Atkins and Athletes

If you are swimming and excercising as much as you say you are, and you still feel like you need to lose weight, there must be a problem underneath the surface. Either your diet was crap to begin with or there are other issues.

Hey thanks to all of you who've replied. My diet was crap to begin with. I do have a long history of eating disorders, which has led me to not eating enough and therefore my metabolism is way down. I'm not "fat" by any means, I'm actually normal/average, but I have been avoiding protein like the plague, eating fat free stuff, and feeling generally lousy. Since I started Atkins, like I mentioned above, I feel great. I'm just afraid I'll bonk when I need energy the most: at meets! I know a balanced diet is probably the best method, but I know I can't continue the way I did before...existing on oatmeal and yogurt, everything fat free, hard boiled egg whites for protein, you know the drill. A personal trainer said I don't "fuel up" enough for all that I do, so I started Atkins to get more protein into my body. I agree with Bug, a low carb, NOT "no carb" is the best way for ME to go. One question, if anyone knows the answer...why in the hell can't you have aspartame on Atkins? It's like saccharine! It has no calories, no nothing in it. His book just says "you can't have it." Well, why? What's wrong with a Diet Pepsi? --mag

Meg this is going to sound really crazy, but I think it is some kind of alcohol and that causes your blood sugar to go haywire. I know an ex alcoholic who became 'hooked' on it until he did some research and realized what was going on. Try Splenda. Elaine

Originally posted by jerrycat With that said--Atkins will help a person loose weight Atkins might help you lose weight, but it will only make your pants loose ;)

There is no one approach to diet/nutrition that works for everyone. Each of us has to experiment to find what works best for our individual metabolism. Some people do very well on Atkins low-carb, for others it can be a disaster. There are several "metabolic typing" diet books out there that classify everyone as either a protein, carbohydrate or mixed type, with different diet recommendations for each. This seems like a sensible place to start.

After posting what I did about NutraSweet I decided to google some and see what I came up with. The compound (I may be using this chemical term incorrectly, can't remember my chemistry, so all you chemists out there don't jump on me) itself isn't an alcohol. It is composed of two amino acids, phenylaianine and aspartic acid, as well as methyl alcohol, also known as methanol. If you are interested here is a link to an article about NutraSweet. www.chiro.org/.../nutra.html

A close contact of mine who work in a mega, mega, mega soft drink company advised me NOT to drink the diet version. NutraSweet, consumed in signifigant quantities over time can erode pieces of the brain, and destroy a person's ability to remember. Basically, nurtasweet is phramaldahide (how spell?). so, that's pretty scary--I've cut out the diet drink all together. And, it's funny--I worked for a man that drank about 5-7 diets a day...and he was crazy as a loon...couldn't find his keys EVER, and he would be in a middle of a meeting and pull and old sandwich out of his briefcase. Maybe the diet drink is what made him a wacko--who knows. In any case, my bodybuilding friends have advised me for maximum energy to eat carbs that are slow release, and not white flour. Anything "enriched" avoid 100%.

So, the most valuable carbs to eat are those of whole grains--like whole oatmeal, and whole wheat pasta (not enriched pasta). Right now I'm training for a half ironman that takes place in August. This training I'm doing is super killer. So, to max out my performance, I switched to oatmeal and whole wheat pasta. The performance difference is amazing. I've been really cranking in my workouts--really it's unbelievable the difference it had made. These cleaner burning carbs really help your body detox. With that said--Atkins will help a person loose weight. With a success rate of only 5% of all Americans who diet--it's an unlikely diet to continue for the rest of your life. I would imagine that if a person had a ton of fat to use as fuel, then it might not be bad. Dehydration is a big key though...and can happen if a person is training really hard, or racing for distance. I bought Dr. Phil's book, and it has helped my perspecitve.

So maybe there is something to the Zone plan....although, I have read the book and found it difficult to understand. Too scientific for me. I think what you all wrote about common sense and a healthy mix is right on target. The past two days I've added some good carbs and pounded out a really intense workout today.

Shore up the walls and call a press conference, Aquageek and I agree completely on something! His advice to keep an open mind, despite the "conventional wisdom" about a given diet plan, but check with your doctor to stay safe, is right on the money. A lot of the diet advice out there is directed at the mythical common person (that is if it is directed at anything other that simply selling a lot of overpriced junk). However, an individual's body may not react to a regimen in anything like the "typical" fashion. As the Bard might put it, "there are more things in heaven and earth that your philosophy." I normally have a strong BS gag reflex for anything that sounds like a pseudo-scientific fad diet, but I have seen people use Atkins very effectively, at least in the short and medium term, so I can't write it off as a make money fad. Having said that, because you don't know whether your body will react unusually in a good or a bad way, monitoring by your doctor (assuming you have access to one for something like this) is a smart way to stay safe. Has anyone used the diet by blood-type approach? How did it work for you? My wife bought the book. I glanced at it, but I did not see really convincing scientific proof that blood type has the impact that the author claims. Matt