Atkins Diet anyone?
 

I'm on Day 3 and feel like shit. Supposedly it gets better soon and I start to lose weight ???

Just played Badminton and I ache all over (don't normally).

Thought I'd really struggle finding the food. But I've found some salad bowls for lunch that are only 9 carbs (with Coleslaw). I just throw in some slices or ham/beef/pork and away I go.

Still not a big breakfast eater - can't bring myself to face bacon and eggs in the morning :)

Is anyone trying this?

Wow, loadsa people I know are on it at the moment. Seems to work better the heavier you are and you really need to stick at it.

One guy at work has lost about 16 pounds in under a month but he is really strict on it. So it does work.

Side effects seem to be bad breath and tiredness (Although lethargy can differ in different people, but the pongy breath seems universal).

Shame you don't like fry ups, that seems to be the best part :)

Personally I am just trying to cut down the sugars and carbs, I couldn't go without my toast.

Haven't had pasta, bread, or bagels in any significant amount in the last 2.5 months. It sucks. The results have been pretty impressive though. (22 lbs)

i went on it once a few years ago after one of my frat bro's did. it made me feel lethargic and sick. i personally don't think it's a very healthy diet. you need to make sure you drink a lot of water because a lot of the weight you actually lose is water weight. and it makes you produce ketones, which for some reason is bad, i'm just not sure why.

It is not at all good for you. The only way I have heard to use it is for like a month at most, and then slowly get carbs back.

It is more of a revolution of the protein diet, where you cut most carbs out for 14 days.

I think some of these things are just dangerous. People should just have the patience to try and lose weight a little at a time by cutting intake and increasing cardio. Carbs are essential for your body, and while you don't want too many of them, you shouldn't starve yourself from them either.

The Atkins diet is a really good diet, people who have low fat diets are still having heart issues that we "asssociate with the fat." Carbs are stored for later use as energy after your body can't take anymore. Keitones(sp?) are a side-affect of the diet. Usually, you'll pee them out, or breath them out, which is cause for the bad breath. To start the diet, you cut your carbs down to 20 grams per day for the first two weeks. During the first couple of days, you'll feel like crap, but it's because people are addicted to the carbs. It's like any other addiction. After the first 2 weeks, you can add another 10 grams of carbs, and you can continue to do that until you don't lose anymore weight. When you stop losing weight, the amount of carbs that you are eating that week is the amount of carbs your body can take in, and process. For some people BigBlue, they aren't able to do any cardio, or they are just to overweight that they can't do it, or many other reasons. The facts on this diet are quite simple, people lose weight freakin fast, and it's quite effective. The upside to it is that you can eat as much as you can of meat and such, unlike other diets where you need to eat like a cup of this, a teenie slice of that, and drink lots of water. Generally also for this diet, men will lose more weight then women, so guys, don't do it the same time as your S.O..

Ketones are the waste product produced when your body is burning fat and protein for energy instead of carbs. Up until lately, being in ketosis has been considered bad, because on low-protein diets, elevated ketone levels mean that you are digesting your own muscle tissue, ie, starving.

On the Atkins diet, producting ketones means that the diet is working and that the fuel source your body is using is the protein you eat and the fat you are losing. (The bad breath is due to ketones leaving your body through your exhalations)

You need to drink a lot of water to flush out the ketones, otherwise, your body will be fooled into thinking you are starving to death, and will try to shut down. This is the feeling of fatigue you get when you first start the diet. Drink water and it will pass.

Before long, the body adapts to using protein and fat for fuel, your insulin levels normalize, and thereby increase your serotonin levels, which make you feel full and happy. The Atkins diet is a great anti-depressant.

Now on day 5 - and I think I stink. Mouth tastes horrible and even my pee smells funny - don't think I need these Ketosis sticks. Not noticed any weight loss yet - but early days.

You should notice it almost immediately, and dont worry about the smells. Make sure you dont drink any alchohol, and are to the letter on the diet the first 14 days. It does work. Oh, and as reccomended, drink a *lot* of water, a gallon a day or more if you can.

