The Atkins Diet

[El Gordo]

Anyone tried the Atkins Diet? I was talking to a bloke in the pub last night who was raving about it, pretty much like everyone else I've come across who's done it.

A low-carb diet seems contradictory for running, where we're told that carbohydrates are everything. But I'm getting a bit desperate, as I don't seem to be losing any weight. Thought it might act as a kick-start.

Any views?

[robertf]

I tried a slightly less strict version of it and it worked well. The principle of watching your carb intake worked very well for me....so I cut out bread totally (very tough!), no potato, no crisps etc. I changed to eating more meat (eg: ham without the bread) too. I didn't follow the book/diet to the letter but I still lost plenty of weight.

I was doing great for about 8 weeks. The first few days was very tough and I got hunger pangs I think from withdrawl symptoms from the sugar kicks through bread etc. But then it subsided. I had more energy. Then more recently I lost my way on it after a week away from home on business and gradually started eating bread and potatos again. Having said that the principles are still with me and I still eat no where near as much carb as I used to. My weight plateaued, until just now when after 5 days of being flu ridden I found I had lost 6 pounds...result! Flu diet!

I would say...do as I did for a month and I guarantee you will shift some serious weight. Then add more carbs back in but still watch your intake.

cheers
Rob

[Antonio247]

Hello, Andy and everybody

I think that a diet that eliminates an important group of foods can´t be good even if it makes you lose a few pounds. You may lose weight but eating so many proteins will probably rise your cholesterol level and the risk of having a heart attack. Therefore, it means that the diet is not healthy.

I consider that we all must eat a varied and balanced diet and, as you said Andy, runners need a lot of carbohydrates. Besides, most diets are successful at the beginning but you get tired of not being allowed to eat some food that you love such as bread. Then, in my opinion, the key is eating in a healthy way trying to eat less calories than those you burn and doing exercise regularly as runners do.

I´m very glad because I´ve lost 8 kilos in two months without feeling hungry just changing some habits. For me having fruit for breakfast and when I feel hungry before lunch has been great. I also eat more vegetables at lunch and dinner that before but I also have meat or fish and pasta, bread although not as much as before. I hardly ever have soft drinks or alcohol and what I miss more : cake and that sort of things.

I think that losing weight is easy. What is very hard is to keep that weight you´ve lost.

Well, Andy, good luck.
Greetings from Almería
Antonio

PS. By the way, Andy, thanks a lot for giving information on Almería half marathon. I expect some of you will come to take part on 25th January.

I hope you will enjoy your trip in the north of Spain. If there´s anything you need from me, Andy, don´t hesitate in telling me.

[Ian]

I mentioned this diet to some sports nutritionists at Loughborough University a year ago and they very nearly frog-marched me out of the place. The effect of putting your metabloism into a state of ketosis is dangerous and can cause irreparable damage to your liver and kidneys.
Apart from anything else, do you really want to go around smelling of tuna all day, because that is another side-effect.

[El Gordo]

Hi Ian

I know it's anathema for runners and health professionals. I also hate the hype, and what may (or may not) amount to the pseudo-science of it all. I hate to hear people going on about it. But by far the most annoying thing about it is that seems to work, and this is what I can't get out of my head.

I need to lose at least 10 kg, and I'm finding it impossible to make a dent in this target.

I'm not about to try the Atkins diet, but I'm just interested in what experience people have had with it. Perhaps there's some kind of half-way house that might accommodate me, and give me a kick-start.

Well done on getting round Stevenage today, BTW.

Cheers

Andy

[Seafront Plodder]

I think it was Aristotle who said......'all diets are bollocks'!

Ok, so you lose a few pounds/kilos. All goes back on once you come off the restricted eating regime you don't really want to be on anyway.

FWIW a mate of mine lost around 20 lbs on this Atkins thing. As if to endorse how bad it is for you, there's a limit to how long it's safe to follow it! : passthecabbagesoup : Since coming off it, he's 25 lbs heavier. :p

[glaconman]

The Atkins diet was originally developed as a clinical treatment for people who were at a high risk of death because of obesity. The treatment was a short term measure aimed at reducing weight at all costs; ie without regard to nutritional balance.

