h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I asked in H2G2 about the Atkins Diet, and you said to message you on your personal space, (to save us both from being shouted at) No what you mean, i only want to go on it for a little while, half stone to lose, stubborn as So, if you dont mind, could you plz give me some info on it, would be aprreciated And on a final note, how are you?

Hi!

I was on it for quite a while last year, and the year before! It does the job, but, it's not natural for our bodies, and you shouldn't stay on it for too long - 6 months maximum.

Your best bet really is to buy the original book - or borrow it from your local library, however, the beauty is that it is really simple to follow.

You can eat as much as you like of meat and dairy products. You eat no wheat products or fruit. The only vegetables you can have are the dark thin leaf variety - i.e. spinach.

Still interested?

I'm only telling you my experience of it, and everybody's different, so as I said before, if it makes you feel really crappy, stop doing it. You'll just have to resign yourself to the fact that exercise really is the only answer!


It can be more expensive than you may normally spend on food, as you're not buying cheap 'fillers' based on wheat/rice etc.

WHAT 'THEY' SAY
Bad breath – I didn't notice that it gave me particularly bad breath, but it's a good idea to keep an eye on these things!

"Migraines" – I never had any headaches or migraines. The reason that these may occur, is that through this diet, you are getting rid of any fluid retention, so your body will want more water. Whether you're dieting or not, if you don't drink enough water - you'll get headaches, it's a symptom of dehydration. So drink lots of water!

"Diarrhoea" – nah, you won’t be running to the loo every five minutes! However (there’s no way to put this delicately), you may suffer from ‘fudgy’ poo, which isn’t fantastic, but it’s nothing really.

"You’ll put it all back on again" – well, if you eat like a pig of course you will! The way I saw it, I was hovering around 16.5 stone (227 pounds), if I went on the Atkins diet, lost a couple of stone, and then carried on eating as I was before, I’d be hovering around 14.5 stone (196 pounds), still not the most healthy of people, but 30-odd pounds lighter!

WHAT THEY DON’T SAY
You will have cravings for carbohydrates – this is natural, carbs are part of our natural diet. You can satiate this by having a massive bowl of pasta at the weekend – that’s it though, just the once, you can’t use the weekend as a ‘break’ from your diet.

How it works – I’m no doctor, my mum told me this, and she’s a bit of an expert in food/body relations. You have two types of fat – one you need and one you don’t. Carbohydrates are used by your body for energy. If you’re not eating any carbohydrates, your body needs to use the excess fat for energy, particularly from the outside of your thighs

Tiredness – you will be a bit more tired to begin with. This is because your body is having to work harder. It will adjust. I’ve recently been on slimmers world, and that made me terribly windy! But my body adjusted.

The best thing I found, was that because you’re eating all that protein, your brain seems to wake up! Protein is the best thing for your brain, and mine felt super sparky!

Remember though – if you want it to work, you have to stick faithfully to it.
It’s only a temporary measure.
If you start feeling really bad from it (some people do – everybody’s different), then it’s not for you.
Listen to your body. The more you understand how things work, the more you can do to help it.


I’m fine, thank you for asking! Just finished another boring salad Keep me posted on how you get on!

A481754 – is a little weight losers group we set up years ago! Although – on that page it’s quoting me in being against the Atkins diet, but that was before I tried it for myself – just goes to show, you can’t just go on what people tell you, see for yourself.

F59184?thread=225087 – is the main conversation for the weight losers – there’s not as many people as there used to be, but I still contribute, as do a few others.

Good luck!

If it's only half a stone you're trying to lose, you'll do that just by getting rid of fluid retention. I'd stick to it till you've lost a couple of pounds over that. Then, when you eat normally and regain a bit of fluid retention, you should bounce back to your ideal weight, and not your original weight.

Thank you very much for that, ill also go and see the slimmers page, prob tom, as i have to go to work at 5. Im doing the cornflake diet, ive been on a diet for about 6 weeks now, healthy eating, and just wanted to give it a boost, as ive just got back from holiday, lost 1 stone so far, and bit worried that most of it is just fluid!!! So once ive finished my boost diet ill try the Atkins, and try for about 9 pounds, just for the fluid retention thing.!! Good point there. I cant see myself being on it for more than 1 month, but can you do me one other favour plz, can you give me a typical menu for a day on it, cos that is where i am stuck, as i eat mainly pasta, so bit stuck there!!! and sorry to be a pain!!!! Fudgy poo, sounds interesting!!!

Well done for what you've done so far!

It's a bit difficult for me to give you a menu, as I never bother with them myself! Thinking back, the most adventurous I got was a ham and spinach 'salad'!

Again, your best option is the library.

Trying to remember a typical day - I'd have bacon for brekkie, perhaps an egg mid morning if I felt hungry (don't eat too many eggs!). Prawns / some sort of fish for lunch.. with some cheese . For dinner I'd have whatever me nan (who I was living with last year) was having, but without the potatoes/pasta. Or, as I work in the evening too, you can get those sets of four mini-packs of ham, and I'd have one of those before my evening job.

I stopped eating big meals in the evening quite a while ago. I figured that you're eating all that food, but you're not gonna use up the energy sitting in front of the telly, so it'll just turn to fat Plus, I try not to eat after 8pm - your body is still processing it hours later, which means your sleep will be disturbed, which means you'll be tired, which means you'll have less will power and your metabolism won't work quite as well.

Just write down all the meaty / dairy / leafy veg things you can think of, and make up your own combinations. That usually turns out to be the most fun! (I discovered at the weekend that peanut butter and lemon curd on crumpets was delicious not very healthy though!)

This is making me want fatty bacon and cheesey things again. I may well try it with you!

