HOLD THE LARD!: The Atkins Diet still doesn't work

Reason.com ^ | Dec. 5 2002 | Michael Fumento

[fogarty]

Heh, for those are smart enough to get off their butts and exercise, life is so much easier.

[Eva]

Didn't Rush use the Atkins diet to losee all his weight?

I have known other Atkin success stories, also. I think that dieting is a very individual thing. There is not universal right or wrong.

[RightWhale]

No, no, no, the high fat diet, while it provides plenty of energy for a busy FReeper, is not the way to go. Animal flesh, with some animal fat. That's the ticket. High animal protein, and you need some fat. No veggies at all, and a vitamin tablet supplement if you insist the animal must be cooked first.

[Greek]

I don't know, I've been on a modified Adkins, 100 grams of carbs per day. My doctor said of my cholesteral, "what ever you are doing, just keep doing it." The Greeks have a saying, "everything in moderation."

[SBprone]

Your body needs meat and it needs carbs too.

Trouble is, most people consume the wrong kind of carbs. The right kind are complex carbs like what you get from oatmeal, whole grain bread and cooked vegetables. Those kind of carbs won't make you sleepy because they take a long time to digest so they give you an IV trickle of blood sugar instead of a firehose flood.

This is so simple. Hasn't Jack LaLane been telling us about this for the last half a century?

[cajun-jack]

my dad always told me "son, there is no reason for a working man to be tired and hungry both". I'm not a lard@ss, but when i die, i certainly don't want anyone to look in the "box" and say...damn..ole jack looks like he starved to death lol

[EternalVigilance]

And here I thought the idea behind Atkins is to eat 'protein' instead of carbs.

Reading the article one might easily think that the idea is to eat 'fat' instead of carbs.

A rather disingenous representation by the author of his point of view/agenda, don't you think?

I have no particular axe to grind in this whole thing. I eat whatever I feel like eating, and have no weight problems at all.

[Dead Corpse]

Blllpppth. I lift weights. To build muscle, I also eat copious amounts of protein.

At one point, I tried cutting back on fats to lose some "excess" weight. Nothing happened. Leaned back on the carbs, and the weight dropped. Caloric debt for converting fat is higher than for carbs.

Easy-peasy.

[jlogajan]

Lift weights.

Aerobic type exercise in the morning for 20-45 minutes, 3 or 4 times a week -- 70% maximum heart rate.

Lift weights three times per week for about an hour each time. Arms/chest group, legs group, arms/back group, each once per week.

Eat 12x calories per lb of lean body mass (minus body fat weight.) Eat 40% protein, 30% carbohydrates, 30% fats (such as essential fatty acids EFA's as in flaxseed oil.)

Avoid saturated fats while eating carbohydrates. Avoid high glycemic carbohydrates. Avoid fructose (low glycemic, but goes right to fat through the liver.)

[billbears]

I'll say this. I was on the Atkins diet a few months back and lost 12 lbs in about 2 weeks. Stayed on it another 2 weeks and lost an additional 10 lbs. Went off of it and gained every bit back plus 3 in less time. I do think there's something to watching the carbs but eating meat all the time gets boring

[Baumer]

On the drop out rate...
How does the Low-Carb drop out rate compare to the High-carb low fat drop out rate? I'd hazzard to guess that the low carb drop out rate would be lower.

I've lost over 20 lbs. doing low-carb.

[Positive]

I've been happily on the Atkins diet for 6 years. Lost a lot of weight then leveled out at 6'4" 208lb 34 waist. But I exercise.

Having said that; I love animals, they're delicious, and if God didn't want us to eat animals, why did he make them out of meat?

[jlogajan]

"... among the 60 Atkins dieters in the Westman group analyzed for weight loss, the dropout rate was 43 percent.
... 25 percent of the high-carb eaters dropped out."

[Larry Lucido]

Good one!

[conservativemusician]

If you eat a balanced diet, don't stuff your face, and get up off the couch ( or away from the computer ) to exercise regularly, you will eventually be at the weight you should be. No counting, no stress over a dessert every now and then.


BTW, Am I addressing THE Senator Pardek of the Romulan High Council?

[realpatriot71]

It simple: eat less calories than maintence, you lose wieght, eat more, you gain weight. If you want to do that on saltines or pork rinds, it doesn't matter.

[xrp]

I did a pseudo-Atkins diet to lose my last 10 pounds. I went from 205 to 190 by exercising 5 days a week. I couldn't get below 190, though. I then did a diet of consuming a maximum of 100g of carbohydrates a day and none after 4pm. Within about a month and a half, I lost the last 10 pounds to the 180-range, nice and healthy for a 6'1" individual.

[aruanan]

The regimen "gives people a framework to eat fewer calories, since most of the choices in this culture are carbohydrate driven," he says. "Over time people eat fewer calories."

Combined with this is the fact that a high protein/high fat meal will result in slower gastric emptying and a longer period of satiation following the meal. Because of this, the individual is less likely to get as hungry as often as one on a high carbohydrate diet that leads to faster gastric emptying and renewed hunger pangs. Besides, the only important thing here is the total amount of kilocalories consumed compared to the total kilocalories expended. If your energy intake equals your energy output (regardless of whether you're getting it in carbohydrates or fats or any combination), you cannot experience a weight change. If your energy intake exceeds your energy output, you will gain weight (probably in the form of fat if you haven't also increased the amount of weight-bearing exercise leading to growth in muscle mass). If your energy intake is less than your energy output, you will lose weight.

[Born in a Rage]

Senator, I don't know exactly why the Atkins Diet works and to tell you the truth I really don't care. All I know is that I did it and am still doing it. I was a 2X going on 3X body.....now I wear a size 6 - a small. Nothing else worked for me and I just want to tell anyone who is considering trying the diet to DO it. I lost ALOT of weight and the only exercise I did/do is walking. I started with walking a little and increased to 3 or 4 miles a day or every other day --- and now that takes me about 45 minutes to an hour. So.....go for it.

Lynn