I had an Attending and his resident go on the Diet while I was there, and within a couple of weeks they had lost 6 lbs each.  He claimed it was biochemically sound.

I have also heard that the diet can cause kidney problems.

Before I go sink any money into a diet book, I thought I'd look here for info.

And, before anyone says it--I know permanant weight loss involves lifestyle changes more than just a diet--you need to get more active, eat right, etc.--instead of just watching/cutting calories.  However, I need to get some kind of a start on the process.

AFARR

In the first week or so, you will drop around 10 pounds in water weight alone.  The theory is that 1 molecule of Carbohydrate is attatched to 2 moleculs of water, so when you deplete the carbs in your system, you will loose all the water weight.  Continuing to consume a low carb high fat/protien cause your body to look to it's fat stores for energy.  It's like diesle v gas.  You've feel a bit sluggish starting anything, but once you get moving you'll feel like you can go on forever.  You'll loose the "hunger pangs" caused by the decrease in sugar in the blood that causes your tummy to rumble, BUT you'll probably get headaches when you need to eat.  You MUST drink lots (and I mean LOTS) of water or you will suffer from kidney disease down the road.  You're breath will stink, and you'll feel/be constipated.

Anything else? [:D]

Maybe not so good. Being in an acidotic or an alkalotic state isn't normal.


America's high-fat, high-protein diet guru, Dr Robert Atkins, is struggling to recover from a cardiac arrest - fuelling speculation that he is a victim of his own advice.

The heart attack was caused by a virus, not the diet, insisted the 71-year-old Dr Atkins after emerging from nearly a week in hospital.

'I have had cardiomyopathy, which is a non-coronary condition and is in no way related to diet,' he said on a television show following a heart attack on April 18.

But the American Heart Association, which has the nation's leading cardiologists on its membership rolls, has long warned that heart attacks might follow adherence to the Atkins Diet, reported The Telegraph on Sunday.

Dr Atkins' formula - eat meat and any other form of pure protein while avoiding carbohydrates contained in bread, potatoes and sugar - evolved in the early 1970s.

According to him, the fastest way to lose weight is to starve the body of carbohydrates until the body burns fat instead in a process called 'ketosis'.

[B]Fat[/B] loss of more than 1lb per week is very hard, more than 2lb per week is just about physically impossible.  Most losses from "diets" like this come from dehydration (bad) and muscle loss (bad) - since you only need to burn around 800 calories to lose a pound of muscle.  Get a bodyfat monitor/scale if you go on the diet to see what is really happening to your body.

If you have bad kidneys and I believe a bad liver don't do the diet.  You may or will suffer from bad breath.  Buy some mints.  Never had the constipation problem but everyone is different I guess.

Overall its a good diet.  If you like to eat bread like me you may have problems at first.  Same goes for beer (although I don't follow the no beer rule).  A lot of protein and fat isn't too bad if you don't eat a lot of carbs.  Carbs will kill you.


Check out Atkins site and look around.  You may be able to get what knowledge you want by just looking around and if it interests you enough go and buy the book...

Oh, give the guy a break -- he's 71 years old.  So he has a (mild) heart attack at 71?  Big deal, a coworker of mine died from one at age 32 (heavy smoker with a family history of high cholesterol).

Jim Fixx, the 1970's jogging guru, died of a heart attack when he was in his 40's.

And the medical establishment wants to discredit Atkins because he had a heart attack at age 71??  I hope I live that long!

You have two choices: Listen to the people that have been on this eating plan, or listen to the people who haven't. Muscle loss will come from a starvation diet. This is in no way a starvation diet. You can eat whenever you are hungry, but after a while you won't be able to eat as much as you think you can ;) As far as getting more active, you will have no choice on this plan. Once you lose around 40 lbs, if you have that much to spare, you will feel so energetic that you won't know what to do with yourself.

I of course am biased. I lost about 60 lbs on the Atkins plan. Don't plan on getting OFF this plan though. It's a lifetime commitment. This isn't a diet where you lose weight and go back to your old style. This is an eating plan that changes what you eat forever. Sugar is out of the picture.

You will hear good and bad about the Atkins. I can honestly say I never once heard anything bad about it from someone on it.

Oh wait, I said something bad about it before. Eating only steak is too damn expensive ;)

The Atkins does work but like all diets it is not a lifestyle change and that is what you really need to address.  My wife is a registered dietician and does neither endorse or condemn the Atkins plan.  Do be aware that "ketosis" which the diet causes will make you lose weight but also does have some side effects and before staring any diet you should check with your doctor or someone like a registered dietician who often knows about nutrition than the doctors.  The key to sustainable weight loss is ELMM = EAT LESS, MOVE MORE  In other words if you want to get your weight down quicker a diet will help but to really keep it that way you need to add proper nutrition and more exercise to your lifestyle.

What Troy said Exercise, fat people that exercise are healthier than skinny people that don't.   A well balanced diet with exercise, is the way to go.


 And if you go on eating binges(and not eating binges) your mind will sense that you are going on a dry spell,and store every thing you are eating as reserves for the bad times it thinks are coming!  So keep up a diet of the actual calories you well need to handle that active(or inactive) days work.  

 Binges of any kind are hard on your body.

 Bob     [8D]