Rating: 
Summary: worked for me
Review: I have never done this before so I guess I feel what I have tosay is very important. I am 29 years old and took a new job at a placewhere the activity level was far below my previous job, so along withthe lack of discipline and time to exercise the weight off and the new slow paced job I managed to gain about 30 unwanted pounds. So one day I noticed the book on a co-workers desk I picked it up and began spot reading it(not the way to go)once I saw some logic in the book I started over and read the book from cover to cover. That night I went to grocery store did some shopping and well lets just say the rest is fat history. Now six months later 30 pounds lighter and 5 inches thinner I feel better than I have in years. Now for the shocking part I have been able to return alot of my old favorites back into my daily eating rountine, thats right the #3 combo from Hardees'(that's a bacon egg and cheese biscuit) every morning(that's go large of course) I eat sandwiches, vegtables, deserts, don't get me wrong I did not go off the deep end but I am not suffering like some people claim that you will. The single biggest difference in my diet not only from the beginning but all the way through to what Dr. Atkins calls the maintance plan for at least me is NO SOFT DRINKS AND NO SWEET TEA. All I can say is thank you lord for crystal light(basically nicely flavored water no fat no sugar and no sodium) and diet sodas. I can honestly say before I started the diet I would consume 10 to 15 sodas or glasses of sweet tea a day. WOW that's a massive amount of sugar that my body had no idea what to do with. Don't get me wrong people I stuck to the plan just like the book said to for at least three solid weeks and it worked but then I customized it to meet my needs, trust me I am not a cook, I found a way to incorporate the system into my three meals a day at fast food resturants, oh yeah it's possible. I went out and bought the Atkins cook book and couldn't fix a damn thing in it, but then I realized if it was going to work I had to make it work for my lifestyle which brings me back to basically three meals a day out. Here's another one for you, go to Wendys get a triple with cheese get your favorite toppings on it I always add bacon then ask the cashier for a salad plate and two packs of ranch dressing, get to your table take off the bread mix it all up cover it in ranch and chow down it you aren't full about half way through you have a tapeworm. You want another one here's a great snack in five minutes or less take 4 hotdogs grill them nice and dark them cut them into bite size peices put them in a bowl cover with your favorite shredded cheese then about 1 minute in the old microwave and presto great snack for the cooking challenged. Well I am goingto wrap it up now but I feel so strong that this plan can work for you....
Rating:
Summary: Seems to be a guy's diet
Review: I thought the book was poorly written with too much time wasted on defensive arguments. You really have to pick through the literature to get to the facts about the diet. As far as the diet goes, I have found that the biggest problem people have is giving up breads and pastas (consensus from women) or they just get sick of the foods. I personally lost about 50 lbs at one point but gained a few back (about 5 lbs) when I went off the diet. I had a problem that I would party all the time and drink beer. Well I went on and off the diet for a couple of months and still made progress. You will gain weight if you go off the diet incorrectly. If you are in ketosis or simply have just been eating atkin's diet style and then you have a doughnut or some pizza or pasta you will see an immediate gain. your body will store all that water again that you lost and your bodyweight will increase by a few pounds the very next day. if you increase carbs very slowly and slowly decrese fat, the only weight you will gain back is the water. but that is okay. if you however go off the diet and let the sudden carb cravings get out of control you can gain as much as 10 lbs back in about 3 days. Believe me I have done it. So from my experience, the diet works better for guys, there are some side effects that are temporary, you have to go off the diet carefully, but it really works. if you cheat on this diet it really builds character. if you have some cookies or a soda, the sudden weight gain is like a slap in the face. if you do it right, there is no greater feeling in the world than knowing everyday you get out of bed and step on the scale you have lost another pound.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't buy it!
Review: I tryed the program and lost 10 pounds in one month, then stopped losing weight and fell off the diet in 2 months. It is too hard to stay on the diet because of the limited food choice. Don't do it!
