Anyone successfully complete Atkins first Phase?

I've been trying to do the Atkins diet for some time now on and off. But what I'm finding hard to do is the first phase of Atkins. To eat less than 20 grams of carbs is very challenging. Do you guys know of a good meal schedule I can follow for two weeks? I need to eat 5 times a day due to my workouts.

I've basically done my own version of the Atkins. Although, I dropped down to "only" 30 grams of carbs a day. It still worked incredibly well for me. I went on a diet that was simple enough for me. If I eat carbs, I do it once a day. For example, a bowl of cereal with soy milk in the morning, would equal my carbs. The other two meals would be strictly protien. I lost about 20lbs, just guestimating...not actually weighing myself but my 'love handles' are gone, and my waist size has gone down from a 32" to a 28". Those results for me, happened in about 2 months. I'm the type that can stick to something once I make the commitment. I already drink mostly nothing but water anyway, so my carbs were mainly in my food consumption vs. in my beverages AND food like with most people. I still watch my carbs now, a few months later, but I have a "cheat day" once a week usually where I eat/drink whatever I want. I have yet to put back on any of the fat I've lost. Wish I had a camera now, I'd be showing off. But, that's on the lower end of my priorities right now.

My 20c :

I was told by my doc to lose 10kg or start suffering the consequences (eg. heart probs, high cholesterol intake issues, etc.).
After getting the gist of Atkins diet (carbs, fat and sugar are your enemy) I decided to cut out as much of these from my diet as possible and increase the amount of cardio excercise, particularly running, on top of my weekly gym work. No question as to the effectiveness of this strategy. My target of 10kg was reached inside 8 weeks from 100kg starting weight.

If you drink beer....stop now. Wine or premixers are better. Little or no dairy, pasta, rice, bread, potato, pumpkin. Big vege salads, Big lean steaks, Eat Loads Of Tuna/Salmon/Fish. Lots of meat generally....but no sausage, salami, etc. Nuts, chips and similar snacks are strictly Verboten!!! Low fat Subway sandwiches are good. Be creative about what you eat. But always check the nutritional list on the side of whatever you pick up. High in protein, low in carbs, sugar and fat is the ideal.....You'll discover as i did that you get all the carbs you need from the foods you are eating, that is, unless you're climbing mount Everest on a daily basis.

Run with the above and you can't help but win. Hope this is of some use.

Redd

http://www.muscletalk.co.uk/losing-fat.asp
http://www.muscletalk.co.uk/hard-gainers.asp
http://www.muscletalk.co.uk/protein.asp
http://www.muscletalk.co.uk/ketogenic_diets.asp

These might help mate.

dman81 said:

I've been trying to do the Atkins diet for some time now on and off. But what I'm finding hard to do is the first phase of Atkins. To eat less than 20 grams of carbs is very challenging. Do you guys know of a good meal schedule I can follow for two weeks? I need to eat 5 times a day due to my workouts.

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If you are male... you can bump up the carbs a tad more without any issue. Try 30 for a week or two if you can. It take 5 -6 days for you body to enter the Ketosis cycle. After two weeks you can then bump it up to 40, then next week 50. When you see your weight loss start to wane, you will know what your bodies "edge" is. You can then add or drop 15 to 25 g of carbs (aka a serving) to keep your loss or maintenance in check.

I found that I *was* good with 6 servings a day (or about 120 - 150g). I could maintain the weight I got down to... at that number. I have since been working out and have been over-eating during a 10 week cycle. I'll have to do the same thing in order to find out what my new weight needs to maintain itself.

But... 20g a day is wicked hard to do. If not... crazy. Some people have been known to get light headed, faint, etc... on such a low amount of carbs during the second week. Not good.

Thank you guys for the great response.

In my last month of college, I read Atkins book and dropped 18 pounds in one month, which is phenomenal for me. I guess I did a couple of things wrong, from what a friend told me. I basically ate lots of chicken breast, green vegies, tuna, and cheese. Only on days I had a basketball game that night, I would eat a white bread sandwich and an order of fries for lunch that day. That was my own addition because I found I would drag ass like I never thought possible if I got no carbs. Even Dr. Atkins would recommend carbs for serious, prolonged athletic events.

Anyhow, I didn't lift weights or do any anaerobic work at the time. I felt as though Atkins actually cannibalized some muscle mass and made me somewhat weaker. That was my chief complaint about it. I think some muscle mass is lost most anytime you diet if you're not doing some anaerobic training, so make sure you do some. My only other complaint is that I found, several years later, that this low-carb, high-protein diet gives me the shits something awful. I never had that several years ago and I have no explanation, but it was disrupting enough to my daily life that I've decided my low carb days are over for good.

