OPINION ON ATKINS

Atkins was never intended to be used long term. It was designed for heart patients to drop weight quickly for surgery. You can get the same (and healthier) results simply by counting and cutting calories while exercising. Its a tried and true method that has been around for ages. Carbs are not the enemy. Well placed, nutritious carbs are your friend.

I'm on the Insulin Resistance diet for my well...Insulin Resistance. It is also a lower carb diet (15 protein for ever 30 carb) and what it essentially taught me was how to properly portion control. I've maintained it for over a year now.

Because I'm on a lower carb diet too, Akins comes up a lot in my research, grocery list, and conversations. I agree with everyone in this forum that it's a fad diet, you shouldn't cut out carbs unless you're medically suppose to, and it's not sustainable. Plus, atkins food stuff is CRAZY expensive.

My advice? Eat clean (nothing processed) and move. Limit those carbs but do not cut them out completely!

I did a Atkins light verison for a little over 1 year under the supervision of my doctor. At the time I had type II diabetes and it helped in getting my blood sugars under control. Once I was no longer diabetic I stopped it.

He died of an heart attack when he was quite young. - not a good advert

Actually he died of a head injury. It helps to research, rather than spout misinformation to try to scare people out of an eating plan you don't understand.

I'm assuming this is a troll post just to get bickering started, but I have to say some of the replies in this thread are a bit disconcerting. People seem to genuinely believe that a "sustainable diet" leads to long-term success and that you can't cut weight in a different way than you maintain weight, but that's simply nonsense. If you find it helpful to eat the same foods on a cut as you do on a bulk, more power to you, but that's not good advise for everyone and I really don't see why doing this gives some people such a false sense of security about their long-term success. At the end of the day, how you cut weight has nothing to do with how you will maintain your weight loss, and plenty of people choose to cut weight with different macros and even food restrictions, relative to when they're eating at maintenance or bulking. Finally, the notion that "Atkins didn't teach me what I needed for maintenance" is a complete cop-out. If you didn't have the knowledge to avoid regaining weight (which if you're honest with yourself, you probably did), that's still on you for failing to educate yourself about what causes weight gain. If you revert to your old habits after ANY weight loss, Atkins or otherwise, you shouldn't be surprised when you regain the weight, and blaming that on Atkins rather than yourself is just failing to accept responsibility for your own actions (or inaction).

But, all that said, the Atkins diet definitely isn't for everyone.

I'm assuming this is a troll post just to get bickering started, but I have to say some of the replies in this thread are a bit disconcerting. People seem to genuinely believe that a "sustainable diet" leads to long-term success and that you can't cut weight in a different way than you maintain weight, but that's simply nonsense. If you find it helpful to eat the same foods on a cut as you do on a bulk, more power to you, but that's not good advise for everyone and I really don't see why doing this gives some people such a false sense of security about their long-term success. At the end of the day, how you cut weight has nothing to do with how you will maintain your weight loss, and plenty of people choose to cut weight with different macros and even food restrictions, relative to when they're eating at maintenance or bulking. Finally, the notion that "Atkins didn't teach me what I needed for maintenance" is a complete cop-out. If you didn't have the knowledge to avoid regaining weight (which if you're honest with yourself, you probably did), that's still on you for failing to educate yourself about what causes weight gain. If you revert to your old habits after ANY weight loss, Atkins or otherwise, you shouldn't be surprised when you regain the weight, and blaming that on Atkins rather than yourself is just failing to accept responsibility for your own actions (or inaction).

But, all that said, the Atkins diet definitely isn't for everyone.

If i chose to educate myself with the atkins diet I would have learned to key is to not go over your magic carb threshold and you will be fine. With Atkins mine was like 70 when I did the diet. Turns out if I control my total caloric intake (a topic hardly discussed in his book) I can eat 200-300 grams of carbs daily and be just fine.

And let me ask you..Is it the lack of carbs specifically that causes the fat loss (outside of glycogen depletion and water loss that is a direct result of low carb) or is it the food restriction, appetite suppression that causes one to eat less calories and drop weight? And how is it explained in atkins?

Thats my problems with it. Its not the diet I have a problem with, but the WHY is not accurate in general

Potentially both in the case of someone who is insulin resistant, as many obese people are, but always the latter. Nothing says Atkins book is ALL you can read when following his diet though, and it never claims to be a treatise on nutrition or general fitness. It's simply a structured system for weight loss. I do agree though that people need to educate themselves beyond simply reading his book though. But if upon learning the basics about nutrition and weight loss someone chooses the Atkins diet, I personally don't see a problem nor do I believe they're any less likely to succeed in the long run.

Gym and food can get expensive!! : P

You don't need to go to the gym to work out. I have lost 30 pounds without ever stepping foot in a gym. I work out at home with DVDs, or I take walks or go jogging. Recently I started adding free weights at home to my routine.

As for food, well, you have to eat food even on Atkins. And it can be more expensive on Atkins, with meat costing what it does these days. Just eat less of what you're used to eating, and you'll spend less money on food. Boom, done.

Ignore opinions and read the science.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23372809
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11108325
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11108325
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22850317
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22905670
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10959514


High protein diets will only help you fit into a smaller casket.

Ignore opinions and read the science.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23372809
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11108325
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11108325
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22850317
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22905670
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10959514


High protein diets will only help you fit into a smaller casket.

Funny because protein intake on the Atkins diet is as low and most likely lower than many of the protein recommendations given for weight lifters on these forums - and yet this sort of fearmongering only tends to pop-up in Atkins threads.