Atkins Diet

[Starman]

Has anyone been on this diet? I have been on it for like 6 months and dropped 15 lbs but I cant seem to drop anymore

Not only that, Diarrhea Cha cha Cha!

this diet is supposed to give you constipation, not the big D

anyone else notice this?

this diet is convenient for me because Im not too big on carbs anyway..

another thing is .. I hear you HAVE TO eat fatty foods in order for this to work..but I dont eat enough fat to test this theory and dont want to clog my arteries whith cholesterol

also, I notice I could binge on carbs 1 day a week and still maintain my weight

I also lift 3 days a week and run 2 miles 4-5 days

while Im getting cut from the exercise..Im still the same weight

anyone??

 

[B.A.]

I wrote a paper on Atkin's and ultimately agreed that it was an excellent diet for people who were overweight and suffering from the "X syndrome", which is a condition which basically means you don't respond well to high levels of carbohydrates, which is a lot of people due to over consumption of refined carbs which leads to conditions like insulin resistance.

You aren't actually on an Atkin's diet as binging on carbohydrates even once brings you right out of a state of Ketosis, meaning that you start from square one again. You may however be on some other form of Ketogenic or low carb diet such as the "Protein Power", "Paleo", and "South Beach" diets, which all utilize a lower carbohydrate, higher fat, higher protein form of dieting (to some extent).

In the first two weeks of Atkin's, you are adapting your body for a ketogenic state and should not exceed 20 grams of carbohydrate on any day of the two weeks. The 20 grams should be mostly in the form of fibre to help with the proper formation of faeces and keep your large intestine ticking over. Good fibre sources for this stage of the diet are nuts and seeds, cocunut extract and fibre gel (you literally have to mash the nuts/ seeds into a paste in your otherwise they will not be properly digested).

It is a myth that eating naturally occuring animal fats leads to elevated levels of blood cholesterol. It is also a fallacy that dietary cholesterol leads to a raise in blood cholesterol. There are actually three forms of cholesterol transporting molecules: HDL (high-density lipoproteins), LDL (low-density lipoproteins) and VLDL (very low-density lipoproteins).

Certain forms of cholesterol are actually essential to your survival as it is required for cellular synthesis, bile salts (used to emulsify/ break down fats), for producing steroid hormones such as testosterone, and also in the manufacturing of vitamin D.

In balance, the three cholesterols transporters are harmless and are essential for healthy living. High levels of HDL are good because they help remove excess cholesterol from the body tissues and protect against heart disease; high levels of LDL are bad because they can deposit excess amounts of cholesterol in the arteries, leading to atherosclorosis (hardening of the arteries etc); high levels of VLDL are very bad as they can significantly raise your chances of developing a serious heart attack, and also stiffen and thicken the blood vessel walls considerably.

The real causes of elevated bad cholesterol levels in the blood which lead to coronary heart disease and atherosclorosis are constant oxidation eating trans fats, hydrogenated oils and poly-unsaturated fats, which are very bad for you, and the constant ingestion of refined, processed carbohydrates and glucose.

Don't binge on carbohydrates once in seven days, either maintain a low carbohydrate high portein and fat diet, or eat all three macronutrients in moderation. If you want to come off the ketogenic diet, slowly re-introduce you body back to eating carbohydrate based foods.

- B.A.

 

[Starman]

thanks for the info

when I went on the induction diet for 2 weeks..I kept my carb count to <20 a day

yet I was still unable to get into ketosis, I guess Im one of those metobolically resistant types (this is based on the keto strips)

while I was losing weight..I still wasnt able to get into ketosis mode

The atkins book says sometimes this will happen

I wonder if I should have tryed the induction period for a month?

This diet is great because it also gave me alot of energy and wasnt tired in the mornings when waking..and it also reduced the amount of time I need for sleep (from 8-10 hrs to like 5-6 a night)

so you are saying once you binge on carbs once a week..you cant just pick up where you left off?

 

[prosemont]

Well, well, well ... lookie here ...

Starman's posting on H&F. Wonders never cease.

You've only lost 15# on Atkins for 6 months? Starman, what's your current weight and bodyfat and goal weight and bodyfat?

