[sibb1213]

Too much fat!! You will lose a lot and then gain it back plus. Very unhealthy. I know too many people that have done it including my husband. Diets never work, you need a balanced diet and exercise and make it a part of your life. You have to make a decision to start a life program and stick with it. I'm 60 years old, female and know from which I speak--120 lbs, walk 4 miles per day, light weights for the past 20 years. It is a lifestyle. Good luck to you.

[shawv]

Thank you all for your opinions, I never imagined I would get this much help. I am in my second week of the diet. I have been on all kinds of diets and I love this one. The problem Is that I have high blood pressure and that fact worried me. I have been told that your blood pressure will go down on this diet by 3 people who have been on this diet, but you know how that goes!..... I go to the gym each week day and do a 30 minute cardio workout. I have never felt better on any other diet, and my weight loss in 12 days is 9 lbs. I have lost faster on other diets, but starved in the process, and I hate that. Again thank all of you for your comments.....

[Octar]

Go for it, if you like to get sick.

[rintense]

I've heard that the those who have tried the Atkins ultimately end up gaining more weight. Some folks at work have tried the Weight Watchers points system and have lost a lot of weight.

[ggraziano]

I've lost about 35 lbs. since starting the diet in early May. It definitely works better when combined with exercise (as Dr. Atkins states in his book): I've been doing a combination of aerobic and resistance training along with the diet. By all means, read Atkins' book, and see if what he is saying makes sense in your own situation. I found that I was the type of person who not only lost weight, but gained a lot of insight into how the foods I was eating were making me feel bad all the time. Any major change in diet will change bowel behavior, and this is no exception. The hardest part for me was the absolute requirement of eliminating all sugar, caffeine, and most alcohol in the early, intensive phase of the diet. The sensible approach to the cholesterol issue is to get tested prior to the diet, and then after. Your physiology will determine whether this diet is beneficial to you. The one thing I can say about it is that it's one of the only diets you can go on where you won't be hungry all the time. You eat when you are hungry, until you are full. We have a virtually fascist medical establishment in this country, and yet most physicians don't know much about nutrition or weight loss. Follow the standard calorie-limited diet, and you may lose weight initially, but you'll put it back on eventually, with a little extra thrown in for good measure. Worry less about heart attack on the Atkins, and more about how your high carb diet is throwing your insulin mechanism out of whack and giving you diabetes. Join the diabetes epidemic! (NOT)

[Calvin Locke]

I had a great deal of success with the Scarsdale diet. The best thing that it does is force a discipline, with regular foods. You start to stop to think before buying the umpteenth junk food fix, start making lunches, paying attention to labels, staying away from the alcohol, etc.

[Maven]

Can any Freepers give me info as to the good/bad aspects of the Adkins Diet?

Just FYI - it's Atkins, not Adkins.

A low-carb diet is a personal choice. Some people do very well on it and others don't. If you're prone to Type II diabetes, high cholesterol, IBS, Crohn's disease and other similar disorders, low-carbing is a very good way to eat.

I'm going on four years of low-carb eating. My doctor put me on it because I was borderline diabetic. Not only is my blood sugar under control, but I've lost 120 pounds and kept it off.

People who aren't familiar with low carbing think that all you eat is meat and fat, but that's not true. While it's necessary to cut out all starchy vegetables (including most, but not all, root veggies), there are still lots of good things to eat. I eat lots of cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, zucchini, eggplant, salad greens, avocados, olives and other plant life. I do eat a bit of fruit, although there's nothing in fruit that you can't find in vegetables. Fruits I eat include berries and most melons (except watermelon).

Atkins has a 2-week induction period, where your carb count is at its lowest, but then you're supposed to add 5 daily carbs per week until you stop losing weight, then cut back one level.

Other plans are Protein Power (which some people find easier), Sugar Busters, and the Carbohydrate Addicts' Diet. If you're diabetic, I recommend reading "Dr. Berstein's Diabetes Solution."

