The key to any diet being successful is discipline and sticking to the outlines of the program. This has never been truer than with the Atkins Diet. This diet elicits a biochemical response from following a prescribed regimen of certain foods going through prescribed phases. If you deviate from the plan you will not have success and may even gain weight. So the first key to success is to stick to the plan.
Secondly, just because the Atkins diet plan allows you to eat fat that doesn’t mean you have to go out and eat everything fatty that you can find, you should still eat mostly leaner meats and fish and only eat meats like steak for one of your meals. Another thing you can do that will help you is to do as bodybuilders have done for years and eat several smaller meals instead of three large ones.
I know there are many diet plans on the market that claim you can “melt the pounds off while you sleep” and “lose weight without exercise”. Believe me; these methods will not work long term. Have you ever seen someone who lost a lot of weight but still look out of shape and devoid of muscle tone? This is because they lost muscle and still have fat on their body.
So, how do you lose fat and preserve muscle? There are two things that you must do. First, you have to be sure that you are taking in enough protein. What is enough? Generally, most doctors agree that you should take in about one gram for every pound of bodyweight. An average woman should take in about 100 grams a day while the average man might be closer to 170 to 200 grams. Also, the protein intake needs to be spread out and you need to drink plenty of water. The body can only absorb and use around 30 grams at a time so utilizing the method of several smaller meals will achieve this.
The other thing that is an absolute must is exercise. You will meet your goals much more quickly and have a better toned body by exercising daily. The other benefit is that the more muscle you have the higher your metabolism. In other words fat burns muscle.
Keep these tips in mind and your diet will be successful.
Gregg Hall is a business consultant and author for many online and offline businesses and lives in Navarre Florida with his 16 year old son. For Atkins Diet products go to atkinsdietplusdotcom