Atkins Diet: Most Weight Loss

I think the last sentence of this post says it all.

I know from my own experience that my best results came when I found what worked for me. While I would have difficulty staying with Atkins for long term, I have been on a modified version of Atkins/Southbeach/40-30-30 for a while now,and I enjoy it enough that I have no trouble sticking with it.

Brian

Diet-Blog said:
The sad thing is, that on this trial - the average weight loss over a year was just 2.8kg (6lbs.) Even on Atkins, the mean weight loss was just 10.3 pounds.[...]

Wow. On a carb-cycling diet, I can pretty easily do 10 pounds in 40 days.

I agree...the last sentence really DOES sum it up. What point is there to being on a "diet" that involves a lifetime of avoiding foods you absolutely love? A better idea is to find what works for you and stick with that. I personally could never do a very low carb diet...I prefer a lower refined carb diet with lots of physical activity.

I have been on Atkins for over 2 yrs. lost 150 lbs. My wife had injured her knee and I had added so much weight I could hardly get out of the chair. I knew Ihad to and had loss 30# several yrs before. So I did and have lostdown to 375#'s I have more to go but I feel soo much better.

The last sentence is the truest one. Who wants to be on a diet for a lifetime? It's really a eating/mind/lifestyle change. Just a matter of loving to eat the healthy, and balancing the unhealthy but oh so good foods. :-D

These types of studies are renowned for poor adherence. This one looks almost identical to one done in '04 I think it was. The take home message for me is that people are crying out for a simple solution to weight loss. Even when folks have the backing of a scientific study--the weight lost in a year is very poor. There is way too much 'fluff' out there and not enough solid advice in my opinion.

I feel desperately for those who have struggled with weight issues and now have to struggle trying to get the advice they need. It's a minefield for sure.

Focus on the BIG stuff :) The Calorie is King!

~ Mike

I have lost 140 lbs following a low carb approach. I have maintained that loss for 1 1/2 years. Every individual needs to find what works for them. These studies are good in that they show no one plan is perfect but neither is a low carb approach wrong either. People need all the options to make an informed decisions. Protein Power, Atkins, or one of the many low carb plans are just as viable as any other and based on my own experience it is far better to cut sugar than fat.

Unquestionably, Jim, making a permanent lifestyle choice about how to eat is the key to losing weight and keeping it off for good. Whether it is low-fat, low-calorie, low-carb or whatever, just find what works for you, follow that plan exactly as prescribed, and then keep doing it for the rest of your life.

Why do we make this issue more difficult than it needs to be?

Jimmy Moore, author of "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb"
LivinLaVidaLowCarb.com

I also agree to what they say about the last sentence. Nobody wants to live like a pet with almost the same food for the rest of their lives. There's no point on jumping from one to another. Choosing the one the suits us is good enough to live with.

So well put - I was surprised to see the outcome of this study. Having watched people close to me use this diet for 3 to 4 months, lose the weight they want, start eating normally and gain it all back plus. But if fruit is not your thing, this could be the diet for you.

Agree with the comments about the last sentence. I've lost weight several times with Atkins, only to regain it. No doubt Atkins "works" for me to lose the weight. In fact, I'm pretty darned good at losing weight. Just turns out I'm a little bit better at gaining it.

diet-john said:
Just turns out I'm a little bit better at gaining it. [...]

Jimmy is right on. I personally lost about 25 pounds doing a healthy version of Atkins (no processed meats, lots of veggies) and am a big proponent of the side effects of low-carbing: reduced mood swings, no more migraines, etc. I've kept it off for over a year. My homeboy Mark Sisson does a pretty good rant on this issue over at his health blog, www.marksdailyapple.com/fat-phobia/. I agree that calories matter, but for feeling great and eating in a way that is in line with the way our bodies evolved, reduced carb intake is by far the way to go.

This is the easiest diet I have ever followed. There's variety, and who says you can't have banana or potatoes on occasion? This high fiber low carb approach works and works well. And my blood makeup is excellent. 25 plus years of living preaching a low fat approach surely hasn't helped America.

At any rate, exercise is really the key. It opens the mind and allows you to become focused on whatever diet you choose. I say if you can stick to a low fat diet, then go ahead, but you cannot discount Atkins. Fat tastes great.

