Atkins Diet Revisited
AlanaTedmon
Posts: 105 Member
I'm curious to know where the Atkins diet gets so much flack sometimes. I started it this week and I love it. You don't get cravings inbetween meals and you always feel full and happy! High-fat and high-protein is awesome! I'm burning off fat while eating cheese and mayo. What's not to love?
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You've only been on it a week. Come back when you've been sticking to it for months/years.0
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KarenJanine wrote: »You've only been on it a week. Come back when you've been sticking to it for months/years.
I'm curious to know why it's developed a bad rep. My parents turned me onto it because they've used it most of their adult life.0 -
Like most other diet plans, they only succeed while the user is following the plan. Once the diet ends and user returns to 'normal' food, old habits return and sooner or later the weight returns.
Most diets will only work as long as the person is prepared to stick to it.0 -
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I've heard people complain that right after they did the Atkins they fell off of it afterwards. Maybe diets don't generally work for some people but if it's something you like doing I don't see it being a big issue. I could honestly see myself eating meats, veggies, eggs and cheese for years.0
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AlanaTedmon wrote: »I'm asking what's with the bad rap. I'm not trying to convert people.
If you're addicted to pizza or breakfast cereal etc you might be alarmed at the prospect of not being able to eat those things. Some people are motivated to attack anything that isn't their way of doing things - gives them a feeling their way is right perhaps.
I've been eating low carb for 3 or 4 years (I forget !) generally in line with the Atkins program but not using it as a rule book.
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If you're addicted to pizza or breakfast cereal etc you might be alarmed at the prospect of not being able to eat those things. Some people are motivated to attack anything that isn't their way of doing things - gives them a feeling their way is right perhaps.
I've been eating low carb for 3 or 4 years (I forget !) generally in line with the Atkins program but not using it as a rule book.
Right, that's the only thing about this diet. Breakfast cereal, pretty much any starch and refined carbs are out but I don't think it's the worst thing since they are pretty addictive and I've never personally felt really filled up from a bowl of cereal or a piece of bread.
This last year I came off of a pescatarian diet that was pretty high-carb and I lost quite a bit of weight on it at first but then promptly gained it all back and then some.
I decided to go back to meats and see if this was a better lifestyle choice; since I was raised on a low-carb diet growing up.
Did you lose any weight from it? How has low-carb worked for you?0 -
I lost about 50 pounds, mainly in the first 6 months. Works fine for me. Since losing the weight I've started doing a bit of running and have done two 5k and a 10k event without embarrassing times. Health is good.
Fish works fine on low carb esp if you get the fattier / oilier ones as Atkins is high fat, moderate protein, low carb and not a "pure meat" diet as portrayed by some.0 -
That's awesome. I was wondering if doing long runs or circuit training would be hard with less carbs; at first I would feel really tired doing my insanity workouts when I started the induction phase of the Atkins. It's good to hear that a real runner is able to do well on a low-carb diet.
I love pan fried tilapia and tuna; I haven't stopped eating fish by any means. I've just reintroduced other meats back into the equation. I missed the red stuff.0 -
I wouldn't call myself a real runner by a mile, have barely run in my life other than to catch livestock or a bus. There's an adaptation phase to go through where your body gets tuned up to be fuelled by fatty acids and ketones rather than by glucose, once you're past that the half million calories in your fat reserves are available to fuel endurance activities.
I'm also anaemic (since forever) so my aerobic fitness is compromised, but I have run 5k in just under 30 minutes and 10k in a shade over an hour. I have cycled 19 miles to work and back (with a couple of fairly steep hills in the way) and I have done 1hr circuit training classes quite often. So low carb does not mean couch potato - which is another source of haters who fear they will be trying to lose weight doing a "Biggest Loser" while low carbers sit sipping cream in a hot tub.0 -
I did low carb for a few months, and strictly at that...staying under 20g of carbs the whole time...no cheating. It DOES take away your appetite and I was amazed by that. I didn't lose any more weight than I did with a low calorie diet though, so that's why I quit doing it. However, I still try to watch my carbs and fill up on protein. It truly works if you can stick with it!0
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AlanaTedmon wrote: »
Do you plan on sticking to a low carb diet for the rest of your life? Don't you think you'll eventually start to miss things like fruit, pizza, beer, ice cream, pie, cake, etc?
I personally think that all "restrictive" diets are a bad idea because people often get sick of them in the long run and then gain back the weight they lost.
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AlanaTedmon wrote: »
Do you plan on sticking to a low carb diet for the rest of your life? Don't you think you'll eventually start to miss things like fruit, pizza, beer, ice cream, pie, cake, etc?
I personally think that all "restrictive" diets are a bad idea because people often get sick of them in the long run and then gain back the weight they lost.