Rating: 
Summary: This Diet Works
Review: I have succeeded in losing 14 pounds and am very close to my goal weight. This is the only diet that has ever worked for me. I would like to comment on what some other people have posted here (you will see their "reviews" following mine).One reader says that by denying yourself of carbs, you will only crave them more. This is both true and false. You will only crave them while your body is still receiving carbs. Once you have given them up, you will find that you will no longer desire them or have cravings. This reader also says that the Carbohydrate Addicts Diet has less side effects. The reason why is simply because that diet has a more gradual transition period, while Atkins is cold-turkey. You will feel run down and weak for the first few days that you give up carbs, but after that you will feel as though you have more energy. This is because it is the process of burning carbs off that makes you feel weak. You can prove this simply by eating a large amount of carby foods, such as candy. The next day you will definitely feel run down and weak (and probably crave more). This person also claims that she is a vegetarian, so eating meat to her is disgusting (although she thinks fish is okay). You can do a low-carb diet that is vegetarian. You merely have less of a choice of food. Another person complains that it works great at first, but then the loss slows down. This is true for any diet because some of the loss is water (which is lost quickly). As you weigh less, you will lose fewer pounds. Obviously someone who weighs 300 pounds can afford to lose 30 pounds, but someone who weighs 120 pounds cannot. The student nurse comments that the brain can only function on glucose (which only comes from carbs). She is wrong. the brain also functions great on ketones, which only comes from fat! Which would you rather do, get your energy from the food you eat or by burning your fat? This is a well known fact. She also claims that you will lose muscle if you do not eat carbs. this is also not true. Studies have shown that locarb diets have less muscle loss than other diets (such as low fat diets) because locarb diets induce ketosis, which is the process of burning fat. She also says that you should eat omega3 fatty acids. She obviously is not familiar with Dr Atkins; he also strongly makes the same recommendation. She claims also that eskimos are healthier because they get a lot of exercise. Do you really believe that eskimos get more exercise than people who live in warmer climates? I highly doubt it. they do however have the advantage that they have to burn more calories to keep their body temperature up. To burn 1 pound of fat, you need to burn 3,500 calories or so. Do some research to see how much exercise you need to do to burn 3,500 calories. From Dr Koop's web site: "The energy you use to exercise consumes fat. A 180-pound person who walks five miles burns about 750 calories. If that person walked five times per week, he or she would burn more than 1 pound of fat (3,500 calories = 1 pound of fat)." That means you have to walk 25 miles to burn 1 pound of fat, IF you weigh 180 pounds. I weigh 156. I would need to walk far more than 25 miles to lose 1 pound. Or I could cut back on carbs, and lose 1 pound in a day or two with no exercise. Which would you chose? I live in the city, and don't have a car, so i walk everywhere, and it never helped me lose weight. Not even rollerblading 10 miles, twice a week. Please, if you do the diet, read the book, buy the Atkins starter kit, take all the supplements that he recommends (+ extra calcium), and read the lo-carb support groups on usenet. If you do not, you will have the negative symptoms that people describe. If you do, you will have the same good fortune as the rest of us. Good luck!
Rating:
Summary: The best book no one seems to read
Review: I have lost over sixty pounds and maintained the loss for over five years thanks to Atkins diet. After thirty years of fruitless dieting - and the accompanying, constant hunger and weakness - I must say that there is only one "side effect" to the diet: eating with others will solicit comments about how "I thought pasta was good for you" and the like. I've known others who, like myself, actually read the entire book and had similar (or greater) success. (A co-worker lost 130 pounds and has maintained that loss for three years to date, for example.) There truly is no hunger, no cravings, no fatigue, no needing to be obsessed with dieting, no living in a gym - and no regain. But I have frequently been puzzled when I have met or heard from those who cannot take Dr Atkins' word for what his diet is. They combine the "sage wisdom" of other plans, believing they read it in Atkins book, or take prejudiced comments from elsewhere and assume them to be true. The common assumption - that Atkins dieters are constantly stuffing themselves with high fat foods, undoubtedly in a contest to see who can consume the most calories in a day - is absurd. After the first few weeks, one experiences a blessed reduction in appetite and absence of any cravings. (Politically incorrect as it is to state the truth - for many people, eating high carbohydrate foods when hungry has an effect similar to drinking from the ocean when thirsty.)Though there is no weighing, measuring, or keeping diaries, one finds that one's caloric intake is drastically reduced. The other fictions - that this is a temporary diet (that is true only of Induction - which prejudiced reviewers present as the entire diet) - that Atkins dieters are aiming for a heart attack soon (I doubt a cardiologist has much interest in killing his patients..) - that staying on the diet leads to weight gain - all are ridiculous. It is true that one will gain weight if one goes back to a high carbohydrate diet - but why would anyone who has a problem with carbs want to do so? Those contemplating following the diet MUST read the book in its entirety, and not add what they were taught elsewhere. I would include my E-Mail address, except that, when I've made favourable comments about this diet on Internet fora, I've been deluged with E-Mail that tells me how wrong I am... Everett Koop's "successes" lost only 12 pounds in a year. Other "successes" with high carb, low fat programmes, of which I've read on the Internet, had track records such as losing 19 pounds and gaining half of it back soon. I've seen studies where those who "successfully" lost weight through exercise lost only six pounds in a year. The new wisdom is that one should not lose more than a pound a month. ...I'll take Atkins any day.
