Rating: 
Summary: Don't try taking the easy way out
Review: The Atkins diet makes sense, but once again... everyone tries to take the easy way out. People claim this and that and that people are getting fat from following the food pyramid and that this is actually very safe etc... blah blah blah. People tend to make a lot of claims when they want it enough. There's actually a reason why carbs are in the bottom of the pyriamid and why doctors for so many years have recommend them to people. Carbs are natural, easy to digest, good for energy, etc... Of course, you stay away from sugar, that's been known.I used to be 250 5 years ago when I've should've been 175. Today, I'm 180 and I nearly all muscle and very little fat. I didn't do it with the atkins diet and I ate carbs all the time, but I turned out great. The bottom line is, you eat healthy and you lose weight by exercising. Moderation is the key, moderation of everything. Today, I still drink a few beers, go out to eat, etc... I've just changed my lifestyle to be healthy. Sure it took a little while, but I did it didn't I? It took almost 2 years to lose 75 pounds, I could've probably done it in half the time on this diet, but I did it the natural and healthy way. Don't try to take the easy way out people. I've read this and I know several people on it. This diet, like many things in life, makes you mentally weak. You can't control yourself and show restraint, you're not going to be that better off anyways. My tips? Start small, start healthy, and you'll become healthy. Moderation is the key. And if you're gonna take this diet, for god's sake, read the whole thing through carefully and learn to get your vitamins and fiber. Watch your blood pressure and cholestoral while you're at it.
Rating: 
Summary: I can eat all of this rich delicious food,&loose pds& inch
Review: This book teaches you how to eat wonderful and delicious foods in sufficient quantities to never feel hungry; while losing weight rather effectively. It teaches you not to fixate on the scale, but rather to go by how your clothes are fitting. I don't have to go to weekly meetings and weighins to be chastised when I haven't lost pounds.Lipolysis is the best appetite suppressent on the planet, I have to remind myself to eat three meals daily.
Rating:
Summary: The book that started it all
Review: This book not only gives you details of the famous low-carb diet that will have you shedding tens of pounds within the month but also gives some detailed health advice that really has nothing to do with the diet itself. This information is handy but since this is a "diet" book, not a "health" book, the book would be better with this information left out. That is not to say that diets and health don't highly relate to each other--they obviously do--but advice of what supplements to take in order to prevent disease X should be left out of a book designed to help you shed pounds. This book would have been rated higher if all of the information in it was relevant to the primary task.
Rating:
Summary: Good book, but the truth is....
Review: ... eat less, exercise more, period. When I say eat less, I mean to eat less at every meal, but have more meals during the day. The low carb approach is very good to kick start weight loss but it is hard to keep for life. Instead, just having good sense at the table is what really works. I was 212lb when I should be 175lb. The book helped me to understand why sugar is so adictive and harmful to our bodies. In fact, I still eat carbs but much less than before. I started running every day. The results are amazing. I'm down to 193lb after 3 weeks and still losing....There is no miracleme quit my adiction to sugar. Sugar is a drug, just accept this as a reality. I don't care if you weight 450lb or more. You can do it. The key is persistance, habit, comon sense, and most of all, loving y book or pill that will do it for you. What this book did for me was helping ourself. 'You can not change what you tolerate'. If you tolerate fat in your body, you'll never get thin.
