Weight loss with Atkins

How and why Atkins works exactly?

Atkins is a low carbohydrate diet and, once you are at your goal weight, Atkins is there for you to ensure that you permanently change your eating habits. As you go through each phase, you gradually add back more healthy carbs.

To find out why low-carb works when you want to lose weight fast, we go back to examining the founder of Atkins: Dr. Robert Coleman Atkins. For about 40 years ago, he found that body fat is primarily caused by (an excess of) carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are the primary source from which the body draws when it needs energy. But you get in a traditional, high-carbohydrate diets are often so many carbs in your body they can not all be processed. This excess carbohydrates are directly stored as body fat. Limit your number of carbohydrates than your body burns stored fat instead of carbohydrates. The result is a win-win situation:

• lose weight in a healthy way
• Lose weight by losing body fat.

See video below to see how this process works

The switch from burning carbohydrates to burning fat is called ketosis. Whereas Dr. Atkins 40 years ago, stood alone in his fight against the carbs, there are studies in recent years which reinforce Dr Atkins original diet Source 3] [Source 4] [Source 5] 

Carbohydrate-rich / Low-calorie diet W. Atkins Low Carbohydrate diet

Below is a graphical representation of how your body reacts to different diets. To the left, how your body reacts to a high-carbohydrate diet and the right how your body responds to the low-carbohydrate Atkins diet. Read more about why counting calories doesn't work.

The Atkins diet consists of four phases. On Phase one, you lose the most weight. Is fast weight loss is not your goal? Then you can start to phase 2 (ongoing weight loss) or Phase 3, where you can discover your personal carbohydrate balance. The personal carbohydrate balance indicates how many carbs you can eat with gaining weight. This depends on the person and also depends on how active you are.

If rapid weight loss is your goal, then read on and discover how!

What products should you avoid?

For healthy weight loss reducing carbohydrates is so important. On Atkins we recommend cutting out simple carbohydrates. Some foods may not have a sweet taste yet still contain a lot of refined carbs, these include foods such as:

These products contain refined carbohydrates. As a rule you can say that you have all kinds of sweets, cookies, soft drinks and juices should be avoided, especially if you want to lose weight. If you want slower weight loss, just have a small amount of rice several times a week but choose brown rice. This type of rice contains complex carbohydrates.

Read all about the differences between the fast digesting (simple) and slow digesting (complex) carbohydrates.

21 useful tips to lose weight fast

There will be some difficult moments especially if you've always been accustomed, like most people, to having carbs in every meal of the day. Fortunately, we have 21 tips to lose weight to help you. These 21 tips can make rapid weight loss just a bit easier!

Tip 1
Eat three regular meals a day, with possibly two or three snacks. Do not skip meals and don't go longer than 6 hours without eating.

Tip 2
Every meal - even the breakfast includes a generous portion (125-175 grams) of protein foods such as chicken, beef, lamb, pork, veal, fish, shellfish, eggs or cheese. If you're a big man, then the portion will be even bigger. You do not need to cut fat from the meat and the skin from the chicken, if you like them. If you do cut them off, then add a little olive oil and a knob of butter to your vegetables to replace the fat.

Tip 3
Enjoy butter, olive oil, sunflower oil, walnut oil or oil of seeds (grape seed oil), and mayonnaise. Use 1 tablespoon of oil over a salad or other vegetables. You can also use a knob of butter. Fry in a little oil.

Tip 4
Limit carb intake to 20 grams per day, of which 12-15g should be from vegetables. This corresponds to about 300 to 400 grams of vegetables per day from salad or cooked vegetables. Remember that the amount of carbohydrates varies by type of vegetable. See the carbohydrate content in our carbohydrate counter.

Tip 5
Stick to the Phase one food list.

Tip 6
You can eat 100 grams of cheese, 10 black or 20 green olives, half an avocado, 2 tablespoons unsweetened (sour) cream, lime or lemon juice. The carbohydrates in these foods count in your 20 grams of carbs.

Wondering what Atkins can do for you?

Get started with our free support tools:

• Calculate your BMI
• Get inspired by the low-carbohydrate Atkins recipes for any time of the day
• See Atkins low-carbohydrate products
• Calculate carbohydrates with carbohydrate counter