Slim Down for Summer
Did you know that over 60% of US adults are overweight or obese in some manner? If you are among them, or you just want to drop a few pounds to fit into that new bikini that you bought, then the Atkins diet is right for you. This diet has been proved successful by Dr. Atkins himself. Over ten-thousand people have been successfully treated using the methods that I will explain later in the Instructible.
According to Wikipedia:
The Atkins Nutritional Approach, popularly known as the Atkins Diet or just Atkins, is the most marketed and well-known low-carbohydrate diet. It was adapted by Dr. Robert Atkins in the 1960s from a diet he read in the Journal of the American Medical Association and utilized to resolve his own overweight condition following medical school and graduate medical training. After successfully treating over ten thousand patients, he popularized the Atkins diet in a series of books, starting with Dr. Atkins' Diet Revolution in 1972. In his revised book, Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution, Atkins updated some of his ideas, but remained faithful to the original concepts.
I personally have lost over twenty pounds from this amazing program (Went from 185 to 163), and I can testify that everything explained from here is extremely effective, and will work wonders if you use it correctly. If you are still interested in losing weight, read on.
According to Wikipedia:
The Atkins Nutritional Approach, popularly known as the Atkins Diet or just Atkins, is the most marketed and well-known low-carbohydrate diet. It was adapted by Dr. Robert Atkins in the 1960s from a diet he read in the Journal of the American Medical Association and utilized to resolve his own overweight condition following medical school and graduate medical training. After successfully treating over ten thousand patients, he popularized the Atkins diet in a series of books, starting with Dr. Atkins' Diet Revolution in 1972. In his revised book, Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution, Atkins updated some of his ideas, but remained faithful to the original concepts.
I personally have lost over twenty pounds from this amazing program (Went from 185 to 163), and I can testify that everything explained from here is extremely effective, and will work wonders if you use it correctly. If you are still interested in losing weight, read on.
How the Atkins Diet Works
Right now you are probably like most other consumers following the standard food pyramid, consisting of some variation of the five basic food groups.
Chances are you do not follow the USDA recommendation to the letter, but you get by eating 2-3 servings of dairy, 2-4 servings of fruit, and 6-11 servings of grains
The key to the Atkins diet is this: if you cut off carbohydrate intake (from flour, sugar, and high-fructose corn syrup), then the body will alter its metabolism to burn stored fat instead of the fast-burning quick-energy from carbs.
This is achieved by halting your intake of bread, sugar, juice, anything with carbohydrates in it. This causes your body to enter a state of ketosis. when your body is in ketosis, it burns the fat that it has stored for energy in the past. By continuing to restrict carbs, your body keeps burning fat, and you lose weight until you gradually add carbs back in to your diet to stabilize the effect. The carbohydrate content of a food can be found on its nutrition facts.
Before anyone asks, it is not dangerous to live without consuming carbohydrates. This is explained very well in an article that I have linked to previously in this step, and in Dr. Atkins' book. I highly suggest it, it is a really good read.
Chances are you do not follow the USDA recommendation to the letter, but you get by eating 2-3 servings of dairy, 2-4 servings of fruit, and 6-11 servings of grains
The key to the Atkins diet is this: if you cut off carbohydrate intake (from flour, sugar, and high-fructose corn syrup), then the body will alter its metabolism to burn stored fat instead of the fast-burning quick-energy from carbs.
This is achieved by halting your intake of bread, sugar, juice, anything with carbohydrates in it. This causes your body to enter a state of ketosis. when your body is in ketosis, it burns the fat that it has stored for energy in the past. By continuing to restrict carbs, your body keeps burning fat, and you lose weight until you gradually add carbs back in to your diet to stabilize the effect. The carbohydrate content of a food can be found on its nutrition facts.
Before anyone asks, it is not dangerous to live without consuming carbohydrates. This is explained very well in an article that I have linked to previously in this step, and in Dr. Atkins' book. I highly suggest it, it is a really good read.
Your Diet: the Do's and Dont's
VITAMINS, VITAMINS, VITAMINS!!! If you go on this diet a daily vitamin supplement is absolutely necessary If you cut out certain foods from your diet you lose the nutrients that keep you healthy. To all the haters who feel the need to post nasty comments about loss of key nutrients, this is a very important aspect of the diet.
Let me get this out of the way now. No sugar. You must stop consuming all foods (with the exception of some - see later) that contain sugar.
This means that all candy, sweets, cookies, anything that is made of bread and/or sugar has to go - at least for a while. There is no restriction on the approved foods that you can eat (again - see later), however it is important that you don't cheat during the first initial weeks of the diet.
Now would be a good time to mention that I lost all my weight (22 pounds) in about a month and a week, so don't fret! You will be back eating what you love soon! (hopefully after summer)
Bread
Pasta
Any other manifestation of flour
Milk
All processed liquids with the exception of diet anything: soda, iced tea, etc. (I personally took a liking to diet green tea during my stay at the Atkins hotel)
Orange juice included
Chocolate (Sorry women!)
Beer, wine, and booze in general
Starch - Starch is the enemy!! No French fries!!!! Also, no carrots, radishes, beets, or other root veggies!!
