Adkins diet

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Replies

  • KaraAlste
    KaraAlste Posts: 168 Member
    Perhaps give it a try and see if its manageable for you. Some people love it & have lots of energy.
  • rita4453
    rita4453 Posts: 14 Member
    I'm not sure I could do such a low carb diet but I am going to try to cut out most carbs and try to keep my carbs about 20 - 30 at each meal and see what happens.
  • rita4453
    rita4453 Posts: 14 Member
    Does anyone has low carb snack ideas?
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    Check out the low carb group that's linked upthread.

    I'd think nuts or cheese or meat (smoked salmon is a nice snack).
  • abatonfan
    abatonfan Posts: 1,120 Member
    edited April 2015
    rita4453 wrote: »
    Has anyone had long term success using the Adkins diet? I am a new type 1 diabetic and desperately need to lose weight. I am having a hard counting carbs and calories. I thought maybe an Adkins diet might help...

    Hi! I'm also a type 1 diabetic.

    Personally, I wouldn't recommend Atkins for another T1. Atkins is a ketosis diet induced by low-carb eating.

    If you are like me and use an insulin pump (even on multiple daily injections, the risk of DKA is still there if you forget to take your long-acting insulin or the long-acting insulin somehow spoils), you probably already know about how much of a joy ketones can be. If the insulin pump or infusion set fails and no longer delivers insulin, we start producing a ton of ketones (ketosis). The very large buildup of ketones due to the absolute lack of insulin then places us at a very high risk of going into diabetic ketoacidosis.

    The main thing I would be afraid of with ketosis diets is knowing whether I am producing ketones because of the diet or if I am producing ketones because of an insulin pump failure (with this type of ketosis putting us at high risk of going into DKA).
  • knt217
    knt217 Posts: 115 Member
    aishlynn wrote: »
    Type I? Have you spoken to your doctor about starting this diet? I'm type II, so I know very little about type 1's and what you can and can't have and what will mess with your blood glucose.

    This. Keto acidosis is nothing for diabetics to mess with, but it's been a while since I took physiology so I can't rememeber if it's a big deal for people with type 1 or type 2.
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
    knt217 wrote: »
    aishlynn wrote: »
    Type I? Have you spoken to your doctor about starting this diet? I'm type II, so I know very little about type 1's and what you can and can't have and what will mess with your blood glucose.

    This. Keto acidosis is nothing for diabetics to mess with, but it's been a while since I took physiology so I can't rememeber if it's a big deal for people with type 1 or type 2.
    ketosis=/= keto acidosis
  • abatonfan
    abatonfan Posts: 1,120 Member
    knt217 wrote: »
    aishlynn wrote: »
    Type I? Have you spoken to your doctor about starting this diet? I'm type II, so I know very little about type 1's and what you can and can't have and what will mess with your blood glucose.

    This. Keto acidosis is nothing for diabetics to mess with, but it's been a while since I took physiology so I can't rememeber if it's a big deal for people with type 1 or type 2.
    ketosis=/= keto acidosis

    But for type 1's, it's very difficult -if not impossible- to figure out whether you're urinating moderate/large ketones due to not receiving any insulin (the ketosis plus hyperglycemia are the big things that puts us at risk for DKA) or are in a really strong diet-induced ketosis.

    I noticed that I very easily can go from negative to moderate urine ketones within three hours of ceasing insulin delivery. Some people on ketosis diets who check their ketone levels can experience moderate urine ketones. If I am on a ketosis diet, how am I to figure out if my 300 BG and moderate ketones are due to not receiving any insulin (which then I would need to follow a strict protocol for bringing down my BG and ketone level and be prepared to get my butt to the ER if I begin to vomit or display other DKA symptoms) or a simple hyperglycemia episode that can be corrected with a correction dose of insulin through my pump and a bit of exercise?
  • tmkkg4
    tmkkg4 Posts: 2 Member
    I did Adkins about 10 years ago and lost 100 lbs. I stayed in the phase 1 20 carbs a day the entire time. Unfortunately I wasn't thinking long term about eating less/making better choices and gained all the weight back as soon as I ate more carbs. I believe it does work, if you can modify your lifestyle to accommodate this style of eating.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,431 MFP Moderator
    rita4453 wrote: »
    I'm not sure I could do such a low carb diet but I am going to try to cut out most carbs and try to keep my carbs about 20 - 30 at each meal and see what happens.

