Atkins diet weight loss is what you need to lose the calories that are giving you sleepless nights. For you to lose weight, you have to be determined. Going to the gym is good, but without the right diet, you would be wasting your time and money.
It is a low-carbohydrate diet that emphasizes more on proteins and fats. Though, the menu was first criticized for having high-fat content. It was proven that there are no effects for having it as one of the diets. This article will guide through the process of losing weight using the diet.
The Atkins Diet Weight loss Theory
Dr. Robert C. Atkins discovered this theory in 1972. After a lengthy study on how the human body works and he came up with this magical diet. It works by changing the metabolic process in the body.
When you ingest foods that are rich in fats and carbohydrate, the body breaks the starch to form glucose. It is then used to provide energy to the body. This is the normal metabolic process.
However, when you start the Atkins diet weight loss program, the metabolic process changes to Ketosis. This is the process where the body breaks down the extra fat instead of carbohydrate to provide energy. For you to lose the extra calories and love handles, you need to cut on your carb intake.
This, in turn, forces the body to break down the excess fat. Nonetheless, the diet doesn’t have vitamins in it. Therefore it is recommended that you take a lot of vitamins and minerals supplements.
The Atkins diet phases
The diet is not like any other regular diet that you can jump it. Let’s say it more like medication. The same way the doctor gives you a drug prescription and you are to follow it to the letter. It is the same way with the diet.
For it to be successful, you have to follow these phases. Here are the four-phase.
1. Induction
This is the first stepping stone toward weight loss. You will need to cut on almost all of the carbs you take. Instead of taking the normal grams of 45 to 60 that is recommended.
You are required to take only 20 grams of carbs in a day, nothing more or less. Your menu should contain a lot of proteins and fats. This should be done for two weeks.
2. Balancing
In this phase, you need to lower the carbs down to 12 to 15 grams. Foods with added sugar should be avoided at all cost. We understand that craving can be a bit too much. Hence, you can add back a bit of the carbs.
This includes berries, vegetables, nuts, and yogurt and tomato juice. You are to stay on this phase until you lose 10 pounds of your goal weight. This translates to 4.5 kilograms.
3. Fine-tuning
When you have reached this phase, we recommend that you continue to increase the range of food to your diet gradually. This includes starchy vegetables, whole grains, and fruits.
You are allowed to add 10 grams of carb every week. However, the moment you start noticing that your weight loss has stopped. You will need to cut on the 10 grams immediately. The duration to stay on this particular phase depends on how fast you reach your target weight.
4. Maintenance
This is the final phase of your journey; you need to celebrate your achievement. At this particular stage, you have reached the desired weight. But you still need to maintain your weight. Yes, you can take the amounts of carbohydrates desired, but as long as your body can tolerate it.
Foods to avoid in the Atkins Diet Weight Loss program
When on the Atkins diet, certain foods need to be avoided no matter what. Here are some of the foods
- High-carb vegetables: turnips and carrots. However, this should be avoided during the induction stage.
- High-carb fruits: oranges, pears, apples, bananas, and grapes. They should be avoided during the induction stage, as well.
- Transfer fats: This particular fat is found in processed food. To be able to know the ones that contain this fat, they usually have the words Hydrogenated written on the ingredient section. Always look at this section when out shopping.
- Legumes: chicken peas, lentils, and beans. They should be avoided during the first phase.
- Starches: sweet potatoes, potatoes. They also beginning of the phase you are not allowed to have any.
- Vegetable oils: corn oil, cottonseed oil, soybean oil, canola seed, among others
- Sugar: fruit juices, soft drinks, ice cream, candy, and cakes
- Grains: rice, barley, wheat, spelt and rye
Foods and drinks allowed
The diet does not take all the fun away that are particular food and beverages that you are allowed to take. These are some of them
- Foods allowed
- Fatty fish and seafood: trout, salmon, and sardines.
- Full-fat dairy: full-fat yogurt, cream, butter, and cheese
- Healthy fats: coconut oil, extra virgin oils, avocados, and avocado oils.
- Low-card vegetables: broccoli, kale, spinach, and asparagus.
- Eggs: the best berries to take are pasture or Omega- 3 enriched.
- Meat: chicken, bacon, lamb, beef, and pork.
- Nuts and seeds: sunflower seeds, almonds, macadamia nuts, and walnuts
- Beverages allowed
- Coffee: It contains antioxidants which are health during the Atkins diet phase.
- Green tea: It has multiple health benefits, and is also significant when on a diet.
