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In order to understand how the Atkins plan works, you must first understand the natural functioning of the human body, as well as the configuration of the typical food pyramid in a regulated diet.
Believe it or not the Atkins diet actually takes much of this and attempts to reverse it to affect weight loss.
What does this mean for those who are on the diet, and how long will the diet maintain its effectiveness on the human body? |
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How Long Will the Atkins Plan Take To Achieve Results?
The food pyramid is preached in health class from childhood up through high school and is familiar to almost anyone who has ever attended school in the United States. So, most likely you are aware that the base of the American diet is considered to be carbohydrates. However, Atkins diet food takes a different approach to the whole chain of foods in an attempt to change the way our metabolism works.
What you probably know about the Atkins diet plan is that it is a diet rich in protein and very low in carbohydrates. When you learn how the body processes food, it will become clearer how this causes a reduction in weight.
Caloric Intake
Caloric intake comes in three forms: carbohydrates, proteins, and fat. Protein is converted into lean muscle that helps to build strength and stamina. Fat is typically stored as fat and sometimes simply excreted. Carbohydrates are converted to glucose and burned for energy. Excess carbs are stored as fat. Atkins denies the body the normal amount of carbohydrates, forcing the body to find another source of energy.
The extra protein on the Atkins diet plan is used to build more lean muscle mass, if accompanied by a regular strength building exercise routine, which in turn speeds up the metabolism and requires more energy. At this point, your body is not only finding that it does not receive a sufficient number of carbs, but actually has a deficit from the combination of the reduced intake and the additional exercise.
With the appropriate amount of glucose diminished from the body, the Atkins plan forces your body to seek out an alternate source of energy. To see where this comes from, you need only look at other species across the world. Bears in hibernation don’t eat for months on end and yet their bodies survive. Instead of burning food ingested at that time, their bodies begin to use the stored fat for sustenance. This is, in effect, what fat cells are for, and the human body will do the same thing when denied a fresh source.
As your body burns the fat, you become leaner and healthier overall. However, Atkins will not work indefinitely. You will reach a level of plateau for two reasons. First of all, the Atkins diet doesn’t carefully monitor caloric intake and can easily be disrupted by overeating. Second, without enough carbs, your body could very well go into “starvation” mode, slowing down your metabolism until you boost it with an influx of carbohydrates.
To avoid this, never reduce your carb intake to less than 20% of your diet, and try to eat a normal amount of carbs once a week. Results from Atkins will be seen for anywhere from two to eight weeks without a plateau, depending on your personal metabolism and how much weight you are trying to lose.
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