The Atkins Diet thread

[BadMojo]

The Atkins Diet thread

Okay, I've started on the Atkins diet (To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.) three days ago since I got tried of all that farting from fruits on my earlier diet. Atkins diet = no farts! Hooray, my butthole is back to normal!

Anyway, apart from the lack of farting, I think I'll tell about the effects I've been experiencing the first few days on the Atkins diet.

First of all. Because I don't really get any carbohydrates, my energy levels have sunk to a minimum. It's like having the flu = Headache and no energy. (Needless to say, going to work was hell). The good thing is that it's subsiding, since my body is going into ketosis, and starts to use fat instead of carbohydrates.

Secondly, I can't drink coffee! That one of the no no's. And the thing about the Atkins diet is that you can't cheat even a little. Oh the horror, but oh the ease.

Thirdly, because I only eat meats, eggs and a small amount of salad - I've haven't got the same appetite. It's really weird. I don't crave for foods like I used to. The only thing I really crave for is coffee.

Well... What about you guys and girls. Have any of you ever tried the Atkins diet?

[pavman]

Nope, but I did do a psuedo-diet a while back that was minimal carbs. It worked pretty good. I know lots of people who have done it, but I've also heard of some dangers, so I've stayed away from it.

Ironically, when I eat meat, I fart alot!

[BadMojo]

I've read about the negative effects, but they can be countered by eating some vitamins and minerals.

[Cytastic]

I did the Atkins diet a couple of years ago and lost 10 pounds. But I love bread, and after a month I threw in the towel. About the only positive thing that came out of it was that it broke my fast food habit. I've eaten at a fast food joint maybe five times in the last two years. Tops.

Oh, and from my experience, diets are okay if you're trying to jumpstart weight loss, but the only way to lose weight and keep it off is to make permanent changes to your eating habits. Because you'll see all that weight back. I lost 35lbs two years ago, and now I get to do it all over again. Guess I'll have to dust off the elliptical...

[Firelie]

I've tried the Atkins diet before and I lost a little weight, but nothing exciting. I didn't particularly care for it. I never felt "healthy" while I was on it. Plus meats are expensive and require cooking...and I happen to be poor and not good at cooking meat to my liking...so I didn't bother keeping it up.

[BadMojo]

I actually lost 60 pounds on a normal diet of eating healthy and exercise. I'm trying a more different approach atm. because of weight training. I have no intentions of turning the Atkins diet into a lifestyle.
Right now I've only planned on doing three weeks, and then turn to a normal diet again.

[Danisty]

I did the Atkins diet a couple of years ago and lost 10 pounds. But I love bread, and after a month I threw in the towel. About the only positive thing that came out of it was that it broke my fast food habit. I've eaten at a fast food joint maybe five times in the last two years. Tops.

Oh, and from my experience, diets are okay if you're trying to jumpstart weight loss, but the only way to lose weight and keep it off is to make permanent changes to your eating habits. Because you'll see all that weight back. I lost 35lbs two years ago, and now I get to do it all over again. Guess I'll have to dust off the elliptical...If you think losing 35 lbs. all over again is a pain, try losing over 100 lbs. a second time.

[Wapiti]

The Atkins Diet thread

Well... What about you guys and girls. Have any of you ever tried the Atkins diet?

I eat a low carb diet, not strict atkins. Very little for breakfast, salad for lunch and steak or chicken for dinner. Whatever, I want on the weekends to some extent, just not as much as I used to eat. Some exercise. Every now and then I'll go out for lunch. I've lost 30 pounds. Lately I've been eating a 1 pound bag of dark chocolate peanut m&m's a week, weight still stays off.

[karen]

The Atkins diet is not very healthy. The high fat, cholesterol and salt in the atkins diet is just asking for health problems. The lack of carbohydrates causes your skin to lose elasticity. If you are younger, it might survive, but carbohydrates do exactly what they sound like they do, they hydrate you. If you go on a low-carb diet, you are dehydrating yourself which will lead to more apparent cellulite, and loose skin. Having said that, I did a similar diet once, and hated it for the very reasons you have described (but lost 50 pounds which I half gained back before going back to dieting). I am now on a slower, but healthier one. I just seriously cut down on my intake of salt, refined sugar, cholesterol and saturated fats; while increasing my fiber, omega-3 and 6 fatty acids, and plant sterols. It gives you energy, and when you follow an easily-lived diet, you are more likely to stick to it. (and I've re-lost that 25 pounds).

[thod]

carbohydrates do exactly what they sound like they do, they hydrate you.

lol. Boron makes you boring, and silicon makes you silly but manganese makes a man out of you.

