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Summary: Great new perspective on staying thin and healthy for life!
Review: 6 people in my office, including myself, have read this book and followed this "diet". We have lost an average of 33.3 lbs each in 12 weeks, and are still going strong. Moreover, my HDL ("good") cholesterol increased so much that my general practitioner asked me for the name of this book! I suffer from reactive hypoglycemia, which means that my body sends out too much insulin in response to carbohydrate intake. I have had no bad "sugar lows" when I was following the "diet" properly. Another lady in my office has serious heart and circulation problems, and was put on this diet by her cardiologist; she is now 30 lbs lighter and is off almost all of her medications! Some people think Dr. Atkins is a quack, but I think that the results we've seen speak louder than his critics. I've seen "dyed in the wool" skeptics become converts. Read the book and follow it to the letter! If he says to take vitamin & mineral supplements (particularly potassium, do it! If he tells you to drink a lot of water, do it! Buying the "ketostix" (found in any pharmacy) also helps a great deal both psychologically and physically, because you can track your progress. This is particularly helpful if you are exercising. You will be converting fat tissue into muscle tissue (7x heavier than fat), so you will not see results in how your clothes are fitting, but not on the scale. When you see the Ketostix turn color, however, you KNOW that you are burning off fat!
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Summary: I wish I would have known about this a long time ago
Review: A friend of mine recommended Sugarbusters to me. I bought it. I half-heartedly tried to follow it with some results but had difficulty understanding all this glycemic index stuff and I am a health care professional. After gaining an additional 19 pounds when I quit smoking, I realized something had to be done. I bought Dr. Atkins' book. This is much easier--if you can read a label, you can count the carbs. Easy. I seriously began the diet on January 3, 1999 and to date I have lost 27 pounds. I plan to be down to a close to ideal weight by summer. By the way, the people who work in the cafeteria at the hospital I work at kept saying--what are you trying to do, eating bacon, sausage and eggs for breakfast every morning, kill yourself? I recently had a check-up, cholesterol 167!! Blood pressure 100/70. You know I had to go brag to them and now they want to know all about this diet I'm on. I definitely recommend this book to anyone who is serious about making a change in their lives. It is working for me.
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Summary: Only diet I have been able to stick to
Review: I am always hearing people say that any diet works if you stick to it. Considering that many scientists, not just Dr. Atkins, have come to consider overeating as analogous to a drug addiction, how much sense would it make for someone to say "this drug rehab program works as long as people don't use drugs"? I think that part of saying that a diet works is how likely people are to stick to it. If a treatment, whatever it is, has a very high drop-out rate, is it really any good? No, because it suggests that the side effects are too awful. This has been my experience with every other diet I have tried - I starved! I even felt depressed.
I gained about 30 lbs. during college and all along I tried to lose them (even as they piled up). I tried lean cuisine, slimfast, and all other sorts of low-fat diets and only gained weight, not to mention I couldn't stick to them because I craved food all day. Anyone who saw the movie "Supersize Me" will remember that the guy developed an addiction to McDonald's and also got depressed. I'm convinced this has more to do with the carbs than with the fat. I felt the same way on a low-fat diet.
Furthermore, I'm eating healthier than ever. All my calories are coming from foods rich in nutrients: meat, zucchini, eggplant, peppers, berries, nuts, etc. I have even developed a taste for some of these vegetables and even tofu. Three months ago (when I started the diet), I couldn't conceive of not eating rice or potatoes with every meal. Now I just see them as empty calories.
I have never eaten nor felt this great in my life. My food is delicious (even my fiance who is not technically on the diet loves it), and I no longer snack 10 times a day.
How much weight have I lost? About 10 lbs, meaning I have reached my healthy weight (I was very skinny when I started college). Most importantly, I lost this weight early on and have not put it back.
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Summary: This book changed my life!
