Has anyone tried the Atkins Diet?

[TaraNorth]

Has anyone tried the Atkins? Is it really about cutting out all the carbs out of your diet? It sounds a little sketchy to me. Are there any benefits to this diet or is it just a fad?

[Janet]

Yes, I've tried it, and I really didn't like it. In my opinion it is a fad diet. You don't cut out all carbs, but you do dramatically decrease your carb intake. What makes this diet pretty killer, however, and really not worth it, is it is expensive! Some of the foods that it suggests you incorporate into your meal are not cheap. I say, save your money and try something else.

[1000kilowatts]

I tried it for a while. It really works and it works pretty fast. After the first week you're already seeing results. The problem I had with it is that the cravings for anything bready or that has sugar in it are unbelievable. I became completely obsessed with food and was always thinking about carbs and how much I wanted to eat them. So it worked for the full 8 weeks that I stuck to it, but I was miserable for about 7 of those weeks. I really wouldn't recommend it unless you only need to lose less than 10 pounds total.

[TroyBurger]

I tried Atkins for several months a couple of years back. I agree with Janet that it can be expensive and I also agree with 1000kilowatts that I had incredibly huge cravings for sugary carbs. I don't think I ever wanted cookies or cake so bad in my entire life LOL. I lost about 15 pounds while I was on it, but I gained it all back once I stopped doing it. Personally, I find that there are just too many sacrifices I had to make in my diet for it to become a realistic lifestyle for me.

[M-Stark334]

I personally did not like the Atkins diet and I didn't find much success with it. One of my good friends really liked it though. He lost about 15 or 20 pounds or something. I think he did it for four or five months before giving it up. I'd recommend researching it to see if it's a program that works for you and then talking to your doctor about it.

[TaraNorth]

hmmm interesting. It looks like overall consensus is that no one really recommends it. Thanks for the responses. That basically answered my question. I think I'll try something else.

[1000kilowatts]

hmmm interesting. It looks like overall consensus is that no one really recommends it. Thanks for the responses. That basically answered my question. I think I'll try something else.

That's probably a good idea. Nothing on the extreme side will last very long. Have you heard of the Mediterranean Diet? It's great and you can comfortably practice that for a lifetime.

[Bean]

Atkins has been given a bad name. I've tried it and it worked very well. I actually purchased the book and followed what it says. It doesn't say to just never eat carbs. There is a method to it. It's a reduction in carbohydrates. You can still have some.

[brightstar]

Atkins has been given a bad name. I've tried it and it worked very well. I actually purchased the book and followed what it says. It doesn't say to just never eat carbs. There is a method to it. It's a reduction in carbohydrates. You can still have some.

I think that you could be right, but at the same time, I think that it may have earned its bad name because while it may be great for some people, it really doesn't work for others. That's probably the case for every single diet in existence. But what I mean is that while Atkins may actually be a good diet, if it doesn't work for me, it doesn't necessarily mean I'm doing it wrong or that I'm weak for carbs. It's just another one of those things in life where one size can't fit all.