OK OK, I Know, A Lot Of You Don't Like

What does the Atkins diet consist of? Im a 236lbs apple

It only takes 100 extra calories per DAY to gain 10 lbs in a year. 200 calories per day, 20 lbs in a year. 200 calories is just 4 oreos, 3/4 of a Hershey's bar, a junior cheeseburger, 1.5 pieces of hearty whole grain bread. It is not difficult to gain weight steadily, or even suddenly when you account for a 10-15 lb gain of glycogen and water after reintroducing carbohydrates suddenly.

I'm not saying to go one way or the other, just that it this diet is flawed just like any diet that cuts out a food group. You can be healthy either way, it's just more difficult. If your diet is mainly protein, you are promoting more muscle loss by making your body use it to produce energy. You can convert amino acids to carbohydrate, but one g of amino acids doesn't give you a whole gram's calories worth of glucose, so you're really losing out on calories. Then your body has to use skeletal muscle to produce glucose, because the demands for it are high for your brain alone, let alone the rest of your body. It's better to have a diet higher in fat than protein since it produces more energy when converted to ketones (and can also be converted to glucose).

It's better to have a diet higher in fat than protein since it produces more energy when converted to ketones (and can also be converted to glucose).

I'm a little confused by this statement? Do you mean it's better to have a higher percentage of your daily calories from fat then from protein? Because I'd have to disagree.

Sure. Why do you disagree? Just wondering.


Okay, protein:

Amino acids can be converted to ketones for use in the Krebs Cycle, which is what we use to produce energy in an aerobic environment. Or, as is more often the case, they can be converted to glucose via gluconeogenesis. This glucose is used in slow and fast glycolysis; slow glycolysis takes place in an aerobic environment, sort of like the first guy in a relay race (Slow Glycolysis-Krebs-Electron Transport Chain). It can also be used in fast glycolysis, which is used in an anaerobic environment--and it is the ONLY thing that can be used without oxygen. We engage in anaerobic activity allll day. We stand up--anaerobic. Walk to the fridge-anaerobic. Get a cup-anaerobic. And so on. Every move we make that takes just a few seconds is anaerobic. Our brain uses energy at an alarming rate, and increases when we're thinking hard about something. The brain relies mainly on glucose for the energy. Our demand for glucose is HIGH.

Unfortunately, like I said, when we convert 1 g of protein to 1 g of carbohydrate, we lose about .3 calories. In other words, it takes more than 1 g of protein to produce 4 calories worth of glucose. And we use glucose ALL day. About half of the amino acids are ketogenic, and the other half are glucogenic. So when we rely mostly on protein for energy, we are putting our bodies at a disadvantage--only half of what we ingest can even be used to produce glucose, and we're producing less glucose than the protein we ingest. We can't produce ketones from all of the protein we ingest either. So our bodies more readily break down skeletal muscle to produce more glucose and ketones.

And fat:

The triglcyeride can be broken into two parts--glycerol, which can be converted to glucose--and the fattty acid, which is converted to ketones. EVERY fatty acid can be used to produce ketones, and our bodies will produce them until they reach a certain level of concentration in the blood. (At this point a non-diabetic body would stop, but a diabetic's won't, so this is an ix-nay for the diabetics). The fatty acid-ketone turnover is even, making for a lot of ketones (there are three fatty acids bound to every triglyceride). They will just circulate until they're needed, which is also all the time, because whenever we're sitting, standing, driving, etc for more than a few seconds, our system is fully oxygenated and we can go about or aerobic energy production. If our levels of fat are high, we have plenty of ketone to go around, and we're producing glucose from glycerol. So our dietary protein really only has to be used for glucose production.

Fat doesn't make you fat. A high-fat, no carbohydrate diet won't make you fat either. It just prevents more muscle loss than is necessary.

restircting refined sugars is definitely a smart and healthy choice. But Atkins, from my understanding, severely restricts ALL carbs. This may be, as some suggested, a decent option for some, but I certainly wouldn't even attempt it without first discussing it with a nutritionist. Carbs are important just like protein, and fat, and calcium, and various other vitamins and minerals. I don't think cutting them is an appropriate option for most people. Another thing I noticed when I read your post is that you seem to have an affinity towards refined sugars. Hey, not signalling you out as I am a seriously phenominal baker and I can't help but samply my own delicacies :embarassed: but really, why are you purposely removing something that you seem to like from your diet? Limiting is one thing, eliminating is another. My concern would be that after losing some weight you will treat yourself with something and begin a downhill journey. Our bodies are not meant to be deprived of nutrients. Please talk with a doctor about this, they can at least ensure that you are doing this in a healthy way.

Because low to no carb diets don't represent a normal eating pattern. The average diet does not consist of avoiding bread, rice, etc. When we restrict carbs, we tend to not have the energy to exercise effectively and combined with low carbs and less energy---we lose lean muscle mass! The more muscle we don't have, the fewer calories we burn.

