Getting Started On The Atkins Diet

The Five Pre-Steps To Start The Atkins Diet

TODAY'S NEW ME Day 1: The Atkins Diet Experts Weigh In Pros & Cons How It Works Getting Started Paging Dr. Atkins... More High-Protein Diets TODAY'S DIETER Steve Merens Daily Diary: Today Bio: Who Is He? Debate: Join The Atkins Diet Discussion Vote: How Much Will He Lose? Quiz: Atkins History Exercise: Daily Dieter's Dilemma: What Will Be Difficult For Steve To Give Up? Slideshow: See An Average Atkins Diet Video: Meet Steve  'New me' updates  in e-mail, free >>

1. Stop Medications. The first pre-step to the Atkins diet is to stop taking any unnecessary medications. You are asked to do this because many medications can hinder weight loss. There are also many medications that can combine with this diet to produce a dangerous overdose (see "Sounds Good -- But Wait!"). These are called diuretics. It is best to consult your doctor before stopping medications in order to begin this diet.

2. Arrange A Medical Checkup. A medical checkup is a good way to determine your general state of health and if this diet is right for you. It's a good idea to be aware of your levels of cholesterol, triglyceride, glucose, insulin and uric acid before you start this diet, because these are the blood tests that often fluctuate with a dietary change. One other test that Atkins recommends is the five-hour Glucose Tolerance Test (GTT) with insulin levels. This test may be able to tell you if you have a metabolic defect that leads to obesity.

3. Begin The Induction Diet. The 14-day induction diet is a corrective diet aimed at fixing what the Atkins Center refers to as an unbalanced metabolism. Its purpose is to induce successful weight loss by putting the body into a medical state called ketosis/lipolysis. Atkins says ketosis/lipolysis switches your body from a carbohydrate-burning to fat-burning metabolism. Atkins also says ketosis/lipolysis stabilizes your blood sugar, stops your cravings and breaks addictive eating patterns.

   Rules of Induction:

   • No more than 20 grams of carbohydrates a day.
   • Eat enough to make you feel satisfied but not stuffed.
   • Don't eat any food that is not on your diet list.
   • Eat only pure proteins, pure fats and combinations of proteins and fats.
   • Use a carbohydrate gram counter.

4. Begin Ongoing Weight Loss (OWL). This part of the diet is more lenient than the induction. In this stage, Atkins asks you to determine the level of carbohydrate consumption at which you no longer lose weight. You do this by eating different levels of carbs and monitoring your weight. After that, you drop your carbohydrate consumption below that level to continue a controlled weight loss.

5. Start The Pre-Maintenance Diet. This stage begins when you have only five or 10 pounds left to lose. In pre-maintenance, you learn how to make exceptions to the induction diet once or twice a week without deviating from the program as a whole. This is also the stage where you become acclimated to using the diet for the long haul. This stage is designed to slow down your weight loss to less than a pound a week. Once you have reached your pre-determined ideal weight, you switch to the maintenance stage and use what you learned for the rest of your life.

Copyright 2001 by wesh.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.