[Zilal]

No, no, no Atkins diet. Anything that's extreme in some way (no carbs!) sets off my alarms. But I have cut back on simple carbohydrates. The biggest changes to how I feel have come from (1) eating much less refined sugar and (2) eating a smaller lunch with fewer carbs. I don't tend to get sleepy during the day anymore.

[deicruxified]

The Atkins diet is not very healthy. The high fat, cholesterol and salt in the atkins diet is just asking for health problems. The lack of carbohydrates causes your skin to lose elasticity. If you are younger, it might survive, but carbohydrates do exactly what they sound like they do, they hydrate you. If you go on a low-carb diet, you are dehydrating yourself which will lead to more apparent cellulite, and loose skin. Having said that, I did a similar diet once, and hated it for the very reasons you have described (but lost 50 pounds which I half gained back before going back to dieting). I am now on a slower, but healthier one. I just seriously cut down on my intake of salt, refined sugar, cholesterol and saturated fats; while increasing my fiber, omega-3 and 6 fatty acids, and plant sterols. It gives you energy, and when you follow an easily-lived diet, you are more likely to stick to it. (and I've re-lost that 25 pounds).

i did atkins once... so i have to say the same side effects you experienced. the most dangerous part is our family has history of heart and blood disease so when i started feeling "sick" i switched to pure vegan just for detox then ovo-vegan. i had a nutritionist guide me this time instead of the internet (where i happen to have found atkins). the only thing that's making me sick now is computing for the daily intake shit...

[burazekun]

I've been working with diets for a while. Namely because I love to cook, as well as build computers, and watch anime. I work on a high protien diet, however Atkins diet can cause many problems inclueding kidney stress. I forget the tickertape's length of problems that can happen from this, but what you lose mainly is water weight in that diet. Which means that when you get off the Atkins diet, you will gain most of your weight back. Diet's shouldn't have to change, they are your DIET, it's what you eat so get something that is for the long term, like karen's diet looks like a long term plan that is helping her, and will continue to help her after she's still happy.

I personally replaced most sugars with honey, 'some studies say that this isn't good for pregnant women, but I never read those and I am not one.' I keep away from corn syrup, I eat high protien as state before. But I will say that I do need more greens in my diet. Rice is a great grain and partial protien in your diet, 'generally paired with beans for a complete protien.'

Ok I'm done with the fouly explained diet practice of mine. I will always encourage people to be responsible when eating. I personally always advise people to eat a breakfast in the morning, snack for lunch and stock up for dinner. Breakfast will be your energy in the morning, so balancing carbs is a good idea. But a general rule of thumb for me is corn or bran flakes with an orange or apple in the morning. Natural sugar's wont cause crashes later in your energy.

Snacks for lunch are not to be junk food. I personally bring in cheese, something like water or juice, and something else that fills me and keeps me going. Sometimes leftovers from yesterdays dinner or even something extra I made for breakfast. Like a Egg in a English muffin. For dinner I vary what I make. Pasta, rice, potatoes, and meat are staples for me. Veggies should always be made avalable as a side. Like grean beans or peas. Remember that even though bread and pasta have carbs, they have protiens and fiber we need in our diets. I once read that a single serving of meat should be about one quarter of a pound, american's blow this out of the water.

With my ranting or whatever you'd call this done, I'm heading off to bed. I think I am being provoked to talk needlessly here by my own tired daze.

[lordrrr]

It made a lot of sense in biology class. Not sure if it really works or not firsthand but my mom lost some weight with it. Wasn't there some controversy some years ago about heart related problems from all that fat?

[burazekun]

It made a lot of sense in biology class. Not sure if it really works or not firsthand but my mom lost some weight with it. Wasn't there some controversy some years ago about heart related problems from all that fat?

Atkin's is unhealthy because of the stress it causes to the entire body base and orgins. All the weight you lose is water weight. Atkins concentraits on protiens with the lack of cabohydrates. The body NEEDS carbohydrates to function proporly. Prolonged Atkins diet will cause kidney failure as well as other forms of failure in a persons body. But once you get off of Atkins, you will most likely bloat back up because you will regain that water weight you lost. Which can also cause stress on your body which can jettison it from what you used to weigh to something heavier. Stress can lead to weight gain.

There is still controversy over the fat content and the colestorol in meat products, expecially beef. However there are essential protiens that can promote a healthy body as well as vitamins and minerals.

On average you should not eat more then half a pound of meat in a day. At most one third a pound at a sitting. Of course I say 1/3 a pound because you can find a good ribeye or new york cut about that size and trimming it is... devils play! I dont want to see that done!