Sara said:
I personally lost about 25 pounds doing a healthy version of Atkins[...]

Yes, the unhealthy version of Atkins includes lot's of meal replacement bars that taste like poo and commercial meat full of yummy antibiotics .

I've tried several weight loss diet but I constantly loss and gain weigh. It was then when I used Atkins that made me loss 50 lbs. I am so happy about the result.

The take home message is not that Atkins is a fuzzy wuzzy alternative for freaks.

The take home message is that it is the SUPERIOR diet to all the others tested.

In this study it was the most Superior.

Chew on that!

I think Jim said it best. "The best diet is the one you don't know you're on." That's a destination worthy of reaching!

These people only lost on average 10 pound a year? That could be due to anything...I wouldn't be pushing Atkins just yet.

I've lost 50 lbs over the past 15 months. The plan is simple. Eat real food, not bars, powders and other processed stuff. 1 egg with some tomato or spinich AM (or yogurt with a piece of fruit), 1 fruit as a snack between lunch and dinner and post-dinner, 4 oz of protein with veggies for lunch and dinner. I also have 15 carbs of either bread or saltines with each meal. Definately not low carb (with the fruit), but more like the zone with balanced ratios. Carbs give me energy and help to keep muscle when they are consumed with protein. ITS THE SUGAR AND PROCESSED CRAP that wrecks your blood sugar! Good luck to everyone!

I believe that Atkins is the best. But then, I'm ketogenic as we speak... Stripped off 12 pounds of fat in the past 10 days, in preparation for softball.

Not on Atkins, though, but a Protein Sparing Modified Fast (PSMF). I don't believe a weight loss diet should go beyond one month's time. This will be 2 weeks, for me.

The longer one stays on a weight loss diet, the slower the metabolism will become.

The best diet is the one that is healthy and doesn't play ticks on our body you can't maintian on the long haul.

Atkins is like a drug. You do it, and you lose, then you gain, then you go on it and lose etc. At the end you wind up with a very poor body composition.

Why not just eat less, exercise more and choose healthful foods? There are no tricks to losing weight.

William: If done properly, Atkins can be as healthy as any other diet. That is if you avoid processed meats and protein bars. I personally use carb-cycling, where I eat a large carb meal when I'm low on glycogen. It's a small modification on Atkins to support weight training. I eat a healthy diet of steak, eggs, pork, whole milk, cream, butter, and vegetables. It's the only diet I've found that allows me to gain strength while losing 2 lbs a week. You can regain the weight after any diet if just go back to your old habits. Low carb eating is easily maintainable.

William said:
The best diet is the one that is healthy and doesn't play ticks on our body you can't maintian on the long haul.[...]

I think this is exactly why most of us choose Atkins. I do not want to spend my life starving. This is the 1st diet I've ever been able to stick to. I lost 60 pounds on Atkins and was on it faithfully without cheating for 2 years. I stayed on it until I got pregnant with my daughter. I'd rather do Atkins and be able to eat until feeling full. In addition, I don't enjoy eating like a rabbit. This provides a much more satisfying life for me.

I'VE LOST MUCH WEIGHT ON THIS DIET!!!In 4 days I lost 4 kg fnd so happy about it!!!Nearly during 3 years I was restricting myself in consuming meat,poultry,eggs and cheese...and believed that I'd have been rather a vegetarian than gain my weight.But never I felt satisfied,because I ate too much fruits,carbs(esp. sugars) and very little of fats(was drinking milk sometimes)But this diet....It's magnifiscent!!!I really don't feel hungry and I don't really eat as much as I have been eating.Only it's still difficult for me to eat a piece of sausage or meat("Oh,poor cow....")) And what's the most important thing is that I don't want to eat sweets or sugar any more!!!Oh,God,I loved cookie so much and now I'm not craving for it)))Yes,I'm happy.You may say that this diet's not healthy but I really was eating very much and this diet teaches to eat by very little portions(As Kastaneda's heroine once said that was the way a person should eat if he wants to lose his weight)

I was very skeptical when a friend of mine who's an Army recruiter suggested that I try Atkins. I'd been overweight for the past 4 years and every single diet I was on, failed. Low-fat, Slim Fast, South Beach... you name it.

