I see a lot of misconceptions and alot of the myths of this diet being posted. most think it is a meat and cheese diet and all veggies are ignored, which is where the musle loss myth comes from.
The diet is not want most people think at all. I can say that going form 336 to 265 lbs in less that 6 months was pretty rash even for myself. I remember that I needed to lose weight for this last back sugery and due to being a type II diabetic it seemed that all I could do is follow the diabetic diet.
A friend at work was concerned, I had only lost 10 lbs in about 4 months... he turned me on to the atkins book.
The diet contains 4 phases
1. Phase one - Induction - TWO WEEKS! - this is where all the myths come from - you only get 20 carbs a day that AFFECT BLOOD SUGAR. You are only allowed 3 oz of hard cheese and two cups of lettuce, but all the meat you want and there are a bunh of other restrictive rules.
The Idea is to go through ketosis - I had about 3-4 rough days where i felt dragged down but after that my energy level was even all day and my blood sugar was never out of wack like it was when I was on the dibetic diet. The best part is that your appitite totally curves (never hungry)
2. - Phase two - Weight Loss UNTILL YOU LOSE ALL THE Weight - you add back in all the vegitables that don't effect blood sugar and depending on your activity level, you will be allowed 20-120 carbs that effect blood sugar (120 is for an athelete). You can now have more cheese (non-processed or it counts as carbs), nuts and some fruits like strawberrys. - I am currenly on this phase - I have never eaten healthier in my life - more chicken salads and well rounded meals (veggies and such) than I have ever had in my life - I currenlty try to keep the carbs under 30 as I am inactive due to my recent back sugery.
3. Phase 3 and 4 take you into life matainance for weigt. There is only one person at work that is on phase 3 that I know of.
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There are 3 of us in the same lab on the diet - I have lost the most at 71 lbs but the next guy has lost about 40 and the other lost around 30. I have checked with a caliper and I have not lost any muscle mass as the myth says. I have lost 6 inches in my waist and working down to the next size in pants, hopfully i will be down to my orginal weight before the mountain bike wreck soon.
They other part is that I have seen this piece of paper that says it is the atking that basically tells you to eat all the meat, eggs and cheese that you want... this is not the diet and yes, overtime that would be unhealthy compared to the actual diet.
The other part that no one gets is that he mentions in the book that if you at a whole brisket, the calories have to go somewhere...
But I understood it - after phase one you will not be hungry anymore and the golden rule still applies - you have to burn more calories than you intake to lose weight.
I was in a huge rush and took my daily calorie intake to less about 1500/day while still adhearing to all of the diets rules, I was never hungry. I also no longer take my diabetic pills or blood pressure medication. The last time I saw my Internest he said i was in perfect health and actually recommend the atkins diet.
I hope this clears up the myths of the diet and I would recommend either reading his book or going to the atkins center web page (that explains the diet for free).
atkins.com