Atkins Diet

Anyone following this diet? It's the only one that works for me. But lately, I haven't had much success because I don't know what to snack on after eating meat all the time. And the stores no longer sell low carb bread or anything like they used to 3-5 years ago

I used it to lose weight after my second baby.  It worked, but did not last.  It's not a life style that I can maintain long term.  In addition, I find that if I keep my carbs too low for a few days, I seriously overeat on the third or fourth day.  It's as if my body takes over, says "FEED ME" and I have no choice but to obey.  A macronutrient balance of 30% fats, 30% protein, and 40% carbs works best for me.  Others find they need a little more or less carbs.  Everyone is different in what works best for them.  But completely cutting out a macronutrient doesn't really work and is not very healthy, IMO.  Good luck though, whatever you decide.

Original Post by jaylamaria123:

It's the only one that works for me. But lately, I haven't had much success...

I hate to be contradictory but it clearly doesn't work for you... or you wouldn't be overweight and having to lose weight again.  As laura42 says.. it works, but it doesn't last.   The 'what to snack on' problem when most fruits are off-limits is a typical problem Only the most die-hard Atkins fan can stomach eating yet another chicken leg or hard-boiled egg with a smile....   it's not a way of eating that fits with traditional meals.   If you want to get to a healthy weight and stay there it really does pay to move away from the fad 'quick-fix' diets and find a way of living ... sensible food choices, portion control and exercise... that you can see happily continuing with for the rest of your natural.

Good luck

Read this - it's important to know

Popular Diets Tested

Igor wrote it.  He references an article about a study done using 4 different diets.  It turns out that all that matters is the calories.  Doesn't matter if it's low carb, low fat, high protein or what.  People lost weight on all four diets and the only factor in common was the calorie content.

I hope this study puts the last nail in the bogus Atkins coffin.

I know Atkins helped some people to get healthier, but it is a system that is easy to abuse.  The only real life people I know who did it all gained the weight back.  And while they were using it, they would eat tons of saturated fat but sneer at a heart healthy whole grain.  NOT a healthy way to eat!  I believe Atkins has caused much more harm than good.  And now we have a whole generation of folks that think all carbs are bad.

I can't see that Igor's post shows that Adkins is bogus.  It only affirms that calorie counting works for weight loss no matter how you place the calories.  I don't know about other here, but my weight/diabetes problems stemmed from eating way too many high GI carbs.  If you can sustain a high protein diet more power to you, but don't forget to count the calories and eat your vegetables and fruit.

i have done atkins before and, yes it is very limiting in the beginning, but if you read the book you'll see that you eventually end up adding carbs back into your plan so that it is sustainable for life.  having said that, i am not doing atkins because at the end of the day clairelane and gijane are right that having a calories is the focus of any diet plan really, whether they tell you or not.   I understand that low carb is the only thing that feels right for you.  I'm the same way.  I like to keep my carbs around 30% of my calories especially since Im insulin resistant.   The weird thing is that somehow after a few months of low carbing my appetite became so suppressed that i actually ended up undereating and had to start counting calories again to make sure that i was eating enough.   Its been two weeks since I have started eating MORE and watching my calories and I've lost 6 lbs somehow when I had previously been stalled for about a month.   Overall,  I think it'd probably be easier to sustain a low carb life if you allow yourself good carbs while still keeping the percentage of your total calorie intake low.  To me that is sustainable and I still feel as energetic and overall awesome as I always do when I eat low carb.

edit:  personally, the carbs i usually allow myself are beans, ezekiel bread (really fancy whole grain bread), any vegetable, some fruit every once in a while, and carbs from nuts and seeds.  i havent tried eating pasta or rice yet and i dont know if i will.  they always make me feel so unbelievably lethargic and starving for more when i eat them.

HI, I tried the Atkins diet some years ago and managed to stay with it for about 1 year or so... I was very successful during that time period, and lost a lot of weight, but eventually I was not able to stick with it.  It can become very expensive because you have to find the low carb products, and you couldn't eat other normal foods that contain carbs.  I was also feeling weak, like I wasn't getting the nutrients that I needed.  I ended up quitting the diet, and found myself gaining weight again shortly thereafter.  I pesonally wouldn't recommend it... I have found different methods of weight loss that work a lot better for me, and are healthier.

I did it. I lost 8 pounds in the first month, but it slowed after that. Also it was very restrictive and un-fun. I hated eating burgers with no buns. I got low blood sugar and felt dizzy and ick several times, to the point that I would carry some lifesavers candy with me for just such an emergency. I was tired. I went back to normal eating and gained it all back plus some.

I started calorie counting in May or June of 08, and by December (I think, I'm not bothering to go look, but it was around then) I had lost about 35 pounds and obtained my goal weight. Now I am maintaining, still at my goal weight, and not on any restrictive regimen. I eat regular home cooked meals most of the time, with large portions of veggies and smaller portions of starch, meat, and bread.. I snack on fruit, nuts, hummus toast, veggies.. Sometimes I go out to eat and I usually try to make a reasonably healthy choice, and not overeat. Now and then I splurge on some fried poppers or something, but if I do that I make sure to keep the rest of my meals  low-calorie for the day. There's no effort to it anymore, it's just the way I eat and I am not missing out at all! My diet (meaning in this case the things that I eat, not method of losing weight) is satisfying and delicious!

I tried it and lasted just days. I felt sick, and while I did read in Atkin's forums that everyone went through phases of feeling dizzy, having headaches or stomach upset (namely, constipation..not much fiber in cheese/meat/eggs)

But I just couldn't deal with it. I felt nauseous, my head hurt..I had a weird taste in my mouth, and my stomach felt all bloated probably from the lack of fiber.

