start eating healthy and in smaller portions,you won't lose weigh as fast as with the atkins but i can guarantee you that you will keep it off.

I almost forgot, after 3 months dieting with the atkins i stopped getting my period, thats how bad it is!