Alpine99

I did two weeks the headaches were a killer and your breath stinks of death.. The sugar crash was bad... having said that I lost 17lb in the time.. wished I could have stuck with it...

LG John

LOL, I've been on the cheese big time as well. Its my vice, I've had way more than I should

I can't remember the exact title of the book I have but its got an orange cover and its paper back

Cutting down your food intake an increasing exercise will also (in most cases) work very well but is usually a lot slower! Moreover, in most people you are cutting down the amount of cr@p you are eating but you still have a primarily crap diet! At least with Atkins you do end up with a good healthy diet in the end. For me at 24 thats a step to far though, when I get to my target appearance (I'm not interested in weight) I'll switch back to my ordinary diet and try and find a balance where I can maintain my new weight. Switching to diet drinks, only boozing on weekends and more exercise should do the trick and I'll still be able to get beasted into my pasta and have the occasional treat

CarolineA

I found this link to be interesting... it is a doctor's opinion on low carb diets...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/ask_doct..._protein.shtml

super_si

Am i the only person trying to put weight on

CarolineA

Those of you who don't like the no-carb / high fat aspects of the Atkins diet may be interested in this link...

http://lowcarblisa.tripod.com/thescarsdalemedicaldiet/

Popular in the 70's this diet promotes exercise, a lower carb, low fat plan.

I am a little wary of posting an opinion on this highly emotive subject but, as those of you who saw me at the weekend will vouch, it works for me!!

Super_si - The book even has a section for those trying to gain weight

Tiggs

i wouldnt put much weight (excuse the pun) behind the ramblings of a BBC doc who probably only got the gig because of who they know.

comments like "we just dont know enough about it..." translate to i know a bit about verucas but i'll answer this question anyway as its nice and topical!

white van man

Started Atkins 4 weeks ago weighed 18 stone 13 pounds and i'm 6'3''. Now weigh 17 stone 8 pounds. But the best thing about it is that I sleep much better at night , don't feel knackered in the afternoons and dont have food cravings or hunger pains.Although I take regular exercise, play rugby and all that, my old diet was very high in carbs so if I got a bit of will power up and tried to cut fat out when trying to lose weight, I ate lots of jacket spuds, baked beans, pasta and never lost weight because my body would burn these carbs rather than my own body fat, even though my fat content was lower.As Saxo boy says read the book and the science behind it rather than listening to all the misinformation that exist.We all probably do ourselfs much more harm on our typical Western diets than you ever could on Atkins.

Amanda-Jane

I know a few people on this diet and I am seriously considering it myself as I have put on nearly 2 stone since the beginning of the year

The only thing stopping me is my sister (who tried this for 6 months) is now having problems as a result and has been attending hospital. The doctors were baffled as to what was causing her symptoms until her boyfriend said she was on a diet. The doctors researched the diet and did more tests etc and all agreed it was the diet that is causing her problems.

Oh and Saxo Boy would have lived on pasta, can't imagine how you are getting on without it!!

Suppose I need to get the book and read it myself and then make a decision!

AJ

LG John

I miss pasta badly and booze Its been well worth it though as my body is back to the way it was before I fecked my shoulder. By my summer holidays in August I would predict it'll be better than ever I'm also now at the stage where I don't have to religiously follow atkins and can afford to take some more carbs in the form of fruits and other things with vits and minerals

Mark Miwurdz

3 days in (not long I know) and everything's going fine. No sugar cravings but last night I dreamt I dived into a big bowl of pasta somethered in tomato and chilli sauce - awesome! I tested my urine with the ketostix last night and it ketosis has started.

No major issues so far. Had a bit of a headache on Monday but I was writing a big response and I always get one of those anyway. Feel much better for being off the booze and not missing it at all (yet).

Cheers
Kav

GaryK

No booze????

What not even the odd glass of wine?

Gary

LG John

The odd glass will be fine after the two week induction

Mark, you are quite right that I didn't have to go on a diet and I was by no means overweight. I did have a fairly bugging beer gut that had developed and was well hidden by my clothes. This was really starting to get me down and I knew that even by adjusting my eating and doing more exercise (i.e. normal weight loss methods) it would take too long to do and I might get de-motivated and give up! I needed something quick, effective and healthy so I did atkins and will continue to do so for a little longer yet. Right now I'm sitting in my bokies and looking down at myself I look fine and feel great - just a little excess fat to go but nothing major

Whatsmore, my muscles seem to have responded VERY well to gym use again whilst on atkins! I've only been back for two weeks and they seem to be growing far quicker than ever before!! I can only assume its all the protein but there isn't a lot of calories for muscle growth - strange! I'm not complaining though, if this keeps up I'll be a tank by my hols

Amanda-Jane

MarkO, people change! That was over 6 months ago and I've said I have put on nearly 2 stone but I know what is causing it but there is a waiting list to rectify my problem! I haven't seen Kenny since January so can't really say what he was like before he started the diet but he did have problems with his shoulder and couldn't excercise so his ab muscles decided to flop a little

AJ

Daz WRX

I havent personally tried it but family have and found that they has headaches, bad breath and generally didnt feel right(nautious).

I think that any diet that cuts out one of the food groups must be a bad thing. We just need a balanced diet not cutting out one food type all together.



Just my 2p worth.
Daz

LG John

They're back

MarkO

LOL. I'm well within the perfect BMI zone, but I still have a belly on me. I could get rid of it with 40 sit-ups a day, but frankly I can't be @rsed.

