Stor Mand

Just curious. Has anyone done this diet? Did it work for you? Good ... bad ... ugly?

Guest

Whooo Stor Mand!

This diet has been done to death in the Training and Nutrition under such topics as "low carbohydrate diet", "atkins diet", and "protein diet". You may want to do a thread search.

Having said that, the first time I did it, I had tremendous success. I'd been trying to get rid of this small layer of fat around my middle- no matter how much exercise I did (weightlifting, cardio, and everything in between), nothing worked. So I tried the Atkins, and within 2 months, it was gone!

Of course, once I got off the diet and started eating like a pig and stopped exercising, all the weight came back on.

I tried it again this summer, but I do so much cycling that the diet just drained me. So I stopped. The Atkins diet was mainly put together for sedentary people, so they don't need the extra carbohydrates as much as the exercising population, so we need to modify the Atkins diet for our exercising needs if you're going to insist on doing that diet.

Koffee

travis200

Atkins is for people who don't do any real sports type activities like cycling or running where your main fuel is from carbs! So no carbs no go! Gotta eat to keep up with the guys in front of you.

Ajay213

I don't know where all this stuff comes from, Atkins was not designed for sedentry people. Dr. Atkins specified a healthy lifestyle including working out and exercise.

There are plenty of people doing Atkins and having success with true endurance level events - https://atkins.com/Archive/2002/5/28-99286.html is some info about a guy doing atkins who competed in the Ironman. The link will also lead you to here - https://atkins.com/howto/goodhealth.html which has a lot of good information on exercise/fitness/nutrition. Here's a thread from a bunch of Tri-geeks talking about it - https://www.slowtwitch.com/cgi-bin/gf...5;guest=417962

Now for somebody doing "real" training, then Atkins is probably not the best choice, but it is a choice. I was considering changing the diet, but the more research I do, the more I find that I don't really need to when it comes to my own exercise routines.

Andrew

Rev.Chuck

My wife went on it, so of course I went on it. My splits(running) went from 7 minutes to twelve. I was not tired I just could not go any faster, felt weird. I did drop weight like mad tho.

hotch

I posted a question about 2 months ago and received a bunch of replies, some in favor some not. I have several friends most of which are physicians who are doing this now, and have had dramatic results. Decreases in weight, blood glucose, cholesterol, and all feel better. Most females do not do as well, I can not explain it. I tried it for several weeks and lost weight. My cycling capacity went to hell in a hand basket. I felt terrible, probably pasta withdrawl. I gave up

ngateguy

Atkins diet is good for sedentary people, diabetics, and hypoglycemics (SP) and that is about it. I still consider it a fad diet that has come and gone for 30 years. Stor Mand I have mentioned this before but there are 2 things you should look at one is that there are no athletes out there who endorse it, but the big one is where are all the testimonials from the folks who first tried it 30 years ago and it dramatically changed their lives? You read or hear about people that are doing it now but no one who has done it long term. Also note the disclaimers that they show whenever someone talks about how well it works. these are not typical results or some such thing.

Pete Clark

Atkins' diet has been around for a long time. So has the medical research that shows it's ill effects and poor record for long-term weight management.

Ajay213

Where does this sedentary comment come from? It is flat out wrong, period. The Atkins diet revolves around a healthy lifestyle, which includes exercise and quite a bit of it.

I think it comes from the mis-conception that this is some diet that people just sit around and eat pounds of red meat, slathered in butter, covered in bacon with some good ol' cheese covering it. Which is not the case.

Please go read the book, it will open your eyes as to what the whole carb deal is in regards to your lifestyle. Or at least go to the Atkins website and do a little research on it.

So you judge something by a company which pays an athlete to endorse a product? Slim Fast had Tommy Lasorta endorse their products, he's still a fat-a$$, so the product must not work then, right? I've yet to see a single athlete endorse Weight Watchers, in fact I think I can count athletic endorsements for diets on a single hand. Face it, when you are a pro-athlete you don't go on a diet, certainly not something the "common person" would go on.