    It may be worth trying to get your carbs down to 80-120g to see if that works. If not, you can lower it a bit more and continue to eat fats. Most of the diabetics I know are keeping carbs low, but not keto low. Essentially, you need to figure out what level is beneficial for addressing your medical needs.
  • Lexicpt
    Lexicpt Posts: 209 Member
    I personally couldn't stick to a Ketogenic diet for life. The problem with it is that a lot of people (NOT all) think they can revert back to their normal way of eating after they drop the weight. My dad lost 50 pounds in 4 months following Atkins and gained almost all of it back. For some people (including myself), it would be a very hard and expensive lifestyle to live. If you can actually sustain eating sub 100 carbs a day for life, then by all means do so. I don't see a problem.
  • lowcarber87
    lowcarber87 Posts: 31 Member
    OP: if you've spoken with your medical professionals and have decided to try Atkins (low carb) to help with your diabetes I recommend joining one of the low carb groups here. Lots of good approach on how to approach low carb dieting there.

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/394-low-carber-daily-forum-the-lcd-group

    Great advice.
  • JPW1990
    JPW1990 Posts: 2,424 Member
    Lexicpt wrote: »
    I personally couldn't stick to a Ketogenic diet for life. The problem with it is that a lot of people (NOT all) think they can revert back to their normal way of eating after they drop the weight. My dad lost 50 pounds in 4 months following Atkins and gained almost all of it back. For some people (including myself), it would be a very hard and expensive lifestyle to live. If you can actually sustain eating sub 100 carbs a day for life, then by all means do so. I don't see a problem.

    That's a problem with any diet, though. Nobody gains weight when they go off Atkins or keto unless they go back to eating more calories than they burn, just like they did before Atkins and keto. It's not putting carbs back in their lives that causes the weight gain, it's being lazy about what they eat again that causes weight gain.
  • gaurdgoose
    gaurdgoose Posts: 106 Member
    I am a recovering morbidly obese out of control Type two Diabetic[/b][/b].
    Since getting on this site and reducing my overall calorie intake and reducing my total carbohydrate intake to below 100-120 per day I have been able to reduce the medicines I was on. I think I would start tracking what you are eating first and see where your calories are coming from. Then you could make an educated decision as to what to change in your diet.
    The other thing to consider as well as quantity of carbohydrates is if you are getting enough fiber in your diet Good Luck
  • megomerrett
    megomerrett Posts: 442 Member
    Talk with a dietician. They will probably recommend a healthy balanced diet rather than restricting carbs. If you're not active at the moment you will see positive change by increasing your exercise levels. I try telling my type 1 friend this while she makes herself miserable on slimming world with no butter on her potatoes.

    It might sound simple but I know it isn't easy. Please use these boards for support.

    1000 sounds super low. I'm on 1200 and losing steadily (6lb in first month) and I'm 5'1", aged 32, desk job. I eat less but proper meals and treat snacks, drink more water and exercise more (mainly walking my dog with the kids and evening indoor biking while watching my favourite telly!).

    Good luck.
  • Lexicpt
    Lexicpt Posts: 209 Member
    JPW1990 wrote: »
    That's a problem with any diet, though. Nobody gains weight when they go off Atkins or keto unless they go back to eating more calories than they burn, just like they did before Atkins and keto. It's not putting carbs back in their lives that causes the weight gain, it's being lazy about what they eat again that causes weight gain.

    But Atkins doesn't have you count calories, right? In the original Atkins plan, they just tell you to eat until you're full. I would imagine that anyone not counting calories while they are losing the weight won't count them during maintenance either. Bear with me, I'm not 100% familiar with the way it works.
  • rocknlotsofrolls
    rocknlotsofrolls Posts: 418 Member
    I might be wrong, but I think the calorie part of Atkins is that when you are cutting out all the simple carbohydrates from your diet, you naturally get fuller on less calories. In other words, I can down a whole bag of doritoes without blinking and still be hungry, but if I eat one whole chicken breast, I'm filled up. Notice the difference in calories there. A ton, right?
  • AlabasterVerve
    AlabasterVerve Posts: 3,171 Member
    Lexicpt wrote: »
    JPW1990 wrote: »
    That's a problem with any diet, though. Nobody gains weight when they go off Atkins or keto unless they go back to eating more calories than they burn, just like they did before Atkins and keto. It's not putting carbs back in their lives that causes the weight gain, it's being lazy about what they eat again that causes weight gain.

    But Atkins doesn't have you count calories, right? In the original Atkins plan, they just tell you to eat until you're full. I would imagine that anyone not counting calories while they are losing the weight won't count them during maintenance either. Bear with me, I'm not 100% familiar with the way it works.
    You have to have a maintenance plan, obviously. Whether that's to continue doing what you were doing to lose weight or something different. That's true of any diet. You're ascribing problems to a low carb way of eating that doesn't have anything to do with eating low carb.

  • peter56765
    peter56765 Posts: 352 Member
    Lexicpt wrote: »
    JPW1990 wrote: »
    That's a problem with any diet, though. Nobody gains weight when they go off Atkins or keto unless they go back to eating more calories than they burn, just like they did before Atkins and keto. It's not putting carbs back in their lives that causes the weight gain, it's being lazy about what they eat again that causes weight gain.