I could never do Atkins... I feel horrible without intaking carbs. I pretty much avoid simple carbs, like sugar, all together but I need those complex carbs to make it through the day. And if you lift weights... skipping carbs post-workout is really going to hurt your gains. People just need to realize there is no magic... if you burn more calories than you intake you will lose weight. But that being said, the Atkins does work for alot of people -- mainly, IMHO, because alot of the foods are not very calorie dense (vegetables) and tend to be more filling (foods higher in fat, like beef) and slower digesting therefore creating the calorie deficit they need.

5 years ago I lost 40 lbs in 4 months and I ate a big glazed honey bun every day with my lunch and had a bowl of ice cream every night. How? Quit drinking soda and eating potato chips and hit the gym for nearly 2 hours 5 days per week (which I really don't recommend for muscle gains, but works great for weight loss) -- that being ~45 minutes lifting, ~15 minutes of ab work, and ~45 minutes of cardio. That pretty much changed my life, having blood pressure near stage 2 hypertension and weighing 220 lbs at 16 years old was NOT a good thing.

Hey arawndark, did you keep it all off? What do you do for maintenance?

penguinsfan said:

Hey arawndark, did you keep it all off? What do you do for maintenance?

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In college I managed to put back on about 12 pounds but I lost it again at the beginning of this year. Other than that slip-up I've managed to keep it all off. As far as maintainance I just work out for about 45 minutes a day 3-5 days a week now, my workout could be classified as a power-lifter routine -- I burn alot of energy really fast. I don't do nearly as much cardio since I'm trying to build muscle (which requires a calorie surplus). Nowadays I eat more reasonable foods, more vegetables and non-refined foods, and I also eat every 2 hours on week-days instead of eating large meals. I get to cheat on weekends w/ eating out and/or fast food or some kind of "treat" food and I have maintained ~176-180 pounds since I lose back the weight I re-gained in college.

I did it but I dont believe in low carbs anymore. I actually found the Phase One the easiest because it was the most disciplined. Meaning since its so restricted It is hard to eat too many carbs. Later when you go upto 40-60 carbs or so it is very difficult IMO because if you arent very precise and extra 5 carbs can mess you up.

Its been awhile since I did it but in extreme restriction I think I did something like eat sausage and eggs for breakfast, burger and caesar salad luinch and salmon and broccoli for dinner.

I had some serious weight to lose, and stayed on phase 1 for 5 months (6 months is the limit before it starts hurting your kidneys).

My meal plan went something like this:

9am - protein shake (High 5 from MaxMuscle) and L-Glutamine in water

11am - some vegitables (celery, especially, since some Aussie tests have shown it to contain andro)

12:40pm - small cup of Gatorade (from mix) with L-Glutamine mixed in (pre-workout prep)

2:30pm - protein shake (High 5), large glass of Gatorade from mix with L-Glutamine, handful of peanuts and other vitamins (post workout cool-down)

5pm - chicken breast, steak, or peel-and-eat shrimp

7pm - low carb ice cream bar

10pm - protein shake with L-Glutamine


At present, I take in about 100g of carbs per day, and I try and keep most of those to right before and after I work out. Just so you know, I'm 5'7 and was about 230 and probably over 30% body fat. Today, I'm 150, 18% bf and still dropping.

Wants9,
Congrats on your loss. It looks like you got a good variety for such a restrictive diet.

bigbutnottoo said:

Wants9,
Congrats on your loss. It looks like you got a good variety for such a restrictive diet.

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Thanks. Five months can get a little repetitive for some people, I imagine. It helps that I'm a creature of habit, though. Once I'm in a groove, I'm very comfortable in staying with the pattern. If I change things up, I feel like I've been put off my mental balance.

I'm glad for anyone who has lost weight from Atkins but any diet that can potentially cause damage after 6 months, or any length of time for that matter, is unsound and is pure garbage. I've known at least 5-6 guys that lost all kinds of weight off the Atkins diet, but do you know what happened when they hit their goal weight and started eating a normal diet again??? They gained back all the weight that they lost and then some... bottom line is that losing weight and living healthy requires a lifestyle change, fad diets will only make you fatter in the long run. This has been proven by several studies.

Arawndark has the right idea... cut out the simple sugars and replace with complex carbs, eat 6 small balaced meals everyday, and get your butt in the gym.