If you've been on Atkins for as long as you say but would like to continue it, I recommend the following:

1. Pick one day and eat nothing but complex carbs, read: pasta. This is to "RESET" your system.
2. Next day get back on Induction, eating nothing but protein and fats, except for a bowl of lettuce at lunch (but <20 carbs).
3. Drink a gallon of H20 per day.
4. Increase your fats. There are good and bad fats. Stick with the good ones best found in flax oil and olive oil which you should be using on most of your food and can even take it via tablespoon.
5. Just be sure you're measuring your total calorie count in addition to measuring your overall carb count. If you are as active as you say, I don't think you should take in any less than 2000 calories per day, 1600 at an absolute minimum.
6. Of your total calorie count, I would recommend that at least 30% of it be from fats, the balance from protein. The higher the fat ratio, the more apt you will be to get into ketosis, however. I personally experimented up to 80% fat, 20% protein for a week and got ripped doing so.
7. Recheck any and all foods, drinks, and condiments to be sure you're not taking in any other carbs.

With more of these fats, your body WILL get into ketosis which you should measure with ketostix. Get new ketostix as ones older than even a couple of months sometimes don't work.

Btw, your intestinal problems are not likely from the protein diet per se (which does tend to cause constipation) but may be a from a food allergy to one of the protein sources you're taking in. Best way to identify which one is to limit your intake to just one thing such as chicken breast for a week and see if that stops the d-rea. If so, add another protein source and so on until you i.d. the one that's causing the allergy.

 

[Starman]

Prose, I usually get my health and nutrition tips from reading journals on the net..thats why I never post in here

But Right now I weigh 175 and have 19-20% body fat. My issue isnt to lose weight, but to lose body fat to maybe 17-18%

My atkins diet usually entails eating lots of eggs, gyros, hot dogs, sausage, chicken, steak, and fast food hamburger patties(i.e. 3-4 double cheeseburgers at mcdonalds), lots of cheese

"1. Pick one day and eat nothing but complex carbs, read: pasta. This is to "RESET" your system. "


Do you mean JUST 1 day? or 1 day a week?


2. Next day get back on Induction, eating nothing but protein and fats, except for a bowl of lettuce at lunch (but <20 carbs).

by this I assume you mean <20 carbs for 2 weeks?

also, you say you got ripped on 80% fat intake? where did the majority of the fat come from? Oil? or fatty foods?


I think you may be right about the allergic foods and the D (my sister is also on this diet and has the same gastrointestinal problems)

I suspect the allergic foods to be the processed foods like sausage and dogs (they are convenient for me to cook)

I have also cut out aspartame and caffeine from my diet because they were hindering my weightloss

 

[prosemont]

1. I meant just one day. The object is to reset without spiking insulin levels. You can reset with just one day of carbs provided it is all you eat for that one day.

There are diets that have you reset one day per week by having a carb day, you may want to look into that, but I just meant one day, then to go into the induction diet.

2. Some of your protein sources are problematic because they have enough addictives in them to prevent ketosis and fat loss. Stick with unprocessed proteins. Get rid of the sausages, the fast food, and hotdogs. Stick with "pure" beef, chicken, pork, and fish, ie., not processed. Also, gyros usually have bread, no? That alone will take you out of ketosis.

3. Re the <20 carbs. Yes, less than 20 carbs per day for two weeks (or as long as you wish to remain in ketosis).

4. You're right that the allergy is probably coming from the processed foods.

5. Get rid of any drinks, alcohol, soda pop, etc., and other additives with caffeine and/or carbs.

How tall are you?

 

[Helter Skelter]

Originally posted by prosemont
5. Get rid of any drinks, alcohol,

That's never gonna work, isn't Starman an alcoholic?

"A bowl of lettuce for lunch" ......that's sounds yummy. Stop making me hungry guys.

 

[Starman]

heh I only drink low carb beer and or neutral grains (i.e. vodka, tequila) that arent really sugars , but alcohol sugar which doesnt break down the same way as carbs

prose, Im 5 10", and I dont eat bread from gyros, just the meat

I think I will take your advice and stick to eating beef everyday this week, and cut out the junk food and take in a table spoon of olive oil a day

you gave me several approaches to rework this diet, so I will have to take some time and play with the different variations

but as of right now, Im going through toilet paper like crazy (thank god they sell them in bulk so the checkout girl doesnt see me in there everyday)

 

[Helter Skelter]

I remember my uncle use to go to Dr. Atkins in NYC about 10 years ago. He was well known then but not as huge as he is now.

