The Atkins Diet Reviewed

One of the most famous weight loss diets, all over the world, is the Atkins diet. In the years 1960, there was this doctor, Robert Atkins, who discovered a fantastic method for losing weight, while he was making attempts to get rid of his own extra pounds. When he discovered the diets that made him famous later on, he started to apply it on his patients, after he had seen the great results he’d obtained with it. Later, Dr. Atkins published his revolutionary diet in the book called Dr. Atkins’ Diet Revolution, somewhere in the 1970’s, and he published an updated version of the book in the late 1990’s. The Atkins diet did not only make its author famous and his patients happy and slim, but it also gave birth to a whole industry around the book, as many groceries started to offer foods specially prepared for those who wanted to follow the Atkins Diet.

The Mechanism of Atkins Diet

The main idea is to eat lots of high protein foods, while reducing carbohydrates intake to a minimum. The diet comprises four stages, which, in case of being followed strictly, promise a healthy, stable weight loss, and maintaining it for many years after.

Atkins Diet Stage 1: The Induction

This is the biggest challenge for dieters, because it causes a nutritional and metabolic shock which is not very well supported by everybody. In this stage, your daily carbohydrates intake must be lower than 20 grams, out of which, more than half must come from vegetables. You can eat as much fat as you want, as long as you restrict your carbs to this amount. Atkins advises that you also take some multivitamin supplement, especially if you live an active life and you need a lot of energy.

Atkins Diet Stage 2: The Ongoing Weight Loss

Now you measure your weight weekly, and if you notice a decrease, you are allowed to increase the carbs intake by two grams per each week. You can keep this on as long as you need, until you are happy with the weight you manage to lose, be it 10 pounds, 20 pounds or even more.

Atkins Diet Stage 3: The Pre-Maintenance

Now you can add to your diet 10 more grams of carbs each week, provided that you still lose or you maintain your weight. The purpose of this stage is to find out how many grams of carbs you can eat on a daily basis without gaining more weight. Then you need to stick to that carbohydrates quantity, and so you can remain at the same weight for a long time.

Atkins Diet Stage 4: The Maintenance

In this stage, you keep the carbs quantity constant, while making sure that you eat mostly natural products, you give up refined foods and sugars, and you don’t abuse deep frying.

Atkins Diet Side Effects

What the book doesn’t say but many people have experienced, are the side effects caused by this diet. This is what one Atkins dieter has to share with his readers:

Atkins leads you to believe that the presence of these ketone bodies indicates ongoing fat release. He also assures you that they feed the brain. That is partially true. Here are just a few of the issues he neglects to address:

1. Extended periods of ketosis may affect the chemical composition of the blood in such a way that you increase risk of cardiac incident (blood ketoacidosis).
2. In a state of ketoacidosis, carbon dioxide accumulates in the tissues. Oxygen delivery to the cells is impaired. This can lead to a wide range of disastrous consequences ranging from respiratory ailments to metabolic illness.
3. Toxic ammonia buildup resulting from severe cases of ketoacidosis can be lethal.

As the author says, this is not a must happen for every dieter out there, but if we add the more common potential side effects such as constipation and bad breath, we may come to the conclusion that something is wrong in Dr. Atkins’ diet plan.

Nevertheless, if you insist in trying this diet, please don’t forget to ask your doctor’s advice, to see if your health allows it.

Can Cheating Be Good for Weight Loss Motivation?

One of the reasons so many weight loss plans fail is the lose of motivation. This rule applies not only to losing weight, but to any other activity that requires self-discipline in order to be successful.

How Hard Is It To Keep The Weight Loss Motivation Alive?

This is very hard, and if you choose to do it the tough way, it can be almost impossible. This is perhaps an attribute of the human race: every now and then we need to break free and disobey every possible rule and standard of life we’ve been setting to ourselves. There was even a saying that principles are made for being broken: at least in my case, it proved to work like that. I had some major turning points in life when I just broke up with the past and with the “me” I thought I was, and started over, fresh and new, thus more creative and vivid than ever.

This is the paradox: you can keep your motivation for getting rid of those extra pounds, no matter how many they are, by breaking the rules from time to time, while following a weight loss system which has been proven to fit you, your lifestyle and personality best. Women especially, because they are more prone to cravings when they are on their period. Many “weight losers” think that a little bit of cheating doesn’t spoil an entire fitness diet. They are right, provided that it’s only a little and not a lot of cheating:

When I’m on my period I have a hard time eating good, but I stick to it for the most part. I cheat a little, but nothing more than a chocolate bar or two.

This is a quote from Kristi Brauch’s online diary. Kristi is a wife and a mom (and a great photographer) who took a decision that her family needs healthy nutrition, so they were constantly losing weight over the past 10 months, due to switching to healthier eating habits. Her insight after the “junk food week” brings us back to today’s topic: keeping motivation during long-term weight loss programs. This is her conclusion after breaking the rules and eating whatever she felt for that week:

I think it’s good to have a junk week from time to time so you can remember how horrible and icky all that stuff is.

