I have been for the last 5 days, not eating any bread, rice, fruit, sugar as much as possible.



Now I been eating salads(with meat) for lunch and dinner, and usually a good portion of eggs with meat or cheese for breakfast..



I FEEL GREAT, excpet for about 3 hours yesterday when i missed my snack between lunch and dinner. I was REAL hungry, but as soon as I ate i felt normal again.



I have been working out, about 4 days on, one day off, 4days on, etc..



Some indications around here tell me that it might be bad for me to be doing the 'Atkins' diet...



I plan on shocking my system once every 2 weeks with one day of normal eating... where i will have some bread or rice and maybe even a dessert, then back on track for 2 weeks.



Like I said I feel great, the weight is starting to come off...



Am I on the right track?

Actually, if you can control the cravings well, then its really good what you are doing and you will see some real dropping of fat. The shocking every 4 days is a really good idea, i suggest you carb load high on these shock days, so for example if you are doing <50grams of carbs for 4 days, on your shock day do 350 grams carbs (all should be super low GI...), with good amounts of EFA (essential fats) on the low carb days, but not much fat at all on the shock days.



If you feel great, then continue, carb cravings may become an issue if you low-ball your carbs so much, i suggest when it happens, have a small amount of good quality carbs to get back on track rather than climbing the walls with the pain of it all :P



Nick

Whatever you do when you break from this diet graduate yourself back to normal over a few weeks. Every single person I've ever seen coming off a high protein low carb diet has bounced back to or above their original weight if they don't create a transition period. You are tricking your body here and if you don't blend the reality of what was and what will be back together it reacts how it wants and it is not how you want.

What Andy said rings try to my experience. In some respects, it's easier to lose weight on a diet than it is to keep it off for the long term. A radical plan for losing weight may not translate into a lifetime plan for staying slim. Still, if high protein low carbs is working for you and is sustainable, then go for it!

I agree with what Ron and Andy are saying. A little over a year ago I lost about 100 lbs on the Dr. Bernstein diet plan. It works well, but once I was "thin" I felt like I could do no wrong and snapped back to my old habits... so here I am, back up at nearly 300 lbs! I'm doing the diet again, on my own this time (trying to save the $600 per month)... it's basically a low carb/fat high protien diet... taking lots of Vitamin B and testing my "burn" with Ketostix urin test strips... the pounds DROP off (you can expect 3-7 lbs loss per week), but like Ron said, unless there's a transition into a healthy diet, bouncing back is a real risk :/

well i think i for got to mention above is the fact that i have done this diet before and have bounced back higher.. just like most.. the difference this time i am serious about exercising. i want to get to the managable weight and keep my 1 to 1.5 hour a day workout routine AND yake up Jiu Jitsu, with my son. As I hav mentioned before, I used to be a hell of an athelete... trick bike rier, and profiecent martial artist... and I want to do those things again, but i cant at my current weight...



thanks for the advice, I'm sticking to the program!!

The important thing to note here is that the 'atkins' style diet is unsustainable, i.e. you go ON the diet expecting to lose weight but it is an active diet, i.e. not a lifestyle change that will cause a slow and effective body recomposition, it is a harsh fat loss diet that isn't that uncommon of bodybuilders pre-competition.



I would suggest you continue atkins for as long as possible then as you start to slip, switch onto what is considered a sustainable diet, then you won't yoyo but benefit from the fat loss properties of atkins.



Nick

Atkins is OK for a week or two to get yourself out of the junk food habit, and help encourage you with rapid results but I don't recommend it any longer than that…

Your body really does need carbs and not all are bad for you.

You might want to check out the Body for Life website, http://www.bodyforlife.com/nutrition/mealplan.asp, this will help explain the importance of balancing fat, carbs and protein. I wasn’t doing the weight training that you guys are, but it really helped me understand how to balance a meal, what appropriate portion sizes are, and that small meals frequently are best.



Good Luck!

I would say any kind of fad diet like low carb/ high protein would be incomplete nutrition for your body, thus bad for your health long-term. It may take a few pounds off, but most are unsustainable and [as said many times] you will eventually gain them back.



Make a lifestyle change, such as eating fresh/organic, whole foods and reducing - or stopping altogether - intake of processed foods which many times will seem to make you hungrier. (They're EVERYWHERE!) Find a bottled water you like, drink lots, and if needed mix it up a bit with teas and coffees. My health and my weight have benefitted enormously, and it is definitely sustainable and I've had a lot of fun with it.

