Review rated by 31 Ciao members on average: very helpful
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I find it really difficult to lose weight. The main problem is i like food and lots of it. Yes we all know that eating a healthy diet and taking plenty of exercise is the answer. But that just isn't quick enough. I bought 'Atkins - new diet revolution' about 3 years ago. The idea behind the diet is that you need your body to get into a state called ketosis. This is achieved by fats and protein working together in order for your body to start burning it's own fat.Put simply you can eat vast quantities of protein (meats, fish, eggs) and fats (butter, cream, mayonnaise) AND LOSE WEIGHT! The only thing you must do without is carbohydrate (bread, pasta, potatoes, sugar). Fruit is also not allowed in the first 2 weeks. The diet is structured in such a way that to begin with you are allowed virtually no carbohydrates. For the 2 week 'INDUCTION PHASE' you are only allowed a daily limit of 20g carbohydrates. This is not a lot a packet of crisps can easily contain that much! I lost 10lbs in this first phase.I typically ate a full english breakfast, chicken mayonnaise salad, then green peppercorn steak and vegetables for dinner. After the initial 2 weeks you then follow the 'ONGOING WEIGHT LOSS PHASE'. Here the diet isn't as restrictive, you increase you carbohydrates by 5g per week. Eventually you body is meant to adapt to this way of dieting and you follow the 'LIFETIME MAINTENANCE PLAN'. So - does it work? Quite simply yes. I lost an awful lot of weight very quickly. I thought this would be enough motivation for me to take this on as a way of life, but unfortunately not. Because the diet is so restrictive, you need to plan your meals and eating patterns very carefully. No longer can you just pop out to the deli for a sandwich. I found it so difficult if i was caught in town with no lucnh etc.. there was nothing i could easily grab that didn't contain carbs.
The diet can be very expensive. The ammount of meat we were going through was enormous! Bacon, sausages, steak, pork, chicken. Our shopping bills per week were double what they normally were.
You cannot drink alcohol for the first 2 weeks at least. I found this difficult as i had a couple of birthday bashes in my first 2 weeks, and couldn't drink.
Cravings for sweets and chocolate were terrible - i almost felt tempted to grab chocolate from childrens hands if i saw them eating it.
Finally we were getting an awful lot of heartburn as a result of eating so much fat. I lost count of the boxes of 'Rennies' we went through. Also we both had severe constipation due to lack of carbs in our diet (officially known amongst fellow Atkins as the atkins poo!). Also it gave us stinky 'Atkins breath'.
This diet originated in the USA. As a result they have created many foodstuffs such as chocolate, muffins etc that are low in carbs. Some of this stuff is available through websites such as Carblife, and the Atkins center. I found the carblife chocolate a comfort but it was £1 a bar plus £5 delivery. Again not cheap.
If you are contemplating this diet it is worth a shot. It's not as bad as the media have made it out to be. HOWEVER DO SEE YOUR DOCTOR FIRST IF YOU HAVE ANY MEDICAL PROBLEMS.Also invest in 'Dr Atkins new diet revolution' retails at £7.99 which contains the diet itself,'Dr Atkins new diet cookbook' £6.99 is good for recipes tailored to fit each phase of the diet.
I tried Weightwatchers, Rosemary Connelly, Slimming world, they all failed. The attraction of Atkins is that it shifts weight quickly. We buckled under the restrictive regime and put all the weight we lost back on (and more!). Essentially what happens with any diet is as soon as you deny yourself something, the more you want it!
Try it, it might work for you. Thousands of people follow the program including Minnie Driver, Jennifer Aniston and various other celebs.
Great op, don't really need to read the book! I started this diet a week ago and have been sticking to it religiously even though it has almost killed me not drinking alcohol! Did you lose lots of weight in the first week, as I do not appear to have dropped more than four pounds. I feel I am doing it correct and have used the ketosis testing strips to reassure myself, but thought that I would have a bigger weight loss already.
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16.03.2004 00:26
good op :)
02.06.2003 16:10
great op - im on the diet now and im bored!
28.05.2003 14:12
Great op, don't really need to read the book! I started this diet a week ago and have been sticking to it religiously even though it has almost killed me not drinking alcohol! Did you lose lots of weight in the first week, as I do not appear to have dropped more than four pounds. I feel I am doing it correct and have used the ketosis testing strips to reassure myself, but thought that I would have a bigger weight loss already.