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The Atkins Diet


rccar328

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I'm overweight (ok, I'm fat), and I've tried lots of diets before, but nothing worked.

 

My dad's been on Atkins for a while, and he's lost a lot of weight & says it's a great diet, so I'm thinking about trying it...but I've heard a lot of bad stuff (heart problems, cholesterol problems, etc.)

 

So what do you all think?

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Originally posted by rccar328

I'm overweight (ok, I'm fat), and I've tried lots of diets before, but nothing worked.

 

My dad's been on Atkins for a while, and he's lost a lot of weight & says it's a great diet, so I'm thinking about trying it...but I've heard a lot of bad stuff (heart problems, cholesterol problems, etc.)

 

So what do you all think?

it's good until you come off of it. Then the weight comes back and you develope heart problems. There are a few people that don't get problems when they stop. but a majority do.
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If you are very strict with the diet and follow it correctly you will loose a lot of weight very quickly.

 

Now, unless you wanna live with that burden for the rest of your life, you can then transfer over to a standard diet if you'd like to, after you've lost your desired amount of weight with Atkins.

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Get off the computer and stop playing video games. You need to go out and do some physical activities.

 

Anyways - dieting helps to some degree but I tryed Atkins -

 

Say goodbye to bread!

 

Its really hard to cut the carbs - but now-a-days it seems to be the trend so its easier to buy no card stuff.

 

 

Good luck in whichever you choose.

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You can lose weight just as easily doing the "Anti-Atkins" diet: eating mostly carbs and cutting out fats and protiens. I did it once... living on rice and pasta and veggies, but it made me sick later (my system kinda went haywire afterwards and I had to have my gallbladder removed.)

Neither way is balanced and healthy, and will most likely make you sick in the long run.

 

Wanna lose weight?!? The solution is unfortunatly simple and unglamorous:

 

BURN MORE CALORIES THAN YOU TAKE IN A DAY.

 

It really doesn't matter to your body if those calories are from carbs or fat... if you eat 900 calories and burn 1000 every day you will lose weight. Slowly,.. it make take months or years,.. but you will lose it. You should lose it slow anyway: more than a pound or two in a week can lead to health problems, and slow steady weight loss usually doesn't have the rebound effect that fast diets tend to have.

Building muscle can help you burn more calories too... and it looks better.

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I don't know about the rest of you, but I can't stand an exercise bike or a stair master, they're SOOO much worse than a real bike. By that I mean, instead of driving everywhere, you can ride a bike places, it gets you fresh air too. It's helping me quit smoking. Also if you get a set of dumbells and set a workout then you can gain muscle and get in shape. My family has a bowlfex, but I already had an athletic build (from competition swimming) and now i'm just getting bigger and even more defined, it's helping a great deal, and riding a bike is taking care of my lower body and lungs.

 

DO NOT GO ON A DIET, it's just unhealthy

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Originally posted by Weapon X

DO NOT GO ON A DIET, it's just unhealthy

 

That's actually....quite wrong. Diets can be very healthy, that's why doctors put people who are overweight on diets. However, it's all about moderation and eating enough of what is right and not what is wrong.

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If you want to make sure that you do not want to increase your chance for health risks you have to get off your ass and be productive. This means limited sitting time. Be active.

 

You should work out about an hour to an hour and a half a day usually about 5 times a week if you are overweight. You can change this latter when your body is in more shape and you just want to avoid the rolls or you can continue and start specializing in aspects of your body.

 

It is important to note that you should not work out an hour at one time but rather about 20 mintues 3 times a day or 45 minutes twice a day. You get the idea. This is for a couple of reasons. One you will burn yourself out. Second is that your body works better when you spread it out.

 

Also try to learn what you want to do with your body. When I did football I practiced about 7 hours a day for 3 months and did not gain or lose more than 218 pounds. I ran, worked on being more flexible, and tried to get some muscle. I did all these things in this time and I loved being able to flex and actually be able to have a hard bulge in my arms. Basically I just cut down my body fat. If I would have worked with smaller weights I am sure I would have actually gone down below 200 lbs but I made sure to have speed and muscle to better protect my QB.

