Considering Atkins

MissKim

Following a lower-carb(meaning lower that the 300 a day SAD suggests, you can have up to 150-200 depending on your activity level), moderate protein(meaning .5-1 gram per lb of lean body weight, just enough to use to repair muscles and do it's work, b/c too much protein just turns to sugar and gets stored as fat too), and high fat(meaning use fat as fuel instead of sugar, fat burns fat!) diet is not a fad diet, it is a lifestyle choice. The only reason is has a name is b/c we have to have some label on it in order for people to understand what it is. This is the way we were designed to eat. We were not designed to eat a heavy carb diet. Especially from all the grains and sugars. Someone who is active can have plenty of carbs from fruits and veggies and never worry about gaining weight b/c they are burning off the carbs. carbs are burned off first in the body, so what do you think happens to the amount that isn't used??? and why do you think obesity has become an epidemic?? duh. It's common sense people!! Learn how the body works, learn how to use food for fuel. too much of anything is bad for you. It's not even that we all completely are disagreeing on here. Alot of really clean eating bodybuilders and figure models eat a "paleo" diet and never even realize that's what it is. it basically just means eating clean healthy foods, healthy fats, and lots of veggies, and some fruit!? i mean really? who can argue against that?? and if you are, then refer to what freerange said.

l3ugjuice

Bleh, Atkins...southbeach....mediteranian. Whatever. Ya'll keep adhering to your apostate diets, I'll keep adhering to the one TRUE diet, peace be upon it, The Twinkie Diet.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08/twinkie.diet.professor/index.html

MissKim

and atkins is basically the same thing. you omit everything out of your diet for the induction phase, to cleanse your body of all of the crap, slowly add it back in to see how it affects you. believe it or not alot of overweight people are carb sensitive and that's why this kind of diet works for some. yes there are people out there that can lose weight easily with just cutting back on calories, but then again there are those of us (including me) that have a hard time losing weight. i am insulin resistant (which happens in alot of obese people just b/c your body has such a hard time keeping up with that much weight on you) so a low-carb diet is effective in some people. We're not saying that it's for everyone, we're saying to just respect the people that choose to live this lifestyle. and yes, if you lose alot of weight on atkins it means you are carb sensitive, so ofcourse when you go back to gorging carbs your going to gain the weight right back. If you feel like you have an addiction to carbs/sugar, if you tend to gain weight around your midsection and hips, if you have any sugar problems (get light headed, dizzy, shakes) when your hungry, have diabetes in your family, then I strongly recommend you at least giving it a try. It has changed alot of peoples lives. yes, which is why we're so passionate about it. it's about changes people's health. it's about feeling good, it's about living for a change. At least give people the chance to discover what works for them!

MissKim

Bleh, Atkins...southbeach....mediteranian. Whatever. Ya'll keep adhering to your apostate diets, I'll keep adhering to the one TRUE diet, peace be upon it, The Twinkie Diet.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08/twinkie.diet.professor/index.html

and enjoy being skinny fat and unhealthy. Yes, if all you care about is being skinny then eat 1,000 calories worth of twinkies everyday and you will get there.

But if you care about your health and well-being. If you care about how much muscle you have and what your body looks like naked, then you will care more about the nutrients you are putting in your body then being so obsessed with calories.

l3ugjuice

I'd rather be skinny fat, than smart stupid! More oxy, less moron.

I kid, I kid.



















(in other words, it was a joke. ha ha, and all that. Lighten up, Francis)

Grokette

To go back to the original poster.

I think you have two groups of people posting here.


1. The dieters, who are looking for something magical that works for them, in this case Atkins, but there are many different fad diets, HCG, Paleo, it is hard to keep up on what the flavor of the month is. The bottom line is, if it works for you, and you can loose and keep the weight of, great go for it. The only thing that matters is calories in and calories out. Any diet that restricts calories intake will cause weight loss. But for most dieters it only works for a time, they yoyo in weight up and down, and blame their lack of adherence to their diet, hence they try to have more faith and better stick with it. And like religion, they seem to want to spread their faith.

2. Secondly, if you have health issues, like high cholesterol, diabetes, etc, yes you need to work with a dietitian to come up with a sustainable diet that works for you. Don't try to get this on this board or any website, too much of the stuff is just plainly made up, distorted, and likely will do you more harm than good.

3. In my opinion, for most of us, eating less and substituting healthier items in your diet is the way to go. There is no quick solution for weight loss, and the ones who think they have it are just yo-yoing up and down all the time. Check out "The hacker diet", he said it best. If you got overweight, your bodies control is out of control and you need to keep track of your calories and eat less to keep your weight in a healthy range. So forget about diets, either eat less calories or exercise more to lose more calories. That's it, nothing magically that you need to do.