Rating:
Summary: I've already lost 6 pounds!
Review: I've been on this diet for only 7 days and I've already lost 6 pounds and counting! It's amazing! It does take some getting used to and a major change in eating habits but you don't have to starve yourself or exercise once a day if you don't want to. I'm definitely sticking to this diet...my father lost 35 pounds in three months on the same diet! The book is good but the results are great and I would encourage anyone who is serious about losing weight and has struggled with it for a long time to try this diet. Not to sound too much like an infomercial or anything, but the diet works and you'll see results almost immediately that will help you stick to the diet.
Rating:
Summary: I feel GREAT!
Review: Who can argue with a way of eating that makes you feel wonderful? I've followed the Atkins plan for 5 months now and although I don't have a whole lot of weight to lose, I stick with the plan as much as possible (and it's easy past the first few days) simply because I feel GREAT. I haven't had this much energy since my twenties (I'm now in my forties) and a number of other nagging ailments have subsided. Other doctors and dieticians warn against this way of eating (it's NOT a "diet" by any means but a way of eating, or way of life for some) but I have to wonder they perhaps wish they had pioneered the concept? This gets five stars from me and from my family who likes the new me! Pass the scrambled eggs and bacon, Mmmmmmm!
Rating:
Summary: This diet is very unhealthy
Review: Ok...here's the thing. This diet causes a person to lose weight. There's a few catches to it. fat is not what is being lost. before I go into telling you why this diet is so bad for you, I want to build my credibility a little bit. I'm a student nurse... I'm learning to understand how the body's systems work, and I actually went on the diet for a short period of time. Let me just touch on a couple of the downfalls of this diet. A person's body needs carbohydrates. The brain and central nervous system can only run on the form of sugar called glucose. The only source of glucose is carbohydrates. Also, Because the body doesn't have any carbs to burn on this diet...it burns protein. Think for a second of the structures in your body that are made of protein.................muscles...and even more startling...internal organs. So..you do lose weight, but who wants to burn their liver and kidneys in the process. Another claim of this diet is that the eskimos ate only protein, and they have extremely low occurances of heart disease. ok...this is true. What is also true is that the eskimos, although eating a lot of protein and little carbs, ate large amounts of fish. Fish contains something called omega 3 fatty acid. omega 3 is a key component in breaking down fat and preventing heart disease. This is the reason that the eskimos didn't develop heart disease. Also, their bodies were accustomed to this type of eating and they got a lot of exercise which would utilize the protein. Ok...Now I've just shared with you some of my insights..take them or leave them. There may very well be some benefits of this diet unknown to me, so I'm not trying to say that I know it all....this is just my opinion.
Rating: 
Summary: The Dr. that finally diagnosed my health issues
Review: I read this book because I found "The Carbohydrate Addict" by the Dr. Hellers to be wanting. This book goes into great detail as to why some people are carbo sensitive and can not lose weight on todays popular low fat diets. I started the diet because of classic carbo addict symptoms: tired in afternoon, light headedness, sugar cravings, extreme mood swings, depression, etc., and was at the end of my rope. Within days of starting Atkins' diet I was no longer tired at all, in fact I had more energy than I have had in 15 years (I'm 40). Another plus was I started losing weight, 20 lbs since 1/29/00. It was easy in the beginning but is definitely getting harder due to lack of selection in what is acceptable to eat. I am checking out other high protein, low carbohydrate plans, but am committed to this life style because it really does work for those of us that cannot tolerate carbos (this has to be just about everyone). I suggest you buy the book, don't try a low carb diet without getting this valuable information.
Rating:
Summary: Poorly written, but it does work!
Review: Dr. Atkins really needs a ghost writer; he does not write well. But, the plan really does work. However there are many things he neglects to say. For example, it is common to stall for a while after induction while your body adjusts. Also, many foods have hidden carbs. The diet works, but find low carb support groups on the Internet to help you fine tune it.
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