ratbastid

Nobody's "stuck" with anything. It's all a matter of chemistry.

If you treat Atkins like a "diet"--something you use to drop some pounds and then quit--you'll have the same results as any other "diet". You'll gain the pounds back, and they'll bring some friends with them.

If you treat it as it's designed--a lifestyle, a fundamental change in the way you eat--you'll lose weight and be more healthy for good.

Jay Francis

I sympathize. I just finished two weeks of my own version of the South Beach/Atkins diet, namely, giving up starches and sugars. One of the lifesavers for me was discovering Russell Stover sugar free chocolates (mint patty and toffee) to help with the cravings.

Now, though, I don't crave rice or bread or starches. Well, maybe just a little.

I really had a hard time finding something for lunch. I ended up at Indian fast food restaurants ordering grilled kebabs.

Boo

My experiences:

Male, 40, Was 232, now 200 since march 03. Lowest was 196, goal mid 180 or when my pre-stop smoking pants fit again -5.

Currently day 5 in a modified induction mode (>20 carbs, caffeine and hard alcohol are allowed), I have nasty breath and my pee stinks too. The keto sticks are a beautiful dark maroon woohoo! On the road again.

Last 2 times, after the induction flu, I felt awesome. Unfortunately I believe I have a bit of real crud to go with it this time. Motrin helps alot.

Learnings:

Read the book every day. You get more out of it each time something applies to where you are currently at.

During your first induction. Follow it by the book, strickly.

Stop eating when you are full. You will eat less and less. When coming off diet. Force yourself to start with smaller portions. Avoid binge foods.

BEFORE A MEAL take the supplements. You may wake up at 4 AM screaming with a huge cramp in your calf if you don't. Yes this happened to me. I added fish oil, and oyster shell calcium this time. Take a daily dose of 100% Psyllium Fiber, or other fiber source OR YOU MAY PAY BY PASSING A BRICK!

Hidden carbs are everywhere. If the stick is not showing ketosis you are getting carbs somewhere. I know, 6 days no ketosis. Finding: Sugar free DIABETIC throat losenges. No carbs on label. My buddy had problems with sugar free gum.

Water. Drink like you want to wet the bed. Easy on the alcohol or you might LMAO.

Alcohol.... only hard stuff which has no carbs. Watch the mixers too. I like a rum and sugar free, caffeine free pepsi before bed.

After induction, add in the "evils" in your life 1 a week. Caffeine may be the reason I am having muscle aches. Try to isolate any health problems to food choices in your diet.

Read the sucesses of others. Learn from their mistakes.

Know the diet. No progress is from ignorance or cheating.

You MUST have some carbs. 20 per day doesn't mean LESS either. Natives of Alaska have starved eating a caribou only diet. No fat, no carbs = starvation.

Menu/Recipes.

Taco salad, without the chips. Easy and yummy. Add sour cream, guacamole, black olives (remember to add the carbs)

Pizza, eat the roof, throw the rest at the dog. OR

Make a mix of ground meat, mushrooms, pepperoni, green pepper, onions, in a pan. Add low carb sauce (tomato sauce, spices and sugar replacement) and melt cheese on top. Yummy and nukes at work well too.

No time for eggs in the am. I eat a beef Buddig and a cheese stick during the drive into work.

Lean ham cubes, mustard with a salad and a pickle.

I make omlets and other egg stuff on weekends to break up the week.

Shrimp, I made some awesome shrimp and dipped it in low carb cocktail sauce.

Mexican style food is easy and I love it. Just leave out the beans, corn and shells.

No bean chile. Use lots of meat steak or burger. Season well.

Chile rellenos (modified), anaheim pepper with meat and cheese melted in the middle. The grill adds flavor. YUMMY X2.

Lastly:

After day 5 weigh every AM after peeing but before anything else. Then start the day with a large glass of luke warm water. If you do this for a while you will see the benefits (fewer hunger pains too)

Use keto sticks. They really tell you that you are doing it right. Don't assume you are in ketosis.