1. Atkins is not a fad diet. It is a well thought out Lifestyle change.

2. Most dieticians and nutritionists are changing people over to Low Carb eating plans emphasizing whole foods eating. You can't go wrong with eating WHOLE foods and staying away from processed crap.

3. Define what substituting "healthier items" as you go???? If you are saying like many others on this site that substituting a diet coke cake instead of a piece of real, home made cake - then it is actually worse off. Oh, but most think its healthier just all in the name of "lower calories'

I am so glad I don't have to worry about calorie counting and the issues that plague the calorie counters on this site. I would rather blow my brains out.

jknops2

To go back to the original poster.

I think you have two groups of people posting here.


1. The dieters, who are looking for something magical that works for them, in this case Atkins, but there are many different fad diets, HCG, Paleo, it is hard to keep up on what the flavor of the month is. The bottom line is, if it works for you, and you can loose and keep the weight of, great go for it. The only thing that matters is calories in and calories out. Any diet that restricts calories intake will cause weight loss. But for most dieters it only works for a time, they yoyo in weight up and down, and blame their lack of adherence to their diet, hence they try to have more faith and better stick with it. And like religion, they seem to want to spread their faith.

2. Secondly, if you have health issues, like high cholesterol, diabetes, etc, yes you need to work with a dietitian to come up with a sustainable diet that works for you. Don't try to get this on this board or any website, too much of the stuff is just plainly made up, distorted, and likely will do you more harm than good.

3. In my opinion, for most of us, eating less and substituting healthier items in your diet is the way to go. There is no quick solution for weight loss, and the ones who think they have it are just yo-yoing up and down all the time. Check out "The hacker diet", he said it best. If you got overweight, your bodies control is out of control and you need to keep track of your calories and eat less to keep your weight in a healthy range. So forget about diets, either eat less calories or exercise more to lose more calories. That's it, nothing magically that you need to do.

1. Atkins is not a fad diet. It is a well thought out Lifestyle change.

2. Most dieticians and nutritionists are changing people over to Low Carb eating plans emphasizing whole foods eating. You can't go wrong with eating WHOLE foods and staying away from processed crap.

3. Define what substituting "healthier items" as you go???? If you are saying like many others on this site that substituting a diet coke cake instead of a piece of real, home made cake - then it is actually worse off. Oh, but most think its healthier just all in the name of "lower calories'

I am so glad I don't have to worry about calorie counting and the issues that plague the calorie counters on this site. I would rather blow my brains out.

Ok,

We don't have to argue Atkins. There is no scientific data supporting it. Hence you are not going to convince me that it is a healthy lifestyle. But as I said, if it works for you, great go for it.

Counting calories is key in diets, not just simple lowering carbs or fats. Focusing on low fat or low carb can be part of that. Your choice. Let's leave it at that.

Healthier, more fiber, less saturated fat, less salt, less simple carbohydrates, more fish oil. All these are well supported by research. Again, if you don't believe in this research because it is funded by a USDA, Monsanto, etc. conspiracy to make us sick, your choice to ignore this. Although I do think that the US beef/pork/chicken industry are promoting Atkins/Paleo/Primal diets.

So, lastly since we have a fundamental difference in approach here, me calorie counting and you trying to find the right diet that works for you. Below are my results in the last six months. How is your diet working?

Weight loss, I strated in Oct 2010 and am about done (note weekly goal of 1 lb changed to 0.5 lb in April.)

Oct 2010 8 lb
Nov 2010 8 lb
Dec 2010 7 lb
Jan 2011 6 lb
Feb 2011 3 lb
Mar 2011 1 lb
Apr 2011 4 lb

Oct 2010 May 2011
Weight 194 lb 154 lb
BMI 28 22

Glucose 136 105
AIC 6.0 5.8
Cholesterol 178 168
HDL 42 62
LDL 88 88
Triglycerides 247 95

jknops2

To go back to the original poster.

I think you have two groups of people posting here.


1. The dieters, who are looking for something magical that works for them, in this case Atkins, but there are many different fad diets, HCG, Paleo, it is hard to keep up on what the flavor of the month is. The bottom line is, if it works for you, and you can loose and keep the weight of, great go for it. The only thing that matters is calories in and calories out. Any diet that restricts calories intake will cause weight loss. But for most dieters it only works for a time, they yoyo in weight up and down, and blame their lack of adherence to their diet, hence they try to have more faith and better stick with it. And like religion, they seem to want to spread their faith.

