Atkins diet.

jadethecrow
jadethecrow Posts: 1
edited November 13 in Food and Nutrition
Has anyone gone on this diet, and have a successful outcome with it?

Replies

  • MommaBelvin
    MommaBelvin Posts: 130 Member
    When I was younger yes. I lost a lot of weight in high school. Its all about meat and cheese stay away from milk and keep ur carbs as low as possible you can print out the shopping list. Just like anything you just have to keep at it.
  • joepratt503
    joepratt503 Posts: 191 Member
    Ketogenic diets do work but they are not generally good long term options. I have seen people use them to kickstart and lose a lot very quickly and then cycle into a more sustainable eating change.
  • RibStabsHeart
    RibStabsHeart Posts: 71 Member
    I did atkins in high school and lost 25 pounds, and put it all back on within about a year or so. The problem is maintaining the ketogenic state where your body is burning fat/peeing sugar -- it takes a LOT of dilligence and carb counting to make it work, and in my opinion, is not a sustainable long-term diet.

    What I like to do is eat healthy, count my calories, and try to eat a good amount of protein. I generally avoid carbs when I have the option, but don't beat myself up if I do. You'll lose weight slower, but it stays off because it's a more balanced lifestyle that allows you to have a doughnut when you want to. Just my $0.02!
  • ace314159
    ace314159 Posts: 19 Member
    I did Atkins for about 9 months when I was in college (about 12 years ago). I was incredibly strict about it and had 0-2 grams of carbs per day. (They have since changed the plan to where you can eat more veggies and stuff like that...which is good). You know, it worked. I lost about 80 lbs. It was the first time in my life I had ever lost weight like that. In a way the foods you were allowed to eat were incredibly indulgent (steak, eggs with cheese, bacon, butter, etc.). However, the foods would definitely get old (to this day the smell of eggs still turns me off because I ate so many of them during that 9 month period). Eventually I gained all that weight back (not right away...but over the years).

    On my current journey I have lost about 68 lbs. I am close to the lowest weight I ever saw on Atkins. There are a lot of haters out there about Atkins...people truly loath it. However, I'm not willing to say that. It worked for me and at the time I thought it was the only way I could lose weight. However, now that I know I can lose weight doing it a 'different way' I've seen that I actually have dropped the pounds just as fast as I did on Atkins (by monitoring calorie deficits and making smart food choices). The thing that I like about my current way of eating is that if I eat a bowl of cereal or something not on my usual 'approved foods list' it isn't like I've destroyed my diet (like I often felt with Atkins). It just needs to be accounted for in the calories I eat.

    So...if you like meat, cheese and eggs A LOT...go for it. Otherwise, eating for a calorie deficit is just as efficient.
  • Mistizoom
    Mistizoom Posts: 578 Member
    edited March 2015
    I don't do Atkins but I do eat low carb. I have lost 90 lbs. I have been eating low carb well over two years so it is very sustainable for me. This is a lifetime way of eating for me, not be diet, and I don' t plan to change that. If you are interested in learning more, feel free to join one of the low carb groups here on MFP.
  • hoppinglark
    hoppinglark Posts: 213 Member
    edited March 2015
    Diets low in carbohydrates have been used for approximately 150 years. The first published example was William Banting's "A Letter on Corpulence, Addressed to the Public" in 1864. In recent years this type of restriction has been studied and obviously it can eliminate the pitfalls of insulin resistance.

    ("Low-carbohydrate diet disrupts the association between insulin resistance and weight gain" Metabolism Clinical and Experimental 58 (2009) 1116–1122)

    ("Association of decrease in carbohydrate intake with reduction in abdominal fat during 3-month moderate low-carbohydrate diet among non-obese Japanese patients with type 2 diabetes" Sasakabe T, et al,
    Metabolism (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.metabol.2015.01.012)

    One of my friends from high school had an experience like Banting. He tried all types of exercise regimens, Weight Watchers, etc. But for him the only thing that curbed his appetite and dropped the pounds was avoiding carbs and regular exercise.
  • peter56765
    peter56765 Posts: 352 Member
    edited March 2015
    ace314159 wrote: »
    I did Atkins for about 9 months when I was in college (about 12 years ago). I was incredibly strict about it and had 0-2 grams of carbs per day. (They have since changed the plan to where you can eat more veggies and stuff like that...which is good). You know, it worked. I lost about 80 lbs. It was the first time in my life I had ever lost weight like that. In a way the foods you were allowed to eat were incredibly indulgent (steak, eggs with cheese, bacon, butter, etc.). However, the foods would definitely get old (to this day the smell of eggs still turns me off because I ate so many of them during that 9 month period). Eventually I gained all that weight back (not right away...but over the years).

    On my current journey I have lost about 68 lbs. I am close to the lowest weight I ever saw on Atkins. There are a lot of haters out there about Atkins...people truly loath it. However, I'm not willing to say that. It worked for me and at the time I thought it was the only way I could lose weight. However, now that I know I can lose weight doing it a 'different way' I've seen that I actually have dropped the pounds just as fast as I did on Atkins (by monitoring calorie deficits and making smart food choices). The thing that I like about my current way of eating is that if I eat a bowl of cereal or something not on my usual 'approved foods list' it isn't like I've destroyed my diet (like I often felt with Atkins). It just needs to be accounted for in the calories I eat.

    So...if you like meat, cheese and eggs A LOT...go for it. Otherwise, eating for a calorie deficit is just as efficient.

    Your story is almost exactly a clone of mine. Atkins worked for me too, but damn did it get monotonous. I grew tired of having to prepare special meals for myself everyday while the rest of my family was eating "regular" food. And yes, I thought I would grow feathers and start clucking if I ate one more #$!@% egg! I did lose about 50lbs but then slowly gained it all back. Nowadays I eat what everyone else is eating - I just count calories and eat less than I used to. That has helped my lose 80lbs and keep it off for 2+ years.

    Instead of enduring the 2 week induction phase punishment whenever I fall off the wagon, now I can just make up "red" days by eating at a caloric deficit over the next day or two. I find this to be far more flexible and maintainable.

    Having said that, I agree with you that Atkins was not a complete failure with me, even though I gained everything back. Atkins taught me the link between carbs and food cravings. To this day, I shy away from high carb snack food because I know it tends to trigger me to want more and more, whereas something like a handful of nuts does not.
  • TheSatinPumpkin
    TheSatinPumpkin Posts: 948 Member
    I follow the DANDR book and currently at the end of OWL and about to enter maintenance.
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