I have been on a modified A diet since July. Have lost 37 pounds. The plan I am on lets you eat carbs once a day. It is very easy to do. I also walk for an hour each day. Also drink a glass of wine each day - the grapes are supposed to keep your blood from clotting.

That's great, Believer...

The name of the diet you are on escapes, me...it's the one with the "reward" meal, right?

I personally don't like that diet, simply because I feel better not having simple carbs. I'd rather just have my veggies and leave it at that. I have no need for bread or pasta....

Congratulations on your loss!

FWIW:

I was on Atkins from August until the end of October (lost 40 lbs). Unknown to me, however, I have a propensity for high uric acid levels. It's never been a problem, but apparently Atkins can exacerbate the issue and make it a problem. The end result? Gout.

So now I've got gout. Oh well. I don't blame Atkins, but I just wanted to spread the news out there to get your blood tested before you start the diet and make sure they test your uric acid. My rheumatologist has told me she's seen a lot of new patients over the last couple years due to Atkins, so FYI...

j

Just caught tail end of a special to be on MSNBC on Fri nite in regards to the Atkins Diet. Don't know if it was pro or con.

I started a modified one prior to Christmas and lost a quick 5 lbs, but got off over the holidays(love those carbs). Haven't had the will power to get back on. Have a friend or two that will do it with me though.

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Originally posted by JM_May1986:
<strong>How are you AD'ers doing? </strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Well, W and I have been on Atkins for 12 days and have lost a combined 16lbs. 9 were hers and 7 mine.

I actually am enjoying it, for the most part. I am still learning, and will be tweaking it as I need more fibre, if you catch my drift.

(But I'm used to being full of ****, so nothing is new there.)

I'm finding already that I don't seem to need as much sleep. My energy levels are high, and I don't feel like eating snacks all the time.

Ahhh, finally something I know about. I have been on AD for over 1 year (well, since the crisis with W). Anyway, I am down from 39% bodyfat to 11%. A common misconception about AD though. You are only supposed to eat the high fatty stuff for the first 2 weeks, then it's Poultry, Fish, Eggs, most cheeses and so forth. Also, you need to make sure you are keeping your body's metabolism going, which means eating 6 or 7 meals a day instead of 2 or 3. Don't have time? I'll give you an example of a 2000 calorie diet which I do (except mine is around 3000) Breakfast: 2 eggs (melt a slice of chees on top if you like). Make yourself a nice chicken salad for lunch. Beef jerkey makes a great snack for in between meals (no terryaki). High protein bar can be used to fill the gaps too. Dinner: cook up some fish or even a lean piece of beef. Protein is the essential part of the diet because when you reduce your calorie intake you are going to burn lots of lean body weight (probably close to the same amount as fat). You also have to have your fats but cut out the stuff like sausage and bacon and ham. Olive oil, sesame oil, peanut oil all add nice flavors in your cooking and give you your un-saturated fats and your fatty acids which all aid your weightloss.

Jerky: 100 cals per oz. 1gm fat, 15 gms protein 0 carbs
Eggs: 75 cals each 4 gms fat, 1 gm carbs 6.5 gms protein
Chicken: 25 cals per oz. 0 fat, 0 carbs 7 grams of protein.

Remeber, there is about 120 in one tbsp of those oils.

Remember, if you are losing muscle along with fat, your scale is going down but you will always think you need to lose more weight because you can't see the improvement that fast.

Chicken and Turkey are my main staples. 2lbs. of chicken or turkey is less than 1100 cals so it is really tough to get all your cals from a low fat, low carb, high protein diet. I know Atkins says about .8 gms of Protein per lb of lean body weight but if you are at all active you need more like 1.5-2. I will suppliment with those 0 carb shakes and such. Even more important, if you can find the time, try to get your heart moving for a half hour before you eat bk. You are burning stored fat instead of eaten calories when your glucose levels are low in the morn. A brisk walk, stationary bike (I hate running).