2. Secondly, if you have health issues, like high cholesterol, diabetes, etc, yes you need to work with a dietitian to come up with a sustainable diet that works for you. Don't try to get this on this board or any website, too much of the stuff is just plainly made up, distorted, and likely will do you more harm than good.

3. In my opinion, for most of us, eating less and substituting healthier items in your diet is the way to go. There is no quick solution for weight loss, and the ones who think they have it are just yo-yoing up and down all the time. Check out "The hacker diet", he said it best. If you got overweight, your bodies control is out of control and you need to keep track of your calories and eat less to keep your weight in a healthy range. So forget about diets, either eat less calories or exercise more to lose more calories. That's it, nothing magically that you need to do.

1. Atkins is not a fad diet. It is a well thought out Lifestyle change.

2. Most dieticians and nutritionists are changing people over to Low Carb eating plans emphasizing whole foods eating. You can't go wrong with eating WHOLE foods and staying away from processed crap.

3. Define what substituting "healthier items" as you go???? If you are saying like many others on this site that substituting a diet coke cake instead of a piece of real, home made cake - then it is actually worse off. Oh, but most think its healthier just all in the name of "lower calories'

I am so glad I don't have to worry about calorie counting and the issues that plague the calorie counters on this site. I would rather blow my brains out.

Ok,

We don't have to argue Atkins. There is no scientific data supporting it. Hence you are not going to convince me that it is a healthy lifestyle. But as I said, if it works for you, great go for it.

Counting calories is key in diets, not just simple lowering carbs or fats. Focusing on low fat or low carb can be part of that. Your choice. Let's leave it at that.

Healthier, more fiber, less saturated fat, less salt, less simple carbohydrates, more fish oil. All these are well supported by research. Again, if you don't believe in this research because it is funded by a USDA, Monsanto, etc. conspiracy to make us sick, your choice to ignore this. Although I do think that the US beef/pork/chicken industry are promoting Atkins/Paleo/Primal diets.

So, lastly since we have a fundamental difference in approach here, me calorie counting and you trying to find the right diet that works for you. Below are my results in the last six months. How is your diet working?

Weight loss, I started in Oct 2010 and am about done (note weekly goal of 1 lb changed to 0.5 lb in April.)

Oct 2010 8 lb
Nov 2010 8 lb
Dec 2010 7 lb
Jan 2011 6 lb
Feb 2011 3 lb
Mar 2011 1 lb
Apr 2011 4 lb

Oct 2010 May 2011
Weight 194 lb 154 lb
BMI 28 22

Glucose 136 105
AIC 6.0 5.8
Cholesterol 178 168
HDL 42 62
LDL 88 88
Triglycerides 247 95

pittielover23

To go back to the original poster.

I think you have two groups of people posting here.


1. The dieters, who are looking for something magical that works for them, in this case Atkins, but there are many different fad diets, HCG, Paleo, it is hard to keep up on what the flavor of the month is. The bottom line is, if it works for you, and you can loose and keep the weight of, great go for it. The only thing that matters is calories in and calories out. Any diet that restricts calories intake will cause weight loss. But for most dieters it only works for a time, they yoyo in weight up and down, and blame their lack of adherence to their diet, hence they try to have more faith and better stick with it. And like religion, they seem to want to spread their faith.

2. Secondly, if you have health issues, like high cholesterol, diabetes, etc, yes you need to work with a dietitian to come up with a sustainable diet that works for you. Don't try to get this on this board or any website, too much of the stuff is just plainly made up, distorted, and likely will do you more harm than good.

3. In my opinion, for most of us, eating less and substituting healthier items in your diet is the way to go. There is no quick solution for weight loss, and the ones who think they have it are just yo-yoing up and down all the time. Check out "The hacker diet", he said it best. If you got overweight, your bodies control is out of control and you need to keep track of your calories and eat less to keep your weight in a healthy range. So forget about diets, either eat less calories or exercise more to lose more calories. That's it, nothing magically that you need to do.

1. Atkins is not a fad diet. It is a well thought out Lifestyle change.

2. Most dieticians and nutritionists are changing people over to Low Carb eating plans emphasizing whole foods eating. You can't go wrong with eating WHOLE foods and staying away from processed crap.

3. Define what substituting "healthier items" as you go???? If you are saying like many others on this site that substituting a diet coke cake instead of a piece of real, home made cake - then it is actually worse off. Oh, but most think its healthier just all in the name of "lower calories'

I am so glad I don't have to worry about calorie counting and the issues that plague the calorie counters on this site. I would rather blow my brains out.

