Rossj wrote:
1. Have you lost weight successfully, how? How long did it take?
Yes. I've successfully used the Atkins diet several times (lost 30+ lbs each time over the course of about 3-4 months). What most people don't understand about losing weight is that you can't just starve yourself. In most cases, it is all about a total change in lifestyle, including both eating habits AND exercise habits. With Atkins, the basic premise is that you cut out most simple carbs (sugars, breads, etc.) that your body breaks down very easily, and eat more proteins. Your body has to work harder to break down proteins, and proteins provide a more sustainable source of energy (unlike carbs, which are quick, and often spike blood sugar content, leading to a crash in blood sugar content, and craving more).
I don't weigh a lot by any means, and Atkins isn't for everyone, but it works for me. I like it because I can still eat meats and vegetables (which are both good for you). Cutting out carbs is admittedly hard, but once you have cut them out for a week or so, I find I lose most of the cravings for them.
Once you are done losing weight, the idea is to help you identify the amount of carbs that you can eat per day and still maintain your weight. For most people, that ends up being somewhere between 60-120g carbs per day. When you consider that the RDA for Carbohydrates is something like 300g/day (for a 2000 calorie diet), that is ridiculous.
