After my Dad died a few years ago, I put on a lot of weight. Didn't notice it until I saw a photo of myself and nearly died with shock. Anyway, a Sister of mine had lost a lot of weight on it to fit in to a bridesmaid dress, so I asked her about it, bought the book and gave it a try.

I was never a big bread or potato lover, but my downfall was chocolate and coke, so the diet seemed to suit me. I think the induction phase is different now than when I done it. I was only allowed 20g of green veg per day and the Atkins bars could only be introduced after the two week induction phase. The first three days were torture, in terms of craving, but I had intentionally started it while I was on two weeks holidays, so I wouldn't have as much temptation as I would in work (always chocolate and biscuits in the canteen). After the three days passed and I was in ketosis, I began to feel less bloated, lethargic and was generally feeling better. I will point out though, that I didn't do the whole big fry up and steaks that way some people I know who done it, instead I ate lean cuts of meat, chicken, turkey, and salads. I found drinking plenty of water really helped too, as well as using lots of herbs and spices to give myself some variety, cause it does get boring eating the same thing day in, day out.

After two weeks of doing that, I had lost over a stone in weight, and was at the stage of introducing 5g of carbs a day, as well as fruit (mainly berries) with cream, so it meant when I went back to work, I had more options and continued it for another month. I also introduced alcohol back with vodka and diet coke/7up etc, so got my social life back. My cravings for sweets had completely gone at this stage and I had to remind myself to eat every 6 hours as I was never hungry. After a month, I had lost 2 and a half stone and reached my target weight.

I continued on the maintainence part of the diet for months after, whilst in the gym and toned my body really nicely as well as losing some more weight. 

I remember eating chocolate at Christmas that year (8 months later) and it doing nothing for me. I was now snacking on fruit and nuts instead.

At the beginning, I used to cook chicken legs and leave them in the fridge so when I was peckish, I would have some chicken. Having food ready for these moments is key to success.

The ONLY draw back for me was bad breath, which went away eventually. 

Whenever I would put on weight after all of that, I would tend to go back to it as it was the only diet that ever got results for me, but I did find it harder to do after that first time.

I kept the weight off for years, until I met my husband and while I know it would work if I did it again, I find it difficult to do when living with someone else and trying to work around the restricitions with another person to think of, so I'm working on a fat free diet at the moment. It's working, but just not as fast as I was used to with Atkins.

Good Luck with it and if I was to give you any advice, it would be to go off it gradually, rather than hitting your target and going off it instantly. The weight will only go back on.

I've seen it work.... But I think it's something you can do very occasionally.  The old cholesterol levels must take quite a hit.  

I did a similar-ish kind of diet at Educo a couple of years back and it was very effective.  The trick is to team it with weight training.  High protein supports weight-training which, in turn, burns fat.  I lost a shitload of weight (probably a bit too much) but I found it difficult to sustain once real life resumed.  My boss did the same diet with the same results  and got a shocker of a cholesterol reading afterwards.  Like me, she is now struggling to lose weight again after a couple of years.  

I think the real goal should be to retrain ourselves to sensible eating so that we can maintain a reasonable weight rather than have to lose excess poundage every so often:  lots of fruit/veg/fibre/water/lean protein and restraint on the fun stuff.  A bit of exercise and we should be good to go.  Sounds great in principle.  Reality requires a bit of effort.  Thank the TBJ that me fella thinks me paunch is "cute,"

it sounds like your in ketosis. and in that state youll lose weight quite quickly. its really easy to break out of ketosis though so stay strong and stick to what your doing. and good luck.

You should just excersise more, fad diets are fad diets, you should NEVER cut out a food group, its dangerous to your long term health: why the hell don't you look up proper serious health and nutrician advice http://www.indi.ie. 

Atkins developed his diet becausse people in the US were eatiing an unbalanced diet, he was trying to over compensate for people that would not stick to a balanced diet programme.

All this crap about Ketosis etc...everyone I know who did the Atkins put the weight back on at a later date and did not loose as much weight in the first plce; you need to change your lifestyle first.

Task: look in your food cupboard and fridge and list all the foods in there; how many are fresh?  How many are junk? How many are high in fat? How much fresh fruit and veg is there?

If you have any processed food, biscuits, cakes, crisps etc then sort that problem out first by dumping them.

EVERY ONE WHO CLAIMS TO HAVE A WEIGHT PROBLEM HAS A NUTIRICIAN PROBEM FIRST.

You should eat three good meals a day and no less, the last one should be eaten before 7pm at night, keep your calory intake 200kcal below your daily need, excersise tree times a week and you will loose weight at a steady rate 

Lastly you need to establish what body type you have as that has implications on the type of excersise you need to do:

i.e. endomorph, ectomorph, mesomorph

This is a good peice on it: http://www.muscleandstrength.com/articles/body-types-ectomorph-mesomorph-endomorph.html

Its simple really: eat less, eat a balanced diet and excersise more in the right way.

hometime posted

I've seen it work.... But I think it's something you can do very occasionally.  The old cholesterol levels must take quite a hit.  