I had no idea what Atkins entitled so I bought the book and started dieting. That was back in the first week of April 07. I joined a gym and started working out as well. About 2 hours of cardio for the first 2 months. I split my workout: 30 mins in the morning and 1 hour and 30 minutes at night to keep my metabolism going all day. As of 25 July 07 I can proudly say I've lost 84 pounds. I added weight training to my workout routine 2 months ago and it has helped even more. My body fat went down 10% in the past 6 weeks ALONE. I went from a size 20 to a size 7. Impressive, eh?

But like any other diet ( or anything in life for that matter... )you gotta stick to it. Do not cheat. You have to be committed otherwise it's not going to work.

I eat good food. I don't eat junk. I thought I'd never be able to go a day without my chicken brocolli with zitti but it's been almost 5 months since I've had it. I love sweets so I eat the protein bars every once in a while but I've come to find out they slow down my weight loss so I limit a couple per week. I have low carb ice cream with heavy cream every other weekend. I just love being able to eat good food without feeling guilty.

My health has improved a lot! I used to have headaches often, I am talking every other day, cramps, back pains... I haven't had any of the above in 5 months now. My chest pains vanished as well.

This diet sure worked for me...and I am very thankful for that. Now I can fulfill my dream to join the Army.

I think it wise to take a brief break from atkins, or else wait till you want to got off of the atkins and follow the colonix colon cleanse system. You couldn't believe the things that come out of you. After that in order get your body fully restored to it's natural order try the three day apple diet as suggested by Edgar Cayce.
This will hopefully put the body back in tune and after which you should maintain a healthy diet of only natural foods. Whole grains, meats, no refined sugars, no high fructose corn syrup, or partially hydrogenated oils. Eat
real foods, just add brown rice, whole wheat, and whole grains in very small portions back into your diet and you should not gain back a pound. Follow Edgar Cayce on food once you are ready.

Good luck

William, you are absolutely right, weight loss is nothing more than that.

In regard to a comment above about Atkins "playing tricks" on your body, and why can't we just eat less? I think its a matter of knowing your own body and adjusting your diet to it. That's not playing tricks. I know that if just try to lower my calorie intake, I will feel hungry and hypoglycemic. On the Atkins diet, I never get that light headed feeling and I lose weight without feeling hungry. If that is playing tricks - I would say it is a magic trick. What really plays tricks on my body is eating too much refined carbohydrates, white flour, sugar. It wrecks havoc on my body. Its is simply not good for me at all. And it just creates a craving for more of the same. I eat lots of vegatables on the Atkins diet. I don't think my body is suffering for lack of "bad carbs".

I did atkins diet for 6 weeks and lost 25 pounds. I need to lose 100 pounds more and I know I can do it...you can't cheat or else you will automatically stop losing weight.

I really like Atkins. However, I have never been a big meat eater and alot of dairy is extremely polluted so I buy organic dairy and organic unprocessed meat when ever possible. Tofu is extremely processed and genetically modified so I wish there were more healthy vegetable protein sources to use. I just have a problem eating food that has been extremely modified by wealthy corporations that could care less about my health.

Thanks I eat the edamame already. Love it and do't have a problem with that. I have a problem finding enough low carb healthy protein that is not processed. Deli meats, yuk, and meat with every meal seems excessive on my body. But lentils and beans have such high carbs. I don't know I guess I just want to low carb but feel really secure about my protein sources.

from what I have heard organic tofu can still be genetically modified. It has to say non-gmo on the label to be non-gmo for certian. There were organic pinapples in Hawaii that they tested and found to be gmo. Check out the cd " Your Eating What?" by Jeffery M Smith. It has been a chore searching out low carb non-messed with food. Thanks, I already eat organic Edamame often.It is excellent.

