Nigel said:
When you look at diets like the Atkins induction, it's supposedly meant to help you lose weight quickly by excluding most carbs, it's strange then that some people followed this phase for quite a considerable time and still fail to shift the weight, this could be in part due to the exclusion of carbs and replacing with extra fat and protein, carbs & protein have 4 calories per gram and fat has 9 calories per gram, therefore the exclusion of carbs is never enough.
There are a number of reasons why some people lose weight quicker than others on Atkins. Some people cheat. Some people don't do it properly 'by the book'. Some women have problems because female hormones, both pre- and post-menopause, can make it more difficult to lose. Anyone on NSAIDs will have more difficulty losing weight, and I'm sure other drugs can have the same effect. Much of my excess weight came on when I was on drugs for endometriosis.
I lost nearly 80lbs over 18 months on Atkins Induction first time round. Admittedly for most of that time I was walking about 15 miles per week, which I can't do this time round, and I'm also drinking wine more often this time than the 'no alcohol' I did the first time, so my weight loss is slower now. I've lost 50lb in 16 months.
I calorie-counted for a while with Atkins the first time, just out of interest - I was eating between 1500 and 2000 calories a day, without limiting my intake of the 'allowed' foods in any way. I know from previous experience, on the same exercise regime, that I need to eat less than 1300 cals per day on a low fat/high carb diet to lose any weight at all.
Working out my basal metabolic rate for the weight and lifestyle I had when on the low fat diet last, tells me that I needed 2200+ calories per day merely to exist - anything less should have had me losing weight. So why, on a low-fat/high-carb diet, did I have to drop to a starvation-level calorie intake to lose weight, when I can add another 500 to 700 calories on a low carb diet and lose weight smoothly, painlessly, and comparatively, much more quickly?
I think there is no simple answer to this. There are too many factors involved, and everyone is different.
Just to note, also, that many people take Atkins much too simplistically. He
insists on exercise with his diet, even for people with restricted mobility. And he states quite clearly that as you move from one phase to another, as your carbohydrate intake increases, so your fat intake comes down.
For me personally, fat + carbohydrate = body fat. It doesn't really matter how much exercise I do. Eating a 'normal, balanced diet' I managed to reach 20 stone (280lb) while walking 25 miles a week!
The low-carb, unrestricted fat diet suits my particular metabolism. Other regimes suit other people. Fine, I have no problems with that, and no-one should have any problems with the well-researched, informed choice I have made for myself.
Viv 8)