There are some tricks that can make life easier while low carbing. If you take a head of cauliflower and steam or boil it until very, very soft, you can pop it in the food processor with a 3-ounce package of cream cheese and salt and pepper to taste (or add some roasted garlic). Give it a whir until it has the consistency of mashed potatoes. On the low-carb Usenet newsgroup, alt.support.diet.low-carb, it's called "mashed fauxtatoes." I think it tastes even better than potatoes, and even high-carbers like it.

There are a lot of "faux" recipes out there - grated raw cauliflower can be stir fried like rice. Thinly sliced turnips can be deep fried like potato chips. Basically, cauliflower is our all-purpose potato substitute (I even make fauxtato latkes and kugel with it).

You can bake all kinds of interesting desserts - including cakes and cookies - using nut flours. A lot of low carbers use sugar-free Jell-o as their preferred dessert. And, of course, on a low-carb diet, you can have real whipped cream with it.

You do have to drink a lot of water - at least 2 quarts a day - because low carb eating is diuretic in nature. Low carb eating tends to dramatically lower triglyceride and serum cholesterol levels, as it's the not the fat but the sugar you eat that determines those levels.

There's actually good science behind low carb eating, but Dr. Atkins' books don't explain it as well as Protein Power does. Basically, low carb works by controlling the amount of insulin released - the less sugar you eat (and all carbohydrates break down into sugar in the body), the less insulin is released. Insulin turns sugar into fat and stores it in the body. Without the insulin, dietary fat is not stored (what isn't used is excreted). Carbohydrates are the body's preferred energy source, so if you limit them, the body will turn to burning fat instead.

One of the things to watch for when you first start is how much cheese you're eating - it's very easy to eat a *lot* of cheese, which is a very calorie-dense food (about 1,600 calories per pound). Another is to make sure you get enough dietary fiber - so eat your vegetables (and take some psyllium fiber if you're having problems).

One of the nice things about low carbing is that you tend to eat food in its natural state - fresh meats and vegetables. I eat a lot of lamb, with beef, chicken and fish filling in the rest of the week. I try to eat an avocado every day, as it's got more potassium than a banana, and it's full of essential fatty acids (and it tastes good!).

My typical daily intake would be scrambled eggs for breakfast, large salad, hamburger or won ton soup (hold the won tons) for lunch, and lamb, steak, chicken or fish with steamed or stir fried vegetables for dinner. I don't tend to snack very much, as low carb eating is *satisfying*, and I don't tend to get hungry between meals. If I'm caught late at the office, I might have a handful of almonds to tide me over.

Besides controlling my blood sugar levels and losing weight, low carbing has really improved my temperament (no sugar-induced mood swings), cleared up my complexion, thickened my hair, smoothed out my rough elbows (everyone on alt.support.diet.low-carb claims that one! ), increased my bone density (low-carbers aren't prone to osteoporosis), and made me more pleasant to be around.

Good luck!

[Iam4theRepublic]

My husband has lost 45 lbs. by having a low carb, low fat, high protein diet, in just 9 months. He also works out. His blood pressure has gone from 140 to 110!! Without all the carbs, he has twice the energy.

[jennyp]

Can any Freepers give me info as to the good/bad aspects of the A[t]kins Diet?

I did experience a tendency to cramp during extended exercise at first. The diet does definitely make you lose water initially, although subsequent weight loss is indeed fat. I used a magnesium/calcium supplement in addition to the general multivitamin/mineral supplement. (Generic Rite-Aid supplement in a big bottle.) After 2 years now on the maintenance level, I don't have problems with cramps.

Before going on the lo-carb diet, I pretty much adhered to the "good for you" FDA food pyramid. Lots of bread & pasta, low-fat foods, yadda yadda yadda. I took Tums daily & was considering becoming a Tagamet user for life. But a month into the diet, I noticed my chronic heartburn had disappeared! According to the Protein Power book, this is common. For this reason alone I'll never go back.

