You can begin losing weight on the Atkins Diet almost immediately, according to "Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution." The late Dr. Robert Atkins' diet is controversial, because it advocates eating more fatty foods and fewer carbohydrates, but his books contain many examples of weight-loss success stories, including a lumberyard manager named Harry Kronberg. Kronberg, 39, had a "desperate weight problem" after several unsuccessful diets, but he lost 51 pounds during his first three months on the Atkins Diet and lost 3 pounds weekly afterward until his weight was healthy.
Theory
Counting calories, particularly calories from fat, is the preoccupation of many diets. A gram of fat has nine calories, while a gram of carbohydrates and a gram of protein each have four. The U.S. government recommends that 55 percent of a diet's calories come from carbohydrates, 29 percent from fat and 18 percent from protein. Atkins disagreed with the government's advice and blamed low-fat diets for the American obesity epidemic. He argued that carbohydrates cause body fat by rapidly increasing your blood-sugar levels, while proteins and fats have little effect on blood sugar. Atkins also wrote that you don't gain weight by eating more calories.
The Diet
You shouldn't eat bread, cereal, fruit, pasta and starchy vegetables during your first two weeks on the Atkins Diet, Atkins wrote. Instead, you should eat fish, poultry, meat and eggs "liberally." Atkins wrote that eating a maximum of 20 g of carbohydrates daily, mostly from vegetables, changes your body's metabolism so it gets its energy from fat instead of carbohydrates that you will no longer crave. In comparison, the U.S. government's 55 percent recommendation translates into eating 275 g of carbs daily if you're eating 2,000 calories daily. The Atkins Diet permits you to eat small amounts of carbohydrates after two weeks, because, by then, you are no longer tempted to eat them in unhealthy quantities.
Weight Loss
You will lose water weight as soon as you begin your diet, but your lost weight will be "primarily fat" within five days. Atkins wrote that the median weight loss for men and women during the diet's first two weeks, the induction phase, is 10 and 6 pounds, respectively. The diet's second phase, the ongoing weight loss phase, lasts until you're 5 to 10 pounds overweight. You should lose 3 pounds weekly at the start of this phase, 1 pound weekly at the end. During the third phase, the pre-maintenance phase, you should lose less than 1 pound weekly until you reach your goal.
Sample Diet
Kronberg, who is 5 feet 6 inches tall, weighed 280 pounds and had a heart arrhythmia when Atkins told him to "radically restrict" his carbohydrates and eat as much meat, fish, poultry and eggs "as he needed to feel satisfied." Kronberg didn't change how many calories he ate. However, he ate grilled chicken and salad for lunch and rib steak, a salad and squash for dinner while on Atkins' diet and stopped eating sandwiches and french fries. Low-fat diet advocate Dr. Dean Ornish wrote that high-meat diets harm hearts regardless of calories, but Atkins reported that Kronberg's arrhythmia "vanished" and his heart disease risk declined because his blood cholesterol plunged from 207 to 134 mg per dL.
References
- "Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution;" Dr. Robert Atkins; 2002
- "Atkins Diabetes Revolution'; Dr. Robert Atkins, Mary Vernon and Jacqueline Eberstein; 2004
- USDA: Dietary Guidelines for Americans
- Atkins International: The Atkins Food Guide Pyramid
- "Dr. Dean Ornish's Program For Reversing Heart Disease"; Dr. Dean Ornish; 1996
- Atkins International: Home Page
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