Diet time! Anyone tried Atkins' Diet?

Wife has been after me and I don't like how I look. So bought a 20 year old book on Atkins' Diet and off I go.

I've done this diet before to great results so hoping for same or better. Plan is to lose 35 pounds in 3 months.

Next spring want to do P90X in my garage and train for the Spartan Race. My wife did it and I think I can too.

Any other members on a diet?

 

I have no idea what the Atkins diet consists of, but kudos for you to do something about your weight. The most critical part is that you now made a reason to reach your goal (to do the spartan race). Since you did that, it will give you something tangible to reach for. I think most people who try to loose weight fail to do that, which trips them up during their progress. 35 pounds if a lot of weight to loose, and you’re joints will appreciate it greatly. I’m at the gym quite a bit, and i’ve had multiple conversations with other guys who have lost anywhere from 50 to a whopping 100 pounds! One thing i would recommend is to start the diet and workouts BEFORE the holidays and BEFORE the end of the years. I think too many people use january 1st as an excuse to have a new year’s resolution, only to give up and fail a month later. Start your program before thanksgiving and that will let you sail on through christmas, new years, and into spring time. Respect for you wanting to do something about your health, and good luck. You can do this!

 

Good for you. P90x is fun once you get through the first couple of weeks. First time doing it even my hair hurt that first week.

 

Thanks man. Prior to marriage (and working all the time) I hit the gym at least every other day, with pushups and sit ups on the off days. I did P90X in 2013 and again in 2020, doing the full 15 weeks.

Just got lazy after I got married.

"Keto" is the new "Adkins'". Adkins' Diet is ketosis, eating so few carbs the body has to metabolize stored fat. 3 cups of a low carb vegetables a day with whatever protein I want. Lots of water to save the kidneys from all the salt.

I did this back in 2012 and worked up* to 1.5 hours of sweating exercise a day, every day. Lost 25 pounds then, followed by my best season ever teaching ski lessons 7 days a week. The following summer I did P90X.

*First week: 10 minutes of exerice.
*Second week: 15 minutes of exercise.

By the third month, I was doing 45 minutes on the bike followed by 45 minutes on the treadmill, sweating a moderate amount the entire time.

 

Been doing the carnivore diet which seems to be the modern equivalent to Adkins. First 100 days down 60lbs. I took whatever my sedentary calorie burn was, subtracted 1000 cals and that was my daily target (about 1800 for me). Worked out most days but did not count those calories (in the past I would have eaten more food had I counted them, instead stuck to the same calorie amount no matter what). Eating mostly meat helps make the 1800 be filling and not hungry all the time.

 

One day in and my appetite was satisfied. Loose stools is the biggest danger! YOU CANNOT TRUST A FART TO JUST BE A FART.

 

I actually "laughed out loud" on this one. That is very sound advice.

 

My mom suffers from RA and had her move in when my kids went on with their own lives. She controls it with an anti-inflammation diet. Intermittent fasting, no sugar, lectins, oxylates and a blend of paleo/keto.
I'm a healthy weight but helping with meal prep and following it has lifted brain fog, cravings and a healthy immune system.
Portion control and limited sugar/carbs helps a lot.

 

Do what works (has worked) for you in the past, but being healthy vs just losing wait is all about ingredients, portion control, & moderation.

Make sure you can pronounce the ingredients, and it doesn’t look like a Dow chemical / DuPont Christmas list. Natural ingredients, no dyes, no artificial crap etc. local farms, milk, meat etc. you can even eat “carbs”. Sourdough bread, pasta, pancakes etc.

Without flying too close to the political ban hammer sun, the recent news of a famous family initialed gentleman being appointed to an important cabinet position, has put a popular fast food chain in the cross hairs. The takeaway being that you could even have some French fries if you wanted them if you grow the potato (or at least know where and how it was grown), and use specific oils, etc.


Exercise is critical. Start with lifting weights. Build muscle to help you burn fat more efficiently. Starting with mostly cardio sucks and isn’t as effective (particularly for long term health and staying “fit”)

 

Lifting weights?

You mean you want me to clean out one of my garages, getting rid of all the junk I haven't used in 5 years, just so I can put my Soloflex in there?

I need to do just that!