I've been on Atkins for 5 months now and have lost 47lbs. I lost 9lbs my first week. To say you haven't lost anything yet tells me your eating hidden carbs. Remember carbs are everywhere, even sugarless products.

my girlfriend's dad has been on the atkins diet (or something very similar) for almost 5 years. He was a pretty big guy...i'm guessin close to 300 lbs...then he lost about 100. If he ever goes off the diet, he starts gaining it back, but he's gotten pretty used to it and he hasn't had any health problems.

I agree with hotzot- you probably are ingesting some carbs. If your urine is not testing high levels of ketones, than you are metabolizing carbs.

Doctors used to think this diet would increase heart disease but surprise!... recent studies show an actual decrease in LDL(bad) cholesterol and an overall decrease in cardiovascular events(heart attack, stroke) so much so that the AMA has given the diet its stamp of approval(Too bad Dr. Atkins didn't live to see his theory vindicated)

This sounds like a too good to be true diet to me. If it is a low-carb diet, or a no-carb diet, that would explain why you're tired and aching. Carbohydrates provide a huge percentage of the energy your body consumes. Have you tried talking to a dietician about this? It may not be right for you, as it sounds like you're experiencing some tough side effects.

The diet works really well, but for me it's really tough. I take vitamins right now and it seems to help. I crave carbs all the time. I didn't know about the ketones, so I'm gonna drink a lot more water now. The only bad thing is you have to pee all the time! Could you all post what you eat on the diet. I'm getting tired of chicken and water. Thanks to all who posted so far, I need the encouragment.

Did the atkins about a year ago, dropped 15 lbs in a month. I concur with water, probably one of the best things I took from the diet. The diet is pretty simple, however, I think Nine may be getting hidden Carbs. Coleslaw? Normal Coleslaw has sugar in the dressing. First couple of weeks is tough as you try to figure what you can/cannot eat. Must stay away from caffine the first two weeks too, (just because the lethargy is not bad enough) I do think it is important you eat breakfast, even if it is a hard boiled egg or so. In general you can find food to eat almost anywhere, be careful with salad dressings and processed meats (hot dogs...) The reason why I left the diet, was hard to find food that is crunchy. Any suggestions, Man can only eat so many pork rinds. As far as craving something sweet, I did find a candy bar with very low carbs. .04 gm per serving. Of course a serving is 2 squares of a chocolate bar, but if you have to have something to tide you over it works, atfter initiation.

Crunchy - eat nuts. Almonds and macadamias are best for Atkins. A few chowmein noodles aren't too terrible, either. Sunflower seeds are ok, too. I used to smash up pork rinds and use them for croutons on salads. You can get some crunch from raw veggies, too, but be careful with the amounts, as some have higher carb counts than others.

Atkins is great because you can actually make real ice cream with Splenda if you have an ice cream maker. Atkins can make you into a cook.

I can't really do the atkin's diet, as I'm a vegitarian and don't eat all the meat in there. Have lost 5 pounds since cutting out meat though.
It does seem to work though. My friends little brother got on it. He was a 150 lb. 11 year old and only about 4'2". He seems to have dropped a lot of weight, but he is really diligent about it.

I've been snacking on Boca Burgers which are low fat soy burgers. Lots of protein. Microwavable. But, I wasn't sure if soy counts as carbohydrates on the Atkins Diet.

When I get a craving at work, I microwave a Boca Burger.

Any comments?

I personally know several people who's lost HUNDREDS on the Atkins. Personally, I tried it and felt like shit for the entire month I was on it, and stopped. I've managed to lose weight just by cutting out sweet drinks, starches and white flours.. and excersizing.

Lost 50 in 3 mos.

OK, Atkins Diet - Yes, just like any diet it CAN work, but for how long and at what expense? In reality no one should go on a "Diet", you need to come up with an "eating lifestyle" that you can LIVE with. The Psychology of the diet alone is brutal, let alone some of the physical issues.

Atkins diet plan is Bad Psychology because it requires you to give up FOREVER and FOREVER such treats as chocolate cake, spaghetti, french fries, pancakes, apple pie, mashed potatoes. You are a rare person indeed who can give all of these up forever.

