Atkins Diet Overview

OVERVIEW

The aim: Weight loss.

The claim: You'll lose up to 15 pounds within two weeks, and eat lots of fatty foods. 

The theory: The body is an engine; carbs are the gas that makes it go. Limiting carbs makes the body turn to an alternative fuel – stored fat. So sugars and "simple starches" like potatoes, white bread and rice are all but squeezed out; protein and fat like chicken, meat and eggs are embraced. Fat is burned; pounds come off.

Reducing total carbs isn't all there is to Atkins. Limiting the carbs you take in at any one time is also in the game plan. A carb-heavy meal floods the blood with glucose, too much for the cells to use or to store in the liver as glycogen. Where does it end up? As fat.

Rankings

Atkins Diet ranked #35 in Best Diets Overall. 38 diets were evaluated with input from a panel of health experts. See how we rank diets here.

Atkins Diet is ranked:

·        #35 in Best Diets Overall

·        #12 (tie) in Best Weight-Loss Diets

·        #15 in Best Commercial Diet Plans

·        #31 (tie) in Best Diabetes Diets

·        #36 in Best Diets for Healthy Eating

·        #5 (tie) in Best Fast Weight-Loss Diets

·        #36 in Best Heart-Healthy Diets

·        #28 (tie) in Easiest Diets to Follow

·       

         Weight Loss SHORT-TERM 4.0/5.0

·       Weight Loss LONG-TERM 2.5/5.0

·       Easy to Follow 2.2/5.0

·       Healthy 2.3/5.0

How does Atkins Diet work?

DOS & DON'TS

Do: Eat steak and other meats if you like them.

You go through four phases, starting with very few carbs and eating progressively more until you get to your desired weight. Keeping carbs at bay isn't as simple as saying no to sugar and baked potatoes. You'll keep acceptable foods lists handy and polish your arithmetic skills. In phase one, for example, you're allowed 20 grams a day of "net carbs" (pull out the food list), 12 to 15 of them from "foundation vegetables" (pull out another list) high in fiber. But as for fat, you don't even have to trim it off your steak.

The Atkins 40 Plan is a new entry point to the diet geared toward those who want to lose 40 pounds or less.

How much does it cost?

Meat and fresh veggies are pricier than most processed and fast foods. How much more you'll spend will depend largely on your choices of protein sources. Are you buying mostly ground beef or springing for veal? Chicken or turkey? Chuck vs. New York strip? Buying in season should keep the veggie tab reasonable.

You can buy "The New Atkins for a New You," an essential guide; a workbook; and "New Atkins Made Easy," the most updated version of the Atkins book.

Will you lose weight?

Atkins and other low-carb diets have been studied longer and harder than most other approaches, and Atkins does appear to be moderately successful, especially in the first couple of weeks. That's only part of the story, however.

Much of the initial loss is water, say experts, because of the diet's diuretic effect. That's true of many other diets, too, and is one of the reasons researchers don't judge diets based on a few weeks of results. In diet studies, long-term generally starts at two years. Here's what several key studies had to say about Atkins and other low-carb diets:

• Over short periods, Atkins results vary. In one study, published in 2006 in the British Medical Journal, Atkins dieters lost an average of 10 pounds in the first four weeks while those on meal-replacement (Slim Fast), caloric-restriction (Weight Watchers) and low-fat (Rosemary Conley's "Eat Yourself Slim" book) diets lost 6 to 7 pounds. At the one-month point and thereafter, however, there were no significant differences in weight loss among the groups.

• A 2007 study that appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association divided roughly 300 overweight or obese women into groups and assigned them to one of four types of diets: low-carb (Atkins), low-fat (Ornish), low saturated-fat/moderate-carb (LEARN), and roughly equal parts protein, fat, and carb (Zone). At two months, the Atkins dieters had lost an average of about 9½ pounds compared with 5 to 6 pounds for those on the other three diets. At six months, weight loss for the Atkins group averaged about 13 pounds; the other three groups averaged 4 1/2 to 7 pounds. At 12 months, the Atkins group had lost what researchers called a "modest" 10 pounds; the other dieters averaged 3 1/2 to 6 pounds. Drawing firm conclusions from this study is risky, however. The dropout rate in all four groups was significant, and many participants didn't follow their assigned diet. The Atkins dieters, for example, took in far more carbs than they were supposed to.