I know probably a dozen people that have been doing Atkins for 10yrs or longer. You wonder where the testimonials are? Have you looked for them? I've only been doing Atkins for 3-3.5 months and I don't go around telling everybody who will listen about it, and I'm at a stage of the diet where you and I could go to almost any restaurant and I could order off the menu and you would never even think I was on Atkins based on what I ordered.

I notice that with any diet that shows itself on a TV commercial. I have yet to see an Atkins TV commercial, and all you need to do is talk to anybody who has truly followed the plan and you can see the results. As mentioned I've been on the diet for 3-3.5 months and I've lost 30lbs, including 4+ inches off my waist line and I've seen a significant drop in my blood pressure.

My typical workout schedule is;
M - Racquetball (1.5-2hrs) - workout legs - including weight work - stationary bike (30 mins) - stair master (15 minutes)
T - workout arms
W - Racquetball
T - Off
F - Racquetball - workout similiar to Monday
S - Depends, sometimes it's a bike ride, sometimes it's weight work, sometimes it's swimming.
S - Same as Saturday
The whole things shifts around a bit, for instance if I do weight work on my legs on Sat or Sun I won't do them on Monday, etc.

That's far from sedentry, and I have no problems with stamina. The weight is still coming off, albeit a bit slower but more importantly the inches keep coming off.

When I first started on the diet I shortly afterwards started working out, hoping on the trainer for awhile and spinning. It felt like my legs would fall off after 15 minutes, but I kept at it. Now I don't have that problem, it's taken awhile to adjust but it's coming around.

So here's my advice, fit your "diet" needs around the amount of exercise you are going to do. Face it, if you ride your bike 1-2hrs a day at a higher intensity level- 5 days a week you probably don't need to go on any diet, in fact you probably need to increase your eating habits (since you are looking at 1,000-1,500 calories burned per workout x 5 days = equals a big calorie chunk out of your body).

If on the other hand you can't do that, then Arkins is an option out of many. I looked at WW, but I don't think I could handle the starvation of it, at least at first. I get to eat lots of food (or at least it seems that way, the amounts have gone way down from when I started), lots of "good food", I don't feel guilty sitting in front a 3-cheese/bacon/sausage omlette with a couple sausage patties on the side, for lunch I'll eat a salad and some fruit, maybe nibble on some cheese and cold cuts. For dinner I'll have some Chicken, or a nice big juicy steak (actually I only do the steak thing once/twice a week). Or if I want to treat myself I can grill up some fresh salmon, or shrimp with some veggies on the side and maybe a little more salad.

And if this hasn't been enough to read check this out - https://www.konarske.com/lie.html this is the famed New York Times article about the whole deal, it goes into detail some of the misconceptions of the diet, etc.

Which ill effects are those?

And what poor record for long-term weight management? I can say the same for any "diet" actually. How many people have we all met that say they go on a diet, then 2 months later you see them eating at McDonalds every day chased with a bag of Cheetos in the afternoon. Face it, most people don't want to do what it takes to lose weight and keep it off.

Andrew

ngateguy

I watched one yesterday and the thing they kept saying was you can lose all this weight WITHOUT exercising it is not meant for someone with an athletic lifestyle.

Ajay213

Watched one what? What isn't meant for an athletic lifestyle?

Atkins? Based on what information? Define athletic lifestyle.

Looking at the Atkins website I see A LOT of information on being athletic.
The best exercise programs combine aerobic and anaerobic activity.

Everyone Can—and Must—Find Time to Exercise With three weeks to go before the Hawaii Ironman event, triathelete and physician Stuart Trager stresses the importance of exercise and shares his secrets for how to find the time to fit it into a busy life.

Making Up Your Mind to Be Fit

How Much Exercise Do You Need? More is better, but it may not be necessary to do as much as you think. The important thing is to get started.

