What They Say: “The Atkins Nutritional Approach is a powerful, long-term plan for weight loss and weight management that works unlike any diet you’ve ever seen or tried. Atkins is a totally different way to look at food – it will show you that eating the right foods can actually change the way your body works – change you from a fat-storing to a fat-burning machine. Throw in some essential, yet fun, activity and you’re on your way to the sexy results you’ve always wanted. You’ll lose weight, you’ll maintain your optimal weight, you’ll feel better than ever – vital, confident, in control, from now on. And that’s very SEXY.” – from Atkins.com
My Experience: As with other diets which cut out carbs, this one is almost guaranteed to work for anyone. It has its detractors, mainly from folks who are concerned at the high levels of saturated fats that the diet allows. I’m no doctor, so I don’t hazard a guess as to what the long term effects of this could be. All I CAN say with confidence is that I lost 40 lbs using Atkins leading up to my first wedding in 2003. Part of that was that I was doing Tae Bo for several hours every day, but I know that Atkins played a large part in the loss. Did I mention that the 40 lbs was in only 10 weeks? Pretty good, right?
Of course, there was the inevitable regain one I went back on carbs, which happened to be during my 5 day honeymoon. I came home weighing almost as much as I had at the START of the diet! Not what I was after.
ISMe Rating: 5/10 – good if you have an event to slim down for, but results don’t last