It is also missing something very important, that will also lead to possible failure - some regular mild aerobic exercise so that your metabolism can change.

Also I am sorry but I have a hard time believing that much saturated fat is good for you. Just like everything in life, it is moderation.

No diet is a good diet if you can not stick to it. Personally the "Body for Life" program was a huge success for me, it is not a "Diet" it is a program for life. I personally loss over 32 lbs of fat and gained about 8 lbs of muscle for a net loss of 24 lbs in the first 4 months - I look and feel better than I ever have and I am now 35. I have lots of energy, and I have my kids and girlfriend on it w/o any complaints. My girlfriend does not do all the weight training and aerobis but she is also in the best shape of her life.

I have been on this program for 3 years now, since the initial loss of 32 lbs, i have loss about 4 more lbs of fat but have gained 6 lbs of muscle.

The study failed to mention that one of the key reccomendations is that you take Fish Oil. Fish oil is known to help cholestorol, people on the study took the fish oil. Do you? In the same study, the drop out rate was higher on the Atkins diet.

I agree that too many carb can be bad, but it is the simple carbs that are bad, processed food!!! Whole carbs are not bad for you, the more whole the food the better, potatos and even whole fruits are essential to any diet.

Of course people lose weight, but can you stick with it for like, if not you have just deprived yourself, yet again! On this diet, you are still restricting calorie intake, bottom line you eat more calories than you burn you will lose weight - but no one likes to count calories. You will lose (as someone else stated) weight in the beging because of water loss. That's because the initial part of the diet cuts out most carbohydrates, which causes the body to use energy that is stored with water in the muscles.

Those on a low-carb diet may lost weight because proteins and fats may make you feel satisfied or full for longer periods than if you eat carbohydrate-rich food.

Bottom line, you need to find something that fits YOU, you need a program you can stick with NOT a "diet". If you need to go towards Atkins, do it for the first 2 weeks, lose the water and feel beter about yourself. But you will need to ad some carbs into the program, complex carbs NOT simple carbs.

You want to lose weight, try:

- Eating fewer processed foods
- Have healthy snacks between meals, this will help you feel satisfied and not eat more than you need to during meals.
- Eat from all food groups, God put fruit on this earth for a reason.
- Get some exercise, walk, run, weights, whatever works for you
- Weights, you really want to increase matabolism? Burn more Fat when you are sleeping - then lift weights.
- Moderation
- YES, an occasional self-indulgence!!
The world is full of temptation, and if a diet is too difficult to follow, people will become disillusioned and stray from the righteous path.

Finding the right "diet" is very much a personal thing, I have to agree with many points here but you need to find the right one for you. Being sore and lathargic would be a big issue with me, especially with just playing badmington. I play Basketball, Soccer and Golf and I have excelled in all of these since starting the program.

Best of LUCK to all of you.

It works in the short term, but really my "spidey-sense" tells me that it's not healthy. Try the Hacker's Diet instead. Works like a charm.

Man, I tried the diet for a week, and lost a few pounds, but had to stop, because I felt horrible the entire time and had troubles paying attention at work. I am not saying that it is a bad diet, but it didn't work for me. I was strict for the first week, then quit. My good friend lost 90 pounds on the diet, starting around 300lbs, in about 8 months. He also started working out when he started the diet, and he is feeling better then he ever has in his life.

--
Rich

In my experience, all diets mean you're taking something away that should more than likely be there.

A very, very simple plan that is tough to stick with but fast and worked for me = Http://www.BodyForLife.com/

I have the book and it changed my life. Changed my eating habits for life. Changed my lifestyle. He's one positive bastard. :)

My sister had similar results. She told me when I started it for the first time a while back that she would get stomach aches, felt bad, etc. I think that goes without saying being ripped out of a lifestyle and put into something new will eff you up, but after a while our mammal super powers, the ability to adapt, kick in and you start feeling much better, and sexier =D.

I've used the Atkins diet before to quickly shed some weight. It does work well, but it is hard for people who work more than a few miles from home, you can't just run home at lunch and grill a chicken breast. Yes, restaurants have options that you can eat but they are expensive if you want to get full.