Exercise: It’s Non-Negotiable

Read some of these quotes from - How I Became an Ironman

Twelve months later, standing at the edge of the Gulf of Mexico at 6:30 in the morning with the stereo sound system blasting U2's "It's a Beautiful Day," I think it finally hit me. I had returned to Panama City Beach after 12 months of rigorous training, careful attention to nutrition and a pretty significant number of sacrifices to once again compete in Ironman Florida. But this time it was all on the line. Sure, I had done other challenging things before, but this was different. Within minutes the guy who couldn't run the length of the football field in high school—that's me—was going to dive into the ocean and try my hardest to qualify for the Hawaii Ironman. (Only 100 spots are available; a participant has to finish in the top 4 percent to 5 percent of his or her age group.)

And then, with the bang of the starter pistol, we were off. Just under nine and a half hours later, when it was over, I couldn't help thinking that it really was "a beautiful day." I had finished 39th overall (in a field of approximately 2,000). Of the amateurs who finished, I was number 16, compared with 23 professionals who beat me. I also logged the eighth fastest time for my age group since the race has been run and third in my age group of 329 competitors. I had improved my previous race time by over an hour, qualified for the World Championships and earned an opportunity to compete in Hawaii this October.

I had done all this while following the principles of controlled carbohydrate nutrition. That's right; I used the Atkins Nutritional ApproachTM to lower my percentage of body fat, and did my training, up to 20 hours a week, all on the Lifetime Maintenance phase.

Does that sound like somebody who isn't athletic? Qualifying for Ironman Hawaii isn't exactly easy and requires a HUGE amount of fitness.

None of the above links talk about the exercise qualities of lifting your remote control and the finger exercise of flipping stations. The book Dr. Atkins wrote about the whole deal talks heavily about being fit and living a healthy lifestyle, and the links above go deeper into it.

So if you want to believe that Atkins is a sedentry-couch potato lifestyle, that's fine....it's completely wrong and unfounded, there's more than information available that shows that it isn't true. It's just another myth about what the whole thing is about (among thousands of other myths).

Andrew

Stor Mand

Well., look at all the responses . I'm thinking about it as a way to lose some fat on myself and to lessen the amount of my carb intake since I'm not working out as intense as I used to (being plagued with injury & illness this year ). Although, one does need some carb intake. I do find it hard to not eat sweet, junky cereal and PB&J's every day though .

cbhungry

First of all I don't trust testimonials, even a physician, especially one that is in no way involved in treating high cholesterol, interstitial nephritis, gout attacks, gallstones etc. all the complications of the Atkin's diet.

There have been no , I repeat, no randomized controll trial that have looked at the efficacy of high protien diets and long term consequences I like Atkin's due to his contribution to medicine by getting us to rethink the consensus on the ratios of carbohydrates etc. that are in our diet.

The May 22 issue of New England JOurnal of Medicine did do a randomized trial that showed no difference in weight loss at 12 mos for an Atkin's type diet and conventional weight loss diet. However, there were many limitions of the study because the end point was only weight loss and cholesterol profile (slightly better in Atkin's diet) and it only studied 63 people.

Here is a link to my critique on another atkins's sponsered study which was very shoddy. https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...s&pagenumber=2

The April 9 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association did a systematic review (so not a prospective, randomized placebo controlled trial) of 107 research articles between 1966 and feb 2003.

Their consensus " Our quantitiative synthesis ...on the efficacy and safety of low-carbohydrate diets suggests that there is insufficient evidence to make recommendations for or against the use of these diets ". the authors write. They also recommend additional research evaluatiing the long term effects on cancer (since we are eliminating alot of antioxidant foods ), osteopersosis (high protein diets have in case studies showed accelerated bone loss,)gout attacks etc.
And interestingly, none of the trials studies predominantly active peopleAll the studies studied mostly sedentary people who comprised a majority of the clinical participants.


Personally, I keep an inventory for my clinical studies on many psycosocial aspects of my patients from sexual preference to current diet. I have seen an direct association in newly diagnosed gout with those undergoing the Atkin's diet as well as gallstones, proteinuria etc.




