atkins diet

gazofglos

i have just started the atkins diet as i have been putting on a bit of weight over the last few months i am cycling between 50 and 100 miles a week so any info on this type of low carb diet and what effect it is going have on my cycling and energy levels would be very helpful


thanks Gaz

hopper1

It's basically a protein diet so wont be helping you with energy...
Crap diet, too....

tjhooker

In my experience, eating more protein is a good thing in terms of recovery. And if you are going to cut anything out of your diet, in order to lose weight, then I think most people can afford to cut processed carbs and sugars.

Atkins is a bit extreme though, if you are doing any kind of sports. You do really need some carbs for 'quick-access' energy, if you want to cycle in a happy and comfortable state.

When I want to lose a bit of weight, then I just think low/reduced-carb, compared to my normal diet, rather than Atkins or zero-carb. Works for me.

Anonymous

Crock-O-shite.

Don't bother.

Eat low GI carbs and plenty of veg, lean meats and fish, snack on nuts and seeds.

SBezza

As above eat a normal healthy balanced diet, and the weight will come off, 3 years ago I was 18st, I am now 11.5 st. All I did was change my diet to eat alot better, and do more exercise.

I did the Atkins diet once, and you do lose weight, but as you can't keep up that sort of diet forever, you go back to eating as you did before, and the weight just goes back on even faster.

You need to change you lifestyle, it isn't easy, and it takes time, but boy the benefits are worth it, I just wished I had done it 10 years earlier.

huuregeil

Atkins is a terrible, terrible diet, particularly if you're doing any sport. The bulk of the initial weight loss comes from water loss, and this puts strain on your kidneys. If you're exercising as well, this is the last thing you need! Secondly, the effect of ketosis leads to a break down of muscle tissue, again not a partiularly smart thing to do. And this is not to mention the impact on cardiovascular health.

If you're cycling 100 miles a week and gaining weight, then I think small changes in diet and lifestyle are all you're going to need to see that weight come off. A little less fat, maybe cut down the beer, no processed carbs or sugars, lots of veg, complex carbs and the like.

Alternatively, go to the gym once of twice a week and hit the prime movers: squats, deadlifts, bench press, pull-ups. Gaining a little bit of muscle mass gives your resting metabolic rate a boost.

If you really want to go on a "diet" that will see you shed weight in a healthy manner, go vegan for a month and see how you get on. Seriously (the science backs this one up, unlike Atkins...):

http://www.nature.com/ijo/journal/v27/n ... 2300a.html

"Age-adjusted mean BMI was significantly different between the four diet groups, being highest in the meat-eaters (24.41 kg/m2 in men, 23.52 kg/m2 in women) and lowest in the vegans (22.49 kg/m2 in men, 21.98 kg/m2 in women). Fish-eaters and vegetarians had similar, intermediate mean BMI. Differences in lifestyle factors including smoking, physical activity and education level accounted for less than 5% of the difference in mean age-adjusted BMI between meat-eaters and vegans, whereas differences in macronutrient intake accounted for about half of the difference. High protein (as percent energy) and low fibre intakes were the dietary factors most strongly and consistently associated with increasing BMI both between and within the diet groups."

huuregeil

Oh, and this is a good read too!

http://www.nature.com/oby/journal/v9/n3s/index.html

Atkins = avoid like the plague!

Porgy

huuregeil wrote:

Atkins is a terrible, terrible diet, particularly if you're doing any sport. The bulk of the initial weight loss comes from water loss, and this puts strain on your kidneys. If you're exercising as well, this is the last thing you need! Secondly, the effect of ketosis leads to a break down of muscle tissue, again not a partiularly smart thing to do. And this is not to mention the impact on cardiovascular health.

I'm sure the whole ketosis thing was utterly debunked a few eyars ago. The Atkins diet does work - but it works because a high protein diet acts as an appetite suppresent. Studies showed that people on Atkins actually ate less calories and that's why they lost weight. Simples.

and somehting to bear in mind is that people on Atkins tend to pack away the meat. eating that much meat is really not good for you - it ages you, puts you at higher risk of heart diease, cancer, and god knows what.

huuregeil

Porgy wrote:

I'm sure the whole ketosis thing was utterly debunked a few eyars ago. The Atkins diet does work - but it works because a high protein diet acts as an appetite suppresent. Studies showed that people on Atkins actually ate less calories and that's why they lost weight. Simples.

Yes, that's the case in the long run, assuming you can stick to it. But most long-term studies show no benefit to having done atkins, e.g. there's no change in your ability to stick a reduced calorie diet, and all you get is a whole raft of nasty side-effects of a poor diet.

