Anybody on the Atkins Diet?

Anybody on the Atkins diet and losing weight? Is it really true that you dont need to count calories? Whats your opinion?

Yes you still need to count calories. Most people make huge drop in weight because they lose the carbs and lose the water weight that comes with it. At the end of the day it's still calories in verse calories out.

I have bulked up ie gained weight on a low/no carb diet.

Just always keep in mind calories determine weight loss or gain and your macro-nutrient breakdown and food choices will dictate body composition. You can lose weight eating only twinkies if you want but your body composition will suffer lol

I have started a keto diet 2 weeks ago and so far am pretty happy with it, I've lost 5 kgs (mostly water weight) and have been cycling 3 x a week. If i feel this good / better in a few months, I could see myself staying on it into the future. Admittedly I want to increase vegetable + fruit consumption over time, but for now I am sticking around 20 - 30 carbs a day, and i never feel hungry. Good luck

The amount of unknown and misconception about low carb diets is scary, even in a community like MFP. There's a huge amount of people who follow a low-carb diet and maintain it properly without having any problem doing so. Hubby and I been doing ketogenic for a year now and we're perfectly happy continuing this way. Get all your fact straights before beginning any life-changing food lifestyle.

Truths:

You WILL regain all the weight you've lost if you go back to eating the way you got fat in the first place.

You HAVE to count your calories, without a deficit you will not lose no matter what you're eating.

Housewives from the 1980's?

My husband and I did Atkins about 6 years ago - I lost 40 lbs, my husband lost over 60. But slowly over a year or two we gained the weight back as we just weren't as strick with the low/no carbs over time. While it works well initially, it wasnt realistic for us. Your basically cutting out 85-90% of most carbohydrates and I don't think its practical for long term. I believe eating/sticking to a "healthy" well rounded diet is the key. Also, by being able to eat carbs/good carbs, you aren't always craving them, and wishing you could have them... Dont take this as gospel, as many people do incorporate a lower carb diet into their routine, and it works out just fine. Just be sure to look at all aspects of your life, your eating habits, and what you are willing to and/or cabable of sticking to for the long term. Good luck!

I was on Weight Watcher and lost weight. Eventually, I started back to my old eating habits, and I gained it all back and then some. Weight Watchers doesn't work. It's a fad. It's a myth. And I know this because I did it, and I gained all the weight back that I had lost and more! It had nothing at all to do with me not making good food choices or having a poor nutrition lifestyle. Nothing at all. I personally wouldn't recommend Weight Watcher's for anyone, but, hey....to each his own.

O_O

Tried it, worked really well... 17 pounds lost in one month. However as soon as I started slowly reintroducing carbs I gained it all back plus some more. I wouldn't do it again...

Not Atkins, per se. I've been cutting carbs to approximately 20% or less of what I eat -- amounts to around 70 carbs per day. I am losing weight and wasn't when following the recommended ratios of Carb/Protein/Fat on this site: 10 lbs in the last two weeks, which is probably mostly water. I'd recommend you read Gary Taubes' book, Why We Get Fat and What We Can Do About It for a good overview of carb-restricted eating plans. Perusing the web-based groups of low carb dieters indicates that people do eventually start having to count calories, although not at the beginning of the diet.

eat less + work out = lose weight...

Read "Good Calories Bad Calories". It opened my eyes to a lot of BS I've learned from dieting.

The calories in/calories out argument for weight loss is garbage.

so you are saying you can eat in a calorie surplus and lose weight? Please explain this magic to me....

I am still waiting on the miraculous explanation as to how one can eat MORE than you take in and still lose....

Me too. Got my popcorn ready :drinker:

people get confused because of the scale and how full they feel. When I "bulked" on a no car diet it seemed I could eat more because I was holding so little water so the scale didn't move as much. When I bulk on a 500-800 carb diet my weight skyrockets 15-25 pounds from the water weight. It confuses people I really think that is the explanation.