Now it is interesting that the few randomized trials show that contrary to opinion, the cholesterol profile of the subjects actually improve (triglycerides lower, HDL goes up, LDL goes down) but...the key here is but.... they only studied the cholesterol profile improvement no more than six months. Many clincians, including myself, note an initial improvement in cholesterol profile than a decompensation right aroungd 8-12 mos. I am looking forward to seeing more data.
\
BY the way, here is a refutation 4 pages long on the Taube article in the New YOrk times. This guy did neglect alot of data that did not support his hypothesis and misquoted things. https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/443216

It's not to say the atkin's may not help active, athletes but there is no clinical proof. I p]ersonally like the Zone diet, which also advocates a higher proetin ratio, but I haven't seen the complications as much as I have seen with atkin's. Studies are underway and will validate or refute many of atkin's claims.

Ajay213

Dr. Atkins was a cardiologist, I think he would know a thing or two about some of the issues you mentioned.

As you mentioned, people who are on the diet/lifestyle almost always show signs of their cholesterol going down and not up, including all of the independent studies on the Atkins website.

Are you sure you are not confusing ketosis with ketoacidosis? Do you have actual reports of people having these kidney problems who were otherwise healthy? I've searched high and low, up and down (in general about this diet) and have yet to find a single case of any kind of kidney problem from somebody who otherwise had healthy kidney's and was properly following the first stages of the diet. Now that's not to say that it isn't possible as the early stages of the diet are known to increase uric acid AND increase urinary calcium levels, neither of which would be good for somebody with any kind of kidney problem.

From the book;
Q: Can a patient with gout be put on the diet? If so, what adjustments are made:

A: Gout can be aggravated by this diet. The problem is niether the protein nor the fat, but the rapid weight loss. (A total or partial fast often causes a threefold elevation of uric acid.). Two alternatives are to advance to a higher carbohydrate, slower weight loss level of the diet or to take a prescription drug, allopurinol.

From here - https://atkins.com/Archive/2002/1/11-400042.html

Reference:
Dessein, P.H., Shipton, E.A., Stanwix, A.E., et al., "Beneficial Effects of Weight Loss Associated With Moderate Calorie/Carbohydrate Restriction, and Increased Proportional Intake of Protein and Unsaturated Fat on Serum Urate and Lipoprotein Levels in Gout: A Pilot Study," Annals of Rheumatoid Disorders, 59(7), 2000, pages 539-543.

Summary:
The researchers begin this study by acknowledging that insulin resistance has been increasingly implicated in the development of gout. The changes in blood cholesterol levels seen in persons with gout are similar to those associated with insulin resistance. Therefore, researchers investigated whether changes in diet that have been reported to be beneficial in persons with insulin resistance would also benefit persons with gout. Thirteen non-diabetic men, each of whom had had at least two gout attacks during the four months previous to the study, were recruited. Each subject restricted his daily caloric intake to 1,600 calories, with 40% coming from complex carbohydrates, 30% from protein and 30% from fat. After 16 weeks on this diet, subjects lost an average of 17 pounds. Their gout attacks were reduced from an average of 2.1 per month to 0.6 per month. Significant decreases were also seen in total cholesterol, LDL (“bad”) cholesterol and triglyceride levels; meanwhile, HDL (“good”) cholesterol levels increased slightly. Researchers concluded that weight reduction associated with increased protein and fat consumption and decreased carbohydrate consumption is beneficial in treating symptoms of gout. They further stated that current dietary recommendations for gout might need re-evaluation.

Commentary:
The findings of this study can be applied to the Atkins Principles of Weight Loss, Good Health and Disease Prevention. By altering their diet as mentioned above and reducing calories from carbohydrate, subjects in this study experienced a significant amount of weight loss while simultaneously improving their blood lipid concentrations. Lowering total and LDL cholesterol, and decreasing triglycerides are favorable alterations in blood lipids associated with reduced risk for cardiovascular disease as well as decreasing symptoms of gout.

