Success AND failure from the Atkins Diet

by Robert Johnston
(Detroit, MI)

A friend of mine had recently tried Atkins Diet that he said had actually been around since the 1960's but had recently been getting much press and fanfare.

After seeing his success at losing over 20lbs in just a month or two I made the decision that this was something I had to try. And thus my introduction to the Atkins Diet was about to begin.

The first stage of the diet is what Atkins calls the Induction phase. This is the most restrictive part of the diet where you limit yourself to around 20 carbohydrates a day.

One of the most critical parts of the induction phase is making sure that your water intake is sufficient. Atkins recommends at least 8 glasses of 12 ounce water a day.

During the Induction phase you also have to eliminate ALL sugars and ALL alcohol (liquor, beer, wine, etc). If you are successful at doing the Induction phase this is where you will see your greatest weight loss.

For the 2 months that I was on induction I had lost a total of 25 lbs!

But all was not to be well for me on Atkins. Unfortunately living for a long period eating at induction levels is not realistic.

If you are not careful it is easy to fall into a trap of cheating on your foods and the weight can slowly creep back on. This is where I failed.

My suggestion for anyone considering the Atkins diet is to purchase the book, read it thoroughly, and then make a decision if this is a diet that may be right for them.

Do you need a little more help with your weight?