- Water: This is a must have, and there is no compromising. Water helps to remove waste from the blood. Therefore, a day should not go by without you taking eight glass of it
- Alcohol: you are allowed to take it in small amounts. However, you are to take dry wine and not beer.
Exercise
Research has shown those who incorporate exercises in their diet plan have a high chance of losing weight faster. Hence, you must spare sometime to work out. You are supposed to get a minimum of 150 minutes of intense exercises per week.
We urge you to draft a plan that includes having exercises done. This should fit in your daily schedule. You can register yourself in a gym, and remember to inform the instructor that you are on the Atkins diet.
This helps him or her draft a suitable exercise plan for you. It requires self-determination and self-drive to be going to the gym every day. Increasing the amount of time in the gym will speed up the weight loss process.
Health benefits
Apart from the weight loss, the diet has all other benefits to the body. Here are some of the health benefits of the menu.
Heart diseases
There are various cardiovascular diseases that a person can suffer from. Research done has shown that the Atkins diet helps reduce the chances of getting heart diseases. The diet reduces the cholesterol level in the blood and improves blood pressure.
This, in turn, reduces the chances of getting the blood vessels being blocked. The blockage of the heart vessels leads to heart attack, stroke, and heart failure. The diet also reduced the chance of inflammation in the heart, which is known as myocarditis.
Cancer
Cancer is a disease that is spreading like a bush fire. It attacks everyone regardless of your age or lifestyle. Obesity is a known factor that increases the chances of getting cancer. The diet encourages low carbohydrates intake, and this reduces the fat levels in the body. Therefore, when on a diet, you are able to lower the chances of getting cancer.
Additionally, the Journal of the National Cancer Institute researched colon cancer. The research showed higher consumption of carbohydrate and dietary glycemic load leads to recurrence and mortality in stage III colon cancer. Hence, a low-carb diet helps to improve the survival rates in colon cancer patients.
Polycystic ovary syndrome (POCS)
It is an endocrine disorder that affects their reproductive ages. The disease is associated with obesity, insulin, and hyperinsulinemia. Low intake of carbohydrate is associated with the reduction of insulin production in the body. Women who are suffering from this particular disease they can reduce the risk by starting on the Atkins diet. It also reduces the risk of getting diabetes and metabolic syndrome, as well.
Dementia
Higher carbs intake is associated with cognitive impairment or dementia. When you consume the carbohydrates at high levels, you are at risk of getting dementia. The diet helps to reduce your weight, plus chances of getting the disease.
Headaches
Do you have migraines or headaches every time? Atkins diet is the remedy for this headache and migraines. Research has shown consumption of carbohydrates in your diet improves the symptoms of migraines and headaches. If you are tired of taking a painkiller and visiting the hospitals, it high time you try the food.
Epilepsy
The symptoms of epilepsy and related seizure disorders in a patient can be so unbearable. Therefore we suggest that you start embarking on the diet. This will help in reducing the symptoms in both children and adults with the condition.
However, the Atkins diet should be done under a doctor’s supervision. You shouldn’t leave your medication for the menu without your doctor’s advice. This I because you can worsen the situation.
Acne
Acne is something no one wants to have. We all prefer to have smooth and healthy skin. This has made you try all the cosmetics that you know and hear off, to get rid of the acne. Well, to save all the trouble. We advise that you start taking this diet. It helps to eliminate the acne living your skin healthy.
Gerd
This refers to a condition where there is an acidity influx in the body. Foods that contain high caffeine or fats are responsible for this condition. The study has shown that the low-carbs in the body helps in alleviating the acid influx caused by those foods.
Narcolepsy
This condition refers to a sleep disorder. It is characterized by excessive sleepiness, sleep, paralysis, hallucination, and cataplexy. Research has shown that patients have improvements in day time sleepiness when there are low-carbs in the body. Therefore, this diet is highly recommended for such patients.
Risks
Some risks are involved when it comes to Atkins diet. Researches have been done, but they last for one year or less. This has made it hard for the researchers to prove if its health benefits are long or short term. Plus if it is safe to remain on a diet. Here are some of the risk that comes with the diet.
- It possesses a risk of getting heart attacks or even cancer. The high concentration of fats in the diet leads to this disease.
- There is also a high concentration of proteins in the diet. This is something that affects the kidney. For a person who had kidney disorders before, we would suggest you keep away from the menu.