I know it works very well for some. An old co worker of mine dropped nearly 100 pounds, but he did end up gaining most of that back within 1-2 years.

I think it can be reasonably healthy if you're using chicken breast and green vegetables rather than say, lots of fatty red meat and cheese. In the co-worker's case, he was eating a lot of fat, sodium and cholesterol in a day, so while he lost weight, that can't have been good for his arteries or heart.

He died in his fifties from a heart attack, actually, but this came several years after his Atkin's, and he'd been severely overweight (5'8 and around 400 lbs) for a long time, so I'm certainly not saying the diet caused his death.

He was overweight to the point of sleeping on oxygen machine at night, and having dangerously high blood pressure, so I just don't think in his case that all the fatty food was a good diet plan at all.

I do wonder what his outcome would have been if he'd used a more traditional method..something a lot lower in bad fats and higher in fiber.

It's sad.

I am sorry, I don't mean to rip on anybody, but this diet makes me so freeken mad!  Did you know that Dr. Atkins died of heart disease?  This is the most horrific diet ever created.  It is horrible for your health and it should NOT BE DONE!!!!  Humans are NOT carnivores.  We actually are herbavores with the ability to digest meat, it is an ability we evolved during a time in the past of starvation.  But our primary food source should be now, and has always been plants.  There have been studies to show that the Atkins diet causes mood swings, and aggressive behavior because it literally starves the brain.  The brain uses 1/5 of our total energy, and it runs off of, not protien, but carbohydrates.  You starve yourself of carbs, you literally starve your brain.  Humans NEED carbs, it is our primary source of energy. 

Good carbs are those found in fruit, bananas, pears, watermelon, etc.  Bad carbs are Twinkees, Oreos, etc. 

Good carbs (fruit and veggies) = good, weight loss, healthy and long life

No carbs (meat, meat, and more meat) = TEMPORARY wieght loss, heart disease, diebeties, (eventually death) etc.

Bad carbs (Tweekies and Hoo Hoo's) = fat

If you want to do a drastic diet, go the healthy way and become a fruitarian.  Please, don't kill yourself on the Atkins diet.   Horrible, horrible, horrible diet.  Please, for your own health, do not do that diet. 

i read that he died of a head injury from slipping and falling and gained a huge amount of weight while being bed-ridden from the injury.   there is so much conflicting stuff out there about whether low carb or higher fat than carbs is good or bad.   There are low carb websites out there that I've belonged to that have forums just like this site, and the people never count calories and eat very low carb/high fat and they have lost hundreds of pounds and have perfect cholesterol, blood pressure, etc.     For every low fat promoting scientific study there is another low carb/high fat promoting study.  I choose not to believe any of them.  I go by what my body feels best on.   Some people absolutely cant handle low carb while others swear its a miracle method for being healthy.   

At the end of the day though, calories always matter.  There arent any programs out there that are just exempt from the concept of eating less than you burn. 

edit:  also, cesty i have never felt better than when i started lowering my carb intake (good and bad carbs).   once i did an extremely low carb diet and i actually ended up feeling sick anytime i ate the slighest bit of carbohydrates.  that is most definately unhealthy.  however, since eating lower carb in a less extreme way I noticed an instant improvment in my wellbeing.  No more mood swings, brain fog, or constant fatigue.  I used to have panic attacks all the time and havent since i started eating low carb.  I also used to take naps in the day everyday and I havent since cutting back on carbs.   Any diet taken to the extreme is probably bad, but lowering your carbs is wonderful for some people.   If you do atkins and eat meat and cheese everyday for the rest of your life, then yes that is unhealthy.   But its also unhealthy to take pure calorie counting to the extreme that you are starving yourself.   Any eating plan can be taken to the extreme and cause health problems.

Do you have the Atkins books? There are plenty of options that aren't meat. I think people who try "Atkins" without guidance are definitely setting themselves up to fail.

I followed a medical "modified Atkins" diet (Ketogenic diet) to manage a seizure disorder. Calories definitely count, but I also found myself pretty full most of the time from all the fats required in a ketogenic diet (read: not Atkins; it's a medical diet)

However, I find that when I'm deprived of anything for a long period of time I start to want it more. I became unsatisfied simply because the "low carb" versions of my favourite foods, e.g. pancakes, just weren't pancakes. You know?

I was, however, exposed to a vast Low Carb community who live very satisfied low carb (even no carb) lives. I think you have to do what works for you. If you're not having success or you find yourself stuck, it's time to do something else.

Unfortunately the diet did not improve my seizure frequency, but I found a new med combo that does. AND I get to eat pancakes. Awesome.

Cesty, Dr. Atkins actually did not die of heart disease. He died after a 9 day coma brought about by a fall on an icy day.

And the Atkins diet isn't actually that bad for you. Common misconception: You eat only meat, cheese, eggs, etc.

No, that's an abuse of the high fat, low carb system. You're supposed to get a majority of your daily allowance of carbohydrates from vegetables with low carb counts, like lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, etc while forsaking the ones with high carbs, like potatoes and corn. And if you paid attention to the phases after induction, you'd know that after a few weeks, you're allowed to eat fruits and nuts again.

It's not unhealthy. I've had family members drop 50 cholesterol points on Atkins. Yah, eating high fat and a lot of meat. Go figure. And your brain is made almost entirely of fat. Therefore, it needs fat, not carbs. Anyway. Maybe you shouldn't get mad if you don't know anything about it.