Diets

[APO]

I'm planning to do the Atkins diet. If anyone knows the positives and negatives of it. Please tell me.

btw, can anyone tell if this diet works? If so then im planning to do it.
www.tinafayscrafts.com/program.html

[abrannan]

My first piece of advice: talk to a doctor before you start a weight loss plan! They know better than anybody here what the pros and cons of particular diets are. They can also order blood tests to make sure you aren't susceptible to certain complications of diets.

Now, when you say you're going on Atkins, are you going to read the book and follow the diet as it's laid out, or are you just going to wing it on your own and stop eating anything but meat? I ask because I've seen people say they're on Atkins, but they have no concept of what the diet actually is, or why they're doing what they do.


Education is the best weight loss tool. Know how your body works, know why your diet works, know what your body needs. That way you can find the fallacies in any diet plan you find.

The diet plan you linked to seems sketchy on the exreme to me. I always doubt any diet that says "eat what you want". Based upon that diet, if I drink one glass of water, I can eat a large meat lover's pizza and wash it down with a double order of fried mozzarella, I'll not only lose 10-15 pounds per month, I'll lower my cholesterol, cure diabetes, etc. Ain't gonna happen. Yes, drinking more water is a good thing to do, and has many benefits, but it's not the holy grail of weight loss. I've seen many variations on that diet over the years, eat a large caesar salad first, etc. They may have worked for that one individual, but they are far from being refined or tested enough to be recommended.

[PocketRockets]

Why Atkins and not anything else?

Read about all the available diets before alligning yourself with any specific diet.

However, regarding your question, I have tried Atkins. Fortunately, I experienced weight loss, although I was exercising frequently simultaneously.

The Atkins Diet will work as long as you adhere to the guidelines, however, don't depend on dieting alone to lose weight. Exercising is a very key component to weight loss, and can help to strenghten the effects of any diet.

[Laura Moncur]

ABC News (abclocal.go.com/wabc/news/health/wabc_oncall_122804diets.html) reviewed the latest issue of The Annals of Internal Medicine (www.annals.org/), which assessed the supporting data from ten weight loss programs.

“Of the programs researchers examined, only Weight Watchers had strong documentation that it worked.”<br>
I don’t need supporting data. All I have to do is look at pictures of myself from three years ago to know that they work.

Also reported at Newsday.com: Study Big on Weight Watchers
www.newsday.com/business/ny-bzdiet294098683dec29,0,4878254.story?coll=ny-business-headlines

[abrannan]

Granted, this was just a review of previously published studies, and the major fidning of the report is that there are no good studies of the efficacy of any weight loss plan except one study of Weight Watchers.

"Few high-quality studies have assessed weight loss programs. Many of the existing studies present the best-case scenario because they do not account for people who drop out of the program. Of the programs the authors evaluated, Weight Watchers had the strongest studies to support it. The best study found that participants lost 5% of their initial body weight (about 10 pounds) in 6 months and kept off 3% (about 5 pounds) at 2 years. The authors found no published high-quality studies of Jenny Craig or L A Weight Loss. The studies of the very-low-calorie diet, medically-based programs were of limited quality. They found that patients who stayed on the program lost about 15% to 20% of initial body weight in 6 months. However, many patients dropped out of these programs. Even those who completed the program regained about half of their lost weight in 1 to 2 years after treatment. The few studies of Internet-based and self-help programs were of limited quality and found that these approaches produced minimal weight loss."

[Laura Moncur]

The saddest part is the dropout rate. We see it here just as much as at Weight Watchers. People will come here, sign up as a member and leave one message. We never see them again.

[orangina]

Hi APO..
I really like your lil spiderman.

Of the diets out there I like South Beach the best..and would select it over Atkins.

South Beach phase 1 does eliminate alot of carbs BUT only for the first 2 weeks. The reason is to help you get your blood sugar back in control so you can CONTROL your binging and eating.
IN Phase 2 you add back in carbs but good ones..so you dont eat twinkies and such but you do eat fruit.
You can also start with Phase 2 if Phase 1 is too confining.

Weight Watchers is good IF you are going to eat healthy. But if you use your points to eat junk you are screwed. Sadly most folks in WW dont make it LONG TERM.

I work for a French weight loss site and its very good also..we stress moderation, small portions and real foods..so naturally I like it very much.

I dont like Atkins because I think it has excessive amounts of fat and not enough fruit for one thing.

Good luck

[orb]

Of all the bad fad diets out there, low carb has one of the worst long term success rates. Carbs and/or fats aren't what is making you fat. What makes you fat is taking in more energy than you put out. This can be solved by:

1 - making lifestyle changes to consistently eat at a level appropriate for the weight you want
2 - making lifestyle changes to consistently exercise more, using more energy and increasing your metabolism
3 - eliminating bad life habits and unhealthy habits which keep your metabolism low

Seriously. I'm a master of losing weight. I've lost over 100 hundred pounds twice in my life. (after high school and then after college) Unfortunately I have to do it a third time now because I gained it all back? Why? Because I didn't change my life style and counted on short term dieting and short term exercise programs to make changes.

