[Closed] Atkins diet - Does it work?

My wife did it about 8 years ago and yes it does, she lost a stone.

Yes. Done it a couple of times and the weight does fall off.

Personally I think it's very hard to stick to long term though so inevitably the weight comes back, unless you hop onto another diet.

Does it work? Probably.

Is it sustainable? Debatable.

Is it a healthy way of losing weight? Probably not.

Yes but you can smell bread and other carbs from about a hundred metres away and would probably kill to obtain them.

the reason it works is because protein and fat makes you feel full quicker than carbs.

Eat a small portion of pasta - still feel hungry for about 15 mins after
Eat a similar size protien/fat meal - feel full almost after finishing.

so, you'll lose weight but probably increase your risk of coronary disease and stroke!

It works, but then pretty much any diet works if you stick to it.

It works insofar as you lose weight, yes. But it's not healthy or particularly sustainable.

Eat a similar size protien/fat meal - feel full almost after finishing.

This has not been my experience even with low GI eating, to be honest. The feeling of fullness comes from a fair few sources in your body, a full stomach is only one of them.

I just spent 20 mins ploughing through a big plate of chicken, semi-raw veg, salad and lots of beans. Full tummy but still hungry. It's a strange feeling.

Yes but your breath will smell like ass and nobody will want to be within a few feet of you when your talking!!

My boss did it the other year and his breath was like rotting s#$t!!

Yes, it works, and yes, there's lots of health benefits additional to losing weight from being in ketosis.

However, i think atkins got a bit bastardised by the popular media and conventional understanding of it (eat as much processed crap as you want, as long as its low carb) isn't very sensible.

Here's a couple of good starter resources that might be more useful than Googling Atkins:

http://high-fat-nutrition.blogspot.com/

http://www.ketotic.org/

I worked ona diabetes research project a few years ago and someone in the office tried it. the prof running the research said that although there was no long term data available, he felt that there could be serious long term effects if the diet was kept up for any longer than about 6 months
1 - no evidence to support that theory
2 - he is one of Europe's leading nutritionists and diabetologists (I might have made that second word up, but he is a top studier of diabetes) so is guess is probably well informed

He's read your responses and is shaking his head as I type this.
Apart from Finbar - he likes you.

oh, and:

It works, but then pretty much any diet works if you stick to it.

If done properly, is it not simply a low(er) carb diet?
ie, ignoring the media hype (20 sausages and a kilo of cheese per day), it sounds to me just like a healthy diet.
Which should mean its sustainable for life, right?

the reason it works is because protein and fat makes you feel full quicker than carbs.

Eat a small portion of pasta - still feel hungry for about 15 mins after
Eat a similar size protien/fat meal - feel full almost after finishing.

so, you'll lose weight but probably increase your risk of coronary disease and stroke!

Plus, based on my understanding, the ketosis plays a large part too. Your body is burning fat as it's primary source of energy.

If done properly, is it not simply a low(er) carb diet?
ie, ignoring the media hype (20 sausages and a kilo of cheese per day), it sounds to me just like a healthy diet.
Which should mean its sustainable for life, right?

Yes. Imagine iDave without the lentils, beans etc.

Perfectly easy to do it healthily i.e. plenty of fish, lean meat, salad, low carb veg etc but most people tend to go mad for bacon, eggs, cheese etc which you get surprisingly sick of eventually.

He's read your responses and is shaking his head as I type this.
Apart from Finbar - he likes you.

sounds like he has already made his mind up and won't be listening to anyone who doesn't agree with him.

Not much point continuing really, is there?

Dave

How much does it affect your energy levels? A body building mate tried it and gave up as lost a lot of strength - perhaps just because he couldn't train as hard?

Oh yes, breath stinks and followers become fanatical. Everyone I know who's tried it gave up and ended up no lighter.

When i'm really low carb I find my capacity to do moderate/high intensity cardio plummets, but it doesn't really impact any strength sessions i do.

I'm a runner and i stick to bodyweight exercises though, so i don't know the first thing about what a bodybuilding workout is like.

Plus, based on my understanding, the ketosis plays a large part too.

It's not something I've studied particularly, but isn't it the case that the much-lauded 'all protein and nothing else' Atkins diet is actually only the first part of the diet, to throw your body into ketosis, and then you're supposed to change to something less extreme? (Except, people see the initial fat loss and go "I'll keep doing this", hence the problem.)

How fat is the fatty in question?

It's not something I've studied particularly, but isn't it the case that the much-lauded 'all protein and nothing else' Atkins diet is actually only the first part of the diet, to throw your body into ketosis, and then you're supposed to change to something less extreme? (Except, people see the initial fat loss and go "I'll keep doing this", hence the problem.)

Induction phase with <20g of carbs per day. This lasts two weeks

Then you're supposed to add 10g of carbs per day per week until you get to a steady weight

is agreed, but Atkins works faster than the others. Right?

I think it depends on if your aim is to lose weight or to become a slimmer person. If it's the latter then nah, for 99%* of the population there's no quick fix, just lifestyle changes.

*Stat made up

I can't exercise for sh*t when my carb intake is too low. I struggle on iDave never mind Atkins. I've never been so properly fatigued in my legs in my life as when I kept on riding and didn't have enough carbs. An easily doable 18 mile commute felt like the last lap of a 24 hour solo by the end of the week.

Yes it undoubtedly works but found it hard to stick to as the "proper" Atkins diet is very rigid.

Now I just try to stick to reasonably healthy food with a carb content of less than 15% and the weight is coming off nicely.

I've never been so properly fatigued in my legs in my life as when I kept on riding and didn't have enough carbs.

Yep on my weekly club run if I don't take in lots of carbs my legs get sore before the end and stay sore for a day or so. Carbs are the best - taste good and keep you strong and healthy.