You've got to think longer term I think.

Then again, if the-bloke-in-the-pub swears by it ...

"Hold the Bells mate. Nah, ya didn't wanna do that."

[Griff]

Andy,
Try the "Will Power" diet. You probably just need to try the Slimmers World (Red day/Green day) diet and cut out fat, BEER and BREAD. Just keep your resolve and hey presto, in a month you will have lost a stone.

[El Gordo]

There must be something wrong with my computer.

For a terrible moment I thought someone said I should cut out beer and bread.

Gulp.

[Griff]

Nope your computer in fine!

[Griff]

TYPO: "is fine".

[Griff]

It's your Pentium 4 Yeast Processor that needs attention!

[El Gordo]

You know you can edit posts, Griff? Just click on the, er, Edit button.

Well, anyway, my 'joke' was a bit stupid anyway, as the Atkins diet would certainly put paid to bread and beer.

Hmm. Perhaps I'm just feeling a bit glum about things at the moment. I've spent all weekend working, trying to finish something for tomorrow morning. Haven't run; eaten too much bad stuff.

Tomorrow's a new chance...

[Ian]

I'm reassured you are not thinking about trying this diet Andy. Cut out beer and bread and what is left in life?
To lose weight all you need do is reduce your overall intake of calories to ensure you burn more than you consume. I am sure this has been preached to you many times, but it is the only solution.
As one or two here have suggested, try the "Runners Reduction Diet". Run three times a week, only go to the pub once drinking less and either cut down on the amount of bread or what you are putting on, or in it.
I am a great bread fan and eat almost half a loaf a day made from my bread machine (not literally from it). It is full of fibre and tastes fantastic. Butter, cheese or fatty meats piled on to it are a bigger cause of weight gain than the bread, I am sure for most people.
On the bread machine front, I have swapped butter for olive oil, using 3 tbs for every oz of butter required. It's fantastic!
As for Stevenage, it was a character building run in the rain. But proved I must run regularly to get back to the kind of times I was running earlier in the year.

[robertf]

Andy

I think the thing here is that there are some principles from the Atkins worth considering in the form of a half way house approach. Everyone who jumps on the Atkins diet as unsafe assumes you are going for the 100% no carbs approach. I agree this is crazy but to be fair ...if you read the book even Atkins says just to go to the extreme for just 2 weeks as a kickstart and then steadily increase the carbs. I didn cut out carbs but I did follow the ideas and cut them right down and as I say I found great benefit by cutting *down* (not out) on my sugary carbs eg: bread, beer. To be honest the weight fell off.
Now I have reintroduced more carbs but still have a reduced intake of bread etc. and for me this works best. Prior to that I have spent many years just looking at the calories count or fat content in food and it didn't work too well. Now instead looking to also balance the carb intake of what I eat seems to work very well.

Robert

[El Gordo]

Thanks Robert, that's an interesting point.

I've just completed the 2nd day of my more conventional diet. Fortunately, it coincides with the move to a new office, where there is no canteen, and therefore no tempatation to nip along for a mid-morning sausage sandwich or Mars Bar. So far going very well, as I'll no doubt be explaining in tedious detail in the logs.

I'm just going for a reduction in calories at the moment, and already feel much better.

Cheers

Andy

[Griff]

Following on from your posting of 8 November, I am wondering how much weight has fallen off this week since you have managed to avoid the dreaded rest day?

[El Gordo]

Here are the actual figures:

220.8 (Monday)
218.8
216.4
215.6
214.6 (Friday)

So far so good!

[Antonio247]

Congratulations, Andy!

Six pounds in five days. That´s quite a lot. Why don´t you tell us what you´re doing to lose so much weight so quickly?
Antonio

PS. A new flight from Birmingham to Almería has just been opened. http://WWW.mytravellite.com It is every day and not expensive. I´d like to go for a long weekend next year and take part in a half marathon in the UK.

[El Gordo]

Hi Antonio

I've just been logging what I eat, and counting the calories. Eating a lot of fruit, and trying to avoid bread. I suspect the rate of weight loss will now slow down, but I'm planning on sticking to this way of eating for a while, and hope that it will help my running.

Cheers

Andy