Anyone on Dr. Atkins?

Well, my GP looked me straight in the eye and told me my lipids were elevated and I better start getting more exercise and lose about 25lbs.
Lipids? who are they?

Anyway my spare tire, love handles, omentum, or as it is known around my place as a fat gut needs to be dealt with or I will be a prime candidate for a heart attack or stroke. Like I don't have enough problems, right?

So who has experience, advice, suggestions, rants etc on the Atkins diet.
I already hate it and Ive only been on it a week.

Your input could help save my life. That should make you feel good, I would think, but who knows?

If you're the prayin type; that probably won't hurt anything either.

Your not quite obese friend,
whaaa

If you're on the Atkins diet, all I can say is

GET OFF OF IT!!

The diet is dangerous! It makes you lose carbs, both good and bad! It may serve as a temporary solution, but the truth is that it can serve to be very dangerous due to long term effects. Please just go the old fashined way of healthy eating, cutting down on the amount you eat, and plenty of exercise.

Such schemes ((especially Atkins)) is horrible for your body and it is best to watch what you eat, not focus on faddish diets.

The Atckins promotes strokes in the people who take this road. I do not have the exact link, but I will have to look it up in old college folders about it.

((I did a report on all of the dangers it held))

reply to post by Dr. Frank Spinelli


Is "Doctor" Frank Spinelli right, or is he mostly spin?

I'd like to hear specifics but I don't really disagree. What's actually happening is it's not the 'lower carb diet' that's the problem it's the implementation, the lack of base understanding of the specifics.

Rather than adhere to a dogma or stand outside and say 'it doesn't work, this is better', it's more instructive to understand the basic principles. Then you can set things up yourself.

There are only three types of nutrients and three types of diets. Only one nutrient has to remain constant.

For many an instinctive approach is the only one, and for those people it might be necessary to hire a dietition or to have your food prepared for them.

Others prefer a hands on approach and for those I suggest 'diet and nutrient tracking' This is not the same as counting calories. It's a matter of tracking and understanding the nutritional breakdown.

Only later do you try and decrease the calories.

One book that's pretty good for understanding the basics of what goes on in the body and how the systems are inter-dependent, is the one by Michael Eades (Protein Power).

Remember, protein does not have to be animal derived. Plant based protein and protein powders can substitute. If eggs are allowed it's even easier to use almost all plant-based protein



[edit on 28-7-2008 by Badge01]

Thanks for your responses.
I think it's a matter of breaking my long standing dietary habits of deriving the bulk of my calories from processed sugar and carbs.

I do find that with Atkins; I feel less hungry, more energetic and less depressed; almost optimistic. That in itself is a blessing.

It's just that for now I am subsisting pretty much on eggs, meat, cheese and nuts. Very boring for a beans, rice and tortillas kind of guy.

But in the end if I can lower my triglycerides, lipids and other bad stuff that contributes to my being overweight and uncomfortable; I can get used to
prime rib fairly easily. And by not buying junk food or fast food; I can afford it.

reply to post by whaaa


I was on it SOLIDLY, in '04, for a month.
I lost NO weight and then my joints started hurting.
My sister told me to get off it, because of possible arthritis.
(she's a nurse)

I spent a LOT of $$$ on it!
Although there are people who lost weight, but, not me.

Herbalhealer.com has some good NATURAL weight loss supplements.
Lots of water and I lost 25 pounds.

[edit on 28-7-2008 by Clearskies]

Are There Negative Consequences of the Atkin's Diet?

With obesity on the rise, people continually look for easy ways to lose weight where minimal effort is required. One of the most popular diets lately has been the Atkin's Diet, which was created by Dr. Robert Atkins. His system allows you to eat a lot of foods that are considered fatty and unfit for dieting, but it still manages to have a high success rate at losing weight. Many people have jumped on this bandwagon, and they don't know the consequences of such a lifestyle. Perhaps they don't care, but there are a lot of possible and serious negative effects from the Atkin's diet.