    But Atkins doesn't have you count calories, right? In the original Atkins plan, they just tell you to eat until you're full. I would imagine that anyone not counting calories while they are losing the weight won't count them during maintenance either. Bear with me, I'm not 100% familiar with the way it works.
    You have to have a maintenance plan, obviously. Whether that's to continue doing what you were doing to lose weight or something different. That's true of any diet. You're ascribing problems to a low carb way of eating that doesn't have anything to do with eating low carb.

    When I did Atkins, the maintenance plan was simply to find the level of carbs that didn't cause weight gain or loss. You never counted calories, ever, just carbs, and you always ate until satisfied, so essentially Lexicpt would be correct in her understanding.
  • Lexicpt
    Lexicpt Posts: 209 Member
    I'm not knocking Keto diets or anything. Just making a point that it isn't a quick fix, it's a lifestyle. I love carbs, so there's no way I could manage it. :)
  • JPW1990
    JPW1990 Posts: 2,424 Member
    peter56765 wrote: »
    Lexicpt wrote: »
    JPW1990 wrote: »
    That's a problem with any diet, though. Nobody gains weight when they go off Atkins or keto unless they go back to eating more calories than they burn, just like they did before Atkins and keto. It's not putting carbs back in their lives that causes the weight gain, it's being lazy about what they eat again that causes weight gain.

    But Atkins doesn't have you count calories, right? In the original Atkins plan, they just tell you to eat until you're full. I would imagine that anyone not counting calories while they are losing the weight won't count them during maintenance either. Bear with me, I'm not 100% familiar with the way it works.
    You have to have a maintenance plan, obviously. Whether that's to continue doing what you were doing to lose weight or something different. That's true of any diet. You're ascribing problems to a low carb way of eating that doesn't have anything to do with eating low carb.

    When I did Atkins, the maintenance plan was simply to find the level of carbs that didn't cause weight gain or loss. You never counted calories, ever, just carbs, and you always ate until satisfied, so essentially Lexicpt would be correct in her understanding.

    But it's still not the reason anyone gains when they stop. If your goal is to find the number of calories where you don't gain, and you eat more than that, you gain. If your goal is to find the number of carbs where you don't gain, and you eat more than that, you gain. A lot of people on LC and keto don't count calories, because you don't have to be aware of the numbers to maintain or have a deficit. You just have to have the deficit. It's not a magic shield to prevent weight gain if you go over.
  • peter56765
    peter56765 Posts: 352 Member
    JPW1990 wrote: »
    peter56765 wrote: »
    Lexicpt wrote: »
    JPW1990 wrote: »
    That's a problem with any diet, though. Nobody gains weight when they go off Atkins or keto unless they go back to eating more calories than they burn, just like they did before Atkins and keto. It's not putting carbs back in their lives that causes the weight gain, it's being lazy about what they eat again that causes weight gain.

    But Atkins doesn't have you count calories, right? In the original Atkins plan, they just tell you to eat until you're full. I would imagine that anyone not counting calories while they are losing the weight won't count them during maintenance either. Bear with me, I'm not 100% familiar with the way it works.
    You have to have a maintenance plan, obviously. Whether that's to continue doing what you were doing to lose weight or something different. That's true of any diet. You're ascribing problems to a low carb way of eating that doesn't have anything to do with eating low carb.

    When I did Atkins, the maintenance plan was simply to find the level of carbs that didn't cause weight gain or loss. You never counted calories, ever, just carbs, and you always ate until satisfied, so essentially Lexicpt would be correct in her understanding.

    But it's still not the reason anyone gains when they stop. If your goal is to find the number of calories where you don't gain, and you eat more than that, you gain. If your goal is to find the number of carbs where you don't gain, and you eat more than that, you gain. A lot of people on LC and keto don't count calories, because you don't have to be aware of the numbers to maintain or have a deficit. You just have to have the deficit. It's not a magic shield to prevent weight gain if you go over.

    I thought we were talking about maintenance, not stopping. All bets are off when you stop. On Atkins (at least when I did it), all phases, including maintenance, required you to track and stay with your carb limit. Assuming you follow that restriction, the plan says to eat until you feel satisfied.
  • kriegmeister
    kriegmeister Posts: 20 Member
    If you haven't heard about it check out Mark Wissen's Primal approach. Its incredible because the whole point of it is not to count carbs and to effortlessly bring your body into a state of optimal genetic expression. Basically, if you don't eat grains, legumes and other inflammatory processed carbs-and stick to vegetables and fruits- its almost impossible to exceed a healthy 150g carbs a day limit because of the volume of the food itself. Its pretty cool.
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