The Atkins Diet
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Bookworm
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Never tried it. I've only heard of this working for celebrities.
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It works but you shouldnt be on it for a long time. Just for some months. Then start fazing in good carbs. Carbs are good for you in small portions. I have lowered my carb count but I still eat rice and whole wheat bread. Bran muffins in the morning with a apple and a banana or like most days all protein eggs and turkey sausage w/ a pop tart for breakfast.
If you are going to do it. Do it right. Plan out your meals. Dont try to wing it cause you will fail. Actually do some reading and plan out restuarants that serve low carb meals. Lunch @ work is the hardest and planning out your week is worst.
Do it for about 4 months consistently and then start putting more rice and wheat in your diet. If you must, dont eat carbs for dinner. EAt a lean meat and two servings of vegetables. Buy frozen vegetables cause they are cheap and easy to cook. EAt beans cause they fill you up faster and keep you feeling full. The meat should be not bigger than your fist. EAt all the vegeatbles you want. Mix up your meals and have a cheat day. Plan that out cause you will find yourself doing impromptu cheat days. And those will ? up your diet.
Potatoes, rice, and nuts are filling but easy to over eat on. So no more than a handful of one each a day. No fried foods. and no soda of any kind. If it is fizzy dont drink it. It you need something fizzy try Sparkling Ice drinks from Talking rain. They are usually sold in most grocers in the south. Catch them on sale. Crystal Light should be your friend.
The only reason I know this is becuase I did it to lose weight a while back. The weight falls off but the problem is keeping it off. Good Luck and get the book! -
It works but you shouldnt be on it for a long time. Just for some months. Then start fazing in good carbs. Carbs are good for you in small portions. I have lowered my carb count but I still eat rice and whole wheat bread. Bran muffins in the morning with a apple and a banana or like most days all protein eggs and turkey sausage w/ a pop tart for breakfast.
If you are going to do it. Do it right. Plan out your meals. Dont try to wing it cause you will fail. Actually do some reading and plan out restuarants that serve low carb meals. Lunch @ work is the hardest and planning out your week is worst.
Do it for about 4 months consistently and then start putting more rice and wheat in your diet. If you must, dont eat carbs for dinner. EAt a lean meat and two servings of vegetables. Buy frozen vegetables cause they are cheap and easy to cook. EAt beans cause they fill you up faster and keep you feeling full. The meat should be not bigger than your fist. EAt all the vegeatbles you want. Mix up your meals and have a cheat day. Plan that out cause you will find yourself doing impromptu cheat days. And those will ? up your diet.
Potatoes, rice, and nuts are filling but easy to over eat on. So no more than a handful of one each a day. No fried foods. and no soda of any kind. If it is fizzy dont drink it. It you need something fizzy try Sparkling Ice drinks from Talking rain. They are usually sold in most grocers in the south. Catch them on sale. Crystal Light should be your friend.
The only reason I know this is becuase I did it to lose weight a while back. The weight falls off but the problem is keeping it off. Good Luck and get the book!
thanks @caddoman -
I'm skeptical about it because the theory behind it is: no carbs means the body will digest it's own fat for energy.
But I have read that the body goes after muscle before tapping into fat. This is apparently why the atkins incorporates high protein, but I really don't want to lose my muscle so iono if it's worth the risk to try it. -
RodrigueZz wrote: »I'm skeptical about it because the theory behind it is: no carbs means the body will digest it's own fat for energy.
But I have read that the body goes after muscle before tapping into fat. This is apparently why the atkins incorporates high protein, but I really don't want to lose my muscle so iono if it's worth the risk to try it.
This isn't true.
Unless you are going very low carb all day in combination doing a ton of lifting and cardio, while not getting enough protein. In that case it's more likely that you'll lose some muscle.