If it helps - this morning I had bacon, sausages and egg for brekkie

For lunch I got salad with lots of chicken and mayonnaise and a nice portion of cheese

So glad you went on about the Atkins diet - I'm enjoying my food again!

Right, think im going to get the hang of it!!! Glad you are enjoying your food, as im not at the mo bowl of cornflakes to look forward to Yeah, ive stopped eating big meals in the evening, i try and have my main meal at lunch, or if im working, then i will make myself a bowl of pasta, (which i will have to drop when i do the atkins) and then something little in the evenings, i dont eat after 7.30 either. Ok, one other thing i need you to do, is, Im going for 1 stone to lose, im not allowed to lose more than that, or i will be classed as under-weight, so if i put my target up, remember to tell me im not allowed None of my mates are dieting (dont need to) so be nice to be able to get support from ppl that are!!!

You're not allowed to put your target up! (Or down you know what I mean!)

Shopping last night - I got the packs of mini-packs of ham. Lots of bacon, prawns in cocktail sauce (low-fat), a nice big lump of cheese, some more tuna, some frozen cod in parsley sauce (easy to cook in microwave), a turky leg roast, and some slightly flavoured fizzy water - which I remembered from last time, has hardly any carbs in it, but is sweet so good for cravings.

I have no idea whether my shopping list will help you! But as I said, I don't really do menus, I tend to grab whatever's in the fridge

Your shopping list is great, im making a list of what your buying, then going to follow from that! What do you snack on? Your a great help

I've just found a great carb gram counter - listing the carbs in most foods. It's a pdf file, if you want, I'll email you a copy. My email is queeglesproggit @ AOL . com

I've bought in a big bag of salad to snack on. And some snack packs of ham. I'm peckish so I'm just gonna have some salad.

Hey, I just found some sample menus! Again at www.atkins.com website, if you get a chance to access the internet, go there, it's great! I've just copied and pasted the menus from the web page for you.


Check out these typical menus for all four phases of Atkins.

_Induction
Breakfast:
Southwestern omelet with tomato, avocado and ham

Lunch:
Caesar salad with grilled chicken

Dinner:
Steak au Poivre
Roasted Asparagus
Mixed green salad with lemon vinaigrette
Gelatin dessert made with sucralose

Snack:
Celery stuffed with herb cream cheese


_Ongoing Weight Loss
Breakfast:
Two poached eggs over Fried Green Tomatoes
Two strips of nitrate-free bacon

Lunch:
Grilled turkey burger with pepper-jack cheese and green salsa
Creamy Red Cabbage Slaw

Dinner:
Cajun Pork Chops
Sautéed Kale with Red Pepper Dressing
Spicy Country Atkins Cornbread

Snack:
Spiced pumpkin seeds


_pre-maintenance
Breakfast:
Belgian Waffles with Sugar Free Pancake Syrup and strawberries

Lunch:
Almost black-bean soup
Ham and cheese-filled tortilla

Dinner:
Roasted Salmon with Macadamia-Cilantro Crust
Cauliflower-Leek Puree
Arugula, radish and cucumber salad
Ginger Flan with blueberries

Snack:
Two Chocolate Truffles

_Lifetime Maintenance
Breakfast:
Two slices cranberry-orange loaf
Ricotta-cheese omelet

Lunch:
Vegetable soup
Crab salad over mixed greens

Dinner:
Herb Roasted Chicken with Lemon
Wild rice with mushrooms
Bibb lettuce and watercress salad with French dressing
Molten chocolate cakes

Snack:
Cantaloupe with lime juice


Hope this helps

Brilliant, thank youu Very fancy though Howz you today? Oh, and my email add is, [email protected], loads of peeps get my email add wrong, so to break it down for you, its C I (as in the letter) 1 (as in the letter) @activemail.co.uk

I've emailed you the carb sheet

Those cod in parsley sauce things are great, just a few minutes in the microwave That's the sort of thing that's best I think, stuff that doesn't take too much preparation.

Nearly the end of your cornflakes diet! Has it actually worked at all?

Oh it has worked! I weighed myself and in a week, i had lost 4 pounds, but the weight also seems to be coming off at the right places, my waist, stomache and thighs, the other thing is, i made myself lunch yesterday, (rice, peas, mushrooms, hot-dog, boiled egg and some mayo) and i was stuffed, felt like i had eaten loads, so know that my stomache has strunk from it as well, so should help loads, but cant wait for it to finish, real craving last night of cheese on toast, and so hard to resist! Thanks for the email! ill have a look in a bit! How are you?

I got your email, but unfortunately it didnt come through, too big, digi-box for you, thanks all the same how are you?

Bummer! Looks like the library for you then!

I'm ok, the diet went a bit up at the weekend - being drunk having not a small part to do with that

Back on with a vengeance now though! I've got tuna with a bit of mayonnaise for brekkie - lots of people think that's weird, but I've been using tuna for an emergency breakfast for ages - especially if my brain needs waking up!

I actually prepared a 'proper' lunch! Got a spinach/watercress/rocket salad yesterday, and some caeser dressing (one of the lowest on the carb-counter), stuck that in a lunch box this morning, along with some wafer-thin ham I'd cut into strips, then went a bit mad and cooked some bacon too and chucked that in , then went more mad and stuck in some Stilton with Apricot cheese .... but just remembered I forgot to bring in a snack to eat before work2

Have you started on Atkins then? How are you getting on?
If there's any food you're unsure of, let me know and I'll check my carb-counter for you

Mine went out the window big-time this weekend!!! Going to start the Atkins beginning of next week, as need a weeks break, can i eat Nacho's, my favourite

Nachos are a no, - as are all other crisps/potato chips

Make sure you don't go mad this week and end up undoing all your good work! (my favourite trick)