Take that Atkins (1 Viewer)

[Steve_Tk]

The easiest way to loose weight? HARD WORK!

Damn people will never understand that. Of course I don't have a weight problem, never have, but I do spend a lot of time in the gym. The people I know that are overweight, I'm sure you can guess how much hard exercise they actually do. Walking for 15 minutes 3 times a week just doesn't cut it. If you really want results you have to work for it.

I'm sure you can imagine how well that advertising scheme would go over the public. "Check out this new weight loss diet, it's called getting your butt off the couch and exercising for 1 hour everyday!!"

 

[Herschel]

There's no reason you can't do pizza and milkshake and lose weight, you just have to take those calories into account. I still eat pizza and all kinds of bad stuff, just not nearly as much, and I've lost 25 pounds in the past 3 months.

 

[Marc_Sulinski]

You know that Atkins was a cardiologist, right? Do you know that most people on the diet lower their cholesterol and drastically lower their triglycerides? These are considered to be the main indicators of the likelihood of having a heart attack. So maybe the foods aren't as "heart attack inducing" as you think, when consumed on the right diet plan.

 

[nolesrule]

3 months of a well-balanced diet (50% off my calories are from carbohydrates) with 30 min of light to moderate execise 2-3 times/week and I've lost 23 lbs.

Lowering cholesterol and tryglicerides comes from eating less saturated fat, not from controling carbs.

I mentioned it in the Atkins thread.

My meal plan is 150g carb, 75g protien, 47g fat per day,across 6 small meals so you never get very hungry. Avoid saturated fats and simple sugars as much as possible.

I've managed to lose 23 lbs and lower my blood pressure significantly.

A well-balanced diet is much healthier than cutting out a certain type of calorie completely (or nearly completely).

 

[Marc_Sulinski]

Then why do these go down for so many Atkins dieters who eat a lot of saturated fat? I'm not saying that controlling fat intake will not work, but controlling carb intake can have the same effect.

 

[Ken CG]

I'm so tired of getting harassed by my brother and other people who THINK Atkins is bad for you. He seems to think Atkins causes diabetes. That's not true. It actually helps PREVENT it. And he goes on and on about Ketosis and it's bad for you too. Well, he is talking about the wrong kind of Ketosis. The one he thinks he's talking about is ketoacidosis. That kind is bad, but is NOT caused by the Atkins diet. The kind of Ketosis we want in the Atkins diet is actually short for lipolysis/ketosis. He still won't get this through his thick head.

Don't bother telling an Atkins dieter or anybody who's about to do Atkins not to do it because, eh, it ain't gonna work. I will ONLY get my information about Atkins from the Atkins website, and the book. The anti atkins sites and people mean nothing to me. This is the way I wanna lose my weight. I feel that it's a very safe and effective way to do it.

 

[nolesrule]

That is something I won't disagree with, as it was originally designed for people already diagnosed with diabetes.

But I'm going to trust my physician more than a self-help book and website, just like I would go to a real psychologist if I needed the help rather than take advice from Dr. Phil. Just because Dr. Atkins and Dr. Phil both earned their pieces of paper doesn't mean they are/were necessarily using it properly.

I'm not saying it's a fad diet, but if my own physician would only recommend it to diabetics, then I would trust his word on the matter.

What I described in the post above is the way and proportions in which most humans were biologically designed to consume and process their food.

Let's also not forget that carbohydrates are a much more efficient form of fuel for the body. It requires nearly twice as much energy to burn 1 gram of fat (9 cal) as it does 1 gram of carbohydrates (4 cal). In addition, by limiting the fat intake and exercising regularly, you will raise your HDL and lower your LDL respectively.

So, learning to eat naturally and properly really is the most healthy way to lose weight and keep it off. And you know what? I don't bother paying attention on holidays and big family meals because my body is already adjusting to smaller portion sizes. I don't feel like I have to eat a huge amount, so I can be "bad" every once in awhile.

