The Atkins diet restricts your daily intake of carbohydrates but allows an unlimited intake of fat and protein. The diet can lead to weight loss regardless of whether you exercise or not. But exercise can help you ensure that your intake of calories stays below the calories your body uses.
The Atkins Diet
The Atkins diet is divided into different phases. The first phase requires that you restrict your carbohydrate intake to 20 g a day. During later phases you can increase your intake of carbohydrates. The Atkins diet does not require you to limit portion sizes or count calories. Foods to avoid on the diet include breakfast cereal, bread, burgers, sandwiches, pizza, pasta, rice, starchy vegetables and fruit. As long as you avoid these foods and other high-carb foods, you can eat unlimited amounts of meat, fish, poultry, dairy and nuts. Always watch out for hidden carbohydrates.
Metabolism
When you eat carbohydrates, they are quickly converted into glucose. When the glucose enters the bloodstream, the body needs to produce large amounts of insulin to help remove the glucose. The large amounts of insulin cause a rapid decline in your blood sugar. This makes you hungry, and you normally respond to hunger by eating. But the body doesn't really need the extra food. Instead of providing immediate fuel for the body, the excess dietary fat, protein and carbohydrates are stored as body fat.
How the Atkins Diet Works
There is no consensus on how the Atkins diet works but a leading hypothesis is that it works by controlling your appetite. Unlike carbohydrates, fat and protein break down at a slow pace. So, a diet that consists mostly in fat and protein does not cause rapid fluctuations in blood sugar and insulin. When you have a more stable blood sugar, you will feel full longer and will be less likely to get uncontrollable hunger pangs. As a result, you will eat less overall. The body still needs energy, however. When it doesn't get enough energy through your dietary intake, it starts using its own energy sources. First, it breaks down glucose stored as glycogen in the liver and muscles. When these resources are used up, the liver burns body fat and you lose weight.
The Atkins Diet and Exercise
The Atkins diet can lead to weight loss, even if you lie on the couch all day. Because the diet restricts your appetite, you will eat less. However, exercise while dieting can lead to a quicker weight loss. Exercise makes the body burn additional fat. It also increases your muscle mass. As muscle tissue uses more energy than fat tissue, increasing your muscle mass leads to a higher metabolism and more pounds shed.
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