The reason Atkins is high protein is to provide your body with what it needs to keep the muscle you have. You'll burn fat with your activities (cardio, every day stuff) but it's easier to burn fat when your blood sugar (insulin) levels are lower. Low carb diets should allow you to stay in a state of normal blood sugar levels and keep you from having insulin spikes, etc. Carbs are the bodies preferred source of energy so if you have carbs in your system, you'll (likely) burn these at a higher % than fat and protein. Low carb diets aim to take that away and allow you burn fat easier. By going higher protein you're keeping your body from burning muscle as easy.
It's the same with protein though, if you take in more protein than your body needs (overall) you'll burn some of that along with fat. If you go low carb (don't really recommend it long term) just make sure you get enough protein for your body. Your muscles will look flat, but eating some carbs (cereal) at night every now and again will help make you look right in the morning (restoring glycogen levels and drawing more water into your muscles making you "look" bigger again).
Spend some time here http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/articles . It's a little sciency, but worth it from keeping you running in circles and enlightening as far as diet and nutritional information.
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leftcoastkev wrote: »RodrigueZz wrote: »I'm skeptical about it because the theory behind it is: no carbs means the body will digest it's own fat for energy.
But I have read that the body goes after muscle before tapping into fat. This is apparently why the atkins incorporates high protein, but I really don't want to lose my muscle so iono if it's worth the risk to try it.
This isn't true.
Unless you are going very low carb all day in combination doing a ton of lifting and cardio, while not getting enough protein. In that case it's more likely that you'll lose some muscle.
The reason Atkins is high protein is to provide your body with what it needs to keep the muscle you have. You'll burn fat with your activities (cardio, every day stuff) but it's easier to burn fat when your blood sugar (insulin) levels are lower. Low carb diets should allow you to stay in a state of normal blood sugar levels and keep you from having insulin spikes, etc. Carbs are the bodies preferred source of energy so if you have carbs in your system, you'll (likely) burn these at a higher % than fat and protein. Low carb diets aim to take that away and allow you burn fat easier. By going higher protein you're keeping your body from burning muscle as easy.
It's the same with protein though, if you take in more protein than your body needs (overall) you'll burn some of that along with fat. If you go low carb (don't really recommend it long term) just make sure you get enough protein for your body. Your muscles will look flat, but eating some carbs (cereal) at night every now and again will help make you look right in the morning (restoring glycogen levels and drawing more water into your muscles making you "look" bigger again).
Spend some time here http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/articles . It's a little sciency, but worth it from keeping you running in circles and enlightening as far as diet and nutritional information.
good looking out, i appreciate the perspective.
I cut carbs for awhile, but i did not make up for the loss of carbs by adding protein. While I was on this diet I was doing about an hour of moderate/slightly-intense cardio a day and I noticed significant strength and endurance loss and I was freaking out thinking I ? my body up. After i finish this 12 week regiment i'm trying out right now i might do this atkins if I don't get to where I'm at. I think part of that strength loss might have come from my training being 3 days on 1 day off though - not enough rest time perhaps.
Thanks for the link too - it's hard to find reliable sources on the internet for this ? sometimes. -
It works. I was always the fat/chubby kid. I tried it all yo. I did it once and lost 30 lbs in a month. Which goes to show you how much cards and starches were a part of my diet or lack of a ? diet. Problem with it like with any other trendy diet is if you don't ease back into regular food you get slammed with the weight you lost yo. After I lost that 30 I gained back 35 or so.
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It works. I was always the fat/chubby kid. I tried it all yo. I did it once and lost 30 lbs in a month. Which goes to show you how much cards and starches were a part of my diet or lack of a ? diet. Problem with it like with any other trendy diet is if you don't ease back into regular food you get slammed with the weight you lost yo. After I lost that 30 I gained back 35 or so.
I've heard this, and this is why I've only cut carbs but not eliminated them completely. Jumping back up must be a pain in the ass.
