Atkins

First, carbs don't make you fat, calories do. The only thing extra calories will do is add additional glycogen/water weight. This is why you lose up to 10 lbs the first week or two. It's just less water weight. But if you are in a calorie deficit, carbs will not make you gain fat. The exception is people who have intolerance to gluten or a insulin sensitivity. And believe it or not, not all of us are addicted to carbs. I crave steak a lot more often than I would a pastry or pizza but I now if I eat greasy unhealthy foods my stomach pays for it.

Carbs make you hungry. And hungry makes you overeat. And overeating makes you fat. Proteins and fats fill you up. And filled up people don't eat any more. And that makes you lose weight. I don't agree with your second sentence. Eating extra calories adds more than water weight!

The idea that "greasy" foods are unhealthy sounds good, but is it true? Do greasy foods make you fat? Man has been eating them for millenia, and have been much thinner than the current generation. What has been the big change in our diets that has caused so many people to be get fat? There is considerable evidence that it is the sugary, starchy, carb-rich foods. It is funny that people think that sugar is unhealthy, but most cereals (even healthy ones) are more sugary than table sugar, and therefore convert to sugar FASTER in the bloodsream than table sugar. But the same people that eat these foods put artificial sweeteners in their tea to avoid eating the unhealthy sugar. It is the same thing and people don't even know! That is sad to me.

Also, when you were referring to how we ate 10,000 years ago, that would be more of a paleo type diet as opposed to atkins. We didn't have bacon, sausages, hot dogs or other processed meats and they didn't restrict carbs either.

Are you saying a paleo diet is a healthy diet? A paleo diet is characterized as a type of low carb diet. The kind of cards that you eat are not the sugars, starches, and grains of today's modern diet. And plenty of meat is typically consumed.

We've seen a steady stream of people saying they tried Atkins a while back, lost a ton of weight, and gained it all back. It has been shown many times that low carb diets yield better weight loss than other diets. It is also well documented that most dieters regain their lost weight - Atkins or otherwise. So there is near zero doubt that low carb eating is the easiest way to lose weight in the short term. Would you agree that if people could figure out how to maintain the loss, it would be truly awesome for obese people?

So what should you do? Not do the low carb diet and take a longer, harder road to weight loss with a lower chance of reaching your goal, or do low carb and figure out how the heck you're going to maintain your weight once you lose it?

Given the risk of regaining it, shouldn't a dieter spend a lot of time thinking about how to maintain your weight loss? Ask yourself, if I was at my goal weight would I eat that piece of chocolate cake. They idea you can just go back to the old you is unrealistic. Someone should write a book on how to maintain their weight loss after low carb! They'd make a mint.

I have learned the secret. It isn't that hard. Give up the unhealthy sugary foods of modern man for good. And exercise consistently. With those changes in my lifestyle I can have my 32 inch waist instead of the 40+ inch waist I started with. I can run a triathlon or 10k instead of tiring walking up the stairs. I can eat most all of the foods I love, including steak, hamburgers (low carb bun of course), fish, carrots and humus, nuts, salads, veggies, and even an occasional low carb confection WITH NO GUILT and without gaining weight.

I doubt I will convince the anti-low carb people in the forum to change their minds, and I'm not really trying to. I'm trying to reach those guys with a big belly similar to mine 10 months ago, wondering how the heck to chip away at the bulk that has accumulated around their middles and preventing them from enjoying life as they should. It can be done my friend. Watch the "Fat Head" movies. Read read read. You'll find that low carb is a healthy option for weight loss that many many men and women have used successfully to drop the weight in a hurry, and with an active low carb lifestyle, keep it off for good!

Best of luck!

If you can provide some studies that low carb has greater long term success over other calorie restriction programs, that would be great. I am not watching the mainstream media either. I look at scientific journals and studies from places like the NIH. As noted below and my favorite quote of it is below too.

"Evidence abounds that low-carbohydrate diets present no significant advantage over more traditional energy-restricted, nutritionally balanced diets both in terms of weight loss and weight maintenance."


http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14672862

Also, paleo isn't low carb, it's moderate carb. I do 80/20 paleo and even on full paleo days I eat up to 200g of carbs from fruits and veggies.

Also, I am not trying to start a conflict, I think it's great that atkins has work for you and has developed a good lifestyle for you, but Atkins is no more successful than any other calorie restriction program. And that huge initial weight loss is from storing less glycogen/water. That is why people lose 10 lbs the first week.

Hi everyone, I am new to this. I have been reading your post and have been on Atkins Induction since Monday. I believe I have " Atkins Flu". I have had a headache with severe intestinal issues. I have many food intolerances, eggs are on the list. Hard to tell if it is the actual food or the change in eating. My ketone strips show a slight change and I know my bloat is better. Need advise, will this get better with in a few days or should I go back to carbs. True I am not hungry, but miss fresh light fruits. Have tried many diets over the years and I have been successful however Age, Medications, Low Thyroid, and a few Pregs to name a few make it harder to keep the weight off.