I think i am going to try carb-cyling diet using good organic high protein low carb veggies with some meat. A variation on Atkins. I really think Atkins is the most ground-breaking diet ever.

that is helpful advice. Thankyou.

you need to read a book called the hunger years it really put things into perspective for me and the industries attitudes to carbs and how they keep advertising how bad low fat diets are and how good carbs are, but carbs are addictive and the more you eat the more you want thus making you weigh more in the end, if the world stopped eating carbs then the food industry would lose money-big style!!
then goes on to say that for years before carbs were even farmed we used to only eat veg and meat and we were find and lived to see old age, it also has facts like millers put more white flour into brown bread to make it addictive and mccain leave there fries for days to produce more sugar thus making them more addictive
it really opens your eyes to the marketing world and how it makes sense to bad mouth the atkins diet as the marketing industry would lose out if we all got slim and didnt want carbs anymore and they pay people to bad mouth atkins so we dont follow it
you can miss out the carbs and be healthy and you dont need to eat mounds of cheese of lakes of cream or fry your food in butter and fat but the atkins plan does make a lot of sense
and a calorie from a carb is different to a calorie from meat and cheese it goes down a totally different tube in the body and the tube carrying the meat is longer and more complex this is why you stay fuller longer on meat and with carbs the tube is short and simple thus leaving you wanting more in 30mins time (making you fatter)
sorry for the rant but the book is amazing its not even pro atkins its about one mans struggle with binging

I am going to go on the "atkins" diet next month after my birthday. My dad would not approve however so i'm going to do it myself, i bought the book and it is very helpful. As i am at school, the walking i do each day will also help.
I will eat string cheese + tomato or cucumber in the morning because its quick.
At lunch i will have a green salad with peppers, sometimes with tuna or chicken.
For dinner i shall be eating eggs in different ways each day, ie. Scrambled, poached, hardboiled, normal.
I do not wish to stay on atkins for too long as i'm not too overweight. I am 5'9 and weigh 12 stone, 168 lbs.
i want to get to 10stone/ 140lbs. Any useful tips, or an average of how long im going to have to stay on it?
thanks!

HELLO,
I need to lose the 15 pounds I gained in four months since going off Atkins. I started eating bread, pasta,cake etc... I lost 20 pounds prior on this diet,so I will tell you how I can lose this fat in 5 weeks. First of all get over your cravings. Second think about your goal weight. Third look at someone or a celebrity that you would want to look like and think about them eating junk food. I dont think they do! Fourth enjoy the feeling of having power over your taste buds. Fifth drink a gallon of water per day. sixth drink green tea w lemon .Seventh thing take yor measurements . Eighth know you can lose 3.5 pounds per week.Lastly ,junk food or over eating is not what our bodies needs. Think positive and don't give up. I have three boys and I have all kinds of treats in the house so I know its tempting to eat treats just because their there. But I think about how big my butt got and I Wear my size 5 jeans that I cant button up to remind me daily that I gained 15 pounds. I hope my personal advice helps someone whos close to their ideal weight. I did gain 90 pounds with my twins and lost it all in five months doing all the above. I weigh 135 and my goal is 120.
Later Aqu/Pis

I started doing Atkins again in Jan. '09. I did Atkins back in '04-'05 and lost about 62 lbs. Well, gained that all back and then some too:-( (boo hoo). Well, I am trying to do Atkins again. I have lost about 21 lbs thus far (as of Feb. 26th), but I haven't lost a single lb. in the past 2-3 weeks probably. I haven't changed anything about my diet either...definitely no cheating. Just haven't been losing any more weight and it's beginning to be frustrating for me. I was wondering if anyone on this website has had this experience and if so, I'd appreciate if if you could reply to me with some suggestions or tips. I would be so grateful because I need to lose about 80 more lbs to get back to where I was back in '05. Any help you can offer would be great. I am not sure if I'm even eating my 20 grams of carbs daily so I'm wondering if that could be the problem or just what? I am in ketosis, I use the urine test strips, but the test strip doesn't turn a deep purple...just dark pink or moderate signs of ketones. I really don't know what else to do. I like this diet because I don't get the hunger pains and don't feel like I'm dieting because I get to eat good tasting food (just no carbs much) & I'm doing well with it but just not seeing the weight come off in the past 2-3 weeks. Seems to be stalled, really stalled and I need to jump start it again. If I only knew what my problem might be then I could work to correct it or try to make it better. Any experienced Atkins dieter might be able to help--at least that is what I was hoping for. Please help if you have any ideas that might work or has worked for you in the past. Thanks so much!