The purpose of the Atkin's diet is to put your body into ketosis after you cut carbohydrates from your body. When you cut out carbohydrates from your diet, your body has to use fats for energy. This process of your body switching from using carbohydrates to using fats for energy is called ketosis. A minor side effect of this process is bad breath, but there are many worse side effects to worry about. Gorging on fats and proteins may seem very appealing to some, and there isn't conclusive evidence to immediate negative side effects. However, this diet has to be maintained for life to be effective.

This diet seems like an easy way out, but there is a good possibility that the future consequences will outweigh the immediate gains. When on this diet, most fruits and vegetables are prohibited, so there goes many vitamins, minerals, and also fiber. Fiber cannot be obtained by whole wheat either since that is prohibited. Without fiber, your risk of colon cancer is increased as well as other intestinal problems. Permanent Kidney scarring is also a serious possibility from the extreme levels of protein you will have to consume on this diet. Also, over a long period of time, all that fat and cholesterol buildup will start to accumulate, and your heart will be affected. Also, many people that have used this diet and then stopped had their weight soon rise to an even higher number than before. Some people think the diet is worth the risk, but nobody knows for sure just what the long term consequences will be.

Link Source Here

Mod edit: Added [ ex ] tags. Please add your own opinion when quoting material.



[edit on 28-7-2008 by Gemwolf]

i havent met a single person yet that claims atkins helped them.

There are plenty of people that lose weight on it, but not many keep it off - and even worse, many of the people that have gone on Atkins developed other health issues because of the strange things it does to your body.

reply to post by scientist




hi scientist, my name is crakeur and atkins helped me.

when my wife was pregnant with our first, I was topping the scales at a touch over 250 lbs. I had no clue I was this fat as I never weighed myself but, after a doctor's appointment I was stunned and decided it was time to slim down. I am not the dieting type and exercise for me begins and ends with the mile or so walk to and from work so I figured I'd go the atkins route.

5 and a half years later, I'm still hovering around 180-185 pounds. Atkins worked for me. the last physical I had was after I had lost all the weight and was still doing the no carb/lo carb thing and nothing came back bad (got my life insurance without paying extra for being unfit etc).

so, yes, the diet worked/works for me.

when I first started it I did the diet very much by the book only I tried to cut a lot of crap out. eggwhites only, lots of chicken etc.

Now that I am on more of a maintenance diet I slip some more crap into the system but I also eat more veggies.

on a side note, when atkins slipped and fell and ended up in the hospital, a friend of mine was working there and she said the guy was a mess. she said the atkins foundation (or company or whatever) sent over tons of atkins products, presumably trying to keep them from talking about how unhealthy he actually was. this is friend of a friend type stuff and cannot be relied on to be accurate but I am of the belief that most people don't slip and fall on ice when the weather is such that there was little or no ice on the ground and they tend to not die from that.

reply to post by Crakeur


I would agree with Mr Crakeur and would further refine it like this.

The 'diet' can have several phases.

In the first phase you decrease sugar and refined carbs and basically 'cut out the cr*p.

In the second phase you eat more protein, but still don't go crazy on the 'fat'. No tons of bacon and sausage, perhaps. Too many people get off on the wrong track here.

In the next phase you start to cut calories, but keep protein up and try to begin to cut fat to about 50gm/day.

In the next phase, with lowered carbs, lowered fat and good protein levels, you are at a lower calorie and almost a low fat type of diet and you should try to carefully start to add back fruit and vegetables. Here your 'appetite' and mass consumption of food is generally lower,

Fruit and vegetables are high mass lower nutrient. You feel like you are eating more but your calories are still pretty low.

Next you consider an 'maintenance' type diet.

Some people may start to consider going vegetarian, but they should still try to keep protein levels to a good number. But the protein can be plant derived, plus egg derived, plus protein powder (soy?).

At this phase you should be pretty expert at tracking the number of calorie you are eating and in effect you are eating a somewhat different diet than when you started and your plan should be on sustain and maintain. By now your whole attitude toward food may have changed.

Hope this general guide is of help. YMMV, don't try this a home, not recommendation for anything, may have worked for some but others may feel differently.

This outline does not talk about or define the 'tools' of the process, which are, I think, and important part.