This is where the Atkins diet really shines! You can eat virtually as much of anything below as you can eat! Om nom nom!!
Eggs - Two every morning with sausage and bacon--That's a feast!!
Breakfast meats
Nuts - Eat sparingly, but use them as an alternative to chips, snacks, whatever.
MEAT - Lots and lots of it! Eat all you can! You never go hungry on this diet!!
Fish - Almost as good as meat
Other sea critters - Mussels, clams, you name it
Cheese - Your new best friend
Veggies - A salad works well with meals, fruit in the morning if you can stomach it after the whopping breakfast you've eaten (No carrots, radishes, or root veggies)
Fruits - These have sugar, so don't eat a whopping ton, but enjoy one once or twice a week.
Let me get this out of the way now. No sugar. You must stop consuming all foods (with the exception of some - see later) that contain sugar.
This means that all candy, sweets, cookies, anything that is made of bread and/or sugar has to go - at least for a while. There is no restriction on the approved foods that you can eat (again - see later), however it is important that you don't cheat during the first initial weeks of the diet.
Now would be a good time to mention that I lost all my weight (22 pounds) in about a month and a week, so don't fret! You will be back eating what you love soon! (hopefully after summer)
Prohibited Foods
In addition to the above, you may not consume:Bread
Pasta
Any other manifestation of flour
Milk
All processed liquids with the exception of diet anything: soda, iced tea, etc. (I personally took a liking to diet green tea during my stay at the Atkins hotel)
Orange juice included
Chocolate (Sorry women!)
Beer, wine, and booze in general
Starch - Starch is the enemy!! No French fries!!!! Also, no carrots, radishes, beets, or other root veggies!!
Yummy Approved Foods
This is where the Atkins diet really shines! You can eat virtually as much of anything below as you can eat! Om nom nom!!
Eggs - Two every morning with sausage and bacon--That's a feast!!
Breakfast meats
Nuts - Eat sparingly, but use them as an alternative to chips, snacks, whatever.
MEAT - Lots and lots of it! Eat all you can! You never go hungry on this diet!!
Fish - Almost as good as meat
Other sea critters - Mussels, clams, you name it
Cheese - Your new best friend
Veggies - A salad works well with meals, fruit in the morning if you can stomach it after the whopping breakfast you've eaten (No carrots, radishes, or root veggies)
Fruits - These have sugar, so don't eat a whopping ton, but enjoy one once or twice a week.
Managing Your Diet: How to Eat
As I said before, you are allowed as much of these approved foods as you can eat. You must be careful with how you eat over time, however.
So you've decided to give it a try. Good job, you're on your way to being as slim as you want! The first week of the diet is always the hardest though. Just stick with the approved foods and you should be fine. Side affects may include mild headaches, cravings for carbs, and being completely full of foods that are great for you.
There is something I've left out however: The Atkins diet does leave for some carb intake daily. The first week you are allowed 10 net carbs per day. This amounts to a small chocolate or a really small cookie or some bread (one piece). Don't go overboard, I completely ignored this little fact the first week I dieted and lost about 10 pounds (in one week! I thought it was impossible!).
Once you get into a routine, it goes much quicker than you might think. My meals consisted of eggs and bacon for breakfast, cheese, sausages, nuts and hard boiled eggs for lunch, and one of Atkins' recipes for dinner.
All right, if you're through your first week, the storm has passed! Simply continue doing what you are doing until you are comfortable with your weight. For each additional week you may add 10 carbohydrates to your daily diet until you reach the level you were at previously, or a level you were comfortable with.
Be sure to lower your carb intake if you experience any more weight gain. Weigh yourself every day to keep you eating healthy and from returning to your previous weight.
I hope you have enjoyed this Instructible, please give me a +1 of you felt that this was well thought out. Cheers everyone, and good luck with losing your weight!!
The First Week
So you've decided to give it a try. Good job, you're on your way to being as slim as you want! The first week of the diet is always the hardest though. Just stick with the approved foods and you should be fine. Side affects may include mild headaches, cravings for carbs, and being completely full of foods that are great for you.
There is something I've left out however: The Atkins diet does leave for some carb intake daily. The first week you are allowed 10 net carbs per day. This amounts to a small chocolate or a really small cookie or some bread (one piece). Don't go overboard, I completely ignored this little fact the first week I dieted and lost about 10 pounds (in one week! I thought it was impossible!).
Once you get into a routine, it goes much quicker than you might think. My meals consisted of eggs and bacon for breakfast, cheese, sausages, nuts and hard boiled eggs for lunch, and one of Atkins' recipes for dinner.
Additional Weeks
All right, if you're through your first week, the storm has passed! Simply continue doing what you are doing until you are comfortable with your weight. For each additional week you may add 10 carbohydrates to your daily diet until you reach the level you were at previously, or a level you were comfortable with.
Be sure to lower your carb intake if you experience any more weight gain. Weigh yourself every day to keep you eating healthy and from returning to your previous weight.
I hope you have enjoyed this Instructible, please give me a +1 of you felt that this was well thought out. Cheers everyone, and good luck with losing your weight!!