Did you pick the weight back up really quickly? -
RodrigueZz wrote: »It works. I was always the fat/chubby kid. I tried it all yo. I did it once and lost 30 lbs in a month. Which goes to show you how much cards and starches were a part of my diet or lack of a ? diet. Problem with it like with any other trendy diet is if you don't ease back into regular food you get slammed with the weight you lost yo. After I lost that 30 I gained back 35 or so.
I've heard this, and this is why I've only cut carbs but not eliminated them completely. Jumping back up must be a pain in the ass.
Did you pick the weight back up really quickly?
Yeah man ? was heart breaking. I learned way more about keeping the weight off as I got older. I went from 249 to as low as 185 from learning how to work out properly. But I've always gone up and down until 3 years ago and long story short I work out very regularly. Right now I'm going to start cutting. Just starting this week. It's going to be anything from a month to 6 weeks. -
For every 1 gram of carbs you store, you'll store 3 grams of water weight along with it.
Drop or severely limit carbs, you'll drop a lot of weight in about 3 days to a weeks time.
However, I'm not necessarily saying fat, I'm saying weight. Including water. You'll look far less bloated if you jump into Atkins (as long as you aren't slamming down a ton of sodium).
Keep carbs low and you can burn fat easier.
But, due to lack of carb (glycogen) storage, your muscles will also look flat. This doesn't mean the muscle fibers themselves shrunk, only that your muscles don't look full (from carbs attracting as much water within them). On a side note, this is one of the positive effects from taking Creatine.
You don't have to go low carb long term, but it helps short term especially if you've reached a plateau in fat loss efforts. I only use low carb as a last resort type of thing now.
The rebound weight is real though. Not exactly rebound fat (unless you leaned down to 10% bf or lower), but weight in general. You start taking in a fair amount of carbs after keeping them low and you will bloat up very quickly. Along with sodium attracting water as well. -
leftcoastkev wrote: »For every 1 gram of carbs you store, you're store 3 grams of water weight along with it.
Drop or severely limit carbs, you'll drop a lot of weight in about 3 days to a weeks time.
However, I'm not necessarily saying fat, I'm saying weight. Including water. You'll look far less bloated if you jump into Atkins (as long as you aren't slamming down a ton of sodium).
Keep carbs low and you can burn fat easier.
But, due to lack of carb (glycogen) storage, your muscles will also look flat. This doesn't mean the muscle fibers themselves shrunk, only that your muscles don't look full (from carbs attracting as much water within them). On a side note, this is one of the positive effects from taking Creatine.
You don't have to go low carb long term, but it helps short term especially if you've reached a plateau in fat loss efforts. I only use low carb as a last resort type of thing now.
The rebound weight is real though. Not exactly rebound fat (unless you leaned down to 10% bf or lower), but weight in general. You start taking in a fair amount of carbs after keeping them low and you will bloat up very quickly. Along with sodium attracting water as well.
Can't you stick to low carb for long term? When I'm in ketosis I have pretty much no craving for sugar or carbs at all. If you stay below a certain amount of carbs daily, won't you stay in fat burning mode?
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leftcoastkev wrote: »For every 1 gram of carbs you store, you're store 3 grams of water weight along with it.
Drop or severely limit carbs, you'll drop a lot of weight in about 3 days to a weeks time.
However, I'm not necessarily saying fat, I'm saying weight. Including water. You'll look far less bloated if you jump into Atkins (as long as you aren't slamming down a ton of sodium).
Keep carbs low and you can burn fat easier.
But, due to lack of carb (glycogen) storage, your muscles will also look flat. This doesn't mean the muscle fibers themselves shrunk, only that your muscles don't look full (from carbs attracting as much water within them). On a side note, this is one of the positive effects from taking Creatine.
You don't have to go low carb long term, but it helps short term especially if you've reached a plateau in fat loss efforts. I only use low carb as a last resort type of thing now.
The rebound weight is real though. Not exactly rebound fat (unless you leaned down to 10% bf or lower), but weight in general. You start taking in a fair amount of carbs after keeping them low and you will bloat up very quickly. Along with sodium attracting water as well.