The key is that the 'Atkins' diet is not a recommendation to just gorge on any fat or meat that you want and calories still matter.

HTH.


2 cents.

reply to post by scientist


Actually, most people regain the weight after any diet. Not just the Atkins diet. I know many people who live the Atkins lifestyle and they're happy and healthy, their lipids are down and some have cured their own diabetes using it. Atkins cites many many studies in his books that promote his way thinking, so basically, you could go back and forth ad infinitum citing studies.

I think people have to do what works for them. All diets are temporary for most people because most people can't stay on them, so all those adverse health arguments don't hold much water for me.

I recall as a kid, my father was in the Air Force, and then the AF diet was, put simply, no white food-- no starch. Pretty simple and it works. Another simple one is fish, fowl, fruits & vegetables-- all you want.

Personally, when I want to lose a few winter pounds in the spring, I fast, using four nutritionally balanced protein shakes a day, for a total of 640 calories a day. I still take my supplements and drink a lot of water. I lose about 5 lbs. a week that way, but the first week is not for the weak-willed. After the first week though, your digestive system just shuts down and you have no hunger at all, lots of energy and no dishes.

I'm not into winter sports much, so when the weather gets cold, I want hardy soups and comfort food and mostly want to just curl up in front of a fire with a good novel. Inevitably, I gain a couple pounds in the winter, so I pretty much fast every spring. I actually don't mind gaining a few pounds in the winter. It just seems natural to me. Once the weather warms up, I fast, then I just eat right and hike about four times a week and that keeps the weight off.

People freak out when you tell them you're fasting, but the truth is, I never feel better than when I'm fasting. It's tough at first, but I love it. Also because there's no grocery shopping, no cooking and no cleaning up after. My doctor is fine with it, by the way.

And I'm impatient-- if I want to lose weight, I want to do it quickly. The main problem with any diet is most people can't stay on them long enough to lose all the weight they want to drop.

The biggest trick for most people is keeping it off after they lose it. I guess that's where eating a balanced moderate diet and regular exercise comes in. There's just no way around it.

[edit on 7/28/08 by kattraxx]

reply to post by kattraxx


thanks for the follow-ups with various experiences. I guess this is the part that I struggle with:

At this phase you should be pretty expert at tracking the number of calorie you are eating and in effect you are eating a somewhat different diet than when you started and your plan should be on sustain and maintain. By now your whole attitude toward food may have changed.

Understood - that once you are on this "diet," your eating habits change... but that to me sounds like you never actually leave the diet.

To me, a "diet" is not a temporary list of foods you limit yourself to.. rather, it's the food you eat. So by saying "atkins" diet, you are really saying "I will be changing my eating habits temporarily."

In that context, yes - leaving any diet can cause weight gain, since it's sort of like going from limitations to no limitations.

Glad to hear some of you have had success with Atkins. Certainly offsets the horror stories and things I've witnessed myself from family and friends on atkins.

It just seems like such a drastic change in some people's diets, it has the potential to do more harm than good.

reply to post by scientist


I think that's Badge's quote.... but you had me going, Scientist, wondering if I'd written something I couldn't remember!

ya, my fault... that reply button was jut a bit closer, haha.

a recent study showed some rather positive results regarding the atkins diet

latimesblogs.latimes.com...


scientist, you confuse me with this comment:
"To me, a "diet" is not a temporary list of foods you limit yourself to.. rather, it's the food you eat. So by saying "atkins" diet, you are really saying "I will be changing my eating habits temporarily."

first you say it is NOT a temporary list and then you say it is temporary. might be monday confusion on my part as I tend to not really kick into my normal intellectual self until mid-never.

here's how I see it. I went on the atkins diet. I cut my carbs down to near nil, lost roughly 80 pounds in about a year and then I maintained my weight by limiting the carbs in my diet. am I on the atkins diet? no. the way I describe it is either a modified atkins diet or a low carb diet. not temporary at all.

Originally posted by scientist
thanks for the follow-ups with various experiences. I guess this is the part that I struggle with:

At this phase you should be pretty expert at tracking the number of calorie you are eating and in effect you are eating a somewhat different diet than when you started and your plan should be on sustain and maintain. By now your whole attitude toward food may have changed.

