Atkins Diet Plan
Have you ever wondered about the Atkins diet? Perhaps you had heard about it and were unsure if the results would be what you desire, below I have written all about the Atkins diet. Read on to find out more…..
Many people have heard about the Atkins diet but not all of them may be familiar with this famous weight loss plan, which was the main driving force behind all of the weight loss craze that started early in the millennium and continues, in different forms, to this day. Dr. Robert Atkins first presented his diet plan in 1972 after getting his inspiration from a similar diet plan in the Journal of the American Medical Association and using his modified version to shed his own unwanted pounds. Despite being deceased, Dr. Atkins has inspired an entire generation to get thin.
The doctor’s main precept in all his work was that Western eating habits typically focus too much on refined carbohydrates such as those found in high-fructose corn syrup, sugar, and flour. These substances are difficult for the body to break down and so it stores them as fat. Atkins’ idea was to force the metabolism to burn this stored fat as fuel rather than subsisting off of glucose, or sugar. Everything in the Atkins diet is aimed at keeping the body’s food sources low in carbohydrates in order to achieve this maximum level of fat burning. In addition to shedding body fat, Dr. Atkin’s low-carb low-sugar diet has also been shown to reduce many of the symptoms suffered by diabetics.
There are four main phases to the Atkins diet. The first phase is called the Induction Phase, which is lasts for two weeks and is typically the most restrictive. Dieters are not allowed to consume more than 20 grams of carbohydrates per day. 12-15 of them must come from vegetable matter; other foods that are allowed include meat, eggs, up to 4 ounces of cheese, and butter, olive oil or other vegetable-based oils. Alcoholic beverages are strictly forbidden in the induction phase (after all, we’re all familiar with the so-called “beer gut”) and dieters are advised to keep well hydrated by drinking at least 8 glasses of water per day. A daily multivitamin is encouraged and caffeine is generally frowned upon. The induction phase shows the highest rate of weight loss—users commonly report losing 5-10 pounds a week.
Next comes the Ongoing Weight Loss phase, also affectionately referred to as OWL. In this phase, carbohydrate intake increases by 5 grams per week. The focus of the OWL is to find the eating habits that best suit your body type and personal appetite so that you can control cravings, find satisfaction from food, and maintain a healthy weight. There are nine steps inside this phase that give detailed directions about diet modification. The OWL phase is officially over when the dieter comes within 10 pounds of the target weight.
The pre-maintenance phase follows. Like with the OWL phase, carbohydrates increase each week—but this time in 10-gram increments. This phase is likely to be short and to the point. Its goal is to find out how many carbohydrates your body can handle without weight gain.
The final and most critical phase is known as the “lifetime maintenance” phase, and it addresses that age-old problem: how do you stick to your diet instead of eventually gaining the weight back, as most people do? The guidelines emphasize the importance of choosing whole, healthy foods. If weight gain begins to increase, dieters drop back to a previous diet phase until stability is regained.
Many people mistakenly believe that the Atkins Diet is nothing but meat, when in fact the more correct focus of the diet is simply a reduction in carbohydrates. This doesn’t necessarily mean eating nothing but steak. In fact, higher vegetable consumption and trying to eat to feel satisfied are just a few of the things that make the Atkins Diet so popular worldwide.