From here - https://atkins.com/Archive/2001/12/18-292461.html

Fallacy: Atkins is high in fat, and we all know that fats cause gallbladder disease.
Fact: There is now overwhelming scientific evidence that gallstones (responsible for more than 90 percent of gallbladder disease are formed when fat intake is low. In a study that examined the effects of a diet that provided 27 grams of fat per day, gallstones developed in 13 percent of the participants9. The reason is that the gallbladder will not contract unless fat is taken in, and if it doesn't contract, a condition called biliary stasis develops and the bile salts crystallize into stones. Our gallbladders need to be kept active to prevent stone formation.

It is not uncommon to find gallstones in people who are obese, although the gallstones may not be causing discomfort. People with existing stones may, however, have trouble with high-fat meals. If you are one of these people you may have to slowly increase the level of fat you eat according to your own tolerance—meaning, how you feel. Remember, gallstones are not formed overnight. So anyone who tells you they started doing Atkins and two weeks later developed gallstones doesn't fully understand the medical situation.

Again, this could a problem of people who don't follow the diet.

I don't know what kind of studies have been made about the diet, obviously there have been tons of studies out there, the question is then how did they do the study, and for how long.

Again, Atkins is not a low carb diet, the period of time you are doing low carbs is for as long as you are trying to lose weight. Take me for instance, I wanted to lose around 65-70 lbs, I've lost 30lbs so far in just over 3 months. My daily consumption of carbs is anywhere from 20g - 80g a day depending on numerous things. When I've reached my goal weight my diet will take on around 200g carbs a day, which is pretty close to the "balanced diet" everybody recommends, more importantly the levels of carbs/fat/protien will be all but identical to lots of people's ideas of balanced (ie The Zone diet, etc).

My period of low carb intake will take less than a year, my blood pressure has already dropped from the point the doctor was about ready to start giving me BP meds to a point where both of us are comfortable, ditto for my cholesterol levels. Everything else is just fine.

That doesn't tell us much and can be incredibly mis-leading. What was the health of these people before hand? What were they tested for? Did these patients even know they had these problems to begin with? How many of these patients truly consulted with a Dr. before starting the diet, and how many of the Dr's did a physical with Atkins in mind? My Dr. ran a number of tests he normally wouldn't have for a simple physical (of which I can't remember the names of them, basically checking kidneys and liver and a bunch of other stuff).

My biggest beef surrounding Atkins is first the amount of people who go on the diet and never bothered to do any research at all on it, including reading the book. I'd bet a good majority of the people don't even bother to go get a physical before doing something like that. And then those who don't follow the steps to making it all work. I've seen/read from people who don't want to drink the necessary amounts of water on the diet, people who don't eat enough fiber, veggies, salads (which will cause a lot of those gallstone problems), etc.

I'd love to see a real study on the diet and to show it's long term effects. I have a hard time believing that in the course of a few months to maybe a year (remember you are carb controlled for only a short period of time) a body would degenerate to such a point from an otherwise healthy place.

Tens/hundreds of millions of people have done Atkins or some other carb controlled diet in the last 30+ years, if there were real issues, don't you think we would have heard something by now on a large scale, and not rely on 60 patient studies, or something we heard from somebody who heard it from their sisters, uncles, cousins, best friends golf buddies Dr?

Andrew

Ajay213

CB,

I read that article, and it was interesting, although it just raises the same questions over and over again. But the first part of his diatribe says;

On July 7, 2002, science writer Gary Taubes, in a cover story in the New York Times Magazine elaborated on the benefits of the Atkin's diet -- a high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet that includes virtually no fruits, grains, or milk products, and only a small amount of vegetables.

I have to question his motives with that little bit right there. I'm far from a Dr and can only spew what I've read (and I've tried to read both sides), but anybody who has read the book (man I keep saying that) knows that the diet includes fruits, milk products and veggies. The grains part, well that is there as well, but is lowered quite a bit. The importance of salads and veggies is talked about quite a bit and how they have to be included in the diet. And then he goes on to present facts without all of the "big picture" as well.