Most don't realize how much glycogen stores play a role in weight. When I get up to 280 or 290 my weight will fluctuate 8-14 pounds a day due to glycogen stores and water intake. That is an extreme example but when a 160 pound women suddenly drops all her carbs and loses 6 pounds she thinks "OMG this is the same amount of calories I ate with carbs and I just lost 6 pounds of fat". In reality their glycogen stores are depleted and the water is gone making them look leaner and the scale go down.

I would agree with the sentiment that you can eat the same and still "lose" due to water weight loss...

However, the original poster seemed to imply that you could eat over maintenance and still lose...which I find highly doubtful...

Not to put words in this person's mouth, but my take away from the comment was that there's more to the story than calories in/calories out. That's not the *only* formula--there are more factors at play here. IMO.

I lost tons of weight on it years ago but gained it all back plus some and I swear more went to my butt! You don't count calories but you do have to count your carbs. Much easier limiting portions and counting calories on here. You can't tell me that having bacon and eggs for breakfast on Atkins every single day is healthy.

I started the Atkins WOL back in 2010. I lost over 120 pounds in a year, and was well on my way to losing more, but I fell of the wagon due to life getting in the way. Plus, I intentionally gave up. I didn't intent to gain the weight back, but the longer it went on the harder it was to get back into gear.

So, here I am, 80 pounds heavier than my lowest, and restarting. I'm starting from induction, and just taking my time to more forward. I don't feel like the weight is coming off as quickly this time, but like I said, it's a WOL (way of life).

Starting....It's hard. It sucks. It makes you miss certain things.....but at the end of the day it's worth it. The cravings totally subside, you aren't hungry, you aren't gorging on bacon, you aren't putting yourself on the cusp of a major heart attack. Anyone that wants to judge the Atkins diet or anyone trying to follow it can take their assumptions somewhere else. I can tell you first hand that if you follow it then you will eat more veggies that you probably have ever eaten before. I know I did. It's a whole new way of looking at foods, and I strongly suggest it to anyone that is looking for something to save them.

I'm off my soap box now!

eat less + work out = lose weight...

Read "Good Calories Bad Calories". It opened my eyes to a lot of BS I've learned from dieting.

The calories in/calories out argument for weight loss is garbage.

so you are saying you can eat in a calorie surplus and lose weight? Please explain this magic to me....

I am still waiting on the miraculous explanation as to how one can eat MORE than you take in and still lose....

Me too. Got my popcorn ready :drinker:

people get confused because of the scale and how full they feel. When I "bulked" on a no car diet it seemed I could eat more because I was holding so little water so the scale didn't move as much. When I bulk on a 500-800 carb diet my weight skyrockets 15-25 pounds from the water weight. It confuses people I really think that is the explanation.

Most don't realize how much glycogen stores play a role in weight. When I get up to 280 or 290 my weight will fluctuate 8-14 pounds a day due to glycogen stores and water intake. That is an extreme example but when a 160 pound women suddenly drops all her carbs and loses 6 pounds she thinks "OMG this is the same amount of calories I ate with carbs and I just lost 6 pounds of fat". In reality their glycogen stores are depleted and the water is gone making them look leaner and the scale go down.

I would agree with the sentiment that you can eat the same and still "lose" due to water weight loss...

However, the original poster seemed to imply that you could eat over maintenance and still lose...which I find highly doubtful...

Not to put words in this person's mouth, but my take away from the comment was that there's more to the story than calories in/calories out. That's not the *only* formula--there are more factors at play here. IMO.

Just so everyone knows, about half of all the protein you eat gets converted to glucose(carbs). So if you eat about 200g of protein, that's almost the same as 100g of carbs.

This isn't necessary true but I get where you are coming from with extreme dieters.

The simple proof is checking your blood sugar. Go ahead and eat 14 ounces of steak and 4 eggs and you won't see a change in blood sugar...well at least not a change like you ate 50 grams of carbs which is basically what you are saying. Especially if you have sufficient fat and calories even on no carbs you will see minimal conversion to glucose.