Can't you stick to low carb for long term? When I'm in ketosis I have pretty much no craving for sugar or carbs at all. If you stay below a certain amount of carbs daily, won't you stay in fat burning mode?
You can, but if you lift weights you can bet money you won't be building much muscle low carb'ing. Also, the muscle that you do have will look flat.
Also over time, you will probably not be able to rep out the same number of reps per set as you could taking in more carbs (less glycogen stored in the muscle = less fuel for lifting in terms of reps, not strength (low reps)). You may be able to lift the same amount of weight, just less reps (you may feel like energy drains quickly).
I said short term because I'm assuming that you're trying to keep the muscle you have while burning some fat (to show that muscle aka cutting). If you aren't concerned about that, then go to town with the low carbing.
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well I'm a female so I'm not really trying to get big muscles have noticed I can't lift as much as before. My goal right now is to lose weight but I do want to get toned. What if I just stay on Atkins to lose the weight and then go off once I'm at my goal and ready to start toning and just do moderate carbs ?leftcoastkev wrote: »leftcoastkev wrote: »For every 1 gram of carbs you store, you're store 3 grams of water weight along with it.
Drop or severely limit carbs, you'll drop a lot of weight in about 3 days to a weeks time.
However, I'm not necessarily saying fat, I'm saying weight. Including water. You'll look far less bloated if you jump into Atkins (as long as you aren't slamming down a ton of sodium).
Keep carbs low and you can burn fat easier.
But, due to lack of carb (glycogen) storage, your muscles will also look flat. This doesn't mean the muscle fibers themselves shrunk, only that your muscles don't look full (from carbs attracting as much water within them). On a side note, this is one of the positive effects from taking Creatine.
You don't have to go low carb long term, but it helps short term especially if you've reached a plateau in fat loss efforts. I only use low carb as a last resort type of thing now.
The rebound weight is real though. Not exactly rebound fat (unless you leaned down to 10% bf or lower), but weight in general. You start taking in a fair amount of carbs after keeping them low and you will bloat up very quickly. Along with sodium attracting water as well.
Can't you stick to low carb for long term? When I'm in ketosis I have pretty much no craving for sugar or carbs at all. If you stay below a certain amount of carbs daily, won't you stay in fat burning mode?
You can, but if you lift weights you can bet money you won't be building much muscle low carb'ing. Also, the muscle that you do have will look flat.
Also over time, you will probably not be able to rep out the same number of reps per set as you could taking in more carbs (less glycogen stored in the muscle = less fuel for lifting in terms of reps, not strength (low reps)). You may be able to lift the same amount of weight, just less reps (you may feel like energy drains quickly).
I said short term because I'm assuming that you're trying to keep the muscle you have while burning some fat (to show that muscle aka cutting). If you aren't concerned about that, then go to town with the low carbing.
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well I'm a female so I'm not really trying to get big muscles have noticed I can't lift as much as before. My goal right now is to lose weight but I do want to get toned. What if I just stay on Atkins to lose the weight and then go off once I'm at my goal and ready to start toning and just do moderate carbs ?
The bolded sounds like a good plan. Good luck with achieving your goals.
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I did the Atkins diet for quite awhile back when I was around 23ish...lost about 60 lbs on it.
I would recommend the South Beach over the Atkins though.
Same general concept, but the South Beach is better at helping you incorporate the diet into a long term plan.
You can't NOT eat carbs forever, so it's best to learn which ones are best to eat, and the South Beach does that. -
I did an Atkins routine for a few weeks and I'm considering it again. Last time, I dropped nearly 20lbs in two weeks. The problem, though, it that you tend to become irritable as ? during the first week or so. I need to lose a lot of weight now, so I'm probably going to start it on Friday.
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so school me on this diet and what carbs are. i want to lose a gang of weight but i dont want my muscles looking flat. i work out with resistance bands, body weight exercises and a heavy bag. somebody help me out im trying to start working on this summer body NOW