As for constipation: I did notice my stools went from big & soft to smaller & harder. I was worried about that, but it turns out they, um, slip out without a complaint. So constipation per se was never a problem for me. Meanwhile, my husband, who also went from the Food Pyramid to LC, used to have a problem of, um, carrying the waste around for 2 days or more before having to go bigtime. While waiting for things to "move", he'd be really draggy, to the point where he wouldn't want to go out and do anything until he finally could go. But after the diet, that problem vanished.

Also, be prepared for lots of people predicting your imminent death. :-)

Let's see - as for weight loss, I was 163 at 5'8", dropped to 147, then drifted back up to 153 today. It seems even high protein-to-carb-ratio snacks can add up if you eat enough of them. :-)

[mgist]

Once you start eating carbs again, you gain back the wieght and then some.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

I lost 30 pounds in 6 weeks on the Subway Sandwich diet. For me, one foot-long roast beef on wheat for supper every night. Nothing else. Works like a charm. Went from 235 pounds and a 40 waist to 200 pounds and a 34 waist. I am still doing it. Going to lose another 30.

[TightSqueeze]

Can any Freepers give me info as to the good/bad aspects of the Adkins Diet?

Glad you asked, I never weighed so much until 6 months after the Atkins Diet, by far the worst thing I ever did to my body.

Thankfully there are “Good Diets” out there and this spring I found Weight Watchers, lost 30+ pounds and have had no trouble keeping it off. Weight Watchers allows all food, you don’t have to go shopping the day start. Success is achieved when you start applying portion control, exercise. and begin selecting food based on its calorie, fat content and overall nutritional value. Follow the plan and lose weight.

[Hatteras]

You can drink all the liquor you want!

[time4good]

Hey, most here seem to be saying the same underlying thing - pay attention to what goes in. I've been eating every thing but fried foods and at 5'10-1/2, weighed in at 232+ when I turned 40 in September. My body fat was a disgusting, off-the-charts 32.1% (ONE-THIRD OF MY BODY IS FAT!!!). My old favorite human-nature saying "When the pain of staying the same becomes greater than the pain of changing, then people change" kicked in for me. I got the Bally's Rapid Results 30-day Challenge thing in the mail. Basic sales hype for buying trainers at $299+ for their sessions BUT they had a basic low-carb, high protein 6-meals a day PLUS strength-training and cardiovascular.
I searched the web, heard of the Adkins, heard the Zone, heard the Weigh-down - all having benefits.
I've adapted to a concentrate of higher protein throughout the 6 meals (3 meals+ 3snack+). Some carbs in AM, some fats along for the ride but NOT the higher percentage stuff.
It's been 4 weeks today and I've lost 11 pounds at 221 and went from a 38+-40 jeans to a 35"!!

My wife can't believe it - the discipline I've had on this.
But here's my main point - I've been going to the gym faithfully 4 times a week doing weight-lifting and either there or at home doing at LEAST 20 minutes almost every day of 65%-70% max heart rate of Cardiovascular, even if it's at 12 Midnight!.
I haven't needed or had, to my amazement, a cup of coffee in over two weeks!! YOU HAVE TO DO SOME TYPE OF EXERCISE!!
PS. I take the vitamins EVERY day. The first week my body got used to eating 'normal' portions of healthier food + the 3 'smart' mini-meal snacks.
It's an attitude change that's needed. I was tired of carrying 50 pounds of bondage. I'm not there yet but what's so motivating is seeing the difference, feeling the difference and knowing that it's for my own good.
There are ALL types at the gym, fat, skinny, babes/hunks, muscle-monkeys, nerds - hey I fit somewhere in there but you have to - with ANY of these, WANT to bad enough WITHOUT damaging yourself.
(This sounds new-age hippie garbage but) You need to pay more attention to the energy (natural - not idiot Deepak) levels of your body and learn of the foods that naturally maintain them without putting on more.

Anyway, I've rambled. Hope you get motivated enough in the mean time to at least start.
PS. Anyone have any comments on the "Body For Life" book by a Bill somebody?

