The Atkins Fatkins Diet
The Atkins Diet, devised by Dr. Robert Atkins in the 1970s, is one of the most popular and dangerous low-carb, high-protein fad diets on the market, and claims to help people lose up to 15 pounds in the first two weeks of the diet.
Atkins works by limiting dieters' carbohydrate intake and upping fiber intake, so that the body burns fat instead of carbohydrates. It includes four phases; the first phase has dieters limit carbohydrate intake but encourages unlimited consumption of artery clogging fat-laden meat and fish, eggs, cheese, salad vegetables, butter and oil. With each phase, dieters add in more carbohydrates until they find the balance where they are no longer gaining weight from their diet.
Why the effects won't last: Like other low-carb diets, water loss accounts for most of the weight loss at the beginning of the diet.
Healthy weight loss takes time and should not be drastic, said Stella Volpe, a registered dietitian and professor, and chairwoman of the Department of Nutrition Sciences at Drexel University in Philadelphia.
"People need to come to terms with that if they're going to do it right, it will take time," Volpe told MyHealthNewsDaily. "So they might be frustrated, but really one to two pounds a week will mean that they're losing more fat, less muscle and less water." Low carb diets cause muscle loss.