Honest question then: If you don't believe in counting calories, why join MFP? Isn't the main point of this website calorie counting and tracking/logging everything you eat?

I don't think you have to count calories for the rest of your life either, you learn how to eat healthy, lose your weight, figure out what it takes to maintain, then you can stop tracking every little thing. At least in my opinion. It is all about learning what works for you body.

l3ugjuice

I am so glad I don't have to worry about calorie counting and the issues that plague the calorie counters on this site. I would rather blow my brains out.

This actually sums it up pretty well as the difference. You would rather shoot yourself in the head than count calories. Ok then...that's a little creepy but I understand where you are coming from, and I think it's awesome that you have found a program that works for you.

I'd certainly rather watch calories than significantly limit any particular type of food. Counting calories is actually a pretty easy thing for me to do, which actually surprised me. Cutting out (and before you go getting semantic on me again: yes, that includes a TEMPORARY cutting out...) any particular food group is just not something I'm going to be able to do. So, awesome diet though it may be...I'm not going to be able to do it. Can't say I'd rather shoot myself in the head, though.

Also: keeping up with my calories is pretty much the only 'issue' I'm dealing with, so I'm not sure what else you are referring to nor do I understand how it's a plague.

BryanAir

Honest question then: If you don't believe in counting calories, why join MFP? Isn't the main point of this website calorie counting and tracking/logging everything you eat?

I don't think you have to count calories for the rest of your life either, you learn how to eat healthy, lose your weight, figure out what it takes to maintain, then you can stop tracking every little thing. At least in my opinion. It is all about learning what works for you body.

You are probably correct that you won't have to count calories for the rest of your life, but I see no problem with doing so. It is so easy now and it is only going to get easier in the future. I really like how it makes me consider what I am eating. My not so secret shame from the past is that I would actively try not to see how many calories were in some of the items I was eating. :noway: That is so 2000-2010.

lil_missfit

Please don't do that. All my aunts who did atkins have gained the weight back plus some....though when they were doing it they all lost tons of weight and looked great, it wasn't worth what they're dealing with now....more weight and disappointment:(

You can do it w/o atkins:flowerforyou:

the point is: not all people can. for instance, people who are already insulin resistant will do very well on a carbohydrate restricted diet. And, after having gone through all Atkins phases, a person may end up with an eating pattern that isn't so weird, but that contains: a very little amount of carbohydrate from grains, much more carbohydrates from fresh, non starchy vegetables, protein from lean sources, a bit of protein from legumes and healthy fats, perhaps a little dairy and a sensible intake of fruit. all in all, a very healthy way of eating.

Anyone who starts eating according to their previous pattern after having restricted their intake of anyone will gain weight back. It's not typical for Atkins that that should be happening.

Gotcha

pittielover23

Honest question then: If you don't believe in counting calories, why join MFP? Isn't the main point of this website calorie counting and tracking/logging everything you eat?

I don't think you have to count calories for the rest of your life either, you learn how to eat healthy, lose your weight, figure out what it takes to maintain, then you can stop tracking every little thing. At least in my opinion. It is all about learning what works for you body.

You are probably correct that you won't have to count calories for the rest of your life, but I see no problem with doing so. It is so easy now and it is only going to get easier in the future. I really like how it makes me consider what I am eating. My not so secret shame from the past is that I would actively try not to see how many calories were in some of the items I was eating. :noway: That is so 2000-2010.

Oh I am right there with you on that...I DO NOT WANT to know what I was consuming daily before. ACK. And I think I will probably count calories here and there to keep myself in check, just not every day. Although having the app makes it so easy.

maarbo

Bethany28 - I did the updated Adkins diet back in 2003 and lost over 30 pounds and felt MUCH BETTER than I did before. My blood preasure went down as did my cholesterol. I ate MUCH HEALTHIER under Adkins than I did before. The basic idea behind Adkins is to get rid of the junk food, added sugars, refined flours that have little to no nutrition and get back to the high fiber, minimally refined foods (leafy greens, whole grains and nuts, fresh fruits, minimally processed protiens) of our ancestors.

I kept the weight/fat off for > 5 years until I retired from the military. Gained it all back after I quit exercising and started back with the candy and ice cream. I've now returned to Adkins and have lost 13 lbs and fealing better and getting my energy back.

Couple words of advice: 1) don't stay on the induction too long - that's a mistake many people make; 2) add the carbs back SLOWLY - another common mistake mistake is that people tend to want to add them back very fast and wonder why they quit loosing weight or start to gain it back, and; 3) moderate the exercise as needed.

