I am 40 & want to get that 20 yr old body back. what is up with atkins diet. i have been hitting the weights hard for 3 years following bompa and others. great progress with strength & physique but could never get that “cut” look. tried went on atkins this past sunday. it is thursday & I am down 6 lbs (179 to 173). look much better & am eating like a madman. steak, salmon, eggs, & salad.
is this for real? anyone had any bad experience?
thanks.
hey scratch,
i went on atkins a couple of months ago and had good early results but i ave fallen of the wagon – laziness, lost momentum, other life factors – but i definitely felt better once i got into ketosis. on atkins i stopped feeling hungry all the time and had lots more energy. it’s just i lost time for cooking my meals and it’s expensive to buy a meat-laden lunch every day (at least it is in northern cali; cost of food here is ridiculous!) i’m trying to drag my ass back into it, so your post has helped me.
keep it up and keep us updated on your progress.
While I applaud your early success, I prefer T-Dawg for a low-carb diet. It’s geared more towards weightlifters and is much healthier, especially if you plan on using the diet often. You might want to look into it in the T-Mag previous issues, and look for the updated version soon.
How many carbs are allowed per day on atkins?
whats the deal with atkins besides lo carbing??
thanks LT. i read thru the previous posts and found a lot of atkins bashing, but not much reasoning behind it. I am looking for the logic on why it is bad for bodybuilders, or is it just preference?
Your rapid weight loss would be from water loss due to carbohydrate depletion. The way this works is say you have 600 grams of carbohydrate stores in your muscles…by not eating any carbos throughout the week your muscle glycogen storage begins to run low. Each gram of carbohydrate will retain 3 grams of water along with it so by depleting this glycogen you lose a lot of water weight with it. The atkins diet is ok for sedentary folks but there are better version available for athletic folks. You might want to look into the t-dawg diet, targeted ketogenic diet, or even a cyclical ketogenic diet.
Atkins diet will not take into account that you lift weights and post workout nutrition. That is really the major difference between Atkins and T-Dawg Diet. Don’t use his products as most have soy protein in them as the main source of protein, especially the bars.
The main thing to remember is this: you won’t gain any muscle on atkins. If that’s okay with you, then it’s okay for fat loss. BUT atkins doesn’t want you to come off, ever. So when you do come off, you have to be careful or you’ll blow up quickly. Another note: Atkins gets knocked alot because of the really low carbs, but that’s only the first stage of the diet. He does up that number in later stages.
Stay tuned about week3 it started to make me sick. Slow to get up. Could not complete my workout due to lack of energy. Locked up my ass. all kinds of side effects. I have to have a carb up period or my body goes on strike. If I were you I would try a cyclic ala Natural Hormone Enahancement. That will give you what you need and then you can ease off that onto a “normal diet”. My point being is that it is neither practical or healthy to eat like atkins all the time. It screws up your insulin sensativity as well.
Check out the AMA website. There was a recent study on the Atkins diet, funded by Atkins, but still fundamental sound research. The weight you loss early on was from water. The bosy stores three molecules of water for each molecule of glyogen. Since you removed the carbs from you diet your body started using the glyogen as a fuel source. You weight loss will slow down once this energy source has been exhausted. You will then by breaking down fat and protein for energy. And yo will begin your real fat loss.
Watch your body fat levels, not your weight. When you reach the level you want, slow add carbs to your deit. This has been address elsewhere on this site so I won’t repeat it. The first thing you will notice is that you are gaining weight and your muscles are getting fuller. This is you body restoring your glyogen. So don’t be surprized when you gain a feww pounds after you start upping your carbs. Keep an eye on the bodyfat levels.
Best of Luck.
Man, you really should include some veggies in your diet if you go this route. Personally I wouldn’t do it but it may work for you. Can’t convince me it’s even remotely healthy to be that devoid of the veggies though. Lately though they seem to be studying this diet more and pronouncing that it is in fact healthy on your blood profile anyway, but I dont think that can account for any carcinogenic effects you may be suffering. On another note didn’t Atkins himself just have some serious health problems? And did he not admit that he doesn’t always follow his own diet plan and in fact carb binges to manic levels quite often? Maybe I’m mistaken on that one but I thought I heard it from a good source.
The people who knock the Atkins Diet never seem to see past the first two weeks of it, which is called the induction phase. After the first two weeks of extremely low carbs, you start to ramp the carbs up again slowly. As to never coming off the diet? Well, as you ramp up carbs you move to a more healthy eating lifestyle, so I don’t think the phrase “never come off” really applies.
When I did Atkins, I felt immensely better and my blood lipids improved dramatically. I never lost any body fat though. Since then I discovered some additional metabolic problems that Atkins doesn’t address,so I don’t think it was the diet’s fault. The fact that I felt so much better gives the diet my blessings. (Plus, I don’t think anybody ever died doing Atkins properly.)
The time I did lose fat was when I was lifting heavily and eating lots of good protein. It seemed the more I ate (lo-carb of course) the more fat I lost. I haven’t figured that one out yet.
I appreciate the feedback. its summertime & getting cut is my goal. seems to be working. I am down 9 lbs and still able to complete my lifting & cardio workouts. i am following the diet very strict & plan on seeing it through past the induction phase (initial 2 weeks) when you get over 20 carbs a day. I am in ketosis (i ckeck with the urine sticks) so I am happy I am burning those fat stores. i will keep you updated & thanks for all the input.