Anyway, I go through more than 40 lbs. of chicken per month so you would think I have some good recipes. Anyone interested, pm me. I can never get bored with chicken.

I think I have spent just about as many hundreds of hours researching and lurking fitness boards as I have MB.

"Unknown to me, however, I have a propensity for high uric acid levels. It's never been a problem, but apparently Atkins can exacerbate the issue and make it a problem. The end result? Gout."

Oh yeah, me too! That sucks. If you have high Uric Acid levels, you can still do AD, just stay away from stuff like Turkey or any yeasty things. Our flying feathered friends don't have the mechanisms built in to get rid of that stuff, mainly because they don't get enough water moving through their systems to flush it. Turkey is the worst of them all. Uric Acid build-up can also be avoided by taking lots of Milk Thistle to help cleanse your bodies main filters like your liver and Kidneys. You can get that at any GNC or other fitness store for about 10 bucks. Lots of water, at least 4-5 liters per day.

Aeri,

you said you have no need for bread or pasta.

i just can't even imagine that. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="images/icons/grin.gif" />

so, i need to ask.....were you a big bread/pasta eater before?
if so, how exactly did you get over that?

i have cut back significantly on bread and pasta, compared to what i used to eat..and i try hard to stick to whole wheat when i do eat it.
but, i still miss it and crave it more than anything.
even more that chocolate chip cookies.

WFLOWER As far as I know, South Beach Diet allows fruit which Atkins is really strict about.

I think Atkins works for certain types of eaters/bodies, but it never worked for me. The only thing that worked for me was to continue to eat everything but in smaller meals and in smaller portions..so I'd less during a meal but have little snack-meals throughout the day instead of having a diet coke and carrots for lunch and a HUGE dinner.

Slightly OT, but that is a HUGE problem (no pun!) esp if you eat out, portion size. I had to go to a nutritionist to find out what "normal" portions for a woman of my height/goals looked like <img border="0" title="" alt="[Frown]" src="images/icons/frown.gif" />

Anyways, the three things I learned that are really good no matter what are walking, limiting portion size, and cutting out alcohol except, for me, the occasional red wine.

That's just me and I did this a decade ago and so far, so good. I figure whatever diet or plan(including Atkins) works, do that!

Nelly...I could never give up semolina pasta entirely <img border="0" title="" alt="[Roll Eyes]" src="images/icons/rolleyes.gif" />

I send everyone virtual chocolate--no calories!
jo

Because of the high amounts of fat that people consume on the Atkins&#8217; diet, many have worried that over the long term, it might have serious side effects. The researchers found no differences in side effects during the 12 months of this study and even found benefits in blood lipid profiles, but they say they&#8217;ll look more closely at potential side effects in their next study.

&#8220;A calorie is still a calorie, whether the calorie comes from fat, carbohydrates or protein,&#8221; Klein says. &#8220;But it might be that certain types of calories are more filling than others and result in an overall decrease in total calorie intake.&#8221;

My best friend is a registered dietician/nutritionist. This is how it goes.
Every "diet" is a reduction in caloric intake. Certain foods will aid you in losing weight quicker. By eating less carbs and more protein, and drinknig a green tea after every meal, for example, you use your muscle's water stores first and purge excess water from your body. After that, you usually burn some of your muscle tissue first and then fat stores, and the diet will be more effective in the long run.
Every diet is a marketable product. People want to lose weight. The easiest way to lose is through reduced caloric intake and exercize. Atkins does not promote "healthy" eating and the lnog term effects are not proven--NOT THAT I AM DISCOUNTING THE DIET--because I think that the lowered cholesterol and such is from actualyl losing weight and relieving stress from your body.
To me, the buzz words these days are healthy weight loss--well, in a perfect world, we would just lose our recommended 1-2 pounds a week. BUT crap-if anyone is like me, you look at a chocolate bar and boom-there goes a few pounds on the hips.
Atkins works because it allows people to enjoy what they want in moderation (fats, etc) and still lose weight through caloric reduction.