If you have a grill, or anyone, use that, get a nice marble in your beef, ask a butcher for advice. Dont be scared of the fat! The fat will melt off into the grill giving the beef that smokey flavour. It also holds a bulk of the flavour.

If you dont have a grill, turn the oven on at 300F and on the bottom rack place a cookie sheet with tin foil covering it and spray pam on the rack above that.

Sear both sides of the steak so that they are golden brown in a pan ontop of the range. Use a medium high heat. Be sure that the skillet is preheated and spray some pam before you place the meat into it.

Take tongs and place the beef on the upper rack of the oven you turned on earlier. Be sure that the drippings would fall onto the cookie sheet or it'll be a bigger mess to clean.

Let it cook for about 10 minutes or until the internal tempature of the meat gets to 145f for medium rare or 160f for medium.

BE SURE TO SERVE GREENS! Dont be scared of fruits as well. I like sliced Macintosh apples as a good snack/dessert. Use a small amount of brown sugar over the top of the apple slices to make it a bit more dessert like.

Of course, I am trying to encourage not to use the Atkins diet. Eat healthy, and dont live the American overeating lifestyle! No one needs that much food!

Ok people on poor diets kinda pisses me off... maybe it's because I am a nice guy and like to cook...

[narusmummy]

The Atkins diet is not very healthy. The high fat, cholesterol and salt in the atkins diet is just asking for health problems. The lack of carbohydrates causes your skin to lose elasticity...... I just seriously cut down on my intake of salt, refined sugar, cholesterol and saturated fats; while increasing my fiber, omega-3 and 6 fatty acids, and plant sterols. It gives you energy, and when you follow an easily-lived diet, you are more likely to stick to it...

I'm with Karen and Burazekum on this one. There are so many health warnings that go along with Atkins - most worrying of all is the fact that it can cause serious liver problems. Low-carb would be so much better; ok you won't have such a dramatic weight loss but at least your not completely cutting out an entire food group. Faddy diets are just not healthy and can lead to bigger mental and physical health problems. If you are determined to stick to Atkins, please be careful. Don't ignore your body when it's desperately trying to tell you that it requires something; if you have no energy, don't be afraid to have a small slice of wholemeal toast just becasue the Diet says you can't.

Look at your previous diet much more carefully and consider what it was you were eating that led to you having to lose weight. Swap wholemeal for white; grilled for fried; breaded for battered. If you don't deprive yourself of something, its so much easier to continue with it and the slow but steady weight loss will be greater and more sustainable than shifting as much as possible in an alloted time. I know you'll have heard this all before but it just me adding my two bits. I don't like to think of anyone risking their health for a quick fix that will be incredibly difficult to keep up.

:thumbsup:

[burazekun]

Look at your previous diet much more carefully and consider what it was you were eating that led to you having to lose weight. Swap wholemeal for white; grilled for fried; breaded for battered.
:thumbsup:

I was sure that Grilled was healthier then Fried. Something about the cholestorol or something in the oils when being fried.

Otherwise, I like to two cents ^^ Remember fruit is also your friend. Natural sugars can give you more energy then refined, and without the crash. Fruit and nuts can give you all day energy.

[narusmummy]

I was sure that Grilled was healthier then Fried.

Yes it absolutely is; and wholemeal is healthier than white, and breaded is healthier than battered. I think the way I've worded it may not read so well. Oops! You know what I mean though! :)

[INTroJect]

I tried the Atkin's diet years ago and didn't like it because of feeling yucky all the time. And something that you should know about that diet: it makes you sweat a funny smell. I can smell the zero carb on people...in their breath too. It works though, you will lose weight. But as soon as you get off the diet and eat a crouton you will be fat all over again.

If you are going to put yourself through something as strange as the Atkin's diet, speaking from personal experience, I recommend that you go see a hypnotist for weightloss. My weight had always been a struggle since youth, for a couple of years I had it (miserably) under control but then started to get a little chunky so I figured "why not?" and gave it a try. I can say that since the "mental reprogramming" it has taken absolutely zero willpower to keep my weight under control. I notice now that other people are like "Man I sure would like to have a peice of that cake" but my thoughts have been along the line of "why bother eating that when I can have <insert something a nutritionist would approve of, eg. fruit>"

I'm not sure how many pounds ive lost because I dont own a scale but I am down 2 inches around the waist and there is no concern of gaining it back.

Normally I would be wary to share such a thing with the general real-world population around me but I know we are all INTJs (or wannabe's) and we "agressively seek out new concepts" and incorporate those that work. I give it an INTJ stamp of approval.