To this day, my uncle travels with a pillow case filled with vitamins I'm not sure how much they are related to the diet.
My uncle loved the diet and lost a lot of weight when most people at the time said he was crazy for doing a diet heavy in fats.

However, he's still fat today and Dr Atkins is dead but at least it wasn't from heart disease.

 

[Hannibal]

im an amateur biologist at best and I learnt that through the atkins diet you can screw your kidneys, since the kidneys wasn't designed to filter out all that much protein at a time (by the process of hydrolysis to break apart the petide bonds between the proteins to form the amino acids that proteins are built on) therefore creating a buildup, am I right? crazy or full of it? this is what i've heard from my teacher, I've been wanting to try the diet but have been scared because of this fact,
anyone?

 

[B.A.]

Originally posted by Hannibal
im an amateur biologist at best and I learnt that through the atkins diet you can screw your kidneys, since the kidneys wasn't designed to filter out all that much protein at a time (by the process of hydrolysis to break apart the petide bonds between the proteins to form the amino acids that proteins are built on) therefore creating a buildup, am I right? crazy or full of it? this is what i've heard from my teacher, I've been wanting to try the diet but have been scared because of this fact,
anyone?

I doubt your biology teacher actually told you that seeing as amino acid metabolism occurs in the liver, not the kidneys. Protein is broken down into first peptones in the stomach by an enzyme called pepsin, and then into amino acids in the small intestine (i.e. duodenum) by the enzymes erepsin and trypsin. The amino acids are then absorbed through the wall of the small intestine into the blood stream where they: 1) transported in the blood, are uptaken by cells by the process of active transport to replace worn out cells (remember, insulin is needed to force amino acids into cells), or 2) excess amino acids are transported to the liver where by the process of oxidative deamination have their nitrogen removed (ammonia), which is combined with carbon dioxide in the liver also and transported to the kidneys to be excreted as urine (urea in the liquid waste). Once the ammonia has been removed what remains can be converted into a form of cellular energy or a neutral fat/ triglyceride to be transported and stored in your adipose tissues around the body.

There are many forms of ketogenic diets, but Atkin's designed his diet for the public, the ignorant masses, where biochemical processes aren't needed to know.


Starman:

You can't drink alcohol when on the Atkin's Diet, ecspecially "low carb" beer. They will break down into simple sugars and send your insulin levels rocketing. This will take you out of ketosis. Light beers such as Budweiser and Coors are famous for it.

You may wish to try another form of ketogenic dieting, but don't label it Atkin's, as it simply isn't an Atkin's Diet. Going into a state of ketosis should only take a few days if you are doing it properly.

- B.A.

 

[Saine]

Take B.A.'s advice over mine, I have to say this guy knows what he knows. But here's my advice, Atkins diet can be dangerous.

Read : http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...564&e=1&u=/nm/20031120/ts_nm/health_diet_dc_6

 

[wheelin&dealin]

The Atkin's diet is not the best diet to go on. The extreme weight loss reported is a combination of lost fat and muscle. You will lose quite a bit of muscle if you drastically lower your carb intake in a short period of time.

You are way better off eating 40% carbs, 30% protein, and 30% good fats. To maintain muscle and lose fat.

 

[B.A.]

Originally posted by wheelin&dealin
The Atkin's diet is not the best diet to go on. The extreme weight loss reported is a combination of lost fat and muscle. You will lose quite a bit of muscle if you drastically lower your carb intake in a short period of time.

If you say so

Saine: I took one look at that report and when I seen heart arrhythmia caused from calcium/ potassium deficiency it was blatently obvious she wasn't following Atkin's properly. Then again, 16 year old girls are the worst dieters imaginable, science, common sense and rationality do not figure as part of their eating habits.

I wouldn't draw your conclusions on Atkin's from a tabloid newspaper article, where the writer is simply interested in creating an article that sells to the masses

- B.A.

 

[Francisco d'Anconia]

I suggest trying the South Beach diet. It's a variation of the Atkins diet in that you eat a balanced diet of protein, carbs and fat but you only eat the fat and carbs that can be burned off easily and stimulates your matabolism. Combined with regular exercise you can reach a realistic weight for your size and maintain it.

Oh yeah, South Beach is similar to Atkins in that you have to go carb-free for the initial two weeks to get into kitosis and burn off a ton of weight off the top (usually 8-15 pounds). I dropped 12 pounds in the first two weeks by cycling and weight training.