Adkins

lisahebert186

I'm looking for thoughts on Adkins. The good or bad. Success stories or maybe ones that didn't do so well. Thanks!

KetoneKaren

I lost weight successfully on Atkins. I did not like the Atkins "flu". After awhile I got over it, but it was pretty tough. I didn't go through all of the phases of adding back food groups and gradually increasing carbs as recommended. I wish I had. I regained the weight after keeping it off for 18 months. I am now trying to eat 100g protein, 50g carbs, and make up the rest of my calories with healthy fats. It seems to be working and feels more sustainable. Hope this helps!

fr33sia12

I tried it for about 3 weeks, but ended up just feeling sick with all the meat & fat and really missed fruit & veg and carbs.

msemotan

I am a big fan of atkins, if you follow the way they outline it for you on their website, not what you think atkins is (based on what you have heard). I did the regular atrkins, also knows as atkins 20 (20-25 net carbs per day). It really helped me to get off processed foods and those snacks that you just eat likely crazy. It also helped me to stop craving sweets. I did atkins for about 10 months and lost 80 lbs, literally 3 lbs every single week for quite a while. You still cannot go crazy on calories, they say during the first week not to be a stickler about calories bec you are just trying to adjust. But then after you are more accustomed to the low carb lifestyle, they say to stick to about 1800-2000 cals. Also, I noticed it I went outsdie of the recommended daily dairy servings I would not lose.

I think Atkins is a great way to kick off a lifestyle change of eating more "whole foods" and also to loose body fat. Obviously like any other healthy lifestyle you have to maintain. I also liked that I could always find something at a restaurant that I could eat if I asked for no bun, or double veg/no rice, etc. I also like that all the guidance info is free on their website. I used myfitnesspal to track my cals, carbs, and fiber.

mommasplash

A long time ago, I tried it for nine weeks, was very strict following it, absolutely no cheating at all... had a nine day headache from hell at the beginning (due to suddenly giving up coffee and sugar)...I felt so constipated and stuffed up, and sick all the time. In that whole time I only lost 1 lb. I couldn't believe it! I'd originally intended to do it for as long as it took to lose the three stone I was aiming for, but gave up because I felt so ill all the time.
Husband did better on it - he did it for the same time and lost almost a stone. When I came off it, I had what I'd been craving for weeks - a cup of tea with milk and half an apple. I remember that it tasted so good...it's stayed in my memory all this time! It was so expensive too!
Just a random thing - I remember seeing a history documentary about some explorers in the US probably in the 19th century but I can't remember exactly where or when now - but the gist of it was that the ones who just ate the meat they caught died quicker than the ones who had eaten plants as well as the meat.

Meganthedogmom

I tried it when it was getting big. I was on it for probably a couple months? Maybe less. Lost about 30lbs. Felt like I had sugar withdrawals. Went off of it and gained the 30 lbs plus some back.

For me, it wasn't a way I could continue to eat forever, so it didn't work.

tlflag1620

I've never done Atkins specifically, but I definitely used parts of it to structure a LCHF plan that works for me. The whole phases thing, adding in new foods each week, seems too convoluted to me, and since I was relatively young (33), not very overweight (had 20 lbs I wanted to lose, that was so easy I ended up losing 40), and have no medical conditions I decided to skip the whole "induction" phase (on the website they clearly state that induction is totally optional). Instead of drastically cutting carbs all at once to less than 30 g per day (which often results in the Atkins flu), I phased out carbs one meal at a time (starting with breakfast since I figured that would be easiest for me) over the course of two weeks, until I was within my goal range (50-80g per day). It worked really well to control my appetite, still left me with flexibility and variety, and I thoroughly enjoyed eating that way. I enjoyed it so much that three years later I still eat the same way! Kept the weight off too.