Nowadays, everyone aspires to slim and perfect bodies. But not everyone can control their desire for tempting, fatty, and fried treats. You may find it difficult to complete strict diets, thus your weight continues to rise, which makes you depressed.
However, with the Atkins diet, you can completely indulge your eating preferences with greasy, fatty, and sweet,… but you still have a slim figure.
What is the Atkins Diet?
The Atkins diet is a diet based on the way a low-carb diet works. This diet is considered relatively pleasant and close to the diet of Asians and beginners in the diet. Additionally, the Atkins diet is a long-term low-carb diet that limits the body’s absorption of starch in order to achieve and maintain weight loss. Atkins advises restricting or avoiding simple carbohydrates like sugar and wheat, favoring diets high in protein, fat, and low-starch veggies. In other words, you can eat foods that are rich in protein, fatty acids, and a few carbohydrates.
Read more: Atkins diet vs keto: Which would be better for you to try?
Losing weight with the Atkins diet
Blood sugar is raised by carbohydrates, which causes the body to store fat. Your body is compelled to burn stored excess fat and control your blood sugar levels by drastically lowering the number of carbohydrates you consume each day.
In essence, the Atkins diet contains four stages that make it easier to monitor progress and modify the diet as needed to maximize effectiveness.
Phase 1: Get used to it – Limit Carbs
It takes time for the body to adjust to and incorporate any weight loss diet. During the initial phase, you must give your body time to adjust to the daily caloric intake.
The hardest part of this diet is this phase. Phase 1’s objective is to quicken the body’s fat-burning process. At this point, you will shed the most weight. You must be avoided: alcohol, starchy vegetables, cereals, bread, and dairy goods (except cheese and butter). Moreover, Instead of the prescribed 300 grams of carbohydrates daily, you should simply consume 20 grams.
The goal of this stage is to make the body’s primary source of energy fat. Dieters will drop most of their weight during this time, so apply for at least two weeks.
Phase 2: Continue weight loss – Lightly increase your carb intake every day
Dieters can modestly increase their carb intake while still losing weight by including veggies, nuts, and seeds. The Atkins diet’s longest phase is this one. You keep eating this maintenance phase 2 food until you have 4.5kg more to lose to reach your starting weight.
You’ll gradually reintroduce foods high in carbohydrates to the menu, such as berries, almonds, and so forth. Concentrate on continuing your weight loss and reduce your daily carb intake to 25–45g.
Phase 3: Fine-tuning
Before maintaining the Atkins diet, your weight loss process should slow down, and be prepared to stay on the diet.
This period allows you to add 10g of carbohydrates to your weekly diet, including vegetables and whole grains. If you don’t lose weight anymore, you continue to cut down on the carb intake just enough to make the weight drop more stable.
Phase 4: Maintain a fixed amount of carb
This is the period of maintaining a healthy lifestyle with the intake of carbs ranging from 45-100g per day.
Once you have achieved your ideal weight, you must continue your diet that mainly cuts down carbohydrates for life.
When following the Atkins diet, what should you eat and or not?
Here is a list of the foods you should eat while following the Atkins diet:
- Avocado because avocados contain healthy fats;
- Meats include beef, pork, bacon;
- Fatty fish and seafood;
- Egg;
- Low-starch vegetables such as kale, broccoli, and asparagus;
- Fatty dairy products;
- Nuts and seeds;
- Healthy fats like extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil, and avocado oil;
- Beverages such as water, coffee, and green tea.
Besides, there are also foods you shouldn’t eat such as:
- The sugar contained in fresh water, cakes, candies;
- Grains including wheat, rice;
- Dietary foods or low-fat foods, as they may contain high sugar content;
- Peanuts: beans, lentils, green beans.
The bottom line
The Atkins diet will provide you with a rapid and effective weight-reduction plan, but before starting any diet, you should speak with your doctor to see whether or not your present health situation is suitable for it.