You have many choices for losing weight with a low-carbohydrate diet program, and Atkins is a popular choice. The program has instructions to guide you from the time you start through lifetime maintenance at your goal weight. Keep in mind that low-carbohydrate diets may provide inadequate amounts of fiber and essential vitamins and minerals. Atkins recommends a daily multivitamin and mineral supplement to prevent deficiencies, but a healthier approach for your long-term health may be to eat a balanced diet that provides your nutrients from whole foods.
Counting Carbohydrates
On a low-carbohydrate diet, you focus on your carbohydrate intake, not on counting your calories. Some low-carbohydrate diets have a different carbohydrate limit in each phase of the diet. On Atkins, you count your daily net carbs, which you calculate by taking the total carbohydrates minus the dietary fiber, in grams. You get 20 g daily net carbs in Phase 1, Induction, and your daily limit increases in each phase until Phase 4, Lifetime Maintenance, when your daily net carbs may be about 45 to 100 g per day, depending on your body size and physical activity levels.
Allowed Foods
Low-carbohydrate diets typically allow plentiful amounts of carbohydrate-free foods. You can have pure fats, such as butter or oil, as well as high-protein foods, such as poultry, meat, fish, eggs and shellfish. The most restrictive low-carbohydrate diets, such as Phase 1 of Atkins, may allow small amounts of carbohydrates from non-starchy vegetables. You may be able to have limited amounts of nuts, beans, fruits, dairy products or whole grains, especially during later phases of the diet. Eating a low-carbohydrate diet usually means avoiding added sugars and refined grains.
Healthy Choices
To lower your intake of saturated fat and cholesterol, our low-carbohydrate diet may encourage healthier choices, such as lean proteins instead of fatty meats, oils instead of butter or low-fat dairy products instead of full-fat. Atkins suggests olive or canola oil instead of butter, but does not recommend removing visible fat from meat or skin from chicken or turkey. Atkins promotes full-fat dairy products, such as cream and high-fat cheese, which are high in saturated fat. These choices may lead to increases in your bad LDL cholesterol levels.
Other Guidelines
Make sure that you read nutrition labels when you are on Atkins or other low-carbohydrate diets, since it can be difficult to guess how many carbohydrates are in a food. Monitor your weight loss, and adjust your intake as your diet recommends. Atkins suggests lowering your daily net carbs if you are not losing at least 2 lbs. per week during Phase 2, Ongoing Weight Loss, or if your weight increases by more than 5 lbs. when you are in Phase 4, Lifetime Maintenance.
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