I have to question if a truly fair study will ever be done towards something like Atkins or any other diet that tries and goes outside of the bounds of being "normal". Can the medical community as a whole admit it was wrong?

Thoughts?

Andrew

cbhungry

That's the problem, there are none, but there are tons out there regarding the mediterranean diet, balanced low fat diets etc.

the ones I have seen have not followed the clinical participants more than three months and used on average less than fifty participants.(the ones specifically sponsered by the Atkin's institute)

interstitial nephritis is neither ketosis or ketoacidosis. It's a form inflammation of the kidney and can cause damage that can be impart reversed by a very low protein diet. It's in all the nephrology research circles. There are case reports associated with high protein and or atkin's diet. NOt a cause and effect but it does raise concerns and that's why this variable needs to be looked at. The atkins study I critiqued in the bike forums link I provided had this as part of their major flaw in their study design, they seem to conveniently forget about urinalysis when they made their grandiose conclusion that it was a "safe diet" with no side effects.


But that's exactly what the Atkin's institute is relying on, poorly controlled studies on non significant numbers of people to back up their claims. Physcians as a whole want to see data, and we will eat our words if a large study proves past dogma false, this is one of the strengths of allopathic medicine...... we at least constantly look at our data and question it over and over again. Atkins diet does not do so. We are in the process of doing so.

As for wether someting is safe because it has been around let's look at Hormone therapy which has been around for over thirty years and there have been millions of users. For over thirty years, cardiologists thought it protected a woman from having heart disease... with the Women's Health Initiative that studies over a million women prospectively and randomly, (there were no good prospective random trial with hormones for thirty years, just like the Atkins diet) they were proven false. (at least estrogen and progesterone but not estrogen).


The medical community is looking at the Atkins' diet seriously and we now have independant researchers (ie: sponsered by NIH) vs. Atkins inc. or the beef industry supporting the studies. We will be seeing some good randomized, long term, large clinical participant trials, coming down the pipeline. Atkin's may be vindicated, but not yet.

Ajay213

And from what I've seen half of them disagree with the other half in terms of success, and problems during/after the diet, etc.

Again though, will big medical organizations like the American Heart people, will they turn around say "Hey we were wrong, this really is a good a idea" despite standing up and swearing up and down how bad this diet is for so many years?

As to physicians themselves, more and more are turning around to the diet, my Dr gave me the recommendation to give it a try to move into a more healthy lifestyle. Ditto for many people I know whose Dr's told them to give it a try. I've also heard of Dr's who said not to touch it with a 10ft pole. Ditto for nutritionists.

But is it really the same? People have lived in periods of time where they had limited/no access to simple carbs (ie bread, etc), we're not taking some kind of supplement to take the place of something "natural" (ie - eating or taking abnormal amounts of hormones, etc).

I look forward to the results, although by the time they are released I'll be well past the "diet" stages of Atkins.

As always CB I appreciate the medical insight.

Andrew

G-Hoch

There is no substitute for proper nutrition. Check out The Zone Diet. You will be hard pressed to eat enough carbs if you follow it. Your endurance will be increased, joints will feel better, you will sleep better, and look younger. Whether you want to lose or gain weight it works. It is all about maintaining proper levels of sugar, insulin, and other hormones in your blood stream. Oh, and did I mention there is no substitute for proper nutrition? www.drsears.com

Ajay213

From the Atkins website;

How is Atkins different from The Zone?
While Barry Sears, Ph.D., appreciates the importance of regulating insulin production, he recommends that 40 percent of the diet consist of carbohydrate, 30 percent fat and 30 percent protein. This ratio may be too high in carbohydrate content for a sedentary or metabolically resistant individual. Atkins recommends only 5 to 10 percent carbohydrate during Induction(This stage lasts 2 weeks to a few months depending on goals). This rises to about 20 or 25 percent during Ongoing Weight Loss, reaching about 30 to 40 percent in Lifetime Maintenance. So The Zone is much like the Atkins Pre-Maintenance and Lifetime Maintenance phases. If you don’t mind exceedingly slow weight loss, this program can be effective.

