Atkins Diet

Anyone done it? Does it work? Do you feel it's safe?

I've been reading it and reading about it online. It seems okay to me. I mean, I'd still keep the calorie intake somewhere around 1,900-2,400 per day. And I'd eat extra lean ground beef, turkey bacon instead of fatty pork bacon, etc.

And, all research says fish is good for you. It seems like a logical diet to me.

Opinions? Success stories? Horror stories?

 

I don't know any of that stuff, but I know I could never do it.

I am a FIEND for bread. I'd die if I couldn't eat bread.

 

If you have the willpower to stick with it, the weight comes off really fast. You feel hungry most of the time and the first couple of weeks are hell.

With a sports writer's schedule, it's a tough diet to follow because it's hard to find the right foods if you're covering a game or on the road. Eating a Wendy's burger without the bun isn't really what you need.

If you eat most of your meals at home, it's a lot easier to follow.

 

Be smart with it... I did it a few years ago and lost 25 pounds pretty easily... over the winter it came back.
Cut out as much sugar and starch as you can. I didn't cut it out altogther, but cut way back and still dropped. Hell, was switching from Michelob Light to Michelob Ultra.
Cut out bread, but still rolled up ham and cheese around a pickle spear or asparagus...few chips and celery and cream cheese. 213-to-188 went pretty quick.
188 back to 210 was more gradual.
And Wendys burger w/out the bun isn't as bad as you think with a salad...

 

Don't do it. Just cut out soda (sugar) and fast food, eat a lot of turkey and tuna (cheap and low fat) and take it easy on chocolate and other saturated fat stuff ... that's how I lost some extra weight ... it's not dangerous like Atkins and it's still tasty.

 

It's still tasty, sure, but that's a shitload of fat and grease that you don't need no matter what diet you're on.

 

Atkins is protiens and fat, cut out sugar and starch and make the body burn the stored carbs...
Is why you can have things with Splenda, which is inert, while avoiding Nutrasweet, which even tho is no sugar, the body breaks down as one.

 

I dropped from 210 to 167 on Atkins and was almost too thin. After my dad died, I kind of didn't give a shit for a while and put back on some weight. I've found it hard to resume with the same zeal I had the first time and have bounced between 180 and 195 for the past four years as I've gone on and off the diet. I don't want to get down to 167 again. I'd like to be between 180-185.

I love meat and cheese, so it's a good diet for me. I was seldom hungry. My problem is social occasions, for the most part.

I've found it surprisingly easy to live without bread, french fries and pasta, and cakes and cookies never have been a problem. Ice cream is a big temptation. I've found that the Breyer's made with Splenda is pretty good. I've found that Splenda won't make me gain weight but won't let me lose it, so it is best to stay away from this until you have lost all you want and you just want to maintain.

As with any diet, it will be slow going unless you exercise.

It works if you do what they tell you, though.

 

Your best bet is to learn the basic concept--no carbs, lots of meat and fats, because if you don't give your body any carbs to burn, it has to burn something else for energy, so it burns fat. Then adapt it so a normal person with common sense can follow it.

It will absolutely work in the short term...but as soon as you return to bread and pasta and simple carbs, you're going to get fat again. It all metabolizes as sugar....and if you're burning sugar for energy, your fat just sits there....growing.

You're better off doing as Slappy says...cut the breads and pastas and white junk....add more lean protein. You can do that forever and it's not really a 'diet,' it's just healthy eating.

Protein digests more slowly than carbs, so you stay fuller longer...and without the sugar highs and lows, you don't get the cravings that keep you running back for more snacks every time you feel sluggish. So you eat less, and you eat better.

Also, many people claim Atkins gives you incredibly bad breath.

 

If you're going to eat meat, eat turkey ... especially cold cuts. It has nearly zero saturated fat ... I lost 20 pounds I gained after quitting smoking by eating turkey sandwiches and drinking semi sweet tea ... how do you think Jared did it? ... except a little cheese and mayo doesn't hurt, except I prefer oil and vinegar.

A diet that says it's OK to eat a Hardees $6 burger isn't healthy.

 

Have not noticed this and my wife would not be shy about telling me, as on weekend mornings when I have normal morning breath, she will push me away. But I am fairly regimented about brushing and mouthwash.

 

The South Beach Diet is a less radical version of the no-carb/low-carb approach. You might look into it as well.