Move. Walk. Chase the S.O. aroung the house neked, but move.

Good luck!

Plan9Senior

Putting your body into a catabolistic state is not smart. Nor is remaining in ketosis for long periods of time.

You have lost 30 lbs in the span of 7 months which isn't exactly remarkable progress and you could have done it quicker and with less hassle if you would have just followed a caloric deficit balanced diet.

Hedgehog

Plan9, that's mighty condescending.

A low-cal, low-fat diet simply does not work for everyone. Most everyone on the Atkins diet has spent a lifetime trying to lose weight that way and failing.

And most importantly, the most recent studies show that the form of ketosis under the Atkins diet is beneficial and not harmful in any way.

Every time someone mentions Atkins in a thread, you come around to bash it, but have no facts to back it up. When someone else contradicts you with links to actual studies, you disappear.

Why do you have to rain on someone else's parade like this? Do you have some sort of agenda?

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Wait a minute! Where am I, and why am I in this handbasket?

Plan9Senior

I am very against it, I don't consider it an agenda, just against it. I am a personal trainer irl and work with many people on it. I don't like the negative effects it has on the people's energy levels who are on this diet and I also am a firm believer in not fucking with our system like this. Another thing that bothers me about this diet is that almost all fiber comes from carb food. Not getting enough fiber causes all kinds of internal problems in the colon area. There is an old medical saying- "All problems begin in the colon." This is due to the fact the waste builds up on the inside and isn't properly eliminated with a normal diet. Take away your fiber and you are asking for problems. Another reason a high protien diet is bad is that it stresses out your heart and liver. Huge amounts of protein and no carbs means higher cholestrol and clogged arteries.

Another downside of low-carb diets is that they severely restrict fruit and vegetables (as these contain carbohydrate). This means the diet is low in beneficial antioxidant vitamins and low in fiber, all of which increases the risk of heart disease, cancers and bowel disorders.

High-protein diets may also increase calcium excretion, which may reduce the health of bones and cause osteoporosis (weak bones).

There are also concerns about the impact of this high-protein diet on the kidneys, which have to work harder as there are more toxins that need filtering out in our urine. And this is a particular worry for people with diabetes, as the condition already increases the risk of kidney disease.

You can lose weight on the Atkins diet. In fact, you probably will lose weight fast this way. You could lose weight even faster by using cocaine, but that doesn't make it a good idea.

Oh, and me disapear when somebody contradicts me? Funny, thats news to me. I don't exactly hover over threads to see the replies. I simply put my .02 and hope that anybody who is thinking about getting on this diet and thinks that Plan9 sorta 'knows his shit' will re-think it and try a normal balanced diet instead.

You want facts that warn of the negative effects of the atkins diet? Go read their site... it has all the warnings on it. Better yet, google it. For somebody like yourself, mr. hedgehog, who seems to be pretty confident about the Atkins diet, you dont really need me to show you any links that show the negative things about Atkins because you are already set in your ways.... and people like you I am not concerned about changing their minds. Hows that for "dissapearing when somebody contradicts me"?

ratbastid

What's fucking with our system is the glut of junk carbs most people eat these days. The lifetime approach to the Atkins way of eating is NOT about being in ketosis permanently, it's about breaking the carb addiction most of us walk around suffering from.

Atkins Myth #1: It calls for you to cut out fiber.

Atkins very clearly recommends alternate sources of fiber. I'm doing 3000mg of Psyllium Husk daily, myself. I've never been so regular. Fiber intake isn't counted into your carb load for the day--it's a freebie.

Atkins Myth #2: It gives you high cholesterol and is bad for your heart

ALL the studies done about this show a marked decrease in cholesterol levels and a dramatic improvement in all blood lipid levels. This assertion that it's bad for the heart is patently false and has been disproven many times.

Atkins was a CARDIOLOGIST for crying out loud...

Atkins Myth #3: You don't get to eat vegetables. (I'll deal with fruit in a minute.)