There is a lot of debate about this topic. And certain protein foods convert to glucose at a higher percent. For instance after a workout if you slam 60 grams of whey protein isolate you will see a slight tick in bg levels. It is small though...not even in the ballpark of 30 grams of carbs.


The process of gluconeogensis and deamination does get a little more complex with an extreme low carb, low fat, and low calorie diet. It does seem like in extreme diet mode when carbs are zero and calories are low the body will convert more.

Carbs do spare protein...you are right about that. It's just incorrect to think "if I eat 200 grams of protein it's the same as eating 100 grams of carbohydrates" as a blanket statement.

So I guess "it's complicated". Much more complicated than "if you eat 200 grams of protein it is l ike eating 100 grams of carbs."

The other interesting part is will the process of deamination occur with protein you take in or will the body start with your own muscle first? Interesting topic. I will also concede that in a situation where a person is no carbs, no fat, calorie deprived....it may get up to 50%. But nobody should be eating like that.

This is personally why I like low carb diets with 60-110 grams of carbs a day. No matter the debate on how much converts or the leaching of your own muscle tissue we know carbs are protein ie muscle sparing.

your post deserves it's own thread lol very interesting topic we could go on and on about

I have a friend who started the Atkins this week and yesterday was her 5th day and she already lost 12 lbs. So needless to say this diet has sparked my interest. She sent me links that had all the details and I read through everything and I went and watched vids on youtube of real people with real experiences on the Atkins diet, both good and bad. Then I came on here and read all these comments. I was considering giving this diet a whirl...but the more I am learning I think that if I do decide to try it, I only want to do the induction phase for a boost, I am just curious what it will do for ME.....but I still have not made up my mind just yet. I am not so sure if this is something I want to stick with much longer than that just because I like the way I have been losing weight so far. I have lost 35 lbs total since Thanksgiving. Wanna know how? You will never believe this! Proper diet and exercise!

IMAGINE THAT! LOL

My husband and I have gotten very serious about nutrition and exercise and we have changed everything we used to do for the better! The big key for us has been to change the way we grocery shop and our portions! We read the labels and ingredients on every single thing we buy! We measure everything we eat all day long and we do not go over our daily calorie and carb allowance! Whatever the nutrition label suggest is the serving size or amount for 1 serving for 1 person, then that is what we measure out for our meal. THIS HAS BEEN A MAJOR FACTOR!!! I encourage everyone to use portion control! We also cut out sugar and white foods except milk, yogurt and sour cream...but we buy 1% milk and almond milk instead of whole milk and when we buy yogurt we buy light or fat free, same goes for sour cream we buy light or fat free. We buy loaves of Nickles Multi-grain 35 calorie per slice bread. We plan our meals especially if we go out to eat. We go online to read the menu's and we plan our meals to stay within our calories and carb allowance. We completely avoid fast food and soda or sugary fruit drinks. Instead we drink water and we buy Crystal Light or Disani flavored drops to put in our water. If we are having some serious major craving for something bad, we allow ourselves to have a bite or two- a small amount- we don't go crazy! We put the rest away! We also allow 2-3 cheat days a month but we still don't go crazy then either. We have been doing Jillian Michael's 30 day shred work out which you can find on youtube and we also joined Planet Fitness and we love it! I did my first 10k on the first day we went on a bike! MFP has been a great tool for us as well. We take advantage of everything MFP has to offer. There are some days we don't log in because we are so busy or we cant always get to a computer with internet access...but we do our best on here when we can come on. If we can not come on here we still keep track of everything we eat. It takes some self discipline to do all of this, but you have to really want it to succeed and keep it off! This is a life style change for your health and if you really want it and keep motivated you can do it! You deserve to be healthy! We all do!

I think just about every one has a valid point on this thread...except the person who said you can consume more calories or carbs and still keep losing weight lol...consuming MORE is what has gotten many of us here in the first place! Everyone has had their own personal experience with dieting and not dieting...what works for you may not work for others and vice versa. There! That's my two cents!