LG John

For all the non-believers the atkins diet was put to the test today and I report as follows

At the moment I'm still in the induction stage of atkins which is the most severe stage. Its supposed to be 20g of carb a day but if you count some cheating I'm probably on about 30g a day and still burning fat off

Today I had a kuk sool (Korean Martial Art) grading and as you can imagine this is just an excuse for the instructors to push us well beyond our normal limits. Its fair to say that a grading will mentally brake you and its no joke to say that by the end I could be told to do pressups till I bleed from somewhere and I'd do it with a yell of 'yes sir' and with a strange broken man's smile So you could say its a pretty physically demanding few hours.

This morning I had to eat (about 2 hours before grading):

4 sausages (thin)
3 rashers of bacon
1 fried egg
1 chunk of edam cheese
1 coffee with cream

Overall I was very impressed, the first hour of the grading was particularly hard and towards the end I was dizzy, and most of my muscles where shaking violently when used. This was similar to the last pre-atkins grading but perhaps it was a little more severe this time round. At no point though did my muscles feel anything other than very tired - they never felt like they would pull/tare, etc.

The real difference was at the end of the grading. Last time round I was totally knackered and went home and vegged for hours. This time, about 5 mins after it ended I was recoved and started messing around of my own accord, flips, cartwheels, handstands, kicks, etc.

I also didn't need much fluid this time round. Pre-atkins I drank 1.5l of lucozade during the grading and was still thirsty as hell. This time I only needed 750ml of water and felt hydrated at the end.

A few things should be noted though, I'd say this grading in the 2nd hours was slightly (and I do mean slightly) easier but then that could just because I'm a little fitter. Moreover, I'm carrying less weight (because atkins works!) now which probably made it a little easier.

In conclusion: the 'pre-atkins get smacked out your eyeballs on sugar and lucozade' provided a little more peak energy but just couldn't provide enough for the sort of 2 hour beating a grading gives you. Atkins on the other hand gives you a steady flow of constant energy and I feel totally normal again now (2 hours later ) and feel like I could go for a run/gym/play footy.

To liken it to a car racing scenerio: atkins = Cerbera and non-atkins = modded scooby. The scooby gets off the line better and has some higher peaks (big turbo) in the first three gears but the TVR is consistant and pulls and pulls and pulls and leaves the scooby for dead when it starts to run out of steam and then eventually tops out at 150mph with the TVR going on to 190. Additionally, keep pushing the scooby track style she'll soon overheat and det or at least suffer reduced performance whereas the TVR still goes and goes (reliability aside )

So there you have it. Even on the most severe (and remember temporary) stage of atkins there is still enough power/energy to put me through 2 hours of hell and leave me asking for more. Those that say it give you no energy are frankly wrong!

Kenny

P.S. Remember the first week or so of Atkins will leave you so tired you'll hardly be able to lift your arms!! This is normal until your body switches to a fat burning metabolism and then you'll probably feel better than ever

Jye

N1 Astraboy, good to hear, lost a stone in exactly one week mesel since reading thread and trying it, back to my old 14 stone self (6"-2) so dont care about what 'non=believers' think

edited to say 16lb exactly

Thank fek voddie has 0 carbs though, thats all I can say

[Edited by Jye - 22/06/2003 18:30:50]

Tim-Grove

Started on Thursday morning and lost (as of this morning) ½ a stone already, and as for feeling tired and lifeless I did a marathon 16 hour call out at work yesterday and felt fine.

LG John

The horror, associating me with the rave-monkey

Jye

Oops that was one major, major faux pais, my humble, humble apologies Saxo

edited to say Must be the diet makin me blind

[Edited by Jye - 22/06/2003 19:03:09]

LG John

No probs I strive to be as thin as astraboy if that helps

LG John

Phew! Just back from a 1.5 hour game of 5-a-side footy! Again I was running around like a mad thing and still had bags of energy and even towards the end of the game could still muster sprints with ease. On relfection on the sort of day I've had I'd actually say that I've got a lot more energy than on a carb based diet! Energy is regarded as a so called atkins weakness yet I'm finding its actually an advantage, its like having duracell batteries

I think I should go to my bed now

rik1471

you're just a great big show off ain't ya Saxo Boy?

Look at me me me

LG John

Nah, in the scheme of things I'm overweight, slow, weak, and inflexible! You should see the guys I train with and am inspired by

Puts it all in persective.