Yup. Did Atkins for a year. Lost quite a bit of weight and yes, it really does curb your appetite. But it really is a very restrictive diet. Say goodbye to 80% of everything at the grocery store and 95% of everything on a restaurant menu. Eating out or at a friend's house was always awkward. Frankly, I just love all kinds of food too much to be able to live that way for the rest of my life. I gained it all back and then some.
Now I just count calories and don't worry about much else. If I go over on one day, I make it up the next day. Easy peasy. No miserable "induction phase" to suffer through because I had a slice of cake and scoop of ice cream at my niece's birthday. I've been at my goal weight two years this way and greatly prefer this to Atkins.0 -
Do you plan on sticking to a low carb diet for the rest of your life? Don't you think you'll eventually start to miss things like fruit, pizza, beer, ice cream, pie, cake, etc?
I personally think that all "restrictive" diets are a bad idea because people often get sick of them in the long run and then gain back the weight they lost.
Low-carb diet for me doesn't mean cutting out fruits forever. Of course I'll always consider eating pizza, pie and cake to be a kind of splurging, but I think those items are on most diets splurge list anyway.
It seems like most people prefer quantitative diets to qualitative, which for me is kind of a nuisance because after doing any amount of circuit training I have a massive appetite. So keeping everything under 2000 calories is sometimes a nuisance because my body demands food.
I feel like also restricting your diet to a certain amount of calories every day is bound to make the idea of binging far more tempting in the long run, so it's better to just restrict the kinds of foods you eat so that you don't feel hungry as often.0 -
peter56765 wrote: »
Yup. Did Atkins for a year. Lost quite a bit of weight and yes, it really does curb your appetite. But it really is a very restrictive diet. Say goodbye to 80% of everything at the grocery store and 95% of everything on a restaurant menu. Eating out or at a friend's house was always awkward. Frankly, I just love all kinds of food too much to be able to live that way for the rest of my life. I gained it all back and then some.
Now I just count calories and don't worry about much else. If I go over on one day, I make it up the next day. Easy peasy. No miserable "induction phase" to suffer through because I had a slice of cake and scoop of ice cream at my niece's birthday. I've been at my goal weight two years this way and greatly prefer this to Atkins.
Doing a no carb diet would be one thing but just a low-carb does allow for many other foods at restaurants and friends houses. To be fair I was raised by parents who only ever did the atkins diet so I was used to hardly ever eating carbohydrates but when I moved out and went to college I gained a ton of weight because I started eating the way most of consumer America eats.
I would have pizzas, cinnamon rolls, humongous salad bowls of cereal and eating those things would be incredibly tasty but they only made me want more because they don't really curb your hunger unless you eat huge quantities.
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bigsistruck wrote: »I did low carb for a few months, and strictly at that...staying under 20g of carbs the whole time...no cheating. It DOES take away your appetite and I was amazed by that. I didn't lose any more weight than I did with a low calorie diet though, so that's why I quit doing it. However, I still try to watch my carbs and fill up on protein. It truly works if you can stick with it!
Absolutely! That's the one thing I've always struggled with. When I'm watching my calorie intake I tend to be hungry all the time; now that I'm focusing on fats and proteins though I'm hardly ever that way. I used to be unable to finish workouts because I would have to stop and grab a banana or a protein bar since I'd be too hungry, waiting two hours after a meal to finally attempt a workout. I feel like this system works so much better for me personally.
You're right though, it's about being able to stick with it in the long run.
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People on this site are MOSTLY here for a lifestyle change. We want to eat in a style we can maintain for the rest of our lives - not be on some restrictive diet that will work for x number of weeks - just to transition to 'real' food - and go back to horrible patterns. So - seriously - can you maintain this Atkins eating style forever? Why not incorporate foods into your life - and a way of healthy eating - that you can maintain forever? Most 'diets' such as Atkins fail because people can't transition to 'normal' food without going back to their old/bad habits. My husband has been on Atkins for about 5+ years - off and on. He's lost the same 50 lbs about 5 times. Now, he needs to lose about 70 lbs. He can't transition from Atkins to 'regular' food. From what I hear - this is the norm, unfortunately.0
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People on this site are MOSTLY here for a lifestyle change. We want to eat in a style we can maintain for the rest of our lives - not be on some restrictive diet that will work for x number of weeks - just to transition to 'real' food - and go back to horrible patterns. So - seriously - can you maintain this Atkins eating style forever? Why not incorporate foods into your life - and a way of healthy eating - that you can maintain forever? Most 'diets' such as Atkins fail because people can't transition to 'normal' food without going back to their old/bad habits. My husband has been on Atkins for about 5+ years - off and on. He's lost the same 50 lbs about 5 times. Now, he needs to lose about 70 lbs. He can't transition from Atkins to 'regular' food. From what I hear - this is the norm, unfortunately.
