Atkins Fail - Unsuccessful Fad Diet Attempt #1034.5

Like many people in the 90s, I wanted to know if the Atkins Diet worked. I had gained significant weight in college and wanted to regain my athletic figure, both for myself and for my wife. There were loads of people singing the praises of Atkins. "Atkins works!" they would say. "You can eat meat and cheese and all sorts of stuff, just no sugar. It's great, and I've lost 40 pounds so far."

You know, I looked at my belly fat and considered what I knew about eating mostly proteins and fat. I know that carbs had loads of sugar and that a sedentary lifestyle and high carbs were a bad idea. All that sugar has to be processed somehow, and if it wasn't being burned as fuel for the body's activities, it would be turned into stored fat. That only works for bears, and even though my body hair rivals the beast, I had to find a way to curb the carb intake. Atkins seemed like a dream come true. Solve the carb problem and replace carbs with "quick energy" protein and fat. I could eat steak wrapped in bacon and topped with bacon and steak with steak sauce. It sounds weird, but that would fit into the diet (in theory).

What didn't I pay attention to? How about a balanced diet, daily nutritional values, daily caloric intake, exercise, and that's just a few. I was blinded by the lure of fast weight loss with no exercise. I've heard it before, and I heard it during my Atkins phase. Weight that comes off fast, comes back just as fast. "Lies, all lies." I thought. I thought wrong.

I did lose weight eating all that meat and fat. I really did. In fact, I think I dropped about 30 pounds. However, I was not learning to balance my diet with a mixture of good foods. I was not taking in enough roughage and fiber. Dairy and fruits were almost non-existent. Last but not least, I was not exercising at all.

When I got tired of eating all that meat (yes, it happens) and started looking for foods I loved, like rolls, cheeseburgers with buns, oranges, and even ketchup, the weight flew on as fast as it had flown off. In addition to that, I have to wonder what all that fat did to my cholesterol and heart.

In the end, I've learned that a balanced diet and exercise are the only way to really lose weight and keep it off. Atkins does not work in the long run.