The Low Down on the Atkins Diet

The Atkins Diet was created by the late Dr Robert Atkins. It is a high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet based on the theory that if you cut out carbs you body will be forced to burn its reserved fats to act as energy source. One can actually lose weight quickly because you burn more calories when your body burns more fat than it would if it burns carbohydrates.

Overeating is also said to be prevented by cutting out carbs than lead to a more stable blood sugar level throughout the day. Dr. Atkins wrote his theories in a book called The Atkins Diet Revolution and its subsequent edition The Atkins New Diet Revolution. This book written by Dr. Atkins has sold millions of copies worldwide.

This is how the Atkins Diet works. The Atkins Diet is composed of four phases: the induction phase, the ongoing weight loss phase, the pre-maintenance phase and lifetime phase.

The first phase or the induction phase is to be followed for at least two weeks but it can also be continued for much longer depending on whether the individual can bear it or not. You must extremely limit your intake of carbohydrates during the induction phase. The allowed carbohydrate intake for the induction phase is 20g. This means eliminating all carb rich food in the diet like crisps, softdrinks, crackers, cakes, pastries, bread, potatoes, pasta, rice, milk, fruit and most vegetables, biscuits, chocolate, etc.. What you can eat is unlimited amounts of fish, cheese, eggs, mayo, ice cream, whipped cream, butter, red meat, chicken, fish, etc. According to the Atkins Diet book, the induction phase is where the body switches from burning carbs to burning fats.

During the second phase or the ongoing weight loss phase, you increase your carb intake by 5g daily for a week at a time until you reach your Critical Carbohydrate Level for Losing Weight which is the maximum amount of carbohydrate you can eat each day to lose the ideal poundage in a week. The Critical Carbohydrate Level for Losing Weight varies among different people. It could be 25g for other people.

For other people it might be 50g. or even 75 g. Whatever it is, the Critical Carbohydrate Level for Losing Weight is significantly lower than the normal carbohydrate intake of individuals in a  traditional diet. The ongoing weight loss phase allows the introduction of a few more vegetables in the person's diet. During this phase you still cannot eat bread, potatoes, rice, pasta and breakfast cereals.

You can enter the third phase or the pre-maintenance phase when you have just a little more pounds left to lose. Carbohydrate intake is increased by 10g a day for a week at a time during this phase. The objective of the pre-maintenance phase is to slow down your weight loss to no more than 1 lb a week to prepare your body for the final phase which is the weight maintenance phase. The pre-maintenance phase allows the introduction of very tiny amounts of traditional starchy foods like porridge, bread and pasta.

The fourth and final phase is called the lifetime maintenance phase. The objective of the lifetime maintenance phase is to maintain your weight as the name suggests. The carbohydrate intake for this phase is increased to 90g per day which is still very minimal compared to the carbohydrate intake of individuals in a normal diet.