FACT and FICTION: Quack Watch on Adkins

OK, I’m plateaued. So what am I going to do about it.

I thought I might consider a diet plan. There are millions. The trouble is, FOLLOWING the plan. People cheat. I am no different. That’s why I created my own plan. I thought I’d stick to it better. It’s worked for 75 pounds, but this last 35 is very stubborn.

Anyway, I went into quack watch to learn some things. Here’s what I found. ( http://www.quackwatch.com/ )

“There are about 3,500 calories in a pound of body weight. To lose one pound a week, you must consume about 500 fewer calories per day than you metabolize. Most fad diets, if followed closely, will result in weight loss—as a result of caloric restriction.”

“Low-Carbohydrate Diets also produce ketosis, but if properly designed, they enable the body's nutritional needs to be met by dietary protein, dietary fat, stored body fat, and stored glycogen, so that body muscles are spared . As this "nutritional ketosis" begins, there is a diuretic (water loss) effect, leading the dieter to think that significant weight reduction is taking place. However, most of the early loss is water rather than fat; the lost water is regained quickly when if the dieter resumes eating carbohyrate (as would occur, for example, with a balanced diet). Appetite, often reduced during ketosis, also returns when a balanced diet is resumed. In the past, it was thought that patients restricted their caloric intake because the food restrictions made the low-carbohydrate diet monotonous. However, current theorists suggest that appetite reduction has a hormonal basis. “

ATKINS:“In yet another study, researchers who compile the National Weight Control Registry analyzed the diets of 2,681 members who had maintained at least a 30-pound weight loss for a year or more. Because the Atkins diet had been used for more than 30 years, the researchers reasoned that, if it worked, its followers would be well represented. However, they found that only 25 (1%) of these successful people had followed a diet with less than 24% of their daily calories in the form of carbohydrates. The mean duration of successful weight maintenance in this low-carbohydrate group was 19 months, whereas the mean duration of dieters who consumed more than 24% of their daily calories as carbohydrates was 36 months. Because so few Atkins dieters were found in the Registry, the researchers concluded that the Atkins diet may not create the favorable "metabolic advantage" claimed for it.”

First, I found it disconcerting that people only manage to keep it off for 3 years (regular dieting). I’ve been working on losing for 2 years, so … I hope to be in lasting habits. Hope. I work with someone who was very successful on Atkins, but put it all back on in less than a year.
Clearly, I will not be trying Adkins.