 

[Herschel]

Hmm, maybe I'm thinking about it wrong, but it seems that, based on those numbers, fat is a more efficient form of fuel. 1g of fat will provide you with 9 calories of energy, while 1g of carbs will only give you 4.

 

[Stephen Orr]

As a diabetic, the Atkins diet is great for me.

 

[Joe Wilmore]

No person who is regularly active cand survive on the Atkin's diet. Before I started working out, I did it for one week. I lost 15 lbs in one week, and on the seventh day collapsed while playing basketball.

 

[Mike Broadman]

No, it's not. It's the proliferation of fast-food, the longer work weeks of many Americans (resulting in less time to exercise and prepare proper meals) and frighteningly increasing childhood obesity, caused by the ever-increasing need for both parents to work full-time (not being able to monitor their children's diets) and marketing blitz of unhealthy snacks to children (have you ever watched afternoon TV?).

To blame obesity on low-fat eating is absurd, and a consequence of the Atkins propoganda machine.

 

[nolesrule]

You are looking at it backwards.

Fat is more efficient for storage of energy, which is why unused calories are converted into fat for storage.

But the goal of losing weight and keeping it off is not to store the energy, it's to use the food you consume as fuel without having any leftover fuel at the end of the day. In fact, to lose weight, you need to use more calories than what you intake.

To lose 1 lb per week, you need to reduce your calorie consumption to 500 less per day than you burn.

If you consume 100g of fat in a day, that's 900 calories. Just by switching to 100g of carbohydrates (400 calories), you reduce your caloric intake by 500 calories.

Carbohydrates burn first because they are the body's natural fuel. Fat requires more calories to burn because it is an efficient storage system for the fuel.

It takes 389 unused grams of fat to gain 1 lb. It takes 875 unused grams of carbs to gain one pound.

 

[Joe Wilmore]

Actually none of that is true. You will not lose weight by just burning more calories than you take in. You need to make sure your heart rate is in the fat burning zone. I used to do 30 minutes of weights everyday, followed by 30-40 minutes of cardio. I thought I looked really good. However, one day I lowered the level on the stairmaster by 2, and did and extra 20 minutes. I also stopped lifting any weights, and instead did pullups and bar dips before my cardio. It made an unbelievable difference. Most people are in a hurry and don't realize that their heart rate is too high. You would be amazed at how much cardio you can do when you are in the target heart rate zone. I see so many people do a half hour of the transport machine every day at a very high level, and their body never changes. Most of anything you do, depends on your body type. You need to try everything, and find out what works for you. For me, I have an unbelievably slow metabolism. I do 75 minutes a day of low intensity cardio. I also drink every night, and eat whatever I want, but those are the tradeoffs. You can't make your body do something magical, and any diet that makes you think that is wrong.

 

[Chris_Morris]

:rolleyes

The Myth of the "Fat Burn Zone"


Chris

 

[Mike Broadman]

That would explain the improvement. More exercise = more weight loss/better shape. No surprise there.

 

[Mike Broadman]

One point of interest (sorry for the two posts) I read last night in US News & Weekly World Report: medical weight-loss programs average a 10% weight loss in 6 months.

Assuming one can basically trust a medically assisted program (which I do, certainly over some messageboard posters and the Atkins books), 10% means that a person who is 300 lbs will lose 30 pounds in 6 months.

Most diet programs marketed, including Atkins, promises faster results. No wonder they succeed (in making money).

The point is that losing weight is not only natural, it is desirable. This conflicts with many people's desire to get in shape for "bikini season" or whatever, but it's the hard reality of physical fitness and health.

 

[Sebastian]

Well, I wouldn't say "stupid" but ignorant? People lose weight on the Atkins diet not because carbs are bad or Atkins is a miracle diet. It works because it makes people cut calories. It makes it easy for them in way which I believe is unhealthy.
Typically people who are on the Atkins diet are overweight and are used to eating fatty foods. It is a lot easier for them to go from an extremely unhealthy diet to the Atkins diet than to a balanced healthy diet.
That's why you may see a greater success rate.
People who try low fat diets fail because they simply did it wrong, lack will power and/or motivation (just a couple of examples). Why exactly a person fails on a diet depends on each individual.