 

Keep a small journal with you at all times. Some people like to write in it to show how they feel when they are in douby about food or working out or whatever. Most use it to keep track of ALL FOOD taken in the body and non-water drinks. This is there for a couple of things. One is you can actually check to see what you have eaten in a day to know the full extent of your calories and not fool yourself into thinking you are eating much less.

 

Lastly, if you can afford it get a nutritionist to help you in your struggle. These people are trained to help an individual maximize their goals. If you cannot do this then try to get a single friend and talk to them every day at the end of the day. You report to them what you did (TV, working out, food consumption, etc). You have to make sure that they are there not as a judge but as a sort of conscience. They are there to praise you and encourage you to keep up the fight.

 

Second lastly, if you get out and find a track that is 1/4 of a mile long you can get all your exercise done. What you do is the first week walk about 2 miles a day in this track. After that start walking the long areas and running the short loops. Try not to stop because that helps defeat the purpose. When you develop some endurance start tring to run half and walk the next. The rest you can do at home. Pushups, jump rope, down-ups (bane of my existence), sit-ups (close second to down-ups), knee drives, blah blah blah.

 

Thrid lastly: weight is not meant to come off at once. In the beginning you might start losing 6 pounds or so a week which is fine in some cases depending on how hard you are trying and your actual weight. About 3-5 weeks in you should lose no more than 1.5 lbs a week. I once lost 8 lbs in one day after football practice. The thing is though I gained it all back the next day. It turned out that I had sweated 8 lbs that day and I drank water all night. That is different than fat so it is okay.

 

WHAT WHAT YOU EAT: concerns quantity and quality

 

Hope this helps.

 

BTP

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Don't touch the Atkins diet, in the long term it is actually harmful to your health.

 

As for the term "diet" some can be unhealthy for you, especially those that tell you not to eat certain food groups.

 

In general, keep it simple, try to burn off more calories than you consume, and things will go your way.

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Back over 14 years ago I lost >150 lbs using one of those experimental diets that is so weird that it is still shunned for more 'traditional' diets like Atkins:

 

I ate less, ate better, and got into an exercise routine.

 

After my second son was born 6 years ago I put on a bit of weight slowly as I was no longer running, and was traveling more so my eating habits were worse. Maybe 40 or so lbs. Two and a half or so years ago I started running again and eating better and I've been good ever since.

 

For those who are prone to be overweight, keeping on top of it is a lifelong process.

 

As for Atkins, I just chalk that up with the list of imbalanced diets that exploits the absorption of carbohydrates to put you into a state of keto-acetosis, resulting in rapid, unhealthy weight loss. The reason it is so popular - and well supported - is because it allows people who are very fat to lose tons of weight fast. Therefore the benefits outweigh the risks.

 

But no mistake - anything that prohibits you from an entire segment of the food pyramid, and allows you to ingest unlimited amounts of stuff that is prima facia bad for you ... is bad for you.

 

Life in moderation.

 

As for low-carbs, it is like low-salt and low-fat - it is all good. We *should* be restricting our intake, keeping ourselves fit and our bodies healthy. We are using olive oil cooking spray rather than olive oil, broiling rather than frying, and so on.

 

Not everyone has the tremendous will-power that I do, I know that. But your life isn't a fad, it is your life ... don't mess with it, take it seriously and remember you only have just the one body.

 

Mike

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I am a physical therapist working within the community health system. We have dieticians in our team so I have been benefitted and terrorised(!) by their experience over the years...