The more I'm out riding my MTB, the fitter and leaners I'm getting, but the one problem with riding is that it doesn't appear to work off the stomach flab (cos you're always crouched over the bars). Problem is, I don't really drink beer, so I can't even blame it on that.

I couldn't do the Atkins diet even if I wanted to, anyway, 'cos my wife's a vegetarian, and it's basically impossible to do the Atkins diet as a veggie - if you cut out pasta, bread, potatoes, etc., there's basically nothing you can eat other than cheese!

Davestamf

I have my own diet plan which goes like this: DON'T EAT STUFF THAT MAKES YOU FAT.

MarkO

Dave: what, stuff that makes you fat like pasta, bread, potatoes?

Mark Miwurdz

Saxo Boy's right - it's for the induction phase only.

I'm using Atkins to get rid of a gut I've inflicted on myself by doing 'lunch' every day without the commensurate amount of exercise. I'm active and go the the gym as time permits but at 40 the old metabolism does start to slow a tad.

Atkins (for me, anyway) is a great way to get results quickly. Sorry MarkO, but you can not spot reduce fat and sit-ups on their own will not get rid of a belly. What you will have is iron-abs under a layer of fat. It's like a mate said to me "I've got a washboard stomach, it's just covered in dirty washing at the moment"

Each to his own. I've got my own objectives and Atkins is going to get me there.

Cheers
Kav

MarkO

I wasn't implying you can spot-reduce fat. All I was saying is that personally, I am very lean. I have almost no body fat at all anywhere except for my stomach. My legs are almost pure muscle, and my weedy arms don't have any room for fat.

Therefore, by continuing to do a lot of MTBing, and doing some sit-ups too, I would reduce the fat on my stomach and build up the fabled washboard. Obviously, for somebody who has fat all over, it's different.

However, since ICGAS about having a washboard, I'll just stick with what I've got now.

Tiggs

lol, another "any diet that cuts out a food group must be bad"

says who? the TVAM diet slot?

OPEN YOUR MINDS

gregh

so once you've done the 2 week section, can you eat any carbs?

when I play hockey on Saturdays I'll have a bowl of porridge with nanas to give me carbs for the game.

How would that sit with the Atkins diet?

regards,

greg

Tiggs

atkins was old school...he'd regard hockey as a girls game ;D

rik1471

Anyone got any docs/websites which detail this diet??

LG John

After induction you start to re-introduce carbs (good quality ones from fruit, etc (5g a week)) until you get to an equillibrium in terms of weight gain/loss.

Even during induction I has all the energy I needed to play football, train for kuk sool and go to the gym so you don't need carb snacks to get you going.

The true test of this will come in 2-3 weeks time as I have a kuk sool grading. At the last grading I had a high carb meal in the morning in preparation and destroyed a whole bottle of lucozade during the grading! I should have had two bottles of the stuff!!! I was totally dead at the end of it but I survived....just. At the next grading I'll have about 10g of carbs to work on so it'll be interesting to see how my body copes with the kind of punishment a grading give it. If I pass out then I'll know Atkins and gradings don't mix

joni

Another Atkins fan here. I wanted to go from 14st 4lbs to 13St. The main motivation was losing the weight that I had put on 18 months ago when I gave up smoking. I had a rack of suits that didn't fit, so do a diet or fork out a couple of Grand on clothes.

I have done the diet since Easter and weigh 13st 2Ibs today. I feel better than I have done in years and only had the mildest of headaches for two days at the beginning (1 Neurofen job)plus a little lethargy.

I don't feel deprived of any food group and am steadily building up carb consumption to the point that I will not gain or lose. Basically when you need to slow or stop the weight loss your diet becomes as balanced as it can be.

The only negative side effect that I have noticed is a tendancy to bore the *** of everyone you meet

joni

Can't be arsed to do a week for you but today I had a Bacon tomato and Cheese omelette and a small piece of brown toast and butter for Breakfast. For lunch I had some bought cooked chicken with lime and coriander( Marks), a Tomato salad,a lump of Cheddar, Strawberries and cream and a gob full of nuts. For Dinner Haddock in a cheese sauce and a plate of Runner Beans.

On nearly all foods apart from fresh veg and fruit, the carb content is marked near the ingredients contents. Those that don't want to go the whole Atkin's hog can lose a bit by keeping down the carbs. For instance there are far more carbs in milk than Double cream!

mwp

I started this week and am detailing everything I eat so far ...

Monday:
B: 3 eggs scrambled + mushrooms
L: fresh caesar salad with chargrilled chicken breast
D: halibut with bok-choi, roast green beans, mushrooms in cream

Tuesday:
B: homemade pork and onion patties, 2 poached eggs and mushrooms
L: salad+peppers with fried lardons, soft-boiled egg, fried mushrooms (like a salad paysanne)
D: roast boneless shoulder of lamb with brocolli au gratin, courgettes, spring cabbage

Wednesday
B: 3 rashers of bacon and 2 fried eggs
L: rare slices of top-rump roast beef with cauliflower grilled with cream+cheese
D: Duck breasts with asparagus

so far I think the diet is excellent, although that's probably cos i'm buying lots of fresh food and cooking it at home myself.

wife's had bad headaches coming off the tea-caffine and my legs had the cramps last night .. apart from that i feel good and am amazed at no alcohol desires given i used to drink a bottle of wine a day plus some beer.

don't miss potatoes, do miss bread.

- mark.