 

^^^^this right here 100%! I come from a competitive running background, so i’m easily able to handle pure cardio workouts for multiple hours, but it is inefficient when compared to building up muscle to loose weight. I don’t think the average person knows this (male or female). Heck, i just turned 49 years old, and i didn’t know any of this until two spin bike instructors at my gym told me all of this about 4 years ago. Both gals were also a personal trainers for other people, but they would alway give me free pro tips on lifting any time they saw me at the gym.

A couple funny stories…one of the spin instructors urged everyone in the class to lift weights so that they could build “lean body mass”. I spent the next 2 weeks google searching what lean body mass was. Turned out it’s a fancy way of saying muscle. I felt like an idiot after i told her the story.

Second story, and keep i mind this was only about 3 years ago…
i normally get to the gym a few hours or so before the spin class so that i can lift weights. My spin instructor walked by me during the middle of one of my lifting set, and exclaimed, “my john, you’re looking pretty swole this morning!” I never had heard the term “swole” before, and i thought it was a bad thing. My 100% honest reply waswhich was, “yeaaaah….i just got back from mexico yesterday, and the food was really salty down there. That’s probably why. But i should be better once it works out of my system in a few days.” She did give me a verrry confused look right after my reply, but didn’t say anything else. It wasn’t until a few months later when i was talking to a good friend and told him i was lifting weights. His sarcastic response was, “so are you getting swole?” After a brief pause on my end, i asked, WTF is swole? We both had a good laugh at that one.

 

Swole? "Swell" spelled wrong?

My wife is a spin instructor.

 

Thought it was a fart, gave it some thought, went to the bathroom.....nope, not a fart!

Otherwise diet is going very well. No violations so far, Friday will make it a week. Feeling great. Not tired at all, feel upbeat, plenty of energy.

 

Diet update: still on course 100% with zero violations. I was a little tempted by the fried potatoes and onion rings my wife cooked up today for my dad but I resisted.

I have noticed a degree of forgetfulness though....I think it's due to the diet. I'd have to look in the book again if that is a known side effect. Further, wife noticed something I did not. I, for some reason, always yawn just as I begin reciting the Lord's Prayer at night. Always happens......except........that's now stopped.

Hope to incorporate some exercising tomorrow.

 

Update: December the 2nd and I've lost 10 pounds! People have begun to notice and make comments about me looking thinner.

Up to 30 minutes now on the stationary bike, Level 3 "hills." I break a sweat about 10 minutes in. Not working out everyday but most days of the week.

So eager to see the look on the nurse's face when I go to the doc next month and get on the scale.

 

I use "Carb Manager" to track my macros on keto. Lost about 60 lbs doing low carb and OMAD (one meal a day). I pretty much had a black coffee in the morning, a chipotle salad around 2-3pm and a small snack at home around 4-5pm.

 

I think my wife does something like that. She counts her calories, weighs food and snack portions on a scale, does intermittent fasting, goes 72 hours without eating, etc.

I just got in from the gym. Another 30 minutes on the bike down. Feeling good.

 

Just a tip (I'm a dietitian), would be to pace yourself. So many people set these lofty goals about how much weight they're going to lose (usually way too much way too quickly), when they'd be so much better off taking it slow and steady.

As others mentioned above, building lean body mass is a critical part of that slow and steady approach. Too many people think "I'm going to go on XYZ diet, and lose XYZ pounds". That type of thinking implies that you are going to do this for a period of time and then be "cured" and go back to "normal". Normal being the lifestyle that created the problems you're trying to solve. So instead you have to change your habits permanently and doing radical, dramatic changes makes that far more difficult and less likely to succeed.

 

^^^^^1,000,000% right there! It seems like many people who go on a diet don't realize this. It needs to be looked at as a lifestyle change, not a diet!

 

I can tell you one thing. Age does matter. What worked at 40 it may not work at 50. Ask me how I know. Calorie count used to work great for me but not anymore. Seems like the mediterranean diet is doing good for me right now. Also hire if you can a medical or licensed nutritionist. Mine is paid by the insurance. And of course any type off exercise will help. I bike 60+ minutes every day.

 

Are you serious? Nobody loses weight then gains it back! LOL

You are 100% correct! Lose the weight, go back to unhealthy eating and laying around, and "big bada boom!" the weight is back with more packed on! I've seen it and done it myself.

After I get the weight down it's gonna be the Adkins' Ongoing Program (or whatever his book calls it).

