The Atkins Diet Review – Right For You?

The Atkins Diet centers around eliminating carbohydrates and sugar from your diet to help you lose weight. This is our review.

What is the Atkins Diet?

The Atkins diet was created by a cardiologist of the same last name, who desired to improve the weight and health of his patients by limiting sugar and other carbohydrates from their daily routine. This program is unlike most other diets, which often take the restrictions to an extreme level that cannot be maintained for long. The key to effective weight loss is to find a program and regimen that is sustainable for a long period of time, but the extreme measures that some “fad” diets take are only effective during the short term, since you are not making a change to your life.

Dr. Atkins based his diet off of a simple fact – everyone’s metabolism works differently. From there, the goal became finding a way that works for everyone’s metabolism, but did not prevent the consumer from eating everything they love to enjoy. That type of restriction sets up the consumer for failure before they begin.

Dr. Atkins found that many diets limit the amount of calories you consume, which is a major contributor to weight loss. However, by limiting the calories for a short amount of time, you end up gaining the weight back in no time. Dr. Atkins determined that it was not only about the amount that you put in your body, but it was also about the type of calories you put in your body. Basically, keeping so much sugar and carbohydrates in your diet makes it so that you experience fatigue, hunger pangs, and other symptoms, when any balanced diet would have you feeling fuller for longer. That’s when Dr. Atkins came up with his own plan.

How Atkins Works for the Consumer

The entire Atkins program centers around limiting carbohydrates, which forces your body to use stored fat. By consuming less carbohydrates, you prevent yourself from gaining more weight as you change the way that you eat as well. Once you decide to try the Atkins diet, you actually have multiple plan options.

The Atkins 20 program is for consumers that have over 40lbs to lose, have a waist of over 35 inches as a woman or 40 inches as a man, or are pre-diabetic/diabetic. The Atkins 40 is for people who have less than 40 pounds to lose, need a broader range of foods, and/or are pregnant or breastfeeding. Once you choose your plan on the website, you will also be asked to enter your height, weight, age, and information about your weight loss goals.

Once you have selected your diet plan, you are taken to a page with information about the plan you selected. The plan is divided up into four phases, each of which dictates the types of food you will need to consume during the week. With the Atkins 20, your first phase is limited to just protein and vegetables. As the phases continue, your food selection becomes more broad, but your carbohydrates are still limited.

You have the option of picking a plan that is more specific or lenient, depending on what works the best for your daily life. If you know that you need to work your plan around the dietary needs of a big group, you may want to pick a plan that is more lenient with the food selection. If you are not a self-starter and need a little push, lean towards a stricter regimen.

Getting Started with the Diet

Once you know which program you are going to participate in, you need to enter your information to get you setup with the program. You have the option of receiving a free startup package, or you can choose to just have free access to the tools and resources from the Atkins program.

The best step you can take in the process is to download the Atkins application onto your smartphone. This app lets you take the diet anywhere you go, making it easy to make smart eating choices when you are out with friends or want to stop for food on the way home.

Upon opening your account on the main page, you are able to log your progress, take assessments, and perform many other functions to customize your experience with the Atkins diet. However, Atkins also produces many types of products to help you along during your path to a healthier you.

Products by Atkins

Atkins produces several different types of products as healthy options for your diet changes. The products fall into one of these five categories:

• Protein Bars and Drinks
• Frozen Meals
• Shakes
• Nutritional bars
• Treats

All of these products can easily be found in your local supermarket, and are subject to the pricing of that particular store. Additionally, you can get a hard copy of the program through any website or store that sells cookbooks. On Amazon, the most recent edition of the book has a retail value of $16.99, but it is listed for $10.36 at this time.

Contacting the Authors of the Atkins Diet

If you have questions about the products or the methods used in the Atkins diet, you can speak with a representative via phone, postal mail, or with an inquiry using an online fill-in form.

Phone: 1-800-6-ATKINS

Mailing Address: Atkins Nutritionals, Inc.
1050 17th Street, Suite 1500
Denver, CO 80265

Conclusion

Atkins is more than a diet that helps consumers lose weight; it is a company that produces a wide variety of nutritional supplements and diet foods that help the consumer stay on track with their weight loss goals.

As with any weight loss regimen, you need to make long-term changes to your diet and exercise habits in order to maintain the weight loss. Luckily, many of the rules in the Atkins diet are sustainable for an extended period of time. Once you reach your weight loss goal, adjust your diet accordingly so you can maintain the results you have reached.