- Even though the diet encourages you to take nutrients such as an iron-free multivitamin, Omega- 3 and mineral supplements, this is still not enough since it omits other essential nutrients that are still needed by the body. They include vitamins C and potassium. This can lead to other diseases in the body.
- You are also likely to experience fatigue, headaches, weakness, dizziness, and constipation while on a diet.
- The ketosis process that is when fat is broken done to provide energy is a normal process. But when the process leads to high ketone levels, it is a dangerous thing. This is because it leads to damaging of the liver and the kidney.
We urge you to consult with your doctor before embarking on the diet. He or she will advise you on the right food to take to reduce the extra calories.
The reason why you are not losing weight when on the Atkins diet
We are all different, and the rate at which one loses weight when on a diet is also different also. However, to some, it is a bit hard to lose the extra fat even when on a diet. There are a few reasons why you might not be getting the results that you needed from this diet.
Some of them may include
Not cutting carbs
This is a low-carb diet criterion that needs you to seriously cut down on the carbohydrates that you seem to be taking. However, it is possible that at times, the weight seems to be still showing up. You might have done the entire cutting off that is possible for you at that time.
At this point, you may have to cut down further to 50 grams a day as advised by health professionals. If it is still not working, then completely cut down any carb from your diet.
This will, however, mean that you will need to increase the amounts of healthy proteins and fats. It ensures that you don’t deplete the energy sources that your body requires daily.
Sleep
Sleep is one of the highest recommended therapeutic functions that have been known to be effective. Your health depends on our sleep. Do you know that your sleeping pattern affects your body metabolism functions? The more rest you give your body, especially at night shows up in the amount of energy the next day.
Giving your body a chance to work on the food consumed prevents lumping of carbs in the body. This is one of the things that makes you add to weight even after working out and eating healthy.
Stress
Stress has a way of increasing the cortisol levels in the body. The most interesting thing about this hormone is that it affects the levels of weight gain. It also affects the sleeping pattern in the body.
This is because it increases the need for the body to take in more food. This is one of the reasons people have a habit of stress eating. The stress eating in most cases is usually comprised of carbs or fried foods. These are the biggest killers of any diet aim that you would like to have.
They contain fat levels that takes the body sometime to break it down to energy. This is why people end up gaining weight when they have higher levels of stress causes in their lives. Reducing the triggers of stress will allow you to have a higher chance of making the diet work for you.
You keep eating all the time.
Eating all the time prevents your body from having time actually to process the food that you have eating. Instead of all the energy that it has gets spent in trying to produce enzymes and fluids that are used in digesting the foods that you have eaten.
That is the reason why people are usually advised to maintain an eating system, not after 8 pm. It allows the body at least 10 hours before your next meal to ensure food is digested. The body also works on the energy banks that are already in the body.
That way, you don’t get lumps of carbs or calories that are in your body. Your body then gets a form of break. This is what limits weight gain in an individual.
Real foods
When you hear the term real food, you would like to know what that means. Real foods are fresh products with no additives. It includes the processed foods that in many times we find in supermarkets. This also includes snacks like biscuits, crisps, and other fabricated foods with high amounts of fat.
Once you find a way of completely getting them out of your diet. Only then will you stand a better chance in allowing this diet plan to working for you. If you ask anyone, you will be told that such foods contribute to the increase of weight.
Once you start on the diet, you should ensure that you maintain the highest possible level of a healthy life. This includes fruits and vegetables.
Eating too many nuts
Nuts are cereals that are known for their high concentration of calories. They are also known for their high enticement of intake. Once you start eating any form of nuts, the crispiness, and the crunchiness that it gives is out of this world. This, in turn, makes it hard for you to realize you are overeating. Before you realize you would have added extra pounds.
This is the risk with nuts. They are very healthy, yes, but it is very easy for you to overeat and end up taking in more calories. Therefore, as much as you will involve the nuts in your diet, you must keep a strict limit. This ensures that you take care of the craving but you don’t over eat.
Not exercising right
Many people have a habit of keeping a diet at the expense of exercising and staying fit. You should note that this is no exception. If you want to maintain a healthy body and allow the diet to take its course. You should ensure that you have as much exercise as possible.
Exercise is crucial in raising your metabolism rate to the point that fat does not take effect anymore. This is the only way that the body will be able to handle the difference in nutrients that the body consumes. Therefore giving it a steady exercise rhythm that allows your body to have a pattern. This is effective in ensuring you stay healthy.