However, in the short term, depleting glycogen stores (e.g. as a result of low carb intake) lead to ketosis, and I don't think there's any controversy about that (it's just fat-burning by another name!). I think all Atkins-promoters have said is that leading a carb-deprived lifestyle is natural, because that's what our meat-eating ancestors did.

Porgy

huuregeil wrote:

However, in the short term, depleting glycogen stores (e.g. as a result of low carb intake) lead to ketosis, and I don't think there's any controversy about that (it's just fat-burning by another name!). I think all Atkins-promoters have said is that leading a carb-deprived lifestyle is natural, because that's what our meat-eating ancestors did.

That makes me laugh - all modern studies show that man is adapted for an omniverous diet, mainly fruit and vegetation based, and small amounts of meat. We simply do not have the guts to eat very much meat. And that shows how crap the Atkins argument is.

Having said that I did it for a year about 7 years ago and lost two stone, but then went and put it all back on again - sticking to an Atkins diet just made me feel sick. I craved carbs.

neeb

Never been tempted to try the Atikins diet as I am lean and feel healthy on low GI high-fiber carbs, veg, tofu and occasional fish. I don't see how you could possibly go out and do a fast 40 miler without carbs! A related thing I have come across recently however, mostly on dodgy websites run by people with suspect credentials, is the idea that excessive cardiovascular exercise is bad for you because it increases levels of cortisol, especially if you are doing regular longer sessions of more than an hour. As my average rides are around 2 hours or so, this would be worrying if there was anything in it. Anyone know what the current (genuinely expert) opinion is on the long-term health effects of regular endurance exercise at a moderately high intensity? I always feel that as long as I am recovering properly and feel energetic and healthy it can't be bad... I'd be reassured if there were more 100 year old ex-competitive cyclists around, however.

evilollie

keto diets are extreme , and is a method to get weight off qickly, by forcing the body to produce ketones and use fat as a fuel source, it works but isnt the best for cycling

the atkins is crap as it encourages you to each poor fats sources

a better option is the ketogenic diet, the folk that seem to use it the most is bodybuilders. Google it you will get loads of hits

huuregeil

neeb wrote:

Never been tempted to try the Atikins diet as I am lean and feel healthy on low GI high-fiber carbs, veg, tofu and occasional fish. I don't see how you could possibly go out and do a fast 40 miler without carbs! A related thing I have come across recently however, mostly on dodgy websites run by people with suspect credentials, is the idea that excessive cardiovascular exercise is bad for you because it increases levels of cortisol, especially if you are doing regular longer sessions of more than an hour. As my average rides are around 2 hours or so, this would be worrying if there was anything in it. Anyone know what the current (genuinely expert) opinion is on the long-term health effects of regular endurance exercise at a moderately high intensity? I always feel that as long as I am recovering properly and feel energetic and healthy it can't be bad... I'd be reassured if there were more 100 year old ex-competitive cyclists around, however.

neeb, I can't remember where I saw the study (maybe on a helmet website) but it found that cyclists increase their life expectancy by a couple of years (off the back of a long-term population-wide study). Further, cycling came top of the pile of a whole bunch of sports. So, pseudo-scientists can argue all day about the supposed negatives of cortisol, but we must be doing something right in aggregate!

neeb

neeb, I can't remember where I saw the study (maybe on a helmet website) but it found that cyclists increase their life expectancy by a couple of years (off the back of a long-term population-wide study). Further, cycling came top of the pile of a whole bunch of sports. So, pseudo-scientists can argue all day about the supposed negatives of cortisol, but we must be doing something right in aggregate!

That's reassuring, although I suppose most people who cycle are just commuting for 20 minutes at a time. I do occasionally wonder if several long, strenuous rides a week could potentially be over-stressing the body in a negative way in the long term and it would be nice to have solid evidence to the contrary. It's addictive though!

keef66

Just eat sensible portions of a balanced diet and take plenty of exercise. Fad diets are for the hard of thinking.

I think you'd have to be seriously overdoing things to produce excessive levels of cortisol during exercise. It's more effectively generated by stress, and cycling's a great stress buster.

bobinski

I did the Atkins diet 5 yrs ago and slimmed down quickly which was very satisfying. BUT i noticed that i lost muscle mass and strength.
I only did it because with young kids who were not sleeping through the night, a stressful job etc i did not have the energy to exercise and was aware i was comfort eating. It would have been much better if i had commuted by bike, fitting in the odd longer ride when i could and simply eaten more sensibly. live and learn.
all the advice here is good. a sensible diet, complex carbs, veg, fruit and fish, some but not much meat and regular exercise is all you will need. it may be gradual but it will work.

