Atkins Diet Plan

The Atkins diet was started by none other than Dr. Robert C. Atkins back in 1972 with the advent of his revolutionary book entitled, “Dr. Atkins’ Diet Revolution”. This book served as the springboard for what eventually became a weight-loss empire centered on a high-protein, high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet. And although some of his concepts have weathered well, others have not and may need to be avoided.

Essentially, the premise of the diet revolves around the fact that overweight people generally eat more carbohydrates than needed and since carbohydrates are “first in line” in the metabolic continuum, the fat stores are never tapped into in order to provide energy. And to make matters worse, those that eat too many carbohydrates end up having some left over even after everything has been replenished and this carbohydrate surplus can only be stored as fat.

Atkins Diet Plan & Support

There are always reports from people of mixed success while on Atkins. This could be due to the large number of people who “fall off” the diet. However, studies have shown that many people have achieved short term weight loss results from using Atkins. The Atkins diet recently joined with eDiets to provide an online based plan. If you choose to try this diet program do so with great care. It’s best to read the online instructions provided for you by eDiets.

Atkins Foods, Bars, Drinks, Snacks

The late Robert Atkins started the company Atkins Nutritionals. The company is now a vendor of low carb convenience foods suitable for their diet program. This line of foods is called Atkins Advantage.

Atkins Diet Outline

The main component of the Atkins diet is the severe restriction of carbohydrate intake. This requires limiting foods with sugar, bread, cereal, some starchy vegetables and pasta. There is no restriction on portion size, and the Atkins dieter can eat a whole range of low carb foods including chicken, steak, shellfish, pork chops, eggs, duck, turkey, any kind of meat, salads, cheeses, fatty salad dressings, nuts, and the Atkins bars and shakes.

The Controversy

Probably the most controversial issue with Atkins is that it is a high fat diet, - and there are no precise guidelines of the kinds of fats the user can eat. Government health agencies recommend no more than 30% fat in our diets – yet when using Atkins you can easily consume more fat then the agencies recommend.

The next phase is ongoing weight loss, also know as OWL. During OWL you increase your carbohydrate intake by reintroducing a larger array of foods back into your diet. Each week you'll gradually increase the amount of carbohydrates that you eat until your weight loss stops. At that point, you'll cut back 5 grams of carbohydrates and stick to that many carbohydrates per day for the rest of your OWL phase.

The last phase of the Adkins diet is lifetime maintenance. Your diet doesn't change much from phase three to phase four. Lifetime maintenance phase remains a low carb diet, though less restrictive than in the beginning, it's still a low carb diet and you will have to adhere to it for the rest of your life to maintain your weight loss through Adkins.