Thread: How much weight did you loose on phase one of the Atkins?

Congratulations Sarah. It ain't easy to lose 7 pounds. How many days are there in phase one of Atkins diet?

It's been so long ago that I don't remember but what I lost the first week, but I did lose 70 pounds in 3 months. Then again I started at 330 pounds so it's pretty normal to lose quickly at first when you're that much overweight.

The induction phase of Atkins lasts 2 weeks. The purpose being to rid your body quickly of the excess carbs...because once you do, the cravings go away. I follow the 1972 Atkins so my first two weeks were nothing more than protein and salads. I ate whenever I 'felt' hungry and know I was eating close to 3000 calories the first week. As I slid into the 2nd week, the cravings were less so I ate less and my calories probably dropped down to around 2000. After the 2nd week you can add carbs back in slowly, but I kept mine low deliberately. I never ate more than 30gm of carbs per day and it was always in vegies.

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Originally Posted by Atkinsman

Buy some Keytone strips from the pharmacy. Great way to keep you motivated and see if you are burning ketones.

Ketostix are not an accurate measure of ketosis. They are only a measure of how concentrated the ketones are in your urine. You can make them turn deep purple by just not drinking enough water (enough will vary by the individual) and you can dilute them enough that they won't even show on the ketostix...but that doesn't mean you aren't in ketosis. The best way of making sure you're in ketosis is to stay under 30gm of carbs per day and get those carbs only in the form of vegies and eat clean. Avoid processed foods even if they say they're low carb. They generally are not. Watch how many artificial sweeteners you use. Most contain maltodextrin (like the powdered Splenda) which causes many people to stall.

Originally Posted by Atkinsman

(3)The fat you eat on Atkins is burned first so it doesn't mean you can eat whatever you like. The goal is to burn body fat stores so eating too many fats wil inhibit your weight loss.

Actually, the goal is to keep the *carbs* low so that the body doesn't try to store them as fat. As a result, the body will burn the fat stores instead and (very simple explanation by the way) this is what puts us in ketosis. Yes, too many fats *may* inhibit weight loss, but a 5 year study finished last summer showed that people on a low carb/high fat diet lost more weight *and* improve their lipid profiles by twice as much as people on a low carb/low fat diet. Fats don't make us fat. Carbs make us fat. Gary Taubes wrote two good books on this - "Good Calories/Bad Calories" and "Why We Get Fat". Atkins recommendation was not to worry about fat unless you stalled. Then said to look at the fats first as that is usually the culprit...but that seems to mostly apply to people who insist on eating a pound of bacon for breakfast.

Originally Posted by Atkinsman

Drink LOTS of water. This helps in the fat burning process

According to Dr. Stanley Goldfarb, a kidney expert at the University of Pennsylvania, too much water hinders the kidney's ability to function as a filter. The recommendation of 64 fl oz of water comes from...nobody knows where...but they're pretty certain that not everyone needs that much and some people need more. The color of your urine is a good indicator of whether you are drinking enough. It should be a very light yellow. If it is completely colorless, you may be drinking too much water. If it's a very deep yellow, you're not drinking enough. This information comes from Dr. Marc Pohl, head nephrologist at the Cleveland Clinic.

(5)EXERCISE...if you are in Ketosis, the exercise you do is burning fat stores! How awesome is that![/QUOTE]

In or out of ketosis, exercise burns calories.