Headhuunter

Apart from the health issues associated with the Atkins Diet, everyone I know of who has tried it has initially lost weight but has then piled it back on again when they stop the diet. You could use Atkins to quickly lose weight initially but ultimately it's unsustainable as a long term diet choice and eventually you'll have to adjust your usual eating habits to keep the weight off

IronMan42

Had to join and respond here to a whole bunch of rhetoric from people that have no understanding of low carb lifestyle.

It is absolutely sustainable as a lifestyle. I have followed for ten years and running. I won my 16th Iron Man triathalon three weeks ago and I am 42 yrs old. I am sponsored and have access to endocrinologists, exercise physiolgists, and state-of-the-art testing facilities. I'm not saying this type of eating is for everyone but it is safe, easy to follow (for me). If there is any question of my fitness level, I am 5'9", weigh 170 lbs at 4.5% BF and have a VO2 max of 88 ml O2/kg/min. Loss of muscle glycogen? I can bench 225lbs 30+ times. I'm not trying to come on here and steal your show and brag. I work hard. i am here dispelling the myths that you guys are holding onto.

Here is a great blog to check out. This article explains it better.
http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/keto ... d-ketosis/

neeb

Had to join and respond here to a whole bunch of rhetoric from people that have no understanding of low carb lifestyle.

It is absolutely sustainable as a lifestyle. I have followed for ten years and running. I won my 16th Iron Man triathalon three weeks ago and I am 42 yrs old. I am sponsored and have access to endocrinologists, exercise physiolgists, and state-of-the-art testing facilities. I'm not saying this type of eating is for everyone but it is safe, easy to follow (for me). If there is any question of my fitness level, I am 5'9", weigh 170 lbs at 4.5% BF and have a VO2 max of 88 ml O2/kg/min. Loss of muscle glycogen? I can bench 225lbs 30+ times. I'm not trying to come on here and steal your show and brag. I work hard. i am here dispelling the myths that you guys are holding onto.

Here is a great blog to check out. This article explains it better.
http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/keto ... d-ketosis/

You may or may not be for real, but you'll have to forgive me for being just a little suspicious of someone who joins the forum just to post this message and then links to a heavily commercialised site promoting associated products...

Can't claim to be an iron man but for what it's worth I'm a year older than you, same height and 30lbs lighter (probably about the same body fat but without the superfluous upper body muscle ). Whole grain pasta & bread, broccoli and tofu for me...

At the end of the day, it's calories in (food) and calories out (metabolism, including exercise). If you get that balance right (i.e., you're not fat) and you're getting enough of all of the essential vitamins, minerals, fatty and amino acids (bear in mind that wholegrain carbs are a convenient source of lots of vitamins and minerals) it probably doesn't matter very much how you are doing it. Our paleolithic ancestors doubtless ate a very varied diet including heaps of starchy roots and grains as well as meat - we are omnivores, and adaptability is the hallmark of our metabolisms.

Anonymous

IronMan42 wrote:

Had to join and respond here to a whole bunch of rhetoric from people that have no understanding of low carb lifestyle.

It is absolutely sustainable as a lifestyle. I have followed for ten years and running. I won my 16th Iron Man triathalon three weeks ago and I am 42 yrs old. I am sponsored and have access to endocrinologists, exercise physiolgists, and state-of-the-art testing facilities. I'm not saying this type of eating is for everyone but it is safe, easy to follow (for me). If there is any question of my fitness level, I am 5'9", weigh 170 lbs at 4.5% BF and have a VO2 max of 88 ml O2/kg/min. Loss of muscle glycogen? I can bench 225lbs 30+ times. I'm not trying to come on here and steal your show and brag. I work hard. i am here dispelling the myths that you guys are holding onto.

Here is a great blog to check out. This article explains it better.
http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/keto ... d-ketosis/

With no due respect....

B0ll0cks...

Pokerface

Hey Hey! Looks like Bhima became an IronMan Triathlete ^^

StillGoing

hopper1 wrote:

It's basically a protein diet so wont be helping you with energy...
Crap diet, too....

+1
What a lot people find with Atkins is it only works once. The first time if you stick to it the weight falls off. In reality it is just an eating regime that gets so boring that for the disciplined, they just go with minimal consumption in effect cutting down portions and cutting out the crap. Your body has no choice but to lose weight. The problem with drastic and rapid weight loss is it easily piles back on. Far better to eat sensibly, exercise and have gradual weight loss.

Murr X

IronMan42 wrote:

Had to join and respond here to a whole bunch of rhetoric from people that have no understanding of low carb lifestyle.

It is absolutely sustainable as a lifestyle. I have followed for ten years and running. I won my 16th Iron Man triathalon three weeks ago and I am 42 yrs old. I am sponsored and have access to endocrinologists, exercise physiolgists, and state-of-the-art testing facilities. I'm not saying this type of eating is for everyone but it is safe, easy to follow (for me). If there is any question of my fitness level, I am 5'9", weigh 170 lbs at 4.5% BF and have a VO2 max of 88 ml O2/kg/min. Loss of muscle glycogen? I can bench 225lbs 30+ times. I'm not trying to come on here and steal your show and brag. I work hard. i am here dispelling the myths that you guys are holding onto.