I posted that because a lot of people still don't understand what Atkins is about in the long term. The first stages of Atkins differ from the zone, and there are a couple of reasons for that, one is to "kick-start" (their word) weight loss - which can be helpful to people who want to see some rewards for their work. Another is to help people curb the "addiction" to bad foods.

There's another point which I forgot to address here about Atkins and exercise. If you are doing some intense exercise, carb up a bit. Your body will use carbs first for fuel, so those calories will be burned and not stored. I did it during induction, bumping my carbs up a bit to cover a few hundred calories burned off during a workout, I kept my body in ketosis and had good workouts.

Andrew

Pete Clark

Andrew,

I find it hard to believe that the medical community, as a whole, is wrong, and Atkins is right.

Atkins had everything to gain financially by promoting this unhealthy diet. It won't be the first time someone made money on book sales or extremely expensive supplements. And it won't be the last time someone exploits the vast financial spoils to be found in the bank accounts of the desperately overweight.

Ajay213

But that is the problem, it's not the whole medical community that doesn't agree with it. There are some that do and some that don't. And a lot of those who disagree may or may not have other agenda's then the well being of the people. For instance the American Heart people have been saying left and right what it takes to avoid heart disease, and everything about Atkins is against what they have said. Even though the short term studies have shown that BP and cholesterol levels go down. And nobody (until recently anyways) have been willing to fund or do long term studies.

There is a lot of mis-information being spewed about Atkins, and I have to question why. Such as that piece of the article I quoted, it's not hard to find out everything about the diet itself, yet it always get's represented as some diet where all you eat is red meat, butter, bacon, eggs and cheese. That is not the whole story, it's only one VERY small piece of it that is very temporary.

And what do those big institutions stand to lose after flat out saying how bad the diet is if it is proven to be not the big devil/killer that they claim. They stand to lose a lot, including financially as well.

Quite true, and maybe it will play out that way, I have a hard time believing that after some 30+ years. The definition of "fad" is something that takes up great enthusiasm for a short period of time. That obviously isn't the case here. If this thing were so serious and so dangerous we would have more than anectdotal type stories about this or that. If it didn't work in the long term it wouldn't stick around so long, etc. That's relative common sense, no?

For me personally, I have a few more months of low carb eating then it's on to the lifetime part of the plan which is almost identical to the zone diet, or a WW diet, etc (which are all just balanced diets, watching what you eat). But I'm still curious as to what the long term studies will find.

Andrew

wjcronin2002

I did atkins 3 years ago, lost 50 lbs and have kept it off. - of course cycling and running have helped. I do remember being drained though when I was on it. Do need those carbs if you want to perform. It definatley worked for me, and was the easiest diet I was ever on.

Pochtecatl

I've been on a similer diet to atkins, except its got carb-ups on the weekends. This halts muscle loss pretty good and gives you energy. I chose it over normal atkins because I've been lifting seriously for the last two years and I did'nt want to loose my hard-earned muscle. Check out these forums, very informative.

https://forum.bodybuilding.com/forumd...php?forumid=61

Geraldo

Ajay, why are you so defensive about the Atkins diet?

It will certainly work, although as people reported here, keeping the weight off long term is a problem. The effects of eating an unhealthy diet (nobody says all that animal fat in Atkins is healthy) and the possibility of kidney problems aren't worth it IMO.

My wife and I changed the way we eat back at the end of April. The only book I read was by Walter Willett, MD and the advice in his book is to exercise, eat less overall, and eat healthy. I don't eat much protein, and I do eat carbs, just whole grains. I've lost 35 pounds and the beauty of it is that I can eat this way forever, not just for a diet period, which is the true downfall of any diet. If you don't make permanent changes, you won't have permanent weight loss.

Lady Jane

I was on the Atkins diet for a short time. I missed carbs too much, so it didn't work for me. I have done what Geraldo has done - gotten more exercise and eating less food overall - and have lost 25 pounds.