I did a similar-ish kind of diet at Educo a couple of years back and it was very effective.  The trick is to team it with weight training.  High protein supports weight-training which, in turn, burns fat.  I lost a shitload of weight (probably a bit too much) but I found it difficult to sustain once real life resumed.  My boss did the same diet with the same results  and got a shocker of a cholesterol reading afterwards.  Like me, she is now struggling to lose weight again after a couple of years.  

I think the real goal should be to retrain ourselves to sensible eating so that we can maintain a reasonable weight rather than have to lose excess poundage every so often:  lots of fruit/veg/fibre/water/lean protein and restraint on the fun stuff.  A bit of exercise and we should be good to go.  Sounds great in principle.  Reality requires a bit of effort.  Thank the TBJ that me fella thinks me paunch is "cute,"

when u say "got a shocker of a cholesterol result  u mean it came down ? and by how much i.e. wat level , ive got high cholesterol but part is diet related and part is genetic ,duno wat to do to lower level doc wants to put me on cholesterol lowering tabs but im reluctant

My eldest sister tried it a few years back and developed diverticular disease as a result.  I'd never do any of these fad diets, want to loose weight just cut out the junk food, eat less and exercise.

I dont think it is a fad diet, I think the initial intro was faddish a few years ago, but now it is more about looking at the shit you eat and how to maintain a healthy weight, the initial induction period is just to shock your body into changing how it uses its resources, and shifting a good chunk of wait. Peevay, you almost come across as aggressive there, but Ill overlook that, and say That yes as I said, i have cut out all the junk from my diet, I stopped drinking, and I exercise a lot. I have a medical condition and take daily medication, I dont smoke. I lead a reasonable healthy life, I dont need a lecture on whats in my cupboard, I HAVE for many years been concious of junk, I only eat brown rice, i cook homemade pizza with fresh ingredients and spelt flour, I love raw vegetables. But I put on some extra weight from boozing like any mid 30's faggot with a hankering for fun, and I have a ridiculous sweet tooth... So Im trying to get rid of it, then I will carry on with my usual healthier than most diet. 

@dalmation: it’s not aggression, its frustration that after ALL the good advice out there on exercise and nutrition people still go and follow fad fucking diets, and Atkins is a MAJOR fad diet.

As men get older we naturally develop more weight around our bellies; you just need to understand a little more about it to deal with it.

Like for instance did you know that your birth weight has massive implications on your long term health?  Low birth weight babies develop into adults that are prone to high levels of internal (visceral) fat that makes them more likely to develop diabetes in later life; outside you may look thin, but inside you are fat.

During my fitness training when I was in my twenties and I was a qualified American School of Sports Medicine Fitness Instructor, a British Amateur Weight Lifting Association Leader, an English Volleyball Association coach and a medal winning trampolinist; a lot of the instruction I received educated me on physiology and nutrition, and that is a good basis for understanding how any particular body works.

So I say this from a point of view of someone who knows the fundamentals and suffers the same as you @dalmation.

And I KNOW that fad diets like Atkins DO NOT WORK over the long term, you will lose weight, and you will damage your long term health and you will put the weight back on.

You need to make fundamental long term changes, and if you have an underlying health issue, I’d advise you to go to a nutritionist and seek expert advice.

I also recommend downloading a calorie counter app like http://www.myfitnesspal.com/

Ladeeda posted

when u say "got a shocker of a cholesterol result  u mean it came down ? and by how much i.e. wat level , ive got high cholesterol but part is diet related and part is genetic ,duno wat to do to lower level doc wants to put me on cholesterol lowering tabs but im reluctant

Yeah my doctor talked about putting me on Statins and I was a bit reluctant too.  When I spoke to my mother about it she said that high cholesterol was in the family and although our bad cholesterol was high our good cholesterol was high too so that counteracted it.

I was using the benecol type products and cut down on drink; my last bloods were a huge improvement.

In the US my brother has been on Statins for years and some information suggests they are a miracle drug like low level aspirin and can help prevent all sorts of problems.

Ladeeda posted

when u say "got a shocker of a cholesterol result  u mean it came down ? and by how much i.e. wat level , ive got high cholesterol but part is diet related and part is genetic ,duno wat to do to lower level doc wants to put me on cholesterol lowering tabs but im reluctant

The cholesterol readng was shockingly high. She had to work hard to get it back to a healthy level.  

Any diet you can't sustain over a long term is a fad diet. Could you see yourself living on the Atkins diet for another few years? What will you do to keep the weight off once you stop?