Medical condition
Fascinating thing about trying to lose weight is doing it while on some medication. When you start on the Atkins diet some medications that you take might lead to weight gaining. Everyone usually has this notion that when you are sick, you have to lose weight. It is, however, different when we are dealing with something like hypothyroidism.
This is where your hormones get seriously confused. You will not be able to know whether your body is gaining too much weight than normal. Therefore, even when in a diet, it gets impossible for your body to lose the weight that it is supposed to.
There are many more other diseases. It is therefore vital that you consult your doctor before starting on this diet. You might just be wasting your time and resources.
How to eat when out
Consistency is an important thing when on a diet. We must admit it is not an easy thing to do, in fact when you are with your friends. To remain on a diet even when out with friends can a bit trick, but here is a tip on how to do it.
- You should order for extra vegetables on your plate. We would advise that you keep away from the carbs such as bread or rice instead.
- It is also a good idea to order for fatty fish or meat. This is a tasty dish that has proteins and fats as well.
- Ensure that you have extra butter or oil on your plate.
Even if you are a vegan, you can still follow the Atkins diet. Instead, of the meat and other animal products, you can opt for nuts, olive oil, coconut oil, and soy-based foods. This will provide you with the proteins required during the diet.
How to start the Atkins diet
Dieting is not an easy thing to do. You have to be prepared psychologically. If you have a spouse, ensure that they know you are planning to start the Atkins diet. This is because support is essential to help you pull it off.
On the other hand, the craving for a particular food or snack can be overwhelming. Here is where your partner will help you to overcome it. To help you in this journey here is a guideline on how to start the dieting.
Have a support group
Having a support group is essential when you want to start this journey. They can be your friends or family members. This is because they will motivate you and help you to reach your target. Some of them will even want to do it with you.
The group helps with the cravings; they will fight the war with you. This is usually hard if someone is eating your favorite dish or snack in front of you. They will avoid doing this, and when out in a restaurant with him or her; you won’t feel out of place.
There are also Atkins community groups where you can meet with people going through the weight loss process. This helps to keep you accountable and highly motivated.
Set goals
For everything in life, you must have a purpose or a goal that you want to meet. This helps to guide you in the right direction and not to give up on the way. For example, if your goal is to lose 20 pounds. Mark it on your phones, calendars or even write it as a note and stick it on the fridge door. This reminds you and motivates you to achieve it regardless of the situation.
Get to know the foods you are allowed to eat, summarize them
It is crucial to try to know the kind of foods that you are allowed to take. This guarantees that you stick to the diet. Additionally, it helps to stay on course. If you mistake any of the foods, it might take longer to lose the extra calories in the body.
Plans your meal with the Atkins approved recipe
It is essential to plan your meals. Make sure you do your shopping earlier maybe a whole week’s grocery. This should be according to one of the Atkins recipe.
You can Google the diet recipes and find that which suits you perfectly. Then make sure you have all the ingredients in it. Ensure that you follow it to the letter whether in the house or out.
Drink a lot of water
Water is an essential part of the whole process. This is because it helps to get rid of waste in the body. Therefore anywhere you will be going to, ensure you have a bottle of water. We suggest that you have at least eight glass of water a day.
Snack frequently
Snacks are allowed when on a diet. Therefore, you are to take two snacks a day no more or less. This helps with the high-crab cravings. There are also Atkins bars that you can eat when hungry. This still helps keeps you on track as well.
Do not avoid fats
When this is usually mentioned people think that this will impact their weight loss. But that is not true. They are needed in high amounts to be broken down during the ketosis process to provide energy to the body. On the other hand, fat allows your body to consume vitamins which keeps you healthy.
Determining the phase that is most suitable for you
There is also a program for the diet. You can download it from the internet and store the app on your phones or laptops. The program is designed to guide you through the entire process.
For example, if you have chosen that you are to start on 20 grams of carbs, then the program will guide you through this.
If you want to start the phase with 40 grams of carbs, the program also guides you with this. The program increases your daily carb intake. It, in turn, helps the body to adapt to the ketosis process quickly.
Conclusion
Dieting is a process that has to be done gradually to help the body adapt to the changes. It shouldn’t be done blindly. Before embarking on the Atkins diet ensure that you have consulted with your doctor.
Once on a diet ensure you follow the whole four-phase to the letter. Do not skip any stage as this will cost you time and money. Therefore, ensure you are determined to do it and commit.
Plus, never do the diet because someone is doing it. Do it for yourself, your well-being and out of your own free will. If you want to lose the extra fat and get the body back to shape, there is only one answer: the Atkins diet weight loss program.