Not to sound like your parents, but "make good choices". If you take the easy road of trying to solve your woes with a fad diet, the statistics say you'll soon be exactly where I am, needing to do it all over again the right way. Just a suggestion from a been-there-done-that 30-something.

[MisticAllie214]

To start off Atkins WILL help u drop the pound but NOT keep them off. Atkins cuts out the most important source of your diet carbs. Everyone says carbs makes u fat. Eating too much of the wrong kinds of carbs will have this effect. But cuttin out carbs completelu is an unwise choice. Any diet that cuts out ANY food group is a bad diet. It may work for some ppl but VERY VERY few keep it off. Take it from me. I finally just went a regular diet.. eat the right stuff... not too fatty or sugary... yes i eat less carbs but i dont cut them out or eat too little. plus i dont eat at night. That plus DDR regularly for one month and now i'm 20 pounds lighter. Don't do a diet that limits u you're less likely to stay on it. Stay on one you can stand. Ya it'll take longer to lose the weight but you'll keep it off.
thats just my opinion. Everyone has their own.
Good luck either way

[Duckie]

I have to recommend Weight Watchers. I've double-checked with my mom. So far she's lost 22 pounds. She's gone from about 162 to about 140. She's about 5'4", and is continuing to diet. She wants to weigh less than I currently do I think. She's not too far off.

[orangina]

Weight Watchers works well if you will use your points to eat healthy but if you dont then you will still have the sugar rushes that cause you to overeat.

I know TONS Of woman that did WW and only ONE kept the weight off.

[Aury_Black]

orangina said:

Of the diets out there I like South Beach the best..and would select it over Atkins.

I really agree. I had tried other diets but they enver worked and I couldn't stay commited to the strictness of them. But South Beach really works if you stick with it. I did it early last year and lost ten pounds but then I was always doing things so I didn't 'stay on a diet' until i started again this month. But anyways, without even realizing it I changed my eating habits. I knew what to eat, and what was going to totally trash my exact body system. SO from South Beach I got more of a lifestyle change which is really awesome, since I never gained those ten pounds back in a whole year. tehehe!

[Kitana]

I believe everybody's body is different. If you can't tolerate eating on protein and fats then I suggust something different. I tried low carb diets before an dthey helped me drop pounds fast but I always felt so empty and deprived. Although I felt lighter i certainly didn't feel like i could stick with it. Turns out that my body is better on a high fiber diet. Everytime I lack fiber my body feels all jittery. Try experimenting with on one type of foods/diets per meal and see which meal helped you feel better.

[abrannan]

I agree you have to find what works for you. But I'd like to point out the high fiber and low carb are not mutually exclusive. You can do both at the same time. But more important is finding a diet that works for you, and that you can live with without feeling deprived or empty.

[YunieBunny]

Atkins doesn't work for everyone I tried it but i ended up needingmore carbs than that and when i ate just a little bit of carbs i gained it. If you are a female atkins doesn't work as good because we need carbs and we crave them during that time of the month if you know what i mean. That kinda means that you need them your body will tel you what is right. There is also the negative calorie diet. It is called negative calorie becasue there are some foods out there, mainly fruits and veggies, that when eaten cause what is called a negative calorie effect. It is because it takes your bod more calories to burn the food than what is in it so say an apple has 90 calories init and your body has to use up 150 calories to digest it, so now you have burned 60 calories just by eating an apple. An apple does not nessacerily have 90 calories it was just an example. Any ways that is just something to think about. There is a book about the negative calorie effect and if you search you can find the foods that cause it online for free just do a search. I hope this has helped.
Yunie Bunny

[Laura Moncur]

Weight Watchers is good IF you are going to eat healthy. But if you use your points to eat junk you are screwed.

You have to learn to walk before you run. Weight Watchers concentrates on changing your entire lifestyle. This is a slow process that takes time if it's going to stick.

First you learn to monitor your serving portions (points). Then you learn to eat healthy by following their guidelines. You don't take the crutch away until the foot has healed.

Slowly weaning yourself from junk food works much better than going cold turkey. That is the lifestyle change that WW promotes.

Of the people that reach their healthy weight and follow the 6-Week maintenance program, more people keep the weight off than any other plan.

That said, you could follow the program on your own. The new USDA guidelines are strikingly close to the WW plan. Check them out:

www.starling-fitness.com/archives/2005/01/18/dietary-guidelines-for-americans-2005/

[hazelsmrf]

I honestly have tried alot of diets and Atkins is the only one that has worked for me. On weight watchers I was CONSTANTLY hungry. I can't do a diet if I'm always hungry, I tough it out for a few weeks than cave.

The wonderful side effect of a low carb diet is the appetite supression. I can easily keep my calories below 1500 without ever feeling deprived. I've been following this way of life for 6 months now and there are just so many different foods I can eat that I don't ever get bored with it! I've also lost 70 pounds with little exercise, I'm just now finally getting started with that

Everyone is different though. Look at a typical menu from any "diet" and ask yourself if you're able to eat that way for the REST OF YOUR LIFE. Don't ever think of it as a "lose weight fast and then go back to eating what I want", it doesn't work that way. May I suggest lowcarbfriends.com if you want any help or support on any of the low carb diets, they have tons of recipes and a very lively message board.