What I have found to work well is just eat the same ole crap that I have forever, but eat less of it. Instead of getting the extra value meal, go large with a diet coke, just get the burger and diet coke or go with the tiny little happy meal (you get a cool little toy too). Go to Subway, and instead of eating a footlong sub, get the six inch and no chips. You will feel hungry and unsatisfied for a few days but your stomach will shrink down to where you will start to feel full again by eating less. Then don't blow it by over-eating. If you really feel like you need to overeat, like Thanksgiving for example do it, but only once then go back to half a sandwich. What this does is basically just cut calories, the most important thing to do to lose weight.

Cut calories and exercise.

I dunno... but everyone that I've ever met that is on this diet has absolutely the nastiest breath.

What's up with that?

Atkins Diet
 

I started Atkins on June 8th b/c a friend had told me her doctor suggested it. The first three days totally sucked! I felt like I was dying. My body ached, I was starving and I had a huge headached that wouldn't go away. Then the fourth and fifth day the symptoms were starting to go away. I made sure I ate something every three hours, I also had water all day. I really felt tired the first week. Then after a week I lost five pounds and that totally gave me motivation to stick this out. It is a life change in your eating habits. I still struggle sometimes daily though. I'm not 20 and I can't eat the way I used to. Now, I've lost a total of seven pounds and two inches in my waist and thighs. There are days I will "cheat" with a glass of wine or something, but get right back into it. I crave carbs too so I started exercising and it really helps. Just don't give up--and most importantly, listen to your body:)

Would I be able to start the Atkin's Diet based on the various bits of information or am I going to have to buy a bunch of books, etc. ?

I would suggest getting the book. I only have one. It the most recent version and it's paperback. It really helps to read it. It is motivating, gives you tips, menus, food ideas, food lists, and then you fully understand what it is about. I love it and refer to it daily sometimes--good luck

I'll have to take a look then.. maybe the library has it..

You could do that, or cook your meat before you go to work.

I did Atkins for years. One time I lost about 25 lbs and I was feeling good. The problem is that if you cheat, WHAM, you suddenly gain back a lot of weight. This is not a diet that you can go on and off. Cheating is a big no no.
I had problems staying on the diet mostly because of eating eggs every morning. I couldn't take it. I did find a store that made low carb life easier for me. www.lowcarbconnection.com It's 5 minutes from my house, but you can order stuff online. The bagels are fantastic and only around 9 grams of carbs. The y have tons of stuff and the owners are incredibly amazing people.
Check it out. It will help some of the cravings you might have.

I have a glass of slimfast and bacon for breakfast. Slimfast is 20g carbs, as well as a lot of other good things (filling as well). After that I can have about 40-50 more carbs that day for vegetables/whatever and still stay in ketosis losing weight.

Just did a google search to learn a bit more. Gee, this diet sure sounds great. When do you get to put the gun in your mouth?

"If someone were to be consistent with the Atkins diet, they may run into the following problems: bad breath, gout (painful inflammation of the joints), high cholesterol (LDL = bad), kidney damage, weakness, bad (acne) or dry skin, thinning hair, increased risk of having a heart attack, yellowish instead of white eye balls, set back or sunken eye balls, muscle loss, frequent urination, vitamin and mineral loss, health related problems due to improper nutrition balance, and attitude or mood changes due to bad nutrition.

Bad breath would be the end result for anyone who eats only fat, oils, and protein. This is what dog food is made of. Items such as eggs and cheese have some of the highest cholesterol content of any food. This is an excellent way to have a heart attack.

Nutritionally, the Atkins diet is terrible. Kidney damage can occur as a result of depleted carbohydrate levels. There are several additional health related problems that this type of diet can cause such as headaches and dizzy spells; both due to a bad nutrition balance. The Atkins diet can kill you! It's an "unhealthy" way to lose weight."