It really isn't hard for me to stick to an Atkins diet because I was kind of raised on it; I could easily enjoy all manners of meat and cheese and veggies indefinitely but that's because I'm surrounded by people that eat the exact same way. Of course from time to time you're bound to have a piece of pizza and a beer but you always consider it splurging and not really the norm.
I feel like your environment can really play a large role in what kind of diet you're able to forge for yourself. You have to treat the low-carb diet the same way a vegetarian would treat their diet. You just abstain from certain foods. There are plenty of people who manage to live their lives that way indefinitely.0 -
AlanaTedmon wrote: »I'm curious to know where the Atkins diet gets so much flack sometimes. I started it this week and I love it. You don't get cravings inbetween meals and you always feel full and happy! High-fat and high-protein is awesome! I'm burning off fat while eating cheese and mayo. What's not to love?
Because:
1. It's not socially viable. If you go out often or attend events where higher carb food is being served you are either stuck not eating or nibbling on a very limited selection of foods. This may make the host feel awkward or your friends feel like you are not being a part of their social ritual.
2. It's not for anyone who has certain issues such as kidney or liver disease, headaches or constipation.
3. After a while, it makes you smell funny.
4. It's not sustainable long term for everyone. Any diet that has "No" foods isn't, and Atkins has one of the longest list of these foods.
5. You can eat cheese and mayo without swearing off potatoes.
6. It's just not necessary for weight loss.
7. Quite a few people subscribe to the slogan "if it ain't my diet, it ain't good", and since Atkin users are a minority you'll hear a lot of negative comments.
If you like it and feel it's sustainable for you then by all means continue an don't mind the negative comments
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It gets a bad rap because there's no need to stick to 30 grams of carbs or below or whatever it is to lose weight, or to give up fruit and potatoes and ice cream, if you happen to like those foods. But if someone prefers eating that way, I wouldn't criticize. I think it's a fine eating plan for some people, just not me.
Beyond that, I think it's historically gotten a bad rap from some health-oriented types or "experts" because of the idea that it promotes eating lots of red meat and cheese and bacon, etc., which they see as bad for you. So it gets criticized for being about losing weight in an unhealthy way. Personally, I think low fat is a worse diet (if I had to pick one I'd do low carb over low fat, but luckily I don't have to do either) and the problems with saturated fat and red meat are oversold, so I'm not making that criticism, just reporting it.0 -
amusedmonkey wrote: »AlanaTedmon wrote: »I'm curious to know where the Atkins diet gets so much flack sometimes. I started it this week and I love it. You don't get cravings inbetween meals and you always feel full and happy! High-fat and high-protein is awesome! I'm burning off fat while eating cheese and mayo. What's not to love?
Because:
1. It's not socially viable. If you go out often or attend events where higher carb food is being served you are either stuck not eating or nibbling on a very limited selection of foods. This may make the host feel awkward or your friends feel like you are not being a part of their social ritual.
2. It's not for anyone who has certain issues such as kidney or liver disease, headaches or constipation.
3. After a while, it makes you smell funny.
4. It's not sustainable long term for everyone. Any diet that has "No" foods isn't, and Atkins has one of the longest list of these foods.
5. You can eat cheese and mayo without swearing off potatoes.
6. It's just not necessary for weight loss.
7. Quite a few people subscribe to the slogan "if it ain't my diet, it ain't good", and since Atkin users are a minority you'll hear a lot of negative comments.
If you like it and feel it's sustainable for you then by all means continue an don't mind the negative comments
I definitely can see how some people would see it as being tricky to navigate social settings on this diet. I think I've been kind of lucky in that many dinner parties I've been to provide cheese and veggie platters but that's definitely not the case all the time.
It really does have a very long list of restrictions but do the foods really make you smell after a period of time?? I've never heard of that!
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lemurcat12 wrote: »It gets a bad rap because there's no need to stick to 30 grams of carbs or below or whatever it is to lose weight, or to give up fruit and potatoes and ice cream, if you happen to like those foods. But if someone prefers eating that way, I wouldn't criticize. I think it's a fine eating plan for some people, just not me.
Beyond that, I think it's historically gotten a bad rap from some health-oriented types or "experts" because of the idea that it promotes eating lots of red meat and cheese and bacon, etc., which they see as bad for you. So it gets criticized for being about losing weight in an unhealthy way. Personally, I think low fat is a worse diet (if I had to pick one I'd do low carb over low fat, but luckily I don't have to do either) and the problems with saturated fat and red meat are oversold, so I'm not making that criticism, just reporting it.
I definitely feel like following the Atkins to the letter isn't really the best idea; seems like people who have more success with it do an augmented version.
The high-fat portion of the diet does get dicey for some people; being allowed to eat tons of bacon and mayonnaise is pretty strange if you're concerned about your weight since people have believed for awhile that high-fat foods will make you fat. You are what you eat and such.
Thanks for the information; I appreciate it.0
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