Works, But Not for Everyone
Written: Jun 14 '00 (Updated Jun 17 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Quick weight loss; Eat rich food w/o guilt
Cons: Possible health questions; Expensive
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| Tholian's Full Review: Atkins Diet |
About two years ago, I came across alt.support.diet.low-carb and couldn't believe the posts I was reading about the wacko regime where people were eating bacon, cream sauces, nuts, cheese and all kinds of meat--as much as they wanted!
And the odd thing was, they were losing weight.
I didn't think much about it again until six months later, when, prompted by the thought of growing out of yet ANOTHER size of clothing, I decided something drastic had to be done. I had managed to gain about forty pounds during ten years of low-fat vegetarianism and, frankly, not eating very much. In fact, one of my closest friends had remarked, "I don't understand why you are so fat, you hardly eat anything!" And it was true.
The idea of insulin resistance offered a possible answer. I did my homework on the topic, kept watching alt.support.diet.low-carb and launched into my own version of low-carb...cutting out all sugar and most starches.
I went through four days of nausea and severe headaches--caveat emptor with this diet, your body may strongly rebel as it depletes its glycogen stores! After those side-effects disappeared, though, I enjoyed the physical energy and mental clarity I had thought were gone ten years ago.
Trouble was, after a month of this I had only lost about 3 pounds. Back to the newsgroup I went, more carefully this time. Ah--the people who seemed to be most successful were doing ATKINS.
I gritted my teeth and plunged in. The first thing that had to go was vegetarianism--during the induction phase of the diet, it was simply impossible for me to get enough low-carb calories without eating meat. This is not true for everyone--YMMV, as they say.
The pounds started to come off, very quickly at first, then more slowly. I lost a total of 23 pounds in about 10 weeks and felt great the whole time. I wasn't the least bit hungry--in fact, I was hungry so seldom that I actually had to set reminders to MAKE myself eat!
After this exciting phase, I began experiencing lethargy and depression. I stopped going to the gym because I just couldn't find the energy to get out. As I added more carbs back into my diet, these symptoms went away, but the pounds quickly returned--I gained back about 15 of what I had lost. For all I know that was water weight and glycogen, leaving only 8 pounds of fat lost.
I've realized that I cannot stay on Atkins long-term. My body just will not do it. However, with the "additional" carbs my diet is still far less carbo-intensive than it was. I think the answer for me is going to be a modified low-carb plan, supplemented with quite a bit of exercise.
I think Dr. Atkins is on the right track with his metabolic theories. I have certainly felt much better applying his principles, eating more substantial and healthier foods, than I did trying to exist on lowfat pasta salad, fruit in the morning and egg whites.
As far as the health concerns, it's hard to say who is right. Both sides present compelling arguments. I'm more swayed by Atkins, the Eades and the Hellers, but I've also lost weight on their style of eating when Dean Ornish's just made me fatter. :^)
I would recommend this diet very strongly to anyone who has made good faith weight-loss attempts, following a low fat diet, and who has found it had NO effect at all. You may be a candidate for the low-carb approach. But this diet, like its low-fat opposite, will not work for everyone.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
Tholian
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Reviews written: 10
Trusted by: 2 members
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