Atkins Diet Plan – A Diet Plan with Lowest Carbohydrate Intake

Searching for a low-carbohydrate diet? Refined carbohydrates are the main cause of obesity, so Atkins developed a diet plan that helps you to loose weight. Sugar, flour, and high fructose corn syrup and saturated fats are the main causes. Atkins diet plan suggest a way to deal with obesity.

According to Atkins diet plan, carbohydrates are restricted in an attempt to control your body’s way of metabolizing foods. This diet plan is mainly based on the fact that, instead of burning glucose, it allows your body to burn fat.

Atkins diet plan is mainly based on consuming high levels of protein and low levels of carbohydrates. It has become a popular weight loss approach for most of us. Atkins diet plan consists of four phases. They include:

• Induction phase
• Ongoing weight loss phase
• Pre-maintenance phase
• Lifetime maintenance phase

Induction phase:
This is the first phase of Atkins diet plan. During this phase, you are allowed to take only 20 grams of carbohydrates per day. You have to avoid caffeine and alcohol completely. Due to this, your body is in the state of ketosis. Ketosis is a phase in which your body burns fats as fuel but not glucose.

During this phase of Atkins diet plan you will lose most weight. Nearly you will lose 6-8 pounds for every week when you are in this phase.

Ongoing weight loss phase:
The objective of this phase is to slowly introduce carbohydrates back into your diet, but you are not allowed to consume a greater amount. You can increase the intake of carbohydrates up to 5 grams.

In this phase of Atkins diet plan, you need to find the critical carbohydrate level that your body requires in order to continue losing weight. The correct level will allow you to eat carbohydrates that won’t affect your weight. This phase continues until you will come within 10 pounds of what you want to weigh.

Pre-maintenance phase:
In this phase you are allowed to eat 10 grams of carbohydrates in your diet per week schedule. The main goal of this Atkins diet plan is also to find the critical carbohydrate level in order to keep your weight where you want it.

In this phase of Atkins diet plan, you will lose weight slowly and you will be able to test certain foods to observe if you can safely add them to your diet without weight gain. Once you achieve your goal weight, you will enter into the maintenance phase of Atkins diet plan.

Life maintenance phase:
In this phase you need to add some more carbohydrates into your diet, but not bad ones. This phase helps you continue to follow the eating habits that you picked up during this diet. You will be suggested to choose healthy carbs instead of bad ones such as whole wheat bread.

Once you get into this phase and start to gain weight then you need to go back to an earlier stage and start again from there.

The problems and consequences of Atkins diet plan:

• You will lose weight very quickly if you follow the Atkins diet plan.
• You won’t feel hungry because your body produces ketones, which act as an appetite suppressant.
• Atkins diet plan has some disagreeable physical side effects. Sometimes you may feel tired, constipated, have bad breath and lack of energy.

Before following Atkins diet plan, it is better to do your own research, because there are problems and consequences for every diet. It is best to visit your doctor to make a decision about which diet best suits for your condition. visit Weight Loss Diet Watch

Neelima Reddy, author of this article writes for WeightLossDietWatch.com. This blog publishes weight loss & diet related information and news from around the world.
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