Here is a great blog to check out. This article explains it better.
http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/keto ... d-ketosis/

5'9'' 170lbs at 4.5% BF whilst having a V02 max of 88 is so remarkable that it would not be unreasonable to say there is probably nobody else in the world with what you possess.

Drop down to a probably not unreasonable 140lbs and your V02 max would be 107 ml/Kg/min! You can see why I am not just suspicious but certain that what you are claiming is absolutely untrue.


Murr X

DaveyL

I thought it could have been Jonas Colting (a Swedish triathlete who is know to follow a low-carb diet) but he's not as old as 42.

Pokerface

philthy3 wrote:

hopper1 wrote:

It's basically a protein diet so wont be helping you with energy...
Crap diet, too....

+1
What a lot people find with Atkins is it only works once. The first time if you stick to it the weight falls off. In reality it is just an eating regime that gets so boring that for the disciplined, they just go with minimal consumption in effect cutting down portions and cutting out the crap. Your body has no choice but to lose weight. The problem with drastic and rapid weight loss is it easily piles back on. Far better to eat sensibly, exercise and have gradual weight loss.

I just want to point out that this is not always the case. I dropped 6 stone in 3 months - using a low carb diet - and have kept it off. Granted - I cycle a LOT and watch what I eat (but nearly as much as you might expect) - and have not gained it back.

Nor did I suddenly gain ANY of it back once I stopped that particular diet.

But I would agree that a sensible diet and lots of exercise is the best way to go.

ut_och_cykla

Colting's book is an interesting read - but perhaps only available in Swedish. He does eat a low carb diet and does a lot of low level aerobic work (but low and low - running for several hours would be very hard for many of us) BUT - he also east quick carbs during competition and when doing harder training - a sort of live low (carb) train high. His web pages are in Swedish but there are summaries in English as PDFs. Personally I do agree with him in that the focus on carbs has often meant that 'amatuers' (especially kids) are missing out on good nutrition. And it is the case that much of the nutritional information available to sports clubs in Sweden is sponsored by large flour producers!! Eating pasta by the bowl full doen't give you many vitamins, minerals, etc
As for the Atkins diet - its too one sided to be healthy for any length of time - but a low(er) carb diet is probably perfectly ok even for people exercising hard and is of great benefit to people with Diabetesetc.

mrushton

You have to cut back on the carbs and on stuff like bread,snack foods etc. It's staggering why people think Pot Noodle/crisps etc aren't contributing to a weight gain and bread is a notorious weight gainer.
Small amounts of meat, more veg. My partner solved a number of issues with weight, water retention etc when she stopped eating bread and cut right back on wheat based products and pasta.

neeb

Eating pasta by the bowl full doen't give you many vitamins, minerals, etc

stopped eating bread

The thing is though, I eat quite a lot of wholegrain breads and pasta and whenever I need to check whether I am getting enough of a particular vitamin or mineral in my diet, as often as not it turns out that wholegrain cereals are a good source (and the rest of the time it's usually various green veg such as spinach, broccoli, asparagus etc or various nuts). However I always eat wholemeal breads or mixed wheat / rye breads with various seeds and things in them, and usually either wholegrain wheat pasta or mixed wheat / rye pasta.

mrushton

But it's still pasta and bread. Doesn't matter if it's got nut's/grains whatever. It's flour based and in the case of bread risen with yeast. Try not eating bread/bread type products for a month and see what happens.

neeb

But it's still pasta and bread. Doesn't matter if it's got nut's/grains whatever. It's flour based and in the case of bread risen with yeast. Try not eating bread/bread type products for a month and see what happens.

In my case I don't have a problem with weight, so the only benefit would be if it improved my health or energy levels in some other way. Possible of course, if the tales about gluten being mildly inflammatory are true even for people who aren't intolerant, but it would be a majorly disruptive dietary change.

Yeast? You'll be suggesting I give up beer next! Or Marmite, which is probably my main B12 source...

To be fair, I do eat more protein and healthy fats than I used to, which does seem to complement cycling training. I think I'd waste away without wheat though! Or need to eat an awful lot of potatoes.

SBezza

mrushton wrote:

Small amounts of meat, more veg. My partner solved a number of issues with weight, water retention etc when she stopped eating bread and cut right back on wheat based products and pasta.

Perhaps she is gluten intolerant, hence the big change, exactly the same with my wife. I don't have any issues eating bread either white or wholemeal, or any other gluten product. Some people do however, there is no one solution for all.