• A third study, published in 2010 in the Annals of Internal Medicine, found no clear advantage either to a low-carb diet based on Atkins or a generic low-fat diet. Both helped participants lose an average of 11 percent of their starting weight at 12 months, but they gained about a third of it back after that. At two years, the average loss for both diets was 7 percent of initial body weight. (That's still not bad – if you're overweight, losing just 5 to 10 percent of your current weight can help stave off some diseases.) An analysis of five studies that compared low-carb and low-fat diets published in 2006 in the Archives of Internal Medicine concluded similarly – while weight loss was greater at six months for low-carb dieters, by 12 months that difference wasn't significant.

• It is still unclear, regardless of claims made for low-carb diets, whether the main reason for weight loss is carb restriction specifically or simply cutting calories. A study published in 2009 in the New England Journal of Medicine found that after two years, participants assigned either to a 35 percent or a 65 percent carb diet lost about the same amount of weight – 6 to 7 1/2 pounds on average. In 2003, researchers who analyzed about 100 low-carb studies concluded in the Journal of the American Medical Association that weight loss on those diets was associated mostly with cutting calories and not with cutting carbs.

• Researchers reviewed 17 different studies that followed a total of 1,141 obese patients on low-carb eating plans, some similar to the Atkins diet. Results were published in 2012 in Obesity. The study shows that low-carb dieters lost an average of nearly 18 pounds over a period of six months to a year. They also saw improvements in their waist circumference.

• In a study published in November 2014 in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, researchers analyzed existing research on Atkins, South Beach, Weight Watchers and the Zone diets to find out which was most effective. Their findings suggested that none of the four diet plans led to significant weight loss, and none was starkly better than the others when it came to keeping weight off for a year or more. Each of the four plans helped dieters shed about the same number of pounds in the short term: around 5 percent of their starting body weight. After two years, however, some of the lost weight was regained by those on the Atkins or Weight Watchers plans. Since the diets produce similar results, the study authors concluded that dieters should choose the one that best adheres to their lifestyle – for example, Weight Watchers involved a group-based, behavior-modification approach, and Atkins focuses on lowering carbs.

How easy is it to follow?

How much do you love sweet and starchy foods? Would you miss crusty French bread? Pasta? Grape jelly? Diets that severely limit entire food groups for months and years tend to have lower success rates than less-restrictive diets do.

One study showed higher percentages of Atkins dieters dropping out at three, six, 12 and 24 months than others did on a low-fat diet, but the differences were not significant. Two other studies that included low-carb dieters concluded diet type wasn't connected to the dropout rate.

Convenience: At home, building variety into meals is a little harder than usual. Eating out takes more effort. Alcohol is limited. Company products and online resources may be helpful. In 2013, Atkins launched a frozen-food line, which the company says is the first low-carb frozen-food line on the market.

Recipes: Atkins provides meal plans, recipes with ingredient lists and food carb counts, all in a print-friendly format. There is at least a smattering of recipes across a range of cuisines from American to Middle Eastern to French to Asian.

Eating out: Restaurants and dinners with friends are doable if you've read Atkins' list of approved fast-food and cuisine-specific options before heading out (and if you're not bashful about asking lots of questions about meal preparation).

Alcohol: If you like to kick back with a beer or a glass of wine, you might be a little cranky for the first couple of weeks, when alcohol is forbidden. (Beer and wine contain carbs, and all alcoholic beverages add calories.) You are allowed to work it back in during phase two, to perhaps one drink a day. But even carb-free spirits will slow down fat-burning, according to Atkins.

Timesavers: When you're in a hurry, Atkins has convenience foods available, like shakes ($7 for a four-pack), snack bars ($6 for a five-pack), penne pasta ($4 for 12 ounces) and all-purpose baking mix ($10 for 2 pounds).

Extras: On its website, Atkins offers a free meal planner, carb counter, two-week meal plan, forums and interactive goal-setting tools.

Fullness: Nutrition experts emphasize the importance of satiety, the satisfied feeling that you've had enough. Hunger shouldn't be a problem on this diet. Protein and fat generally take longer than carbs to digest; the hunger center in your brain won't be sending out "Feed me" messages two hours after a meal.

Taste: What's not to like about juicy burgers topped with melting cheddar? Still, bun-less burgers and dips without chips could get old in the long haul.

Health & Nutrition

Way too much fat and too few carbs in the view of the experts, who questioned whether dieters can build a nutritious and safe diet with the severe restrictions imposed on veggies, whole grains and fruits. Absent long-term safety data that might indicate otherwise, the panel put Atkins at the bottom of the pack.

What is the role of exercise?

Encouraged, especially by the time you reach the maintenance phase, but not required.

If you choose to exercise, Atkins recommends waiting a couple of weeks to get used to your new eating regimen, particularly if you weren't exercising before. If you were, you might choose to keep it up – just be ready to scale back if you feel your energy dipping too low.

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