 

It's good you have a plan for what comes next. All I'll add is ask yourself "can I honestly see myself doing this for the rest of my life?" when considering any planned lifestyle change. Gotta change your "normal". Best of luck

 

Totally agree with this. Diets will burn you out. You need to make a lifestyle change. In my case, I fast 16 hours almost daily, try to stay under 2000 calories or so and try stay around 70g of carbs a day although its less most of the time. I don't document; it's just something I mentally keep track of and has become normal for me. This is what I do to maintain my weight on top of lifting 4 days a week and cardio 3 days a week. The most important thing of all for weight control is quality calorie count in and out in my opinion.

 

I've kept my routine simple. Find everything protein rich and make sure I'm getting 200g+ everyday. Simplifies my lifestyle and I don't have to pay so much attention to macros. I eat a lot of chicken and supplement with whey and a multivitamin everyday.

I lift 3 to 4 times per week and don't eat past 7pm. My first meal is at 11 am and I have 2 snacks in between dinner.

It's real easy to stay in a deficit with my job as well, since I walk 15K to 25K steps per day.

Suprisingly, my biggest hurdle has been getting the right amount of sleep. Hard to recover and have some restfulness when you're busy.

So far I've kept off 65 lbs since deciding to make the change in 2022. I was a very fit 165 in my younger years with 12% to 15% body fat and I let myself go to 290 by the end of 2021. Surprisingly my BP at that weight was only 135/85. Since then it has gotten down to 115/72. All I want to do is live as long as possible for my kids and I'm so glad I've made the change.

Here's my macros:

 

Believe it or not, fitness was my "normal routine." Most of my life I exercised daily and simply never bought any sweets, pop (soda), or other junk food. "If you don't have it you can't eat it" was my motto.

Being married to a fitness nut who teaches dance exercise classes..........well.......you get the picture.

 

Health psychologist here to give .02 (I work in a diabetes clinic and specialize in weight management). The only good diet is one that is sustainable. Anything that requires severe deprivation is not typically that. There is no magical formula beyond burning more calories than you consume. In that, you want to figure out how much protein you need and integrate resistance training (ideally, progressive overload training) in order to preserve muscle mass. Not just for aesthetics, but for its significant connection with longevity.

 

If Atkins sounds appealing, i highly suggest looking up NSNG. Its a very simple eating concept with lots of options.

I ate very low carb for 2 years straight, lost 40 lbs, felt amazing. BUT i didnt look great. Eating very low carb your body will run just fine on fat and never be hungry. I found that I needed more protein to not lose muscle mass. I now prioritize protein first and eat to satiety.

 

In his book on the subject, Dr. Atkins explains how the eating of protein prevents the body metabolizing muscle mass.

I don't think very many people---especially those that "do the Atkins' Diet" actually buy or read the book.

Anyway....went a little crazy on the bike tonight. Saw a guy running on the treadmill and decided to copy him. I got my speed up to the point of the bike beginning to rock sideways and held that speed for 10 minutes. Heart rate climbed until it reached 150 bpm at the very last.

According to the wife and her crazy-expensive smartphone my target heart rate should be 107 to 130 or something.

I didn't die.

Back at it tomorrow!

 

A group of my friends years ago all joined the local crossfit club (i didn’t because i was still running competitively). They were trying to whip themselves into shape and have a fun time doing it. One of my friends in particular wanted to loose about 50lbs. He would do all the x fit workouts during the week, but allowed himself to have one cheat eating day on the weekend. The problem was he would waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay overdue the calories big time. He made the habit of waking up saturday morning (his cheat day) and go down to 7-11 and stock up on soda pop, candy bars, cookies, and who knows what else. All the calories he burned during the week, he took them all back in and then some in one day. Of course he never lost any weight.

Similar instance currently with one of my good friends. He will sometimes join me at the gym’s spin class. The class is anywhere from 45 minutes to 1 hour long. Afterwards he’ll eat a “protein” bar or two…which will completely negate all the calories he just burned. This may sound kinda weird, but i keep a sharp eye on his weight…for the only reason is that i maintain his ktm dirtbikes, and i’ve reprung his suspension to match his weight a few different times. One of these times i need to talk to him about looking at the ingredients on the back of his protein bars. Just so he can see how many calories he’s taking in. Most all protein bars ARE just candy bars that are falsely advertised as being healthy. The only thing is i don’t want to come across as being pretentious with what he should eat, so i’ll probably just wait pensively until he brings it up.