The Atkins diet, for those not familiar with it, is a diet that either eliminates or severely reduces carbohydrate intake to get the body into a state called Ketosis. Ketosis is a state in which the body goes into when there is not enough carbohydrates to use for fuel.

In the absence of carbohydrates the body burns Ketones (fragmented fatty acids) for fuel. Ketones yield about 7 calories a gram as compared to regular fatty acids which have 9. This results in a much quicker fat loss compared to a regular diet consisting of carbohydrates, but there are several problems with the Atkins diet.

One, is the body seems to adapt very quickly to this type of diet and the fat loss comes to a stand still. Two, ketosis is a catabolic state (break down of tissue, i.e. muscle) in which one may lose a lot of body fat but also a lot of muscle due to the catabolic nature of ketosis and the hormone glucagons that is secreted during ketosis. Three, in answer to your other question about the high amount of fat in the diet, I dont like the reliance on high amounts of saturated fats and more importantly processed fats (trans-fatty acids) that the diet calls for. Long term this could cause serious health problems. Four, the diet gives one a false sense of fat loss due to the large amounts of water lost from the absence of carbohydrates. It is not uncommon for someone to lose up to 10 to 15 pounds in the ?rst few weeks of the Atkins diet due to mainly a loss of water and some fat, but not nearly as much fat loss as one thinks.

The weight loss in the beginning is predominately water. Once one resumes eating carbohydrates again the weight comes back almost immediately. This causes someone to think they gained fat back when in reality it is just water weight, but this can psychologically mess with a dieters head and cause them to either binge out or quit the diet and resume their regular bad eating habits. The best answer to proper nutrition for fat loss involves a proper balance of all-natural foods spaced out into smaller, more frequent meals throughout the day.

The proper types of foods involve good sources of protein,low-glycemic carbohydrates, and healthy unsaturated fats and essential fats. In a nutshell it is just eating the right foods, at the right times and in the right amounts (portions). This will produce much better and healthier results and good long term eating habits that one can follow for the rest of their life.