So now we need stories of athletes who are keen on this sort of diet.

Atkins, to me, means salad with meat/fish/eggs cheese etc. Perfectly healthy long term.

I can't cycle on low-carbs either, so not much use to me.

You wont find many endurance athletes who don't eat much in the way of carbs.

If you want to run a low carb diet and still have energy for riding, save carbs for breakfast, pre, during and post ride.

cycling on low carbs is a very good point. I will be cycling, he wont.

Ive already lost 5 & 1/2 stone in last 15 months, but have platued for last 4 or 5 so was thinking of Atkins (under colleagues relentless pressure) as a way to shift final 2 or 3 stone for my wedding next July.
I want to look amazing in that dress.

TBH, im ,more inclined to stick with whats worked for me (healthier diet & loads of CV work), and just re-double my efforts.

But then the lure of 20 rashers of bacon a day is a tug..

Depends on how/what you're cycling. A steady cruising pace is just fine. Hills and sprinting aren't.

If you want to run a low carb diet and still have energy for riding*, save carbs for breakfast, pre, during and post ride.

* (or running, or swimming)

...so basically, if - like me - you do one of these things pretty much every day, you should basically be eating carbs all the time then?

Is this why I nearly died of hypothermia** on Sunday by following iDave's silly diet for a week, while caught out cycling in the first sudden icy storm of the winter?

** no shit - my ghost would've haunted you idave 😕

It's not something I've studied particularly, but isn't it the case that the much-lauded 'all protein and nothing else' Atkins diet is actually only the first part of the diet, to throw your body into ketosis, and then you're supposed to change to something less extreme? (Except, people see the initial fat loss and go "I'll keep doing this", hence the problem.)

DING DING DING DING!!!

^This.

So many people misunderstand what Atkins is that it isn't even worth discussing it any more.

The extreme zero carb no fruit and veg bit is supposed to last for two weeks only, and yes the weight drops off. You are then supposed to phase back in fruits and veggies and stuff (still no processed carbs), and you what you end up with is something pretty normal but low carb.

People assume it is just the first bit, forever, and then talk a lot of ill-informed bollocks.

**My sleeping shadow would have kicked your ghosts ass

How would eating a diet which contains protein, fat and carbs contribute to hypothermia? Are you being silly and not eating enough, or trying to cut out all carbs?

You can have simple carbs during and after exercise. I never said otherwise.

Personally I have protein/fat breakfast before a long ride.

my target:

[img] [/img]

A steady cruising pace is just fine

Not for me it wasn't. I was only cruising to work.

I upped the carbs a bit around riding and it was pretty much ok. The more simple carbs I had the better I rode, and the weight still came off.

You're better off understanding the principles and listening to your own body and figuring out how it works than following a script.

@Stuey01
Thats kind of along the lines of what I was thinking.
Its almost as if Atkins isnt actually a diet, is what I guess I was getting at. Its just healthier lower carb eating.

But im a cyclist so I get to eat cake.

*spaff*

can I have a fools guide to simple carbs please

atkins is not healthy eating. Its a low card diet and relies on you feeling full / bloated from all that protein so reducing your calorie intake.

The main issue in my experience of this (again, my boss does it) is that is makes breath toxic, really, really bad. To the point where you can't be in the same room as him.

So yes, you may loose weight but you will also stink. And I'd rather be fat and smell nice than be thin and stink.

can I have a fools guide to simple carbs please

during and immediately (15 mins) after exercise

Its a low card diet

What about dust?

**My sleeping shadow would have kicked your ghosts ass

Ooohhh..

[img] [/img]

No, but seriously... from what I read of the elicit Googledoc, it seemed to be a diet consisting of beans, beans, beans, beans.. oh and no milk whatsoever. Milk is BAD. Followed by a day a week of eating like an absolute heffer.

I'm not quite sure why I tried this (as I'm not exactly I pie-eating heffer), but I got a bad cold recently and I think put on a few kg's, absolutely freaked out about it and thought I needed to get rid. Pronto. So out came the beans.

The results were interesting. Considering I'm doing about 1-2hrs high intensity exercise a day, I appeared to be running on glycogen stores quite happily for the first day or two, then by day 3 felt more and more sluggish. Went out for a 4 hr ride on Sunday and got caught out in this sudden wintery storm at 500m alt, soaked through with icy water and just had nothing in the tank whatsoever. Properly crapped me up. Maybe it's only because I was able to find a kindly soul to open their house to me that I am actually here writing this now.

The laughable thing is the way I was actually worrying about the teaspoons of sugar in the cups of warm tea my host was providing me with. 😆

Perhaps I should've gone back and read the iDave googledoc a bit more thoroughly, but I considered I'd got the vague gist of it and I was a bit jaded of reading about iDave's bean-filled morning, being that it consisted of calmly and self-satisfiedly chopping up chorizo while warming coffee. That and bored and weirded out by publically hearing about his son's six-pack.

My forum name is probably a bit of a hint in this though, nevertheless 😉

Try iDieting but cheat every third day... or Carb-Cycling as I've heard it called.

Read something interesting in Tri220 mag about ideal body weight yesterday... seems some of us might be physically better designed for aesthetics than winning races.

It's all aesthetics matey. I'm sure there's something weird going on on a societal, cultural level with food here. This sort of thing never used to be a problem for me, ever. We have one section of society obsessed with looking like lean ultra-athletes (for which our bodies were never really designed to be), while another section of society grows ever morbidly obese. 😕

I dunno.. just my opinion 😉

But yeah, every third day might be a safer option! I'll try that.. 🙂

Followed by a day a week of eating like an absolute heffer.

I call those days, days.