Subscribe RSS Feed[ReviewAZON asin="1439190275" display="inlinepost"]What is the Atkins Diet? Most people are already aware of the Atkins diet, but for those who are not or been hiding in a cave here is a brief introduction: It is a Low Carb Diet meaning eating low carbohydrates and the ones you do eat are called “good carbs”.
The Atkins plan is not only a diet that works, it also happens to be one of the best Diet Plans to help with muscle building. There are four parts or phases to the Atkins diet plan. Here’s an overview of how it works.
Induction: this is the first part and the hardest part as you are allowed the least amount of carbohydrates per day. It is also the most important part so following this phase you must be very strict and follow the allowable 20 grams of carbohydrates a day. To put that in perspective a small banana has about 20 grams of carbs. On this Induction phase you will get most of your carbs eating vegetables but you never feel hungry as you can eat as much what is referred to as acceptable foods in the induction. No caffeine or alcohol are allowed in this phase, I switched to decaf so I still had the taste but no caffeine, took a few days to get used to it but after that it was fine. The good news is you only do this induction for 2 weeks, or course you can stay on it longer if you want to still have more weight loss at this rapid pace but a minimum of 2 weeks is required.
Ketosis: while on the induction you body goes into a state called Ketosis and what happens when you are in this state the body uses your fat for energy. This period everyone will respond different and some people cannot handle it as well as others. Listen to your body and read up if you are safe to do this low carb diet plan, most people can do it but better safe than sorry. Ketosis is the basis for the Atkins Diet or Low Carb Diet Plans.
OWL Ongoing Weight Loss: is the second part and where you slowly add carbohydrates to your diet and you loss maybe 1 or 2 pounds a week which is what Atkins recommends and calls this the CCLL phase for Critical Carbohydrate Level for Losing. You do this by adding about 5 grams of carbs a day. You start with adding more vegetables then whole grains.
Pre Maintenance and then Maintenance: is the third and fourth phase and this varies as well like the Induction on how much weight you want to lose. But simple put, the pre-maintenance is where you add a few more good carbs and then the maintenance is what you stay on long term and learn what your body can handle with the amount of carbohydrates so you stay at that weight.
Make sure you get a book on the Atkins Diet or a Low Carb Diet Plan, as it is very important to know what you are doing and there is recommended food information in it that you will need for the carbohydrate counts. Also there is tons of information in books and on the net for recipes and places to buy or get low carb foods. Will this be part of your Awesome Diet Plans? If you answered yes, I think it is a good kick start to weight loss for most people.
Tags: atkins diet, diets that work, low carb diets