Rating: 
Summary: Before you try this, please think LONG TERM for your body
Review: Obviously, this diet has received many rave reviews from people who have successfully lost weight on it. It's easy to see why. When I first started on this WOE/WOL, I lost so much weight that i was thrilled to get into a pair of jeans that I hadn't worn in 5 years! And I thought "WOW I get to eat all the fried chicken and cheese steaks I want without getting fat! AMAZING!!" But after almost a year after the diet, I gained the weight back and MORE. The problems I've had with this diet in the LONG run: 1. There is absolutely no balance in it. Especially for those people who KNOW they love carbs, do you honestly think you can go without carbs for the rest of your life? If you can, I truly salute you (REALLY). But please be honest with yourself, and think carefully before you even start on this diet 'cos once you have been on it for several months and your body (and mind) starts craving carbs (like I did and many others i know), and you give in, your body is going to cling on to every carb calorie for dear life. 2. Worse still, the first time you let yourself eat carbs again ("just a little bit" you say), your body still looks great, your pants fit well, so you think "oh.. a little more won't hurt" so you increase it. Your body still looks fine, so you increase it again..and again.. I was coaxed into this sense of security that I still looked great. Then suddenly my body changed and I realised every pound of fat I lost had returned, with friends. 3. The diet works great the first time. But when you do it periodically over time, it's just the worst form of yo-yo dieting you could do to harm your body. During your low carb periods your body is carb (and calorie) starved, so naturally it'll store carbs the next possible chance it gets. And when you keep fluctuating between these diet and non-diet moments, the weight just creeps back. This WOE messed up my body and threw my eating habits all out of whack. The worst part was how it screwed with my mind. I got cornered into thinking that carbs were BAD for me, when the truth is all you need is balance in your life. There are bad carbs (sugar, processed flour etc) but there are good carbs too! Oatmeal and whole grains etc. Everything boils down to proportion. I'm not one of those people who just disses books without understanding the content. And I've been on this WOE MANY TIMES OVER. I'm not saying that Dr Atkins is a quack, because obviously this diet works. All I'm saying is that this WOL isn't realistic. and there are other more balanced diets (like the Zone) that could work just as well, but without the risk of bad effects when you get off it. The fear of eating carbs was my mental prison, and I'm so glad I'm free of it! Now, I'm eating carbs AND protein, losing weight and loving it! good luck everyone!
Rating: 
Summary: Ignore the naysayers! This diet works!
Review: I gave this book one star so that, if you're like me and you list all the reviews by 'lowest rating', you'll be sure to get some TRUTH with the other low reviews. Simply, this diet works, and it works on more than one level. You will lose weight, and you will feel better!
The reviewers who mentioned they were in pain from low carb intake must be lying. I personally had no pain, and I don't know anyone who has tried this diet who has complained of any pain. Personally, I assume such reviews are phony and probably come from competitors in the 'diet market'.
I've been on this diet for 10 days and have lost 9 pounds. Both of my parents are on the diet and have lost about the same amount as I have. We all feel great! In the last week, I lost 3 pounds, which is less than the 6 pounds I lost the first week. However, you will lose water weight the first week, so don't be surprised if you slow down after the first week. If you eat a lot of sugar, you will go through withdrawals just as you would from cessation of any other addiction (yes, sugar is addictive). You may feel tired for the first few days on this diet, then you're energy will come back stronger than ever! Also, many people confuse ketoacidosis in diabetics, which can cause kidney damage, with the benign dietary ketosis that this diet will put you in. If you do not presently have kidney problems, and are not diabetic, you should have nothing to worry about. I am (was) mildy hypoglycemic, and have had no problems with this diet. As for variety, I recommend getting the cookbook that Dr. Atkins puts out - it has about 200 recipes - including low carb breads you can make (2 gms carbs per slice). If you only eat eggs and bacon for breakfast, you will get bored... try to mix it up a little! Once you get beyond the first part of the diet, your choices grow. The first part of the diet is the most restrictive. It limits you to 20 gms of carbs a day for a two-week period. If you can't do that, try 30 gms carbs/day... most people can go into benign dietary ketosis with under 40 gms carbs/day. I think Dr. Atkins uses 20 gms as a rule so that everyone will go into ketosis - even those who are metabolically resistant. Read the book through all the way before you go on the diet; do the research and find out how you can vary your diet. As with any diet, if you are not healthy, consult your physician (however note: many physicians don't know the facts about benign dietary ketosis and will confuse this bdk with the ketoacidosis of diabetics). I recommend adding exercise to your program after you experience the newfound energy of the diet and after you see the pounds coming off on their own. When all that happens, you WILL be highly motivate to GET YOUR BODY IN SHAPE.