Review: I lost 40 lb. in 3 months thanks to Dr. Atkins. And I've kept this weight off for a little over year now without effort. The change in metabolism is a bit tough to handle the first few weeks of the diet. And my cholesterol went up for the first couple of months but eventually plunged to new lows. My triglycerides are now rock bottom too. My long term digestive problems are gone. My bad knees and bad back have mended. And my hypoglycemic episodes (periodic shakes) are gone too. I find it much easier and more fun to take my exercise daily. And I now feel more positive and energetic than I have in years. The notion that you must eat only meat and cheese on this diet has been over inflated by Atkins critics. One I reached my goal weight I gradually reintroduced carbs to the point of balance. And I must say that I am having more fun eating lobster, fried eggs, bacon, pate, exotic cheeses, flax seed and/or olive oils, protein shakes, macadamias, walnuts, sunflower and pumpkin seeds, almonds, almond butter, almond flour pancakes with splenda sweetened maple syrup, various berries, sugar free cheese cake, low-carb chocolate candy bars et. al. than I was eating green salads, celery sticks, boiled fish, pasta and potatoes. Thanks to Atkins I can actually go out to a restaurant now and eat a 'real' meal. I was on a low fat diet for years and did not not lose a pound. In fact, I was gradually gaining weight from year to year. I was also preoccupied with cravings for all of the foods that I was not allowed to have on a low fat diet. I find it much easier to stay on a low-carb diet because I've completely lost interest in all of the foods I am now supposed to avoid. I think that I've lost interest in food with high concentrations of carbohydrates because my body no longer uses carbs the way did before. And I believe that anybody who is obese and thinks that he or she cannot live without the bread, pasta, rice, and potatoes et. al. had better think again. Once I got beyond the difficult induction period, the Atkin's diet got very easy to do. I think Atkins is a hell of a lot more fun than the conventional low-fat alternative. I am healthier and stronger now than I've been since I was a teenager (I'm 48 now). And I owe it all to Dr. Atkins and this wonderful little book. Don't do what many others have done: Don't skim this book and walk away with half a notion of how it really works. Read it all and read it well!
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Summary: Almost a religious experience - it has changed my life
Review: I started the diet two months ago and have lost 30 pounds. The diet takes no willpower and I lost an average of slightly over three pounds a week. I feel great! My wife, family and friends can't believe I'm losing so much weight. I will stay on the diet in some form for the rest of my life. I had been gaining weight steadily since college and diets just did not work. I wish I had known about the diet years ago but I believed that only a low calorie diet could work. After the reading the book and beginning the diet it was as if a great secret was revealed to me. Although you should read the book, the diet boils down to two rules. Eat as much protein and fat as you need not to be hungry. As for carbohydrates, start very close to zero and adjust the amount based on the weight loss you experience. If you're not losing, cut the carbs. if you're losing too fast, add a few carbs. Thank you Dr. Atkins for changing my life.
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Summary: Final Update from Sacramento
Review: This is an update from a Sept. 99 review, and a Jan 2000 review. When I started my diet in July of 1999, I was 270 lbs and 6' tall. I have lost 87 lbs and have passed my goal weight of 185. Have held below 185 for over two months. My menu is basically eggs, bacon and sausage for breakfast; a chicken (most often double chicken) salad for lunch; and steak, vegetables and salad for dinner. I snack on the Atkins bars and on Macadamia nuts. I have added a little fruit to the diet after hitting my goal. My cholesterol is 147. I am extremely strict. I have eaten no bread, pasta, sugar etc. for the entire period, and I have absolutely no desire to eat such food again. My only real deviation has been the continued consumption of caffeine in coffee and diet drinks and an occasional (every other month) glass of wine. For my body type, this diet worked great. During the past year, I have read the book several times, and it helps to reinforce what foods to eat. The key is just doing it every day. My Doctor, who had prescribed a no fat diet for me for the last 12 years, gave me a check up recently and told me that for middle aged men with large bellies, this diet seems to work the best. My problem is why didn't he tell me about this diet himself 12 years ago if that is what he truly thought. Luckily, I found the Atkins book on my own. Good luck. P.S. For those who hate this diet, I don't care if I lost 87 lbs of water; lugging that much water around was a real pain.
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