Personally, I did Dr. Berstein and Weight Watchers to lose weight. Compartively, Berstein redudes calories severely and forces your body to eat up muscle stores while you are in ketosis.
That meas going to the gym and building the muscle again after and during the diet.

Losing weight is beneficial for so many reasons, that I do not believe a diet of 3 or 6 months that is different will adversely affect a human body, in comparison if they had stayed obese and carried that weight for the rest of their lives.

Six months of dieting, but healthy weight, or no dieting but unhealthy weight?

This is interesting, how it is highly effective for some, and may cause difficulties for others. Getting gout is a rather serious issue.

And if you have to completely cut out a certain kind of food, that won't work for me. But, portion control is an important factor for me.

Certain body types are going to be prone to certain disease processes as well. Metabolism is not always the route. Esp. when that body type is already compromised from previous disease or injury to kidney, liver, intestinal.

I wonder what studies will tell us down the road on the strict Atkins Diet planners. How long has this diet been popular?

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">I don't think that the doctor would agree that it would be healthy for a person with high blood pressure and high cholesterol should do this diet. </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">My husband has lost 35 pounds on it in since May 2003. He takes BP medicine (has for years and years) and had been putting the Dr. off on starting cholesterol medicine.
Dec. 03 May 03
CHOLESTEROL 171 245
TRIGLYCERIDES 89 300
HDL 36 36
LDL 117 155
CHOL/HDL 4.8 6.81

He is down to his goal weight and has been maintaining for a couple of months.

The Doctor was really pleased.

I have lost 90 pounds and my numbers are below:
June 03 June 02
CHOLESTEROL 147 184
TRIGLYCERIDES 92 124
HDL 40 45
VLDL 18 25
LDL 89 114
CHOL/HDL 3.68 4.07

My numbers were after 5 - 6 weeks of the Atkins diet.

We feel really good and have been really pleased.

Those are good numbers. But, you will have to stay on that diet for life? Correct? A good question is how healthy will a lifetime of Atkins be on the CVD or the aging patient that has disease process to or just simple aging process to organs that metabolize?

If you go off of the Atkins diet, you will gain it all back, directly.

The latest long-term study I heard about said that the Atkin dieters lost more weight and did gain back some but they were still below the low-fat dieters at the end of the study.

Atkins is promoted as a lifetime way of eating. Believe me I KNOW - any diet has to be a lifetime way of eating. I have lost and gained this 90 lbs. about 3 or 4 times in my lifetime. This is the first "diet" that I have been on that I was not counting the months to when I would be off the diet and could eat what I wanted. I have no desire to return to my old eating habits right now. I feel I can LIVE with this way of eating.

I was honestly much more hungry when I was eating like a pig. I liked the high carb foods (doughnuts, cookies, etc.), and I am convinced they just cause you to want more. I honestly have no desire to eat these kinds of things. Mostly because I know they will satisfy in the short term and make me hungry within an hour or so. I would have told you I could not live without bread and potatoes and I honestly don't miss them at all.

I just feel SO GOOD. have been very pleased.

I was honestly much more hungry when I was eating like a pig. I liked the high carb foods (doughnuts, cookies, etc.), and I am convinced they just cause you to want more.
__________

They do, as they spread out the folds in the stomach, it enlarges the stomach and is absorbed rapidly, leaving the rugae folds open and sensation of empty stomache returns, rapidly. And you need to eat more to quench the feeling of hunger.

I love that add that the folks are in the office for a coffee/doughnut break and the gal giving out the doughnuts has these giant doughnuts she puts around everyone's waist. Sounds about right, don't you think?

*nod* Thanks for explaining what carbs do to the stomach. I'd noticed that carbs make my stomach feel full, though I don't feel satiated.