In car terms I'm a nissan micra

[Edited by Saxo Boy - 23/06/2003 00:45:42]

LG John

Doing not too bad yourself

Dicke C

Started Good old Dr Akins 7 weeks ago. Lost 16 lb over 4 weeks(now 14 stone) The only trouble is i have stopped lossing weight
Need to lose another 7lbs to hit my target but just can't seem to shift that last half a stone.
Am not doing anything different and sticking to Dr's OWL programme to the letter. Anyone got any tips?

Dicke C

LG John

Patience. It'll be harder to shift the last bit but you'll get there. Also step up the exercise if you can

MarkO

Saxo Boy, this doesn't really prove anything. You're comparing your last grading with this one, but there's no real differences to speak of. Okay, you drank a little less, but weren't as knackered. So what?

I've done the black route at my local forest on my MTB (26 miles, well over 1,000m of climbs) and felt better at the end of it than after doing the red route (15 miles, 800m of climbs). It varies each time I've done it, depending on how good I felt, the pace we were keeping, what I'd done the day before, and so on. Oh, and some days I'll get through nearly 2l of drink on a ride, and some days I won't even drink 0.5l.

All your post really shows is that you've not done any real damage to your fitness/stamina with the Atkins diet. Your 'improved' fitness on the second grading is probably as a direct result of the weight you've lost, and nothing else. Perhaps the fact that you're watching what you're eating means you're getting a more balanced diet, but I think to claim that somehow the Atkins diet has given you extra vigour/stamina/fitness within just a few weeks is, frankly, laughable....

NotoriousREV

MarkO, I don't think Kenny was trying to claim the Atkins Diet was a somehow giving masses of energy, I think he was pointing out that many detractors of the Atkins Diet claim it leaves you with much lower energy levels than "conventional" balanced diets, however, in practice this is not always the case.

Personally, I find that the Atkins diet:

a) actually helps me lose weight (which stays off!)
b) is easy to stick to (which is very important)
c) has no ill effects
d) stops me getting sugar crashes in the afternoon

LG John

Got it in one Mr REV

Mark, I did make note of the inconsistances in the test (i.e. I'm a little fitter and carrying less weight). The bottom line is this morning I walked past the mirror and saw a faint outline of my abs and obliques and have been in good health with lots of energy over the last month. I owe this all to the atkins diet and trying to remain as active as possible.

I note you said in the big atkins thread that if you exercise lots you can pretty much eat what you like!! This is sooooo wrong!! I can eat a 500 cal snack in about 2 minutes flat that won't even fill me but would have to sweat blood for several hours to burn that off. For people with a slow metabolism the only hope they have of staying thin is to exercise lots and control what they eat in some way

Disclaimer: In case anyone didn't pick up on this my experiment wasn't very scientific - just a report on how I felt.

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

I am going to give it a go, need to lose to stone to regain my racing snake outline, currently 16 stone, 6ft 1 muscles but have been getting steadily fatter since I stopped going to the gym due to work, 3 kids, exams, laziness, etc etc. Also I am doing my bike test and I dont think my litle GS 125 will survive !

Also want to get a one piece suit but dont want to look like I am some kind of huge Alpinestars sponsered marsupial. Wifey is getting me the book tommorow after suggesting I would just eat the F*cker in a butty if I got even remotely hungry.

Coming to terms with the no Beer thing.

ozzy

You can pretty much eat what you like, it's a simple formula. Everyone has a set metabolism; a set energy expenditure from just living (part of this is down to your current fitness, age, sex, etc..)

So for me, I may need 2,500 calories per day just to keep things in balance. Now if I fancy a nice Big Mac or KFC then, I need to make sure I do something extra to burn off those extra calories.

If you keep track of what you eat and roughly what calories you're taking onboard, then as long as you burn off those calories you'll not get fatter.

Obviously as you age, your metabolism slows so you simply can't eat the same diet as you did when you were 18. Also muscles start to relax without regular exercise, so this leads to the dreaded middle-age spread.

As for your grading, your body gets used to certain activities very easily especially if you're doing them regularly. You may have found the grading easier simply because you're fitter or your muscles are used to the types of activity and therfore more efficient at using up oxygen and energy stores.

I know I've ran for 4 hard hours and felt like I could do it all over again. Your body is capable of amazing performance regardless of which type of diet you're on, it's just unfortunate that 90% of the time it's your brain that lets you down

At leat you've proved that switching to the Atkins has had no extreme detrimental affect on your exercise.

Stefan

LG John

Which was the point

I still intend to go back to a more rounded diet soon though because I could seriously sh@g a bowl of cereal or pasta

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Surely ******** a bowl of cereal or pasta wont put any weight on you, its eating it thats the problem, is it any good as a substitue as I am in the kitche at the mo and its off games week, surrounded by pasta and cereal and to be honest anything would be a bonus.....