 

I think it is dangerous how diets are promoted and marketed to people concerned about their weight. Apart form metabolic disorders and the like, being overwight is the result of a *lifestyle*. Its not just down to carbs, protein, sugars, lipids, it's

 

i) How often do you eat

ii) Do you eat balanced meals(include all foodgroups)

iii) do you eat for the sake of eating

iv) do you drink adequate amounts of water

AND, VERY IMPORTANTLY :

v) Do you exercise, how often and what type of exercise....

 

so no, this doesnt mean you have to spend hours in a gym and eat celery to look OK. Just be sensible, dont over indulge, and stay active. Apart from walking, get out and about, go bike riding, swimming, get involved in some type of sport....

 

...yeah, and this probably means you might be spending too long on the comp/games....

 

Its often valuable to get in touch with a dietician to give you good advice about eating habits, the rest is *up to you*

 

mtfbwya

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Before starting back into weightlifting I wanted to drop a bit of fat. I've been on the South Beach Diet for a few weeks with good results. I've lost about 10 pounds in a few weeks. In a nutshell, it works as follows:

 

Phase 1 (2 weeks)

No carbs or sugar. So no bread, pasta, fruit, fruit juice, milk, corn, carrots, junk food and tons of other stuff. Basically, meals consist of meat, some nuts, a bit of cheese, and green vegetables. The difference from most diets is that you eat 5 meals a day, and eat until you are no longer hungry. It is a sucky two weeks, but I lost about 7 or 8 pounds during this time, and there really are some good meals that fit the rules. Of course, you could never live for an extended period like this, so we move onto...

 

Phase 2

In this phase you can add back some carbs, fruit, different vegetables, and so on. You can even have some deserts, like strawberries dipped in chocolate. The goal of this phase is to continue to loose weight at a slower pace, and lasts as long as you want to loose weight.

 

Phase 3

This stage is where you maintain your weight. There are more carbs back in your diet, along with fat and protein. At this point, you have a pretty good idea how much you can eat and not gain weight. You can still have the good things in life like pizza or whatever, you just have to have less.

 

Really, eating a balanced diet and exercising should be all you need. And find exercise that you enjoy. If you don't enjoy the treadmill, then don't do it. I'd say find a sport that you would like to play.

 

I play on a club basketball team, so I don't have a problem getting enough exercise in :D

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Originally posted by rccar328

I'm overweight (ok, I'm fat), and I've tried lots of diets before, but nothing worked.

 

My dad's been on Atkins for a while, and he's lost a lot of weight & says it's a great diet, so I'm thinking about trying it...but I've heard a lot of bad stuff (heart problems, cholesterol problems, etc.)

 

So what do you all think?

 

It seems to me that the most important thing is not what you eat, but the amount of activity you get.

 

Don't even worry about a diet. A diet will probably make you feel like crap, may not work, and may put your health at risk. Just eat a little more on the healthier side.

 

So scratch the diet. Focus on exercise. Go join a soccer team. Go out on jogs each day. Lots of cardio ought to help. And you'll probably feel better doing it that way instead of dieting.

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Originally posted by Mike Windu

Eat correctly, no chips and junk food.(tough yes I know)

 

Try eating Subway more often.

Or rather, baked chips rather than fried (and esp. no Pringles).

 

And try not eating out more often.

 

Don't eat after dinner.

 

Remember that drinks have calories - but not water, which is the best fluid for your body.

 

Mike

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Atkins diet + Excercising regularly allowed me to loose 45 lbs. in 2 months. It's awesome. I've never felt better.

 

I know I sound like someone from the commercials, but it really works. After you loose a lot of weight on it, slowly get off of it, then watch what you eat from there on out. I myself am enjoying a refreshing glass of milk as I speak.

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Originally posted by obi-wan13

Atkins diet + Excercising regularly allowed me to loose 45 lbs. in 2 months. It's awesome. I've never felt better.

 

I know I sound like someone from the commercials, but it really works. After you loose a lot of weight on it, slowly get off of it, then watch what you eat from there on out. I myself am enjoying a refreshing glass of milk as I speak.

 

We need to throw you into the woodchipper.

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