how does atkins work?

[lemon_elmo]

ok im a wee bit confused was hoping for a bit of help...i understand how it works with all the ketones and gycogen and all that stuff but what I dont quite understand is how the calories fit into all of this?what if you just eat meat, eggs and cheese and some salad all day surely the calories in the eggs(especially when theyre including the yolk) and the meat and especially the cheese will lead to hugh calorie consumption even if you only eat a modest amount. so how does it still work in weight loss? please could someone just enlighten me because obviously it does work I just want to know how calories can be factored out when theyve always seemed such a big part of weight loss? thanks

 

[BREN]

Oh where to start... the book you must get the book as it is so useful and explains everything and not to mention, inspirational.

Basically lemon elmo, you lower you carbs intake. You may be consuming high protein (fish, meat, eggs and cheese etc) however the body needs to process the protein with fat. Your body first burns the easy fat, this is stored sugars (from carbs) before it gets to your stored body fat. So the less carbs the quicker it can get to using the stored fat.

Yes you will be eating more calories and fat because foods higher in fat have no carbs. Once your body has switched from burning the excess sugar carbs it usually stays in this mode, as you are low carbing. Therefore it can continue to stay in fat burning mode.

Atkins allows you to have foods which are free and mandates that you must have 3 cups of greens a day to include in you 20g carb limit (induction is 20g, lasts for 2 weeks). Then you can work up that limit (all explained in the book). Atkins encourages you to only eat when truly hungry and when you reach ketosis you should find that your appetite decreases and you wont need to fill up with free foods (therefore consuming less calories).

If you low fat Atkins, most low fat foods have higher carbs and then you wont be able to switch your body to burning stored fat efficiently as the diet aims to.

Also read the stickies at the top of the thread and I hope that this has helped you darl.

Bren
X

 

[Lady Marmalade]

Heh heh, "gigantic but".

 

[Hellraiser]

I found this section of a website that is quite interesting and gives a slightly different perspective. But basically I don't really get too worried about how it works, I just know that it does

Controlling hunger

Scientists are now more interested than ever in what makes us eat less. They have concluded that there is something about the Atkins diet that controls hunger.

Research has shown that fat is the least filling food. But new work in Denmark is showing exactly what kinds of food may control hunger.

Professor Arne Astrup, from the Royal Veterinary & Agricultural University in Copenhagen, built a supermarket for a special study to find the secret of appetite control.

Professor Astrup's study focused on being able to eat as much as you want.

He put one group of shoppers on a high protein diet and one on a high carbohydrate diet.

He was surprised to find that the people eating more protein lost significantly more weight.

"The reason they lost more weight was because they consumed fewer calories, despite the fact they had free access to all the food they wanted."

Increasing the amount of meat, fish and eggs in the diet may not only be the answer to our hunger pangs, but the secret to how the Atkins diet works.

Perhaps without realising it, Dr Atkins stumbled across the secret of appetite control, by discovering a high protein diet.

The programme also investigates whether or not the Atkins diet is dangerous.

With no long term studies on the diet, any possible health risks of the diet are, so far, unproven.

 

[Jim]

Hi, all the above.

 

[Hellraiser]

Hi Jim, hope you are well mate

 

[Jim]

Yes thanks, I'm fine. Way too nice a day to be at work though!

 

[Wrinkly]

I recommend you also read a book "The Diet Delusion" by Gary Taubes. It is as thick as a brick but an eye opener. Mr Taubes & Dr Atkins are certainly on the same wavelength.

 

[*AnnaMaria*]

I don't think you do actually eat more calories on Atkins, if you did then you would gain weight. It is still a low calorie diet, and how that works is that you are full quicker so eat less calories. Plus imagine how many calories were in the carb part of your meal? Atkins is low carb, high fat, low calorie, but you are prompted to ignore the calorie part of it all, focus on the carbs, and keep your fat up to stop hunger.