Atkins diet is gaining popularity day by day due to its positive results in regard to weight loss.  The diet was invented and introduced by Dr. Robert Atkins and has nutritional approach. Dr. Atkins tried his diet plan on self before advising it to others and it was only after getting the desired results he started to advocate it to those who want to loose weight. The program lays more stress on the diet intake than on the physical exercise, though it says that the results will be faster and better if the diet plan is accompanied by some light exercise.

The Atkins diet is a weight loss program based on low carbohydrate diet. Though the diet plan is quite effective, but it is not as simple as seems to be. People following the diet need to follow a specific diet program which insists on lesser consumption of carbohydrates.

The diet has four stages or phases. The first or the induction phase, which continues for two weeks doesn’t allow the dieter to consume carbohydrate more than 20 grams a day. One can eat foods rich in protein and fats during this phase.  The dieters observe a lot of loss in their weight during the process. This happens because the body starts burning the stored fat to convert it into energy, whereas earlier it was burning the carbohydrate for the purpose. This stage is known as Ketosis.

The next phase, ongoing weight loss phase allows the dieters to consume a little more carbohydrates, but the increase should be gradual. This is done by adding as much as 5 grams of carbohydrate per week. The carbohydrate intake it still kept at a level which doesn’t affect more weight loss.

Next comes the pre-maintenance phase where the dieters add the amount of carbohydrate in their diets at the rate of 10 grams per week. This is continued till he/she reaches the weight which was aimed for. The dieter has to maintain this target weight at least for one month.

When the pre-maintenance stage is successfully completed, then the person moves ahead to the next phase, called lifetime maintenance. The lifetime maintenance, as the term suggests needs to be followed all through the dieter’s life. This means that the person has to keep a check on his diet and the exercise forever to maintain the weight. Failing to do so will result into getting back at the previous stage. Whenever a person finds it difficult to stick to the diet restriction in between, he/she can start it again from the initial stage whenever he wishes so.

The people who maintain control on their diets and follow the given schedule loose weight quite fast, but the main drawback of the diet is that many people find it difficult to follow the diet, especially during the induction period, where very nominal quantity of carbohydrates is allowed.

The success rate of Atkins diet has been quite encouraging, but people find it too strict to follow. Those who have followed it successfully can say for sure that Atkins diet works.