Nelly:

Good question.

I'm of italian heritage, so bread and pasta was a huge part of my diet before Atkins. I can tell you that I stalled on trying Atkin's because I didn't think I could give these things up.

Now that I've followed Atkin's for so long, I realize that I never *really* liked bread and pasta. They don't appeal to me now AND the couple times that I've tried a plate of pasta, just to see if it tastes better/worse to me now, I suffered terrible heartburn. (Now I know why I suffered with heartburn so much in the past!)

What most people don't realize is that special circumstances need special consideration. If you have high uric acid counts--you should see your doctor before starting a low carb diet. Just like when I suggested this diet for Slappy and he noted that the high protein intake might harm him--I told him--ASK YOUR DOCTOR!

Also, before anyone gets their jockeys in a knot about the unbalanced nature of the diet---Atkin's has four stages---when you follow the stages into maintenance, YOU DON'T GAIN THE WEIGHT BACK.

When was the last time you followed a diet, lost weight, then began to eat twinkies again and DIDN'T gain weight? It's impossible. Any reasonable person knows that.

The Atkin's approach is a lifelong committment to good eating. For those of you who take one quick look at the beginning stages and dismiss it--you're being narrow-minded.....

Slappy----As for you----take a flax seed oil capsule. You'll find that really helps with your little *problem*...hehe

aeri,

I'm so glad you mentioned the four stages. I'm also a low-carber and I get so tired of hearing people talk about induction as if that was the only way. I wish they would educate themselves and read the whole book. The news never seems to talk about the maintenence portion .

I used to love pasta and bread.. now I really don't care for anything sweet. Occassionally a Chocolate craving..which I will indulge either with real candy or they corbolite bars are great.

I don't eat doughnuts anymore. I hate the insulin coma they put me into!

My children have adjusted to a low carb lifestyle very well. They do eat pasta sometimes and whole wheat breads and plenty of fruit and veggies and salad. THey missed it at first..but grew used to it. They did not have weight issues, I'm just training them for life.

You can have your nuts and berries!

IIRC, Gout is some form of arthritis.
And a high protein (beef mostly) diet can contribute to arthritis.

I mean, I had a blood test and the result my doc said that there's a high level of something because of my protein intake and this gives me a high percent chance of getting gout or arthitis.

So, I substitute chicken, pork and fish instead of beef. I also mix in soy burgers/veggie burgers on some meals.

It's great many others are getting good results. Keep it up because I like to hear it and it's motivating.

The first I heard of the Atkind diet was in 1990, a friend had found his original book, published in the 70's in a used book store. It was very informative but I did not try it then.

My father had a gastric bypass two years ago. I personally did a two week induction and then went the protein power lifeplan. My fathers diet set by his doctor and he is not allowed refined sugars, or carbs, even so far as not allowing fruit.

IF you look at the increase in the obesity rates since the 70's it is scary. There are many of us that have problems with the way our body reacts to carbs. Many of us are insulin resistant or have undiagnosed thyroid problems. The Atkins type diets work best for us, it is kind of like an allergy to carbs, processed foods, etc.

I lost 50 pounds in 4 months with my diet plan. 1.25 years later I have kept that 50 pounds off. Yet I did NOT stay strict on the dietplan the past year. I do have a pms flucuation of about 5 pounds, I go up for a week then drop that 5 in two days.

I am going to start again now that I am no longer on the meds that stopped my weight loss. I hope to reach my goal within the next 9 months.

As far as doctors go, well, the doctor I went to about weightloss 3 years ago, told me that the best thing for me would be to stick to a 1000 calorie a day diet and gave me a rx for Phentermine. MOST DOCTORS ARE NOT TRAINED IN NUTRITION!!!!!!!

It still hits me as funny that all these years after Atkin's originally released his book and started PROVING his plan, that suddenly so many diets based on his principles with minor tweaks to them have come out of the woodwork.