From: http://www.leonardfitness.com/atkinsdiet.htm

Here's my opinion, I recently damaged my knee, torn a cartlidge and my specialist told me when i had started physio that i needed to loose some weight. I asked him about the atkins diet he said it does work but it is unhealthy. The key to loosing weight is changing your lifestyle. To increase your metabolism - Do a lot of cardio vascular exercises. And seriously just change your diet and keep doing exercises. Now probably you wont see the weight fall off you like you do in the Atkins diet - I tried it and lost 5kg in a week.. which is insane weight loss. But just get your metabolism up, and do lots of cardio work for 45mins a day. 2km runs, 10-15km bike rides, and eat healthy. Its the best diet in the world. None of the bullshit new diets can beat this. All you need is the will power to loose weight.

<b>urologist</b>

I just did a google search and found out that Elvis is alive. Boy, google is sure a reliable source of information. (grin) The kidney claim on atkins is bullshit, and anyone making that claim is uninformed. People making that claim confuse Ketoacidosis, a dangerous health condition, with Ketosis, a condition which is NOT dangerous. Many major studies now out show that Atkins is at least as safe and more effective than, for example, the AHA's Step One diet. There are NO studies that show any chance of kidney damage. I challenge to post a medical study which shows this.

<b>minorci</b>

You really need to pick up the book and read it. Atkins is not a "fad" diet, like The Grapefruit Diet or the Cabbage Soup diet, where you go on it, lose the weight, and go off of it.

Atkins is a lifetime approach to weight management. You start with Induction, move on the Ongoing Weight Loss, and finish with Lifetime Maintenance. Along the way, the book teaches you how to eat and how to make food choices, and really teaches you a lot about health and nutrition. The Lifetime Maintenance phase of atkins is a healthy diet full of veggies and a wide variety of foods, and more carbs than you may think.


I lost 30 pounds on Atkins, gained back 20 of that in muscle through weightlifting, and went from a 42 waist to a 34. I have kept the weight off for a year, and took my total blood cholesterol from 210 to 150.

You should all get the facts before you criticize atkins. The paperback is only $7, or you can browse through it in the bookstore or grab it in a library. It is NOT a fad diet.

I've been on the diet for a little over a week now, and have lost 6 pounds. I was at 242, and my goal is 210 - 215. To put this in perspective, I'm a 26 y/o male, 6'3".

I've felt a little of the lethargy, but mainly in the legs. It's starting to go away.

What I'm liking most is my motivation to actually head out and walk, swim, get exercise. I walked the seawall at Stanley Park yesterday, a 2 hour 10k walk. It was nice. Legs were sore, but it's all for the best :)

As much as I like eating beef and chicken, bacon and eggs, and the occasional salad all the time, I'm not planning on staying on Atkins forever. With Atkins and exercise, I'm losing my weight. When I reach my goal, I'll be adding in more of the foods I like. Carb foods. I'll also be running regularly and working out at the gym.

It's worked for me so far :)

Edit: Oh, you don't necessarily need the book to start the diet. I started after a night of reading articles, recipes and menu plans at the atkins website.

HarmlessRabbit

Man, I just heard about Elvis too! I'm so happy! ;) Seriously though, I know what your saying. Didn't mean to offend. I know nothing about Atkins but it does seem to be helping quite a few people. But do me a favor and keep this in mind:

"...yellowish instead of white eye balls, set back or sunken eye balls..."

If you notice that then drop the diet, okay. Jesus, eyeball stuff creeps me out. :)

"bullshit" and "uninformed" are extremely strong and confident words

And just so I dont put words in your mouth and I fully understand you; before I make another post: are you saying info from the AHA is inaccurate?

Books are great, but I already am stacked with material I have to read; thats what makes the internet great. Google led me to several Schools of Medicine in and out of the states; Im taking the context of what you say above as sarcasm with reference to google. So the net is no a worthy source of info? Shucks! I was just about to ask you for links on those medical studies showing Adkins being as safe if not better than those the American Heart Association have put out.

This is one of the reasons the forum is such a great place because theres so much to learn from one another here. Im definately uninformed. Ive seen the medical updates at the Adkins site, but if you have the time I'd like to show you some information that needs to be brought to light that contradicts what your saying. You sound as though you know your stuff so I'll value what you say; especially if your a medical doctor specializing in the urinary/renal system. Thanks

As an asian person, Atkins diet is near impossible for me.

I don't mind my weight though...even 205 lbs. at 6' that's not that bad.