Here's a great article I found written by a doctor. http://www.quackwatch.org/06ResearchProjects/lcd.html

Maybe it will answer some of your questions!

Perhaps that is one (notice I said ONE) reason why the obesity rate is so high. Not everyone can lose by eating the recommended amounts of grains and/or starches recommended by the USDA, even though they may be eating fewer calories than they burn off. Sometimes it's not all about the calories.

I'm not advocating Atkins at all. I'm just saying that not everyone can lose weight the same way and it's not fair to assume otherwise.

restircting refined sugars is definitely a smart and healthy choice. But Atkins, from my understanding, severely restricts ALL carbs. This may be, as some suggested, a decent option for some, but I certainly wouldn't even attempt it without first discussing it with a nutritionist. Carbs are important just like protein, and fat, and calcium, and various other vitamins and minerals. I don't think cutting them is an appropriate option for most people. Another thing I noticed when I read your post is that you seem to have an affinity towards refined sugars. Hey, not signalling you out as I am a seriously phenominal baker and I can't help but samply my own delicacies :embarassed: but really, why are you purposely removing something that you seem to like from your diet? Limiting is one thing, eliminating is another. My concern would be that after losing some weight you will treat yourself with something and begin a downhill journey. Our bodies are not meant to be deprived of nutrients. Please talk with a doctor about this, they can at least ensure that you are doing this in a healthy way.

With all due respect, you couldn't be more wrong about Atkins. It does NOT restrict ALL carbs, just grains and starchy veggies (at first, but even those get added back in eventually). All veggies (with the exception of starchy vegetables), and plenty of them, are a big part of Atkins. Atkins also allows for low sugar fruits. Yes we need carbs, but veggies ARE carbs! It really angers me when the misconceptions about low carb start flying. Please research and educate yourselves.

Sorry, but veggies and fruits are not pure carbs, so eating a few kinds of vegetable or fruit and eliminating others is not a good idea.. You're right, not all carbs are created equally, but in my opinion, severely restricting whole grains and starchy vegetables is not a good idea unless you are under a doctor's supervision. You're not going to change my mind. There is a reason why carbs are considered a part of a healthy diet. Wouldn't you look at me like I was a moron if I told you I was going to severely restrict or somepletely eliminate protein from my diet? Sorry, but it's the same thing. You can be angry about my opinion if you like, but I am still entitled to it.

restircting refined sugars is definitely a smart and healthy choice. But Atkins, from my understanding, severely restricts ALL carbs. This may be, as some suggested, a decent option for some, but I certainly wouldn't even attempt it without first discussing it with a nutritionist. Carbs are important just like protein, and fat, and calcium, and various other vitamins and minerals. I don't think cutting them is an appropriate option for most people. Another thing I noticed when I read your post is that you seem to have an affinity towards refined sugars. Hey, not signalling you out as I am a seriously phenominal baker and I can't help but samply my own delicacies :embarassed: but really, why are you purposely removing something that you seem to like from your diet? Limiting is one thing, eliminating is another. My concern would be that after losing some weight you will treat yourself with something and begin a downhill journey. Our bodies are not meant to be deprived of nutrients. Please talk with a doctor about this, they can at least ensure that you are doing this in a healthy way.

With all due respect, you couldn't be more wrong about Atkins. It does NOT restrict ALL carbs, just grains and starchy veggies (at first, but even those get added back in eventually). All veggies (with the exception of starchy vegetables), and plenty of them, are a big part of Atkins. Atkins also allows for low sugar fruits. Yes we need carbs, but veggies ARE carbs! It really angers me when the misconceptions about low carb start flying. Please research and educate yourselves.

Sorry, but veggies and fruits are not pure carbs, so eating a few kinds of vegetable or fruit and eliminating others is not a good idea.. You're right, not all carbs are created equally, but in my opinion, severely restricting whole grains and starchy vegetables is not a good idea unless you are under a doctor's supervision. You're not going to change my mind. There is a reason why carbs are considered a part of a healthy diet. Wouldn't you look at me like I was a moron if I told you I was going to severely restrict or somepletely eliminate protein from my diet? Sorry, but it's the same thing. You can be angry about my opinion if you like, but I am still entitled to it.

Atkins isn't really comparable to cutting out protein. It's more like vegetarianism--restricting one source of glucose and replacing it with another, just like restricting one source of protein and replacing it with another. Vegetarianism just doesn't have the same stigma despite the fact that it can lead to severe malnutrition and death from a lack of B12 in extreme cases. Pretty crazy.

Sorry, but veggies and fruits are not pure carbs,

Not sure I understand what you mean by 'veggies and fruits are not TRUE carbs'....what then is a true carb in your book?

SImple carbs, complex carbs......what else am I missing? In my healthy eating I definitely consider veggies and fruit as carbs......

bit confused by your statement... :noway:

:flowerforyou: Thanks for an explanation if you can take a moment?