Good Luck!

kwinterscheidt

primal blueprint is great.
my mom does it because he has severe blood sugar issues and it is the only thing that manages her blood sugar and provides her with the energy she needs for life!!
i would stay away from akins, its so bad for your kidneys and carbs are not bad, you just need to eat them in moderation.
good luck with your weight loss!

freerange

We don't have to argue Atkins. There is no scientific data supporting it.

I don’t believe you for a second, in fact IMO you are intentionally misleading. If anyone doesn’t know Mr. Jknops2 is a biologist and I believe works for the University of Nebraska. I only mention this because as such he should be able to easily look up any research on the Atkins diet and would know there are indeed studies backing up the Atkins diet. Like this out of Duke University.

The high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet popularized by Dr. Robert Atkins Diet Revolution has been the subject of heated debate in medical circles for three decades. Now, preliminary research findings at Duke University Medical Center show that a low-carbohydrate diet such as the Atkins Diet can indeed lead to significant and sustained weight loss. .... patients’ cholesterol levels improved by the end of six months ....

And the TONS of studies you can find here.

http://www.lowcarb.ca/newsmenu/researchfor.html

To be fair I suppose there is a possibility a Biologist at a major University might not have heard of or seen any of these studies,,,,, I will let you decide.

lodro

primal blueprint is great.
my mom does it because he has severe blood sugar issues and it is the only thing that manages her blood sugar and provides her with the energy she needs for life!!
i would stay away from akins, its so bad for your kidneys and carbs are not bad, you just need to eat them in moderation.
good luck with your weight loss!

Again, claims that are untrue. At the end of the day, Atkins _is_ carbohydrate, in moderation. Between 50 and 60 grams of carbohydrates daily is a moderate intake. The standard intake of 250 grams/daily is just insane, IMO, but if you can thrive on it, fine. However, an increasing number of people can't.

jknops2

We don't have to argue Atkins. There is no scientific data supporting it.

I don’t believe you for a second, in fact IMO you are intentionally misleading. If anyone doesn’t know Mr. Jknops2 is a biologist and I believe works for the University of Nebraska. I only mention this because as such he should be able to easily look up any research on the Atkins diet and would know there are indeed studies backing up the Atkins diet. Like this out of Duke University.

The high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet popularized by Dr. Robert Atkins Diet Revolution has been the subject of heated debate in medical circles for three decades. Now, preliminary research findings at Duke University Medical Center show that a low-carbohydrate diet such as the Atkins Diet can indeed lead to significant and sustained weight loss. .... patients’ cholesterol levels improved by the end of six months ....

And the TONS of studies you can find here.

http://www.lowcarb.ca/newsmenu/researchfor.html

To be fair I suppose there is a possibility a Biologist at a major University might not have heard of or seen any of these studies,,,,, I will let you decide.

OK, I do have access to primary literature and to pick on the Duke article that you mention, there is a follow up note:

Fleming. Am J M 2003, 114, 78. Caloric intake, not carbohydrate or fat consumption, determines weight loss.

This states the following:

"Because the average caloric intake reported in the study was 1447 kcal/d and the estimated caloric intake entering the study was 1905 kcal/d (an estimate that I consider relatively accurate since the mean entry weight of subjects enrolled in the study was 191 _ 24 lbs), then the caloric deficit was 400 to 450 calories per day, which would result in 0.8 to 0.9 lbs of weight lost per week, regardless of fat intake.

"it is clear that the total cholesterol level fell by an average of only 11 mg/dL, while the LDL cholesterol level dropped by an average of only 10 mg/dL." "Furthermore, only 1 subject had a cholesterol level <195 mg/dL while following the prescribed low-carbohydrate, high-fat diet."

"The results of the study by Westman et al. confirm earlier findings that reduction in total caloric content is the key to weight reduction and subsequent control, and that the effect of either high-fat or highly refined carbohydrate diets can blunt the potential benefits obtained with caloric restriction"


I stand by my point that there is no credible evidence, just crappy misleading websites. And no, I do not have time to read all those articles.

tvalerio1980

I lost 90 pounds doing Atkins 6 years ago. 2 pregnancies and several years later I haven't gained it back. But you do have to fully understand the system in order to be successful. I should add, I do not care to do it again, I enjoy my carbs too my now days :0)

lodro

Of course you need to watch caloric intake. However, it is also clear that in insulin resistant people other mechanisms are at play too, related to carbohydrate intake.