Diet and Health FAQ

Tagged As: Atkins Diet Food

Question:
Anyone tried it? Does it work?

Answer:
I just lost 20lbs on it (from 150lbs to 130lbs on a 5'1 frame). It took about a month and a half. I liked that I never had to be hungry on the diet. Also, something in the diet causes appetite suppression so I even ate less than I normally would. The appetite suppression is why I'm not preparing to go off the diet though. I'm really only hungry at lunch time and at dinner time, so I'm not getting enough calories a day to be healthy. I figure the diet has served it's purpose and helped me lose the easy 20 lbs. I have about 5 lbs more to go and they'll just have to come off through exercise and a balanced, low-cal/low-fat diet. Do be careful if you go on this diet. You must take vitimins. I did not for the first couple of weeks and was extremely fatigued for that time. Also the diet is very hard on the kidneys. People have had kidney failure on this diet. If you have any problems with your kidneys, this is not the diet for you. If you choose to go ahead with the diet, you must drink lots of water to help out your kidneys. So the diet works, but it's not for everybody. There are a lot of people there who have extensive experience with low-carb diets of various flavors (Atkins among them). To correct something a previous poster said, Atkins is not a starvation diet. It is an ad-libitum low carbohydrate diet. It has a 20+ year history, and is the most recognizable of the name brand low-carb diets, due in no small measure to the promotional gifts of its creator. It is far from the only one out there, though. I am one of those for whom a low-carb diet works well. I lost 50 lb. (200 lb to 150 lb) in about 6 months on a pretty generic low-carb diet, using principles taken from Protein Power, The Carbohydrate Addicts Diet, Atkins. I've maintained this loss for a further 6 months with little effort. i did for a while. i got so constipated i couldn't hardly shit even with metamucil. then it occurred to me while i sit on the john, shit needs carbos to HOLD WATER. you need fiber and carbos, if you want your shit stream to work correctly. no one is going to convince me that losing weight is more important than a good shit. dr. atkins is literally full of shit. It has also been successful for many people who want to lose weight. It is very difficult for some people (maybe most people) to follow the diet. I've been on a similar diet (protein power). It is extremely easy to follow, and it does work. I know several other people for whom it has worked as well. You don't need to buy his book, though. Just keep your carb count at 30 or so grams a day. Drink 64 ounces of water a day, avoid caffeine, and take a vitamin suppliment that includes potassium. The best way to keep your carb count down is by avoiding starchy and sugary foods, such as bread, pasta, rice, sugar, potatoes, corn, etc. Try and get a minimum of 4 to 6 ounces of protein source per meal (usually meat). Don't worry about fat, but try to eat lean meats and leafy green vegetables. You don't need to count fiber grams as carbohydrates to your approximately 30 total. This is basically both the Atkins diet and the Protein power diet. The Atkins diet emphasizes ketosis more, and has a two week induction period where you only eat 20 grams of carbs a day. The induction period is designed to put you into ketosis. That's about it. You can always excercise, too. That helps. You do the above items, you'll lose weight. Just make sure you take the suppliments, and drink the water. yes, i know of people who have lost considerable weight dieting using the atkins diet, and i have had friends who used it. but it is not a DIET. i don't think anyone can adopt it as a DIET and use it forever. and studies indicate a high protein DIET is hard on certain organs and therefore, in my mind, is a bad diet. maybe it's ok to use for a short period, but sooner or later you have to eat a standard diet. I haven't done controlled studies myself, but I don know people who have lost a lot of weight on Atkins. I also know a couple diabetics who use Atkins as a way to help control their diabetes, and are happy with the results. There's plenty of people on alt.support.diet.low-carb that have personal experience with the Atkins, and it worked for them. Of course, Atkins diet is not without problems. I was answering the question about the efficacy of the diet. Here's an abstract from Medline that supports the idea that a ketogenic diet can be useful for weight loss Pediatrics 1998 Jan 1;101(1):61-7 The Effects of a High-protein, Low-fat, Ketogenic Diet on Adolescents With Morbid Obesity: Body Composition, Blood Chemistries, and Sleep Abnormalities. Willi SM, Oexmann MJ, Wright NM, Collop NA, Key LL Jr Department of Pediatrics, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina. [Record supplied by publisher] Objective. To evaluate the efficacy and metabolic impact of a high-protein, low-carbohydrate, low-fat ketogenic diet (K diet) in the treatment of morbidly obese adolescents with initial weights of >200% of ideal body weight. Methods. Six adolescents, aged 12 to 15 years, weighing an average of 147.8 kg (range, 120.6-198.6 kg) and having an average body mass index of 50.9 kg/m (39.8-63.0 kg/m), consumed the K diet for 8 weeks. Daily intake consisted of 650 to 725 calories, which was substantively in the form of protein (80-100 g). The diet was very low in carbohydrates (25 g) and fat (25 g). This was followed by 12 weeks of the K diet plus two carbohydrates (30 g) per meal (K+2 diet). Main Outcome Measures. Anthropometric data and blood and urine were collected at enrollment, during week 1, and at 4-week intervals throughout the course of the study. Resting energy expenditure was measured by indirect calorimetry. Body composition was estimated using dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry, bioelectrical impedance analysis, and urinary creatinine excretion at enrollment and on completion of each phase of the diet. Nocturnal polysomnography and multiple sleep latency testing were conducted at baseline and repeated after an average weight loss of 18.7 kg to determine sleep architecture, frequency and duration of apneas, and daytime sleepiness. Results. Subjects lost 15.4 ± 1.4 kg (mean ± SEM) during the K diet and an additional 2.3 ± 2.9 kg during the K+2 diet. Body mass index decreased 5.6 ± 0.6 kg/m during the K diet and an additional 1.1 ± 1.1 kg/m during the K+2 diet. Body composition studies indicated that weight was lost equally from all areas of the body and was predominantly fat. Dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry showed a decrease from 51.1% ± 2.1% body fat to 44.2% ± 2.9% during the K diet and then to 41.6% ± 4.5% during the K+2 diet. Lean body mass was not significantly affected. Weight loss was accompanied by a reduction in resting energy expenditure of 5.2 ± 1.8 kcal/kg of fat-free mass per day. Blood chemistries remained normal throughout the study and included a decrease in serum cholesterol from 162 ± 12 to 121 ± 8 mg/dL in the initial 4 weeks of the K diet. An increase in calcium excretion was accompanied by a decrease in total-body bone mineral content. A paucity of rapid eye movement sleep and excessive slow-wave sleep were seen in all subjects at enrollment. Weight loss led to an increase in rapid eye movement sleep (P