 

[Marc_Sulinski]

Now who is being ignorant? You are being so insulting to all of those on the Atkins diet. You say that people should lose weight in the way you deem appropriate and feel is safe, but who the hell are you? What are your medical credentials?

Also, many people do not lose weight on the Atkins diet because of cut calories. I eat as many, if not more, calories on Atkins than I do off, and I still lose weight. if you believe that statement, then you have no concept of how the Atkins diet works. Have you read the book? Do you know what ketosis is? Do you understand the impact that carbohydrates have on blood sugar?

 

[Erik.Ha]

I find it interesting that the anti-atkins people scream that we should all be on a "balanced diet".

Isn't the food "pyramid" by definition an UN-balanced diet?

I have found that it is IMPOSSIBLE to cut carbs completely. I'm amazed that even foods that I would have never thought had carbs have 1 or 2 grams per serving. I'm really only successful in lowering my carb intake to the point where they ALMOST balance with my protein intake Instead my real goal is to cut out carbs from sugars. Thus, Im eating a much more "balanced" and LOW SUGAR diet than I was before.

As far as the notion that atkins will give you a heart attack, I'm convinced that genetics, diabetes, and obesity are the biggest factors in heart disease.

Everybody knows the story of Jim Fixx who started the jogging revolution and how he dropped dead of a heart attack in the prime of his life WHILE JOGGING. His genetics killed him and all the excercise in the world couldn't stop that.

I am Italian American, and as a group, we are NOTORIOUS for contracting adult onset diabetes, regardless of how fit we might be. My Grandfather, a gold gloves champion of New York developed it in his 20s. WHY? Because our diets are high in glucose. Bread, Pasta, Pizza, Sweets, are the clssic Italian American diet, and it results in people who CAN appear to be very healthy (especially those who excercise or work at labor intensive jobs- another classic Italian American trait) but whose blood sugar is on a fast track to hell, and who drop dead in middle age. This diet is VERY hard on men. For some reason, our women live to be 100 and our men drop dead at 50, eating the same stuff.

So I've cut out bread, pasta, Pizza (we've cheated twice in six months and MAN did I feel it! I love that stuff, but it felt like I was eating a lead ball) Potatoes and Corn. I still have hamburgers on buns, just because I dont see the point of denying myself my favorite food.

My cholesteral has never been a problem, but even it has improved. My blood preasure which was about normal for a guy my height and weight (6'3 ~300 130/85) has also improved (120/80- it hasnt been that low since I was in High School).

As far as atkins being a "quick fix" I have lost 30 pounds in 6 months (starting at 300 lbs) which someone above said was a "healthy weight loss." I'm in no hurry. I FEEL so much better since I've been on this. I feel like I can move around again like I did when I was in college. I do excercise, but my joints don't allow me to do long arobic programs because of the 14 years of abuse I gave them playing football.

Atkins, and its counterpart SouthBeach (which is much closer to what Im on) were both developed by cardiologists, for their post bypass patients. The food pyramid, on the other hand was developed by the USDA after the normal process of lobbying the government by special interest groups and American agro-business. Which process do you think would result in a diet that really cares about the health of those eating it?

 

[Leila Dougan]

How do you do a low-fat diet incorrectly? There you go again, assuming that everyone with a weight problem lacks willpower and motivation. The vast majority of overweight people have tried to diet at some point in their lives; most of us many many times. I'll tell you what, I bet you that overweight people have at least as much control as thin people because the diet routine is old hat. We are so used to doing things like eating cabbage soup for 3 days straight, or starving ourselves, or some other such nonsense out of sheer desperation, that we've got a whole heck of a lot of control.

Once you understand how carbs affect insulin response and glucose levels and what excess insulin actually does to a person, it's easy to see that normalizing insulin levels is essential. Diet is one of the easiest and healthiest ways of controlling insulin levels.

But I guess you wouldn't understand, being that you're certainly not ignorant, lazy, and unmotivated like I am.