[netmadness]

Although I did not do the Adkins diet I did lose a ton of wight by significantly cutting down my cab intake. People who sit ata computer all day don't need loads of carbs. That means cutting out all that extra bread, potatos and pasta. Do that and exercise and you will lose weight.

[SamAdams76]

I looked into it a couple of years ago and went so far as to buy the book (which went in the trash shortly thereafter). The Atkins diet has a first stage which essentially tells you to avoid fruits, most veggies, breads, pastas, rice and anything else with carbohydrates. Basically you eat a lot of cheeseburgers (without the buns), eggs, and other high-fat foods that are low in carbohydrates.

Though the Atkins plan introduces fruits and vegetables later in the diet, it really isn't enough for my liking. I eat lots of pasta, rice, veggies and fruits and I hate the thought of giving them up or cutting back on them. I understand there is a science behind it but eating lots of high fat foods at the expense of other healthier foods sounds awful wacky to me. I guess I'd rather be a little overweight than to spend the rest of my life asking for "special orders" in restaurants and denying the foods that give me pleasure.

Actually I have managed to drop a few pounds and eat healthier by actually eating more of the things that the Atkins diet says are bad for you. I eat lots of rice, pasta, nuts, breads, soups, fish and olive oil. Sort of like the Meditteranean Diet that was popular in the 1980s.

Did I mention that I drink beer and wine most everyday? Well the Atkins Diet forbids beer and wine because of all the carbos. Need I say more? Judging from the book, Dr. Atkins seems like one of those humorless teetotalers from the turn of the century who were forcing Prohibition down our throats. There are more fun ways to losing weight than the Atkins Diet.

[HamiltonJay]

For some people it works, didn't do much for me. Health wise I find it very very bad... no veggies, no fruit, no bread... (or very little) I know people who have used it and it worked, for me it wasn't worth it, and I definately don't consider it healthy.

I personally am more of a fan of the WW program, very simple, easy to follow, and it has worked. (Didn't do the meetings, just joined bought the books and followed, but if you need the meetings you can go.) lost a steady 2-3 lbs a week, and kept it off. Also teaches you the proper way to eat so that once you lose it you can keep it off... your eating habits change to a responsible healthy style.

I just don't see eating 90% meat for the rest of my life, don't get me wrong I love meat, but after 2 weeks of nothing but meat (or nearly nothing but meat) it does get tiring.

[Political Junkie Too]

I didn't read all the posts so I apologize if I'm repeating...

Adkins says that it is a corrective diet, meant to swing the pendulum away from high-carbo foods in order to get the body to use its natural fat-consuming abilities to convert your stored fat to the sugars it needs. You start by starving your body of carbos (which the body directly converts to sugars) for two weeks until it switches to its other means for getting sugars -- converting your stored fat. When this happens, you slowly increase your carbo intake each week until you reach your equilibrium point of no loss -- then ease back a little to continue loss at a managable rate. When you get to your desired weight, you increase your carbo load again. I assume that at this point, you are eating a balanced diet. The supplements are to make up for what you are losing during the early phase.

I never tried it since I don't have a weight problem, but I did read up on it.

-PJ

[go star go]

The real way to handle weight is to exercise to burn excess calories. Diets are for women and birds. I eat what I want as as much of it as I want. I exercise 365 days a year.

[XBob]

We have been lied to for 30 years. The govt food pyramid was developed by two lawyers who worked for Senator Eugene McCarthy from the wheat growing Dakotas, and has no basis in fact, research or study.

The whole basis of the Adkins diet is to get you into Ketosis, where you are no longer hungry.

All those of you who failed, failed because you ate too many carbs. Adkins perscribes 20 grams of carbohydrates or less per day.

Remember, one hot dog bun has 20 grams of carbs, 1 slice of bread has 12, on 8oz glass of milk 11.5, 1/2 cup of grape nuts has 48 grams.