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Summary: Dr.Atkins Diet
Review: I came across dr. Atkins book About 1 year ago, it made sense.I cut down on Breads and pastas and completely eliminated sugars from my diet. After desired weight loss I recomended this diet to my two diabetic relatives. They not only lost 15-20 pounds but it gave them great blood sugar controll, reducing their medicine reguirement to half. So, I do agree with Dr. Atkins theory and suggest that people with over weight and family history of diabetes, need to be educated about low carbohydrate and high protein diet, even if they are not diabetic.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Diet, Confusing Book
Review: This diet is great and I lost 40 pounds on it, but the book is confusing and badly organized. Here's an explanation of the diet, along with some comments about the book. The basic idea of this diet is to trick your body into thinking it's starving by depriving it of it's preferred form of energy: carbohydrates. Your body then goes into a state called ketosis, in which it burns your body's fat in order to compensate for the lack of carbs. On this diet you are allowed to eat as much meat, cheese, and calorie-free foods and drinks as you want. However, if you haven't started losing after a week I would recommend watching your portions. Your appetite may naturally decrease when your body goes into ketosis, but it isn't a sure thing. This diet is great for people who have trouble with low-calorie diets because of low blood sugar and fatigue. It can actually increase your energy level. On the other hand, I wouldn't recommend it for vegetarians or people who are too busy to cook meals.
If you do decide to go on the diet, I would suggest that you drink plenty of water. Eating more meat naturally increases your salt intake, and may cause you to retain water (and therefore be bloated and weigh more) if you don't drink enough water to flush the salt out. Also, watch out for these foods: gum, breaded meats, meats in sugary sauces, and diet bars and mixes that claim to be low-carb, but really aren't. The book talks about two different stages of the diet, but that section was so disorganized that I had trouble distinguishing between the two. I stuck to the 1st stage of the diet, which limits you to 20 grams of carbs per day. You'll probably lose faster on the 1st stage, but the 2nd stage is "more balanced". (In this case, I'm not sure more balanced is a good thing.)
As for whether or not you should buy the book, I would say that it depends. If you know someone who's tried the diet (and been successful), having them explain it to you could be more useful than the book. Otherwise, buy the book. It has it's advantages, such as a list of the carb values of common foods (it's buried somewhere in the middle of the book), a detailed description of how the diet works, and tips on how to be successful.
Rating:
Summary: Fast results but tough to stay on
Review: After I failed with "Sugar Busters" I decided to give Atkins a read. After the first chapter I just kind of "skimmed" through the rest of the book and hit the highlights. He basically explains his entire theory in the first few pages, then just "elaborates" and shares success stories for the remainer. To his credit, Dr. Atkins does take a more personal approach in the book than some other I have read, which makes it a little more enjoyable to read. Its also written in a way that allows you to flip back and forth and read the chapters out of order without losing anything. There are some good recipes for homemade ice cream, bread, etc. but you really need to purchase the "atkins bake" products to make them properly. I found the program does work, but I got sick of eating bacon and eggs everyday. If you can get creative then I recommend giving it a try.
Rating:
Summary: review part 1
Review: I was a skinny kid but in 10th grade I got a little depressed and started overeating (lots of carb-laden stuff like mashed potatoes, comfort foods, etc...) and S L O W L Y put on weight. Fast forward-6 years later, I am not "obese" but I could be very soon. Eating disorders are awful. I've gone through most of them. I lost weight a few times through eating lowfat foods, but when you hit a certain age, your body really holds onto fat, and it is stubborn. Lately I have lost 10 pounds due to the Weight Watchers diet but 10 is all I could lose. The Atkins diet is the only thing left for me to try. I have been on it a few days. It is easy, and you will not go hungry. I can feel the fat melting away. I have also been hypoglycemic for my whole life and I feel that this diet is the answer. After I am finished with the 2 week induction diet (amazingly, the induction diet is the diet everyone judges the Atkins diet by, and they are wrong to do that) I will write another review stating the results.
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