I'm eating more veggies on Atkins than I have since I left home and my mommy quit making sure I ate right. Today with Lunch I had a big spinach salad and a double-handful of steamed broccoli with butter. The Atkins Diet REQUIRES vegetables, cannot be done WITHOUT eating vegetables. To say otherwise is simply incorrect.

The Atkins Diet as laid out by Dr. Atkins in Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution calls for people not to eat fruits for PRECISELY seven weeks. On the eighth week, fruit is to be added back into the diet, starting with the lower-carb fruits--berries, mostly.

Explain to me how abstaining from any type of food for seven weeks causes heart disease, cancer or bowel disorders?

Now, I grant you, many people do something they call The Atkins Diet which is NOT the way of eating created by Dr. Robert Akins. I can't speak for any damage those people do to themselves. It is possible to hurt yourself doing a zero carb diet, or staying too low on carbs for too long, but if you're doing that, you're NOT doing Atkins. If you're still eating 20 grams of carbs a day on your 4th week and you don't have more than 100 lbs to lose, then you're NOT doing Atkins. If you're on your sixth week and you haven't progressed up the Carb Ladder (the WHAT!?) you're NOT doing Atkins.

All those people you work with who are experiencing low energy... Dollars to donuts they're doing their own personal version of Atkins. I'm NOT defending anything that might come as a result of that. I say, follow a plan that's worked for millions of people over the last thirty years, you're probably ok. Go off on your own, and you're probably asking for trouble. This includes people who treat it like a crash diet--like thinking that the intense, Induction phase is the whole diet, and once they use that to reach their goal, they go back to the popcorn and potato chips. That's not Atkins either. But that's the behavior that gives the way of eating a bad name.

I honestly don't know enough about this to argue about it sensibly. For all I know, that's true. I would say that the high-protein phases of the diet are not the phases intended to be permanent. The "Lifetime Maintenance" phase looks remarkably like a traditional balanced diet.

It does cause increased kidney function, which is not a problem in people with healthy kidneys. People with kidney disorders shouldn't do the program. People get all weird about that, but there's never been a study done that demonstrates any sort of kidney damage to someone with normal renal health.

And you said you don't have an agenda? Look again.

You didn't touch Atkins Myth #4 ("It's a diet for the lazy. Get up off the couch, lardass!"), so I'll have to cover that one for you. Atkins is VERY CLEAR that exercise is a REQUIRED component of the diet. He covers that in several places in the book. He doesn't lay out a whole plan for it the way something like Body For Life does, but he make it plain that it's not optional.

As for me, I have an agenda. I'm completely up-front about it. This way of eating has changed my life and I want everyone to know it's possible... and just how EASY it is. It's not about weight loss, for people who treat it as a lifetime thing. It's about being and feeling healthy.

This way of eating violates common sense. No two ways about that. It challenges what "everybody knows" about how a healthy diet is supposed to look. Nonetheless it works, and it's demonstrated to be healthy. So.... So much for what "everybody knows"!

Plan9Senior

Well, ratbastid I am glad this diet works for you and you recite Dr. Atkin's info like you work for them . I am going to have to leave this issue alone because I obviously will always have conflicting opinions about this diet then the people who are on it. We will just go in circles and nobody will be convinced. Atkins' fans are more rabid then any fan I have seen and I am not here to pick fights and this seems to be leading in that direction.

Lets all hug

forseti-6

I did the Atkins from January to about August. At the time I started the Atkins I was almost 200 lbs. Around August I was down to 170 or. At that time I felt I wasn't THAT fat anymore, and went back to normal eating and started exercising a lot.

Atkins is a very good diet, however, it isn't for the weak willed. If you can't control yourself from eating a piece of cake or slice of pizza, you might have a tough time with it.

You will feel like crap the first couple days, but that's only because your body is assimulating into ketosis. Once you're in, you'll feel a ton better.

It DOES work - as many people who have already responded have attested for.

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