Atkins takes a symptom (we eat too many simple carbohydrates in the form of processed sugars) and takes it to an unnecessary extreme (eliminate almost all carbohydrates from the diet). I personally don't know anyone who's had success keeping weight off on a low-carb diet. High protein diets are also supposed to be very damaging to the kidneys.



It is better in my opinion to cut unhealthy carbohydrates out of your diet, those in the form of sweet snacks, soda, etc. Ensure your carb intake comes from complex carborhydrates in the form of whole grains and fruit.

My feeling is that when Atkins was de-bunked towards the end of its mass popularity the concensus was that it worked because it actually led to overall eating less calories. People got so sick of eating just protien & fat that they just ended up eating less.







Colin puts it perfectly. To add my 2p's worth of explanation, simple refined sugars can be damaging as the provoke a very fast insulin spike which can encourage fat storage, it can also damage the insulin response over time, hence the prevelance of Type II diabetes in people who are obese.

I'm doing the Four Corners diet, which is high protein, <50g carbs per day. Based on Atkins, but includes yoghurt and high fibre items and unsaturated fats. haven't heard of the idea of "shocking" your system - what's that about? i thought the idea is that eliminating the carbs gets you to start burning body fat, and also, after it's out your system, stabilizes your blood sugar and prevents cravings? I'm hoping this is a fairly sustainable eating program... any comments?

Those of you who are critical of atkins have to understand that our bodies are different and can respond differently to plans such as atkins. I myself lost 86 lbs over 18 months on atkins. I did gain back about 20 over the next 12 months, but that still left me with a net loss of 66 lbs. I am back on atkins, and have shaved off 10 of those 20 lbs in the last 3 weeks. Atkins works for me, maybe not you, but for me it works. Please don't knock what works for others, your pontification might just cause someone to miss the plan/program that is just right for them.



Mark

The other thing I don't understanf from the comments made is why would you want to go off something that is working for you. This can be said of any eating plan. The low carb is working for me and controlling my Diabetes with no medication. I have lost 49lbs since mid June and am on no medication for anything. My Diabetes is in check and all my tests are normal or below. I am the healthiest I have ever been and I feel fantastic. Why would I want to try something different when I reach my goal? The old way of eating didn't work before, why would I all of a sudden think it would work when I have lost all my weight.

I think it's great, and I lost much of the weight I have lost doing exactly this. I recently hit sort of a wall where weight loss stopped, and I have let myself go off any sort of diet for the last week (the shock to the system also described above.... hope it works, because I still have goals to meet).



Now I'm getting back to my original way of eating. I tend to base my diet on protein, every meal, including powder mixes when I need something quick. I eat 5 small meals. I am pretty relaxed about good fats, pretty much letting myself have a portion of nuts, avocado or olives every time I want it (when I had a physical the only number that was off was "good cholesterol, suggesting I could and should have even more of these fats).



I eat vegetables and salads, at least the green ones, without any hesitation. And I do eat carbs, but I try to eat them in the morning when I need more energy (and have lots of hours to burn them off) and I go for the slowest burning... oatmeal, very grainy breads, whole wheat pasta, and even those in moderation. Small portions. I pretty much never, ever (until this shock week) eat white carbs like white rice, bread or pasta.



I think it was a good idea getting most of my carbs early in the day, where I enjoyed cereals or oatmeal or toast and got the fiber benefits. With lots of protein and slow burn carbs in the mornings, I tended to work my meals down to just a chicken breast and salad by evening and felt great all the time.



I think cravings can be few to non existent if you mix up these foods well. If you do protein shakes, you might lean toward casein, which I believe burns slower. A good thing, slow burning food. I think it's the main reason low carb diets work... not because carbs are evil, but because the quick burn ones just become instant fat. I suggest tolerating carbs, but always being mindful, and avoiding those faster burning ones even on off days/weeks. White bread just doesn't do anything for anybody.



I didn't really count calories for the most part. But when you keep carbs and sugar at a distance, not sure you really have to. I was probably low cal all the time (hence, perhaps, the plateau I eventually hit).



As for bad effects.... I successfully lost weight for over 6 months and dramatically improved my health. No known problems. I lost over 100lbs and my health dramatically improved. The only downside is I eventually hit a flatline, but I am confident I will press thru that. And it took 6 months to get there, 6 months in which I felt better every day.



Good luck