Understood - that once you are on this "diet," your eating habits change... but that to me sounds like you never actually leave the diet.

To me, a "diet" is not a temporary list of foods you limit yourself to.. rather, it's the food you eat. So by saying "atkins" diet, you are really saying "I will be changing my eating habits temporarily."

I could give lists of foods or calorie breakdown, but I use a 'transitional' approach.

I outlined that above.

1, lower carbs, moderate good fats, moderate protein. Calories about 1500-1800.

2. lower fat (aiming for 30-60gm fat/day), 0.8 gm protein/lb per day. Calories about 1200-1600

3. even lower fat, lower carb, higher protein (for about 2 weeks). Calories about 1000-1200

4. Added fruit and carbs went up to 30%, fat 40% (but good fat, olive oil, not hamburger), 30% protein target weight reached. Calories about 1500.

5. Maintenance same as 4, same foods, but calories up to about 1500-1900.

This was not planned, specifically but it's how it worked out (I keep records)

YMMV, may not work for everyone.


[edit on 28-7-2008 by Badge01]

reply to post by Badge01


I'll post a more detailed approach to this 'transitional diet' approach if anyone is interested.

I believe it is an improvement over the 'low carb' type of diet, but it might only have worked for me.

1. By adding specific fruits at a specific time in the transition I have eliminated 'carb cravings' completely.

2. I am now able to consume larger quantities of carbs, but they are carefully selected and timed. This is specifically called TKD or 'targeted ketogenic diet'.

3. Due to this 'transitional' diet approach, for me, I believe I have been able to permanently re-set my 'Set Point', and despite a few instances of going about my ceiling target in calories, I remain rock solid at about 194lbs. (I wanted to stay at 180-183 but the neighbors kept asking my SO if I had cancer due to my gaunt appearance. _)

I plan to drop my weight again and end up at around 175-180 in the Fall. My weight in college was about 160-165, so that would mean I'd still be carrying about 10lbs of fat over ideal form for road bike riding. My highly trained weight when I was power lifting was about 185-190, and I'm still struggling to trim down some of that mass in my upper body and legs.

(If anyone has a problem or a question with my specifications, I'd be happy to send a U2U to certain trusted individuals with a temporary link to my Fitday.com page which includes a summary of all my dieting since Dec 2006. I believe having nearly 2 years of complex food data entry would belie giving inaccurate claims. Though I'm loathe to send before and after pics, I've got them and may end up sharing a couple with trusted individuals in private.)






[edit on 29-7-2008 by Badge01]

Yes, thanks B. I sure would be interested in adding a little variety.

Also a different approach, scheme, regimen would be welcome.

So far I haven't lost a single lb. on Atkins and I have followed it to the letter. And I have been exercising with a mile or two walk with the dogs every morning. whats up?

[edit on 29-7-2008 by whaaa]

reply to post by whaaa


what have you been eating?
have you hit ketosis yet? (need ketostix for this - over the counter pharmaceutical item for diabetics)

reply to post by whaaa


U2U me and I'll go through it to whatever depth you require.

I might ask you for some data on what you're doing and soforth to help you zero in on the problem if that's ok by you.

I have a close friend that is on the atkins diet and she is constantly pushing it in my face. When my fiance found out that he had diabetes she sent him this long email about how he should be on the Atkins diet. Now my fiance in addition to diabetes my fiance also has high blood pressure and high cholesterol. I told her that he can not be on the atkins diet because of that fact and she tried to counteract me but I know better. There is no way to deny the fact that meats and cheeses have high amounts of fat and cholesterol.

I also started to think, you know, there have been many civilizations whose main staple of food was bread so it can't be bread that is making us fat. I don't think cutting out carbs all together is the ticket. I think cutting out the bad carbs that we have today that people from the long past didn't is the key. All the cookies, candies, pop and WHITE bread is what needs to be cut out, not the whole grains and natural carb products.

From what I read though the Atkins is ok to help you kick start a diet but it should'nt be a permanent diet solution.