What are the Atkins Diet Guidelines?If you want to follow the Atkins diet, it is important to know the Atkins diet guidelines. If you don't follow the diet as it is designed, it will not help you lose weight and overcome obesity. The Atkins diet is a low carbohydrate diet, so in a nutshell the most important of the Atkins guidelines is to eliminate carbohydrates from your diet. What's important to know about this is that when you eliminate carbohydrates processes begin to occur in your body that allow it to begin to burn fat you have stored. If you forget, or cave in to a craving, and eat carbohydrates, these processes will stop and your hard work will need to begin again. This is why it is important to closely follow the Atkins guidelines. Foods that contain carbohydrates include:
The Atkins guidelines also state that you cannot eat foods that have sugar in them. Keep in mind that some things that you may not think of as food contain sugar, such as cough drops and chewing gum. There are four phases to the Atkins diet and each one has different guidelines. During the first two weeks of the diet you are in the induction diet phase. This phase is the strictest, and you are only allowed a maximum of 20 grams of carbohydrate a day. The next phase is the ongoing weight loss diet. The Atkins diet guidelines for this phase allow you to add a few more carbohydrates into your diet. You may add five carbohydrates back into your diet each week. For example, the first week you can increase from 20 carbohydrates to 25. You will continue in this phase until you have gotten close to your desired weight. For those overcoming obesity, you can be in this diet phase for quite some time. Atkins diet guidelines for the third phase, the pre-maintenance diet, are again loosening the carbohydrate restrictions. During this phase you can choose to add 10 carbohydrates to the daily total you had reached in the ongoing weight loss diet, or you can enjoy a 20-carbohydrate treat two or three times a week. Finally, when you have achieved your desired weight, you will enter the maintenance diet phase. The Atkins diet guidelines for this phase allow you to eat between 40 and 90 carbohydrates a day. Your individual number is determined by what level causes you to begin to gain weight back. If you start to gain weight, you need to reduce your carbohydrate count. You will also need to follow these steps to lose the weight and keep it off.
While 40 to 90 carbohydrates may not sound like a lot, it is significantly less than the 300 carbohydrates the average person consumes in a day. Even in the maintenance diet you are restricting carbohydrates. By closely following the Atkins diet guidelines you can lose weight and overcome obesity. Good luck!
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