So, every now and then, dare to ignore a rule or two, and go fool around. Then you’ll see which way made you feel better and your dietary decisions would be easier to take.
Remember that the beauty is in the eyes of the viewer and not in the beautiful thing itself.
Your weight loss plan would suddenly become a blessing and not a curse.

Fast and Healthy Weight Loss Know How

Being overweight is most of the times a pain. Even in childhood, being fat has social implications, as children tend to be merciless and crude, thus making fun of their fat colleagues. Aside from the social facet of obesity, the lack of self esteem followed by anxiety and depression, there’s another side which cannot be neglected: the physical health issue. Being obese has consequences on the cardio-vascular system, on the skeleton and on the joints, and last but not least, on the pulmonary system and on the skin.

There are cases in which, only a minor weight loss of a couple of pounds can bring an improvement of the quality of life, due to the fact that the mental perceives weight loss as a success, as the first step towards a slim, beautiful body which turns heads on the street.

Simple Weight Loss Tips To Follow

Regardless the methods of losing weight you may choose, there are a few rules which would help you make the transition from the over-weight status to a normal weight or even slim person, admired by everybody.

The very first thing to do before starting a weight loss plan, program or diet is to ask for specialized medical advice. A nutritionist or a specialist in metabolism could assess your health status and your overweight condition, then recommend you the best weight loss regimen which would minimize the health risks. Full physical examinations are required in order to determine the most appropriate weight loss technique.

Moreover, if you want your weight loss to happen fast and to be effective, you need to change four major areas of your lifestyle: what to eat, how to eat, behavior and activity level.

Here are a few tips to help over weight people in their weight loss journey:

1. Fast weight loss needs to combine more than one technique or plan, from a positive and determined mindset, to exercise and special workouts for belly, thighs, hips or buttocks, not excluding the help given by food supplements which act as appetite suppressors, thus making you eat smaller quantities of food. Try to choose a diet plan which fits your culinary preferences. There’s no point in trying to eat foods that you hate. Try to allocate at least 15-20 minutes a day to physical exercise. It doesn’t mean you have to exhaust yourself in difficult workouts. Easy activities like brisk walking, running, swimming, and dancing can help maintaining the muscular tone and make your skin firmer.
2. Be realistic. Don’t fix goals like getting rid of 50 pounds in two days. If you are very fat, your mindset should be set on long term objectives rather than short term goals. Of course you’ll have your short term milestones, but they won’t bring you significant progress and you need to be aware of that.
3. Be flexible and open to adjustments. We are unique beings, so we expect our body to have different reactions to different fast weight loss programs and plans. Adjust your calories intake to your physical activity and your workouts to your abilities of doing them. There’s no point in trying to run 30 minutes each day if you suffer from knees injuries or your heart is not the healthiest in the world.
4. Drink plenty of water. Did you know that the human body consists of about 65% water? Give it water in excess and it will thank you by helping you in your attempts of losing weight. Drink at least 6-8 big glasses of water every day, even though you don’t feel the thirst.
5. Avoid deep-fried foods. They contain a lot of fats, and they can make your weight losing efforts useless. Go for grilled foods, they are much better.

Get yourself used to the discipline of healthy living and youi’ll see how all things will become better in your life and how weight loss won’t be such a huge and impossible challenge anymore. You’ll lose 2 pounds, 5 pounds, 20 pounds or even more, without exhausting efforts, depressions and nerves.

Spirulina in Losing Weight

Spirulin, or Spirulina (as it is most known) is an extract from two blue-green algae, Arthrospira platensis, and Arthrospira maxima. It is used by humans worldwide as a food supplement. Spirulina is rich in proteins, but it has less methionine, cysteine and lysine than animal proteins such as meat, eggs or milk. This nutritional supplement is also rich in fatty acids, especially in gamma-linolenic acid.

Spirulina, Weight Loss, Health Improvement

There were some studies done on humans, which showed that spirulina has positive effects on melanosis and keratosis due to chronic arsenic poisoning. Other research proved that spirulina helps undernourished children to gain weight and get rid of anemia. In ordinary people, a study done in 2007 proved that spirulina has the property to lower the total cholesterol levels, while increasing the HDL cholesterol (which is the “good” one), to lower triglycerides and to lower blood pressure.

A popular belief is that if one takes a spirulina tablet before the meals, this would lead to an appetite decrease, thus generating a weight-loss effect on long term. If spirulina is taken after the meals, it has the property to increase appetite, thus helping people eat more and gain weight. There are no studies on this relationship between spirulina and weight loss, but as it is beneficial anyway, anybody needing to get rid of some extra pounds can take it for one month and see if it works or not.

As far as I’m concerned, I’ve seen some slight loss of weight during the two months I’ve taken spirulina, but nothing revolutionary. Recently, I’ve discovered another product from the sea, the Pure Marine Phytoplankton. It managed to cut my appetite, therefore I felt less cravings and I ate less, thus being able to lose some weight without starving.

Nonetheless, the biggest gain was that I felt better, more energized, and I needed less sleep when taking these food supplements based on marine phytoplankton. If any of you is interested in trying the phytoplankton, there’s this promotion ongoing: Buy (3) Bottles of Marine Phytoplankton and Save $30.00. For more details about the product and the current promotions, please click on the banner below: