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| Did you know that there are actually 9 Atkins Diets and that they are not all low carb? |
In 1972, when Dr. Atkins published his first nutritional approach to weight loss, there was only one diet to choose from. That diet was known as Dr. Atkins Diet Revolution.
Millions of folks simply called it The Atkins Diet.
Today, there are 9 Atkins Diets to choose from, ranging from biological zero carbs at one end of the Atkins spectrum to a moderate-carb diet known as The Meat and Millet Diet, at the other.
This spectrum can make it very difficult to know which nutritional approach might be the best Atkins diet for you to use.
If you're having trouble deciding which Atkins program is right for you, this article will help you make an informed decision. I'm going to explain what each Atkins diet is, share my own experience with that plan (if any), and let you know who that approach would be best suited for.
While the most common Atkins diets begin at 20 carbs per day, or less, what most people don't know is that the full-range of Atkins diets are not all very low-carb diets.
And, not all of them are designed to be weight-loss diets.
The Meat and Millet Diet, for example, is for those who are not insulin resistant and contains fruit, milk, and plenty of whole grains.
In addition, none of these 9 Atkins diets are high-fat diets.
That is a myth which started with the media and was picked up by the low-carb community when Nutritional Ketosis, the Keto Diet created by Dr. Phinney, began to gain popularity.
In fact, in the 1982 Atkins version, Dr. Atkins specifically said that fats and oils are only allowed in "moderate proportions" during the weight-loss phase.
They are not to be used as liberally as they are used within the Keto community today, unless you are on maintenance and need more calories to stop your weight loss.
I honestly don't think that Dr. Atkins realized what would happen when he told his readers to "not fear fat."
The truth is this:
Fat bombs and bullet-proof coffee can prevent you from reaching your weight-loss goals if you don't consume less energy than your body needs to run on throughout the day.
Dr. Atkins did not believe that everyone needs to be on a very low-carb diet. Only those with metabolic syndrome who are insulin resistant need to go very low carb.
Nor did Atkins oppose the use of whole grains.
In fact, Dr. Atkins put his insulin sensitive patients on a whole foods diet that contains plenty of whole grains. The grain-free movement came from the Paleo community at a much later date. It did not start with Dr. Atkins.
Atkins took an individual nutritional approach to weight, health, and dietary intervention, which also included nutritional supplementation when appropriate.
In 1972, as you moved into the second level of the Atkins Nutritional Approach, you were told to return the carbs that you missed the most in a 5 to 8 gram portion.
Dr. Atkins believed in fashioning your weight-loss diet in such a way that it would eventually evolve into what you ate at maintenance. This enables you to coast into your ideal weight with the perfect low-carb diet, instead of having to make another drastic lifestyle change once you reached goal weight.
Atkins isn't Keto.
In 2003, the Atkins for Life program assured readers that:
"One of the joys of the Atkins lifestyle is that there are few truly forbidden food categories. And that most certainly includes carbohydrates, which play an important role in any balanced diet. Once you've achieved your goal weight and are doing Atkins for life, even the occasional serving of whole-wheat pasta or a baked potato can turn up on your plate." (page 32)
Biologically, carbohydrates are used by the body first and dietary fats are stored until needed, so carbs only become a problem when you over eat.
While some of the Atkins diets are ketogenic, and can be tailored to fit within Dr. Phinney's Nutritional Ketosis recommendations, if desired, Atkins is more personal and allows you to design your diet to fit your likes, dislikes, and lifestyle.
Keto keeps you in Nutritional Ketosis at maintenance, while Atkins may or may not do that, depending on your personal carbohydrate tolerance.
On the average, Atkins dieters can expect to be able to eat about 60 to 150 carbs at maintenance, with only a very few exceptions. Keto has a ceiling of about 70 carbs at most, since you must stay in the Nutritional Ketosis zone, with the average being closer to 45 or 50.
On Atkins, ketosis is managed using:
A lot of people can't.
Whether a ketogenic diet is right for you, or not, depends on your degree of insulin resistance, if any, and your body's ability to burn fatty acids for fuel.
When you eat the majority of your calories in dietary fats, the body has to create extra Lipase enzyme to handle all of that extra fat.
If this enzyme isn't increased, or if you can't create enough enzyme to match your fat intake, you won't feel good on very low carb.
But that doesn't mean that you can't do Atkins.
It just means that the best Atkins diet for you might need to be lower in fat and higher in carbs than a standard low-carb diet.
The Atkins Diet works by moving you from a glucose-burning metabolism to predominantly using ketones and fatty acids for fuel.
It does this by restricting the carbohydrates in your diet.
When carbs coming in are drastically lowered, the liver must turn to its stored glycogen, the storage form of carbohydrates, to keep your blood glucose level from falling too low. Once those carbohydrate stores run out, the body begins to use amino acids for fuel instead.
These amino acids can come from worn-out or damaged protein structures in the body, the protein in your diet, or from muscle tissue. The liver will also strip the glycerol backbone from triglycerides stored in your fat cells to get the glucose it needs to keep your blood sugar stable.
The brain cannot use fatty acids for fuel. It needs about 120 carbohydrates per day, which it won't be able to get once you restrict them. The liver will have to find a different way to supply the brain with the energy it needs to survive.
You also won't be able to keep oxidizing protein for fuel, either.
Luckily, part of the brain's energy requirements can come from ketones, a by-product of breaking down triglycerides into fatty acids. This spares muscle wasting. But, since the brain can't burn fatty acids directly, 24 carbs of that 120-carb requirement must still come from glucose.
Those 24 carbs is about 20 percent of the brains energy needs because only 80 percent can come from ketones.
Pyruvate, lactate from exercise, certain amino acids, and the glycerol backbone from triglycerides stored in your fat cells can all provide that 24-carb requirement, so there is actually no nutritional need to consume any carbs at all.
The body has plenty of backup supplies for glucose.
However, if your mind or body perceives the lack of carbs to be a threat on your life, you won't handle Nutritional Ketosis very well.
This is why Atkins recommends that you up the carbohydrate content of your diet to just below your carbohydrate tolerance, so you can lose weight without putting stress on the body and mind.
The increase in carbs will also help to fuel your exercise program, which is not optional on Atkins.
When liver glycogen gets about half empty, the liver pulls triglycerides out of your fat cells to fuel the process of getting or creating that glucose that is now missing from your diet.
Once the liver has broken off the glycerol molecule from those triglycerides, it dumps the ketones produced into the bloodstream because the brain and all of your body cells can use these ketones for energy.
Once these ketones reach a certain level of saturation in the bloodstream, this is called Nutritional Ketosis.
As a low-carb diet continues, the body will use fewer ketones and more fatty acids instead, which is great for weight loss. It also leaves the ketones that are available for the brain and cells that don't have mitochondria.
This is what causes your blood ketone level to rise into the optimal zone, but that optimal zone is not measured on Atkins.
For those with the ability to crank up the necessary enzymes needed to burn a predominance of dietary fat, Nutritional Ketosis can be a healthy way to live. You'll have more energy, feel better, and have greater mental clarity, as well.
There is no way to know ahead of time if your body has the capability of burning extra fat, so experimenting with the Induction phase of the Atkins Diet is the only way to determine if a ketogenic diet is right for you, or not.
If it isn't, there are additional Atkins diets in the list below that you might be interested in.
However, sometimes, increasing your carbs to a more moderate level or avoiding sugar is enough to control your appetite and give you a sense of well-being that you didn't have before. This is why I'm including all of the Atkins diets that I'm familiar with in the following list, so you can pick the best Atkins diet for you.
Atkins 72 is the original Atkins Diet designed to help you get into the state of dietary ketosis quickly and easily. In this book, Dr. Atkins advised his readers not to fear fat, but he was talking to a group of dieters who had been told that a non-fat or very low-fat diet was the only way to lose weight.
Dr. Atkins has always said that his diets are not high-fat diets. The original Atkins Diet:
". . . was a very low carbohydrate reducing diet (not a high-fat diet, as many of my nonreading critics asserted)." (Dr. Atkins Nutrition Breakthrough, 1982)
Most of the media coverage regarding the Atkins diet is erroneously pointing to this original Atkins diet instead of what Atkins has evolved into today.
However, there is no reason to fear Atkins 72.
It is not a bacon and eggs, heavy cream, and pork rind diet as the media likes to portray it. It is more like an elimination diet, similar to what an allergist might put you on to help you discover foods that you are sensitive to.
As far as weight-loss diets go, this biologically zero-carb approach was a revolution within the diet world because it told you that you didn't have to count calories any more.
It told you that you didn't have to eat a low-fat diet to lose weight.
Just restrict your carbohydrates and the lack of hunger ketosis causes would make it possible for you to eat at a calorie deficit without having to count calories or measure out your added fats. You also didn't have to just eat lean cuts of meat.
Like all elimination diets, the initial restrictions are quite drastic, but the diet expands as you move into the Ongoing Weight Loss Phase.
On Induction, you get plenty of:
Dr. Atkins called this a biologically zero-carb diet because your body reacts to the salad as if you hadn't eaten it at all. He believed that the salad made this diet more livable than the research diet it was originally based on.
The overall carbs for that one-week 72 Induction period are ultra-low. In fact, the sample menus for that diet have you divide the 2-cup salad into 1 cup at each meal. One cup of salad isn't very much. It's more like a cafeteria-sized side salad.
Maximum carbs on Atkins 72 is 10 grams of total carbohydrate for the first week's Induction. There was no such thing as net carbs back then, so this is a very low-carb diet.
After the first week, you return carbs to your diet, very slowly.
For level 2, you pick a food with carbohydrates and limit it to a 5 to 8 gram serving per day for the second week. The suggestion in 1972 was to have 1 cup of cottage cheese for level 2, so that's what I did. I split that 1 cup of cottage cheese between lunch and dinner.
If the Ketostix are still turning pink by the end of that 2nd week, you can add another 5 to 8 gram portion of a different food, and keep doing this each week until the ketone sticks don't turn pink anymore.
When done correctly, Atkins 72 is quite flexible.
It allows you to craft your own, personalized, low-carb diet.
For example, you could bend the rules by returning foods weekly, rather than daily. Half a grapefruit could be eaten 3 or 4 times a week as an addition, since it contains 10 carbs instead of the maximum of 8.
The amount of carbohydrate you end up with per day or week during the weight-loss phase depends on your personal carbohydrate tolerance. You can keep adding carbs back as long as the ketone strips are still turning any color at all.
In my opinion, the best Atkins diet is Atkins 72 because of the way it allows you to personalize your low-carb diet to fit your tastes and lifestyle. It's a bit rough in the beginning stages of the diet, but enables you to return only the foods you're best suited for.
When I tried Atkins 72 in 1975, I was not insulin resistant at all.
Even though I was overweight by about 40 pounds, I was able to shed those 40 pounds in less than 6 weeks.
The downside to losing weight that fast was that I hit maintenance before becoming keto-adapted. At 6 weeks into the diet, the Ketostix were still turning dark purple, even with an additional 30 to 40 carbs on top of the standard Atkins 72 Induction Diet.
As a result, my body never learned how to burn fatty acids very well.
Atkins 72 works best for those with a lot of food sensitivities, those who are extremely insulin resistant, and those who are struggling with the yo-yo dieting syndrome. It gives you the space to design your own low-carb diet that suits your tastes, personality, and lifestyle.
It also works well for those who are older, sedentary, or have physical restrictions that prevent you from getting enough exercise.
If you have stalled part way to goal weight, your carbohydrate tolerance level might have changed. This diet can help you determine if you are eating too many calories for your reduced size, or if you are eating too many carbs for your activity level.
To be successful on Atkins, you have to really enjoy the food you eat and stay active.
To read my personal story with Atkins 72, check out our series on How I Lost Over 100 Pounds Tweaking the Atkins Diet. This article walks you through everything I ate on Atkins 72, level by level, and explains exactly how I lost those first 40 pounds.
You can also check out the Atkins 72 Induction diet specifics here or get a sample 7-day menu for Atkins 72 Induction to see if that's something you might want to do.
We also have a post on why the original Atkins diet is better than other versions.
Dr. Atkins believed that his Meat and Millet Diet, first published in 1977, was the best way to control your blood sugar for those who couldn't be on his very low-carb diet.
It offers all of the advantages of his weight-loss program except for the benefits of being in ketosis.
This diet comes with a high ratio of fiber and complex carbs, compared to simple sugars, so it's not your typical high-carb low-fat diet at all. Carbohydrates eaten are unrefined, whole foods.
Even though sugar and other natural sweeteners are not allowed, the Meat and Millet Diet is NOT a ketogenic diet. It sits at the other end of the Atkins spectrum.
Intake of all simple sugars, including lactose, yogurt, fruit sugars, and other refined carbs are eliminated or severely restricted to give you the benefit of a drop in basal insulin level. These are removed from the diet and replaced with vegetable carbs and grains during Phase 1.
Once the body heals and you have adapted to the diet, Dr. Atkins allowed some of his patients to return a limited amount of simple sugars to their meals, such as fruit, milk, yogurt, and some starchy foods like breads and cereals.
These later additions are only to help bring your calories back up to maintenance, but you can also use this Atkins diet for weight loss if you eat at a calorie deficit.
To lose weight on this nutritional approach, you're going to have to count your calories or find some other way to make sure that you're eating less than your body needs.
Like on the traditional Atkins diet, you can eat plenty of meat, fish, poultry, eggs, and cheese, but you also get nuts and seeds. Starchy carbs include whole grains, such as oats, millet, and brown rice. Potatoes, yams, and legumes are also acceptable on this diet.
Fat intake is kept to a moderate level, and one serving of fruit per day is returned later on if your blood glucose can tolerate it. Dr. Atkins believed in keeping your blood glucose levels stable to avoid hunger and mood swings.
Basically, this is a sugar-free whole-foods diet with a minimal amount of fruit and milk, and a moderate amount of healthy fats and carbs.
Like other Atkins diets, there is a foundation diet and future levels where some of the foods missing are added slowly, so you can keep an eye on how your body reacts to those later additions.
This diet was created for those who are not insulin resistant.
If you feel horrible on a low-carb diet, even after giving it a try for several weeks, then you are probably insulin sensitive or you don't have the ability to up the amount of enzyme needed to digest a higher-fat diet.
Either way, you need to move to a higher carb and/or lower fat intake, so this Meat and Millet diet might work well for you.
For more details on this particular Atkins diet, check out our post on the Meat and Millet Diet at The Super Sensitive Celiac blog.
In 1982, Dr. Atkins' Nutrition Breakthrough was published. In that book, Dr. Atkins only changed his weight-loss diet slightly.
The biggest change was adding 1/2-cup of cooked, non-starchy vegetables to Induction, but this addition was considered optional.
Many of Dr. Atkins clients had inflammatory bowel conditions, and some didn't not like vegetables, so the salad and vegetables were not mandatory.
Without the salad, you'd consume less than 10 carbs a day. With the salad, you'd consume about 10 to 15 carbs a day. And if you added the 1/2-cup of cooked non-starchy vegetables to your diet, then you'd be at 20 grams per day.
Carbier foods like cottage cheese, olives, and nuts come with daily and weekly restrictions in this plan.
Beyond the 20-carb level, you can add 5 grams of carbs per day in the form of additional vegetables, and then some fruits and grains to create further 5-carb levels of the diet for you.
As long as you're continuing to lose weight at an appropriate speed, you can continue to return a few additional foods to your meals and snacks.
In 1982, Atkins also clarified that there was nothing magical about returning carbs to your diet this slowly. But it's best to do it this way so you don't miss your carbohydrate tolerance level.
In addition to those who are well suited for Atkins 72, as discussed above, this diet works better for those who love vegetables and don't want to go even one week without them.
As you age, or your activity level changes, your carbohydrate tolerance level will also change. If you've stalled part way to goal weight, and don't want to go as drastic as an Atkins 72 Induction, this Atkins diet will help you determine if you are eating too many calories or too many carbs.
I've talked a little bit about Atkins 92 on this blog before and thought it was exactly like Atkins 72, except for the addition of 2/3-cup of cooked vegetables and the ability to create your own Induction diet.
In 1992, you were free to eat any foods you wanted, if you didn't want to follow Dr. Atkins' recommendations for Induction, provided you didn't eat more than 20 total carbs per day.
This change put more responsibility on the dieter and let you tweak the plan to fit in better with your lifestyle.
This change also let you eat cream cheese, nuts, protein powder, and even soy flour on Induction, which many people did because Induction was lengthened to two weeks instead of one. Induction was more than just meat, eggs, cheese, and lettuce.
Due to an accident, however, I no longer have this book, so I don't have the specifics anymore.
After looking over the 82 plan, my guess is that Atkins 92 might have included some of the changes that were published in 1982, but gave you the option of not following those changes if you didn't want too.
I'm going to have to pick up another copy of that 1992 book.
In 1999, the diet did not change at all, except for a small comment Dr. Atkins included about subtracting "insoluble" fiber from your total carbohydrate counts as a reasonable deduction.
Please note that at this point, he said insoluble fiber and not all fiber.
Insoluble fiber doesn't absorb water, so it doesn't digest. It passes through the digestion process unchanged.
Soluble fiber does absorb liquids. It comes from plant fiber and turns into a gel-like substance when it mixes with a liquid. This gel binds to bile acids and together they are degraded in the colon by the process of fermentation.
The result is a type of fatty acid that can be used either by the colon or sent to other cells.
The bacteria in your colon digests soluble fiber, with the end product providing calories and nutrients. This is why some people have to count total carbs instead of "net."
On Atkins 92, carbs are returned to the diet very slowly, 5 total carbs per day, just like the other Atkins diets -- up until you reach your carbohydrate tolerance level. At that point, you dial back your carbs by 5 carbs a day and stay at that weight-loss level until you are about 10 pounds from goal weight.
In 1999, I gave the Atkins 92 diet a try.
I didn't purchase the 1999 diet book pictured above because Dr. Atkins said it wasn't necessary to buy that new book if you already had the 1992 version available. The diet didn't change again until 2002.
Weight came off a little more slowly. I lost 8 pounds on Induction instead of 10. I'm guessing that the body was more efficient at burning ketones for energy than it was in 1975 because I didn't turn the ketone testing strips darker than medium this time.
I also went through what's known as the Keto Whoosh.
After the first two weeks on Induction, I went into a lengthy, 6-weeks stall, which is quite common in those who have done Atkins before, and due to the body stuffing water into your fat cells to keep them from shrinking.
The body doesn't like getting rid of its fat-storage depots if it doesn't have to, so it doesn't proceed with atrophy until it's sure you're not going to supply it with the amount of triglycerides it needs to refill them.
After six weeks, all of a sudden, I dropped 12 pounds for a total of 20 pounds for the first 2 months.
Even with the slight increase in vegetables on Induction, this diet still worked very well for me.
Those who want a stricter initial Atkins Induction diet than the modern-day version, but one that still allows a little salad and some cooked vegetables, will be happier with Atkins 92 instead of Atkins 72.
It's also best for those who don't want to give up their cream cheese and nuts during Induction and don't want to wait to add them back in.
The major difference between Atkins 72 and Atkins 92 is only week one's addition of vegetables and the freedom to create your own weight-loss diet plan.
For more details on what I ate to lose the weight using Atkins 92, check out the blog post on my second attempt at doing Atkins.
Atkins 2002 brought a major upheaval in the Atkins diet.
There were expanded food lists and the option of designing your own Atkins program was gone. In exchange for giving up that flexibility, deducting all fiber from the total carb count (net carbs) became the norm, and cooked vegetables were raised to 1 cup per day.
The diet worked so well that it quickly became the preferred low-carb diet of its day.
Carbs on a 2002 Induction include 2 cups of salad and 1 cup of cooked vegetables or 3 cups of salad vegetables for the day. Total carbs on Induction are still limited, but are higher than on prior versions because you get 20-net carbs, rather than 20 total carbs.
Since Induction now contained an adequate amount of vegetables, you have the option of extending the Induction phase beyond the first 2 weeks.
But keep in mind that staying on Induction will not help you lose weight any faster.
What it does is give the body more time to lower your insulin level, stabilize blood sugar, and become fat and ketone-adapted before returning carbs to the diet. Sticking with Induction is a good choice if you didn't lose weight during the first two weeks, or very little.
There are major changes in food limitations and maximums on the 2002 plan.
Sugar alcohols were not counted in the carbohydrate count at all, but this can be dangerous if you try to replicate it today because many sugar alcohols are not as low-glycemic as Dr. Atkins thought they were.
To get the truth about sugar substitutes and sugar alcohols, check out our article here.
2002 also brought the introduction of the Atkins Carbohydrate Ladder, which specifies which food groups you can add back into your diet, and when. You no longer have the option of choosing your favorite carbs or food groups at all.
The ladder is based on the glycemic index, and returns foods that are lower in glycemic response first.
Due to the move to net carbs, the amount of carbohydrates you'll be able to add back into the weight-loss phase will be much lower than it was on earlier versions of the diet.
Additional carbs are still returned very slowly, about 5-net carbs per day, per week, until you reach your carbohydrate tolerance level.
If your tolerance is low, you are free to move up the carbohydrate ladder, anyway, experimenting with the different food categories, provided you stay below your total carbohydrate tolerance for the day.
When I started this blog in April of 2007, I chose to go with Atkins 2002, but didn't lose much weight because I was listening to what many dieters within the low-carb community believed was acceptable as far as calories, carbs, and fats were concerned.
When I started following the diet, as written, the weight began to come off, but it was super, super slow -- about 2 pounds per month is all.
As a result, I moved to an earlier version of the Atkins diet, stopped counting "net" carbs, cut back on fat, and the weight began to come off at a much faster speed.
When most dieters talk about the Atkins Diet, Atkins 2002 is the diet that is recommended more than any other weight-loss diet, including Atkins 20. Even today, Atkins 2002 is still considered the bible of low carb.
As written in the book, it works for almost everyone, except for those who are severely insulin resistant or have been on low carb several times before, and quit.
For those who don't want to count carbs, this is a nice Atkins diet to start with because it's easier to measure out your salad and vegetables and just use a minimum of everything else.
For more information on Atkins 2002, see our posts on how to do the Atkins Induction Diet correctly and how to do Phase 2.
You can also check out our 7-day menu for Atkins 2002 and what to eat on Atkins Induction.
Atkins for Life is the Atkins maintenance plan that came out in 2003. Up until this point, maintenance was handled by sticking to your carbohydrate tolerance level and then returning to Induction when you gained a few pounds.
Maintenance level of carbs was now called your Atkins Carbohydrate Equilibrium (ACE) and ranged between 60-net carbs and 150-net carbs a day, depending on your activity level. The more active you are, the more carbs you can eat.
However, carbohydrate still needs to be restricted to some degree in order to keep cravings for sweets and starchy foods under control. This plan shows you how to add back higher carb vegetables, fruits, beans, and whole grains into your diet without gaining the weight back.
The diet food categories are separated into foods to eat regularly, foods to eat in moderation, and foods to eat sparingly. Emphasis is more on nutrition and eating a well-balanced diet than it is on your carbohydrate intake because it's assumed that you'll craft your diet to match your personal tolerance.
This Atkins diet is well suited for those in the pre-maintenance and maintenance phases of Atkins. However, if you don't do well on very low-carb diets, you might find the food lists and nutritional advice in this diet plan very helpful in crafting a good, moderate-carb, low-calorie diet.
Atkins 20 is advertised to be the original Atkins diet, but it's not.
This is the Atkins Nutritonals, Inc., version of Atkins 2002, with a few updates; and is the version that was originally published as The New Atkins for a New You.
The latest instructions for Atkins 20, 40, and 100 can be found at atkins.com or in Colette Heimowitz's newest book, Atkins: Eat Right, Not Less.
Along with the limitations and recommendations found in The Atkins New Diet Revolution book and at the Atkins Nutritionals website, Atkins 20 requires you to eat 12- to 15-net carbs worth of vegetables per day, which is not negotiable.
Measured out, 12- to 15-net carbs comes to about 6 cups of salad and/or cooked vegetables a day.
Induction lasts 2 weeks and is the most limited phase of the diet.
Like prior versions, after Induction, you can return carbs to your meals and snacks very slowly, in 5-gram servings per day per week, until you reach your carbohydrate tolerance level. You then stick with that carb level for the weight-loss phase.
Your carbohydrate tolerance may, or may not, be at a ketogenic level, depending on your insulin sensitivity.
Nutritional Ketosis is not really the focus of Atkins.
The Atkins diet is more concerned with helping you achieve stable blood glucose to avoid hunger and cravings, making it easier to eat at a calorie deficit without having to count calories.
The average carbohydrate intake on Atkins 20 is 35- to 45-net carbs per day, but some people find the weight comes off better at lower carb levels.
Atkins 20 also comes with recommendations and restrictions for protein intake, added fats, and sugar substitutes that the 2002 book didn't have, to help you avoid as many stalls and plateaus as possible.
Atkins 20 is designed for those who are younger, reasonably active, and have more than 40 pounds to lose. If you're older, or very short, this Atkins diet may, or may not, be too many vegetable carbs for you.
Those who have been on and off several diets over the years do not tend to do very well on Atkins 20 Induction. If this isn't the first time you've done low carb, it's best to use an earlier version.
For more details on the Atkins 20 Nutritional Approach check out our article on Atkins 20. You can also get a menu to help you get through Induction in our Atkins 20 14-Day Meal Plan.
With Atkins 40, the focus is on portion control.
Designed for those who have less than 40 pounds to lose, Atkins 40 skips Induction and gets you right into the heart of a low-carb diet from day one.
The benefit of using Atkins 40 over Atkins 20 is that you don't have to deal with feelings of deprivation since you get to eat from all food groups right away, including whole grains, potatoes, and fruit.
However, the diet, which is described in Colette's book above, requires you to spread out those carbs evenly throughout the day, except for an occasional higher carb meal or snack.
Unlike other versions of the Atkins diet, there is no adding back carbs during the weight-loss phase. Forty-net carbs is what you get until you reach pre-maintenance, no matter what your carbohydrate tolerance is. This is because Atkins 40 is a low-glycemic plan.
It's not your typical low-carb diet. It's a highly structured low-carb program that tells you how many carbs you can eat at each meal or snack.
Protein and sugar substitute restrictions are the same as for Atkins 20, and you are still required to eat 12- to 15-net carbs in salad and vegetables, but Atkins 40 offers more flexibility than other Atkins approaches since you aren't required to climb the carb ladder.
You can spend your extra 25-net carbs per day on anything that is found on the Atkins acceptable food lists in the portions recommended. These food lists and portion sizes can be found at the atkins.com website.
Atkins Nutritionals, Inc. has stated that Atkins 40 is suitable for those who are:
However, this is not a free-for-all type of diet. The specific food lists and serving sizes are pretty strict.
In addition, since you never eat at Induction levels for carbohydrates, there won't be as dramatic a drop in weight as there is for Atkins 20 during the first month.
You'll need to have more patience with this Atkins diet because weight loss starts out very slowly.
Insulin is required for the body to convert T4 thyroid hormone to T3, so if you have problems doing that, Atkins 40 would be a better choice than the newer versions, as well.
General recommendations for those with hypothyroidism is to not go below 35-net carbs a day, due to stress placed on the adrenals, but I have found the same thing with hyperthyroidism, too.
I do best on a diet that contains at least 60 carbs.
At 40-net carbs, instead of 20, getting into ketosis will also take an extra day and you won't see a drop in appetite or cravings as quickly, so if you're looking for the fast hunger reduction, you're better off doing a 20-net carb Induction first.
For full instructions on how to manipulate your carb intake, see our article on Atkins 40.
Atkins 100 is the newest Atkins diet, which was introduced in Colette's latest book, pictured above, but it isn't well advertised. Designed for those who want a well-balanced, sugar-free, lower carb diet, rather than a very low carb one, it follows the same rules and restrictions as Atkins 40.
Like Atkins 40, Atkins 100 is a low-glycemic program. It just allows more carbs.
At 100-net carbs per day, this diet still falls within the low carb definition of 120 carbs or less, and uses the exact same food lists as Atkins 40, but portion sizes for carbohydrates are much larger since your carb budget is bigger.
Instead of 10- to 15-carbs per meal, you can reasonably expect to have 25- to 30-net carbs per meal, and still have room for snacks.
Atkins 100 offers a way for those not interested in a very low-carb diet to curb their intake of sugar and starchy carbs by focusing on making better food choices from day one.
Atkins 100 works best for those at normal weight who want to move to a healthier diet or those who can't digest as much fat as a standard Atkins diet requires and want to still curtail their carbohydrate intake.
Atkins 100 is designed for those who are insulin sensitive and already live fairly active lives. For this reason, it is also a good choice for a maintenance diet for those doing Atkins 40.
However, not everyone on Atkins 40 will be able to eat this many carbs at maintenance.
When it comes to choosing the best of anything, fear of making a mistake can cause you to procrastinate making healthier lifestyle choices. Instead of worrying about whether an Atkins diet is right for you, or not, just pick one and see how well you do.
If it doesn't work as well as you hoped, then pick another.
You don't have to stick with your very first choice.
In fact, you might even choose to not pick any Atkins diet at all. There is nothing wrong with designing your own low-carb diet.
That's what I did.
I started out with the 2002 version and when it didn't work, I moved to Atkins 72. When that was too slow for me, I decided to just create my own weight-loss plan.
Using Atkins as a foundation and template for my own personalized low-carb diet, I had so much success with my own modified version, that I managed to lose over 100 pounds.
Today, I'm in recovery from a major set back, due to having hyperthyroidism, and having good success with cutting back on portion sizes, so don't get so obsessed with Atkins that you don't include your tastes, lifestyle, and physical limitations in your decision.
Using the back door or setting yourself up to coast into a lower carb maintenance plan is just as viable as a very low-carb diet is.
Whatever you choose to do, it has to be something you enjoy and can do for the rest of your life.
Which Atkins Diet are you on? Please share your experience with us in the comments below! We're anxious to hear how well you're doing.
And, not all of them are designed to be weight-loss diets.
The Meat and Millet Diet, for example, is for those who are not insulin resistant and contains fruit, milk, and plenty of whole grains.
In addition, none of these 9 Atkins diets are high-fat diets.
That is a myth which started with the media and was picked up by the low-carb community when Nutritional Ketosis, the Keto Diet created by Dr. Phinney, began to gain popularity.
In fact, in the 1982 Atkins version, Dr. Atkins specifically said that fats and oils are only allowed in "moderate proportions" during the weight-loss phase.
They are not to be used as liberally as they are used within the Keto community today, unless you are on maintenance and need more calories to stop your weight loss.
I honestly don't think that Dr. Atkins realized what would happen when he told his readers to "not fear fat."
The truth is this:
Fat bombs and bullet-proof coffee can prevent you from reaching your weight-loss goals if you don't consume less energy than your body needs to run on throughout the day.
Atkins Isn't Keto
Dr. Atkins did not believe that everyone needs to be on a very low-carb diet. Only those with metabolic syndrome who are insulin resistant need to go very low carb.
Nor did Atkins oppose the use of whole grains.
In fact, Dr. Atkins put his insulin sensitive patients on a whole foods diet that contains plenty of whole grains. The grain-free movement came from the Paleo community at a much later date. It did not start with Dr. Atkins.
In 1972, as you moved into the second level of the Atkins Nutritional Approach, you were told to return the carbs that you missed the most in a 5 to 8 gram portion.
Dr. Atkins believed in fashioning your weight-loss diet in such a way that it would eventually evolve into what you ate at maintenance. This enables you to coast into your ideal weight with the perfect low-carb diet, instead of having to make another drastic lifestyle change once you reached goal weight.
Atkins isn't Keto.
In 2003, the Atkins for Life program assured readers that:
"One of the joys of the Atkins lifestyle is that there are few truly forbidden food categories. And that most certainly includes carbohydrates, which play an important role in any balanced diet. Once you've achieved your goal weight and are doing Atkins for life, even the occasional serving of whole-wheat pasta or a baked potato can turn up on your plate." (page 32)
Biologically, carbohydrates are used by the body first and dietary fats are stored until needed, so carbs only become a problem when you over eat.
While some of the Atkins diets are ketogenic, and can be tailored to fit within Dr. Phinney's Nutritional Ketosis recommendations, if desired, Atkins is more personal and allows you to design your diet to fit your likes, dislikes, and lifestyle.
Keto keeps you in Nutritional Ketosis at maintenance, while Atkins may or may not do that, depending on your personal carbohydrate tolerance.
On the average, Atkins dieters can expect to be able to eat about 60 to 150 carbs at maintenance, with only a very few exceptions. Keto has a ceiling of about 70 carbs at most, since you must stay in the Nutritional Ketosis zone, with the average being closer to 45 or 50.
On Atkins, ketosis is managed using:
- ketone testing strips (available at Amazon)
- what your weight is doing
- and by how you feel
A lot of people can't.
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| To digest a high-fat diet, the body must increase the enzymes needed to burn all of that fat |
When you eat the majority of your calories in dietary fats, the body has to create extra Lipase enzyme to handle all of that extra fat.
If this enzyme isn't increased, or if you can't create enough enzyme to match your fat intake, you won't feel good on very low carb.
But that doesn't mean that you can't do Atkins.
It just means that the best Atkins diet for you might need to be lower in fat and higher in carbs than a standard low-carb diet.
What is Ketosis?
The Atkins Diet works by moving you from a glucose-burning metabolism to predominantly using ketones and fatty acids for fuel.
It does this by restricting the carbohydrates in your diet.
When carbs coming in are drastically lowered, the liver must turn to its stored glycogen, the storage form of carbohydrates, to keep your blood glucose level from falling too low. Once those carbohydrate stores run out, the body begins to use amino acids for fuel instead.
These amino acids can come from worn-out or damaged protein structures in the body, the protein in your diet, or from muscle tissue. The liver will also strip the glycerol backbone from triglycerides stored in your fat cells to get the glucose it needs to keep your blood sugar stable.
The brain cannot use fatty acids for fuel. It needs about 120 carbohydrates per day, which it won't be able to get once you restrict them. The liver will have to find a different way to supply the brain with the energy it needs to survive.
You also won't be able to keep oxidizing protein for fuel, either.
Luckily, part of the brain's energy requirements can come from ketones, a by-product of breaking down triglycerides into fatty acids. This spares muscle wasting. But, since the brain can't burn fatty acids directly, 24 carbs of that 120-carb requirement must still come from glucose.
Those 24 carbs is about 20 percent of the brains energy needs because only 80 percent can come from ketones.
Pyruvate, lactate from exercise, certain amino acids, and the glycerol backbone from triglycerides stored in your fat cells can all provide that 24-carb requirement, so there is actually no nutritional need to consume any carbs at all.
The body has plenty of backup supplies for glucose.
However, if your mind or body perceives the lack of carbs to be a threat on your life, you won't handle Nutritional Ketosis very well.
This is why Atkins recommends that you up the carbohydrate content of your diet to just below your carbohydrate tolerance, so you can lose weight without putting stress on the body and mind.
The increase in carbs will also help to fuel your exercise program, which is not optional on Atkins.
When liver glycogen gets about half empty, the liver pulls triglycerides out of your fat cells to fuel the process of getting or creating that glucose that is now missing from your diet.
Once the liver has broken off the glycerol molecule from those triglycerides, it dumps the ketones produced into the bloodstream because the brain and all of your body cells can use these ketones for energy.
Once these ketones reach a certain level of saturation in the bloodstream, this is called Nutritional Ketosis.
As a low-carb diet continues, the body will use fewer ketones and more fatty acids instead, which is great for weight loss. It also leaves the ketones that are available for the brain and cells that don't have mitochondria.
This is what causes your blood ketone level to rise into the optimal zone, but that optimal zone is not measured on Atkins.
For those with the ability to crank up the necessary enzymes needed to burn a predominance of dietary fat, Nutritional Ketosis can be a healthy way to live. You'll have more energy, feel better, and have greater mental clarity, as well.
Best Atkins Diet Might Not be Ketogenic
There is no way to know ahead of time if your body has the capability of burning extra fat, so experimenting with the Induction phase of the Atkins Diet is the only way to determine if a ketogenic diet is right for you, or not.
If it isn't, there are additional Atkins diets in the list below that you might be interested in.
However, sometimes, increasing your carbs to a more moderate level or avoiding sugar is enough to control your appetite and give you a sense of well-being that you didn't have before. This is why I'm including all of the Atkins diets that I'm familiar with in the following list, so you can pick the best Atkins diet for you.
1. Atkins 72
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| Atkins 72 is the original Atkins Diet In my opinion, it's still the best Atkins diet because it is flexible and personalized |
Atkins 72 is the original Atkins Diet designed to help you get into the state of dietary ketosis quickly and easily. In this book, Dr. Atkins advised his readers not to fear fat, but he was talking to a group of dieters who had been told that a non-fat or very low-fat diet was the only way to lose weight.
(Available at Amazon, Used)
Dr. Atkins has always said that his diets are not high-fat diets. The original Atkins Diet:
". . . was a very low carbohydrate reducing diet (not a high-fat diet, as many of my nonreading critics asserted)." (Dr. Atkins Nutrition Breakthrough, 1982)
Most of the media coverage regarding the Atkins diet is erroneously pointing to this original Atkins diet instead of what Atkins has evolved into today.
However, there is no reason to fear Atkins 72.
It is not a bacon and eggs, heavy cream, and pork rind diet as the media likes to portray it. It is more like an elimination diet, similar to what an allergist might put you on to help you discover foods that you are sensitive to.
As far as weight-loss diets go, this biologically zero-carb approach was a revolution within the diet world because it told you that you didn't have to count calories any more.
It told you that you didn't have to eat a low-fat diet to lose weight.
Just restrict your carbohydrates and the lack of hunger ketosis causes would make it possible for you to eat at a calorie deficit without having to count calories or measure out your added fats. You also didn't have to just eat lean cuts of meat.
Like all elimination diets, the initial restrictions are quite drastic, but the diet expands as you move into the Ongoing Weight Loss Phase.
On Induction, you get plenty of:
- meat
- poultry
- fish
- eggs
- hard cheese like cheddar
Dr. Atkins called this a biologically zero-carb diet because your body reacts to the salad as if you hadn't eaten it at all. He believed that the salad made this diet more livable than the research diet it was originally based on.
The overall carbs for that one-week 72 Induction period are ultra-low. In fact, the sample menus for that diet have you divide the 2-cup salad into 1 cup at each meal. One cup of salad isn't very much. It's more like a cafeteria-sized side salad.
Maximum carbs on Atkins 72 is 10 grams of total carbohydrate for the first week's Induction. There was no such thing as net carbs back then, so this is a very low-carb diet.
After the first week, you return carbs to your diet, very slowly.
For level 2, you pick a food with carbohydrates and limit it to a 5 to 8 gram serving per day for the second week. The suggestion in 1972 was to have 1 cup of cottage cheese for level 2, so that's what I did. I split that 1 cup of cottage cheese between lunch and dinner.
If the Ketostix are still turning pink by the end of that 2nd week, you can add another 5 to 8 gram portion of a different food, and keep doing this each week until the ketone sticks don't turn pink anymore.
When done correctly, Atkins 72 is quite flexible.
It allows you to craft your own, personalized, low-carb diet.
For example, you could bend the rules by returning foods weekly, rather than daily. Half a grapefruit could be eaten 3 or 4 times a week as an addition, since it contains 10 carbs instead of the maximum of 8.
The amount of carbohydrate you end up with per day or week during the weight-loss phase depends on your personal carbohydrate tolerance. You can keep adding carbs back as long as the ketone strips are still turning any color at all.
My Experience with Atkins 72
In my opinion, the best Atkins diet is Atkins 72 because of the way it allows you to personalize your low-carb diet to fit your tastes and lifestyle. It's a bit rough in the beginning stages of the diet, but enables you to return only the foods you're best suited for.
When I tried Atkins 72 in 1975, I was not insulin resistant at all.
Even though I was overweight by about 40 pounds, I was able to shed those 40 pounds in less than 6 weeks.
The downside to losing weight that fast was that I hit maintenance before becoming keto-adapted. At 6 weeks into the diet, the Ketostix were still turning dark purple, even with an additional 30 to 40 carbs on top of the standard Atkins 72 Induction Diet.
As a result, my body never learned how to burn fatty acids very well.
Who Atkins 72 Works Best For
Atkins 72 works best for those with a lot of food sensitivities, those who are extremely insulin resistant, and those who are struggling with the yo-yo dieting syndrome. It gives you the space to design your own low-carb diet that suits your tastes, personality, and lifestyle.
It also works well for those who are older, sedentary, or have physical restrictions that prevent you from getting enough exercise.
If you have stalled part way to goal weight, your carbohydrate tolerance level might have changed. This diet can help you determine if you are eating too many calories for your reduced size, or if you are eating too many carbs for your activity level.
To be successful on Atkins, you have to really enjoy the food you eat and stay active.
Additional Atkins 72 Resources
To read my personal story with Atkins 72, check out our series on How I Lost Over 100 Pounds Tweaking the Atkins Diet. This article walks you through everything I ate on Atkins 72, level by level, and explains exactly how I lost those first 40 pounds.
You can also check out the Atkins 72 Induction diet specifics here or get a sample 7-day menu for Atkins 72 Induction to see if that's something you might want to do.
We also have a post on why the original Atkins diet is better than other versions.
2. The Meat and Millet Diet (1977)
Dr. Atkins believed that his Meat and Millet Diet, first published in 1977, was the best way to control your blood sugar for those who couldn't be on his very low-carb diet.
It offers all of the advantages of his weight-loss program except for the benefits of being in ketosis.
(Available at Amazon, Used)
This diet comes with a high ratio of fiber and complex carbs, compared to simple sugars, so it's not your typical high-carb low-fat diet at all. Carbohydrates eaten are unrefined, whole foods.
Even though sugar and other natural sweeteners are not allowed, the Meat and Millet Diet is NOT a ketogenic diet. It sits at the other end of the Atkins spectrum.
Intake of all simple sugars, including lactose, yogurt, fruit sugars, and other refined carbs are eliminated or severely restricted to give you the benefit of a drop in basal insulin level. These are removed from the diet and replaced with vegetable carbs and grains during Phase 1.
Once the body heals and you have adapted to the diet, Dr. Atkins allowed some of his patients to return a limited amount of simple sugars to their meals, such as fruit, milk, yogurt, and some starchy foods like breads and cereals.
These later additions are only to help bring your calories back up to maintenance, but you can also use this Atkins diet for weight loss if you eat at a calorie deficit.
To lose weight on this nutritional approach, you're going to have to count your calories or find some other way to make sure that you're eating less than your body needs.
Like on the traditional Atkins diet, you can eat plenty of meat, fish, poultry, eggs, and cheese, but you also get nuts and seeds. Starchy carbs include whole grains, such as oats, millet, and brown rice. Potatoes, yams, and legumes are also acceptable on this diet.
Fat intake is kept to a moderate level, and one serving of fruit per day is returned later on if your blood glucose can tolerate it. Dr. Atkins believed in keeping your blood glucose levels stable to avoid hunger and mood swings.
Basically, this is a sugar-free whole-foods diet with a minimal amount of fruit and milk, and a moderate amount of healthy fats and carbs.
Like other Atkins diets, there is a foundation diet and future levels where some of the foods missing are added slowly, so you can keep an eye on how your body reacts to those later additions.
Who the Meat and Millet Diet Works Best For
This diet was created for those who are not insulin resistant.
If you feel horrible on a low-carb diet, even after giving it a try for several weeks, then you are probably insulin sensitive or you don't have the ability to up the amount of enzyme needed to digest a higher-fat diet.
Either way, you need to move to a higher carb and/or lower fat intake, so this Meat and Millet diet might work well for you.
Additional Resource
For more details on this particular Atkins diet, check out our post on the Meat and Millet Diet at The Super Sensitive Celiac blog.
3. Atkins 82
In 1982, Dr. Atkins' Nutrition Breakthrough was published. In that book, Dr. Atkins only changed his weight-loss diet slightly.
(Available at Amazon, Used)
The biggest change was adding 1/2-cup of cooked, non-starchy vegetables to Induction, but this addition was considered optional.
Many of Dr. Atkins clients had inflammatory bowel conditions, and some didn't not like vegetables, so the salad and vegetables were not mandatory.
Without the salad, you'd consume less than 10 carbs a day. With the salad, you'd consume about 10 to 15 carbs a day. And if you added the 1/2-cup of cooked non-starchy vegetables to your diet, then you'd be at 20 grams per day.
Carbier foods like cottage cheese, olives, and nuts come with daily and weekly restrictions in this plan.
Beyond the 20-carb level, you can add 5 grams of carbs per day in the form of additional vegetables, and then some fruits and grains to create further 5-carb levels of the diet for you.
As long as you're continuing to lose weight at an appropriate speed, you can continue to return a few additional foods to your meals and snacks.
In 1982, Atkins also clarified that there was nothing magical about returning carbs to your diet this slowly. But it's best to do it this way so you don't miss your carbohydrate tolerance level.
Who the Atkins 82 Diet Works Best For
In addition to those who are well suited for Atkins 72, as discussed above, this diet works better for those who love vegetables and don't want to go even one week without them.
As you age, or your activity level changes, your carbohydrate tolerance level will also change. If you've stalled part way to goal weight, and don't want to go as drastic as an Atkins 72 Induction, this Atkins diet will help you determine if you are eating too many calories or too many carbs.
4. Atkins 92 and Atkins 99
I've talked a little bit about Atkins 92 on this blog before and thought it was exactly like Atkins 72, except for the addition of 2/3-cup of cooked vegetables and the ability to create your own Induction diet.
In 1992, you were free to eat any foods you wanted, if you didn't want to follow Dr. Atkins' recommendations for Induction, provided you didn't eat more than 20 total carbs per day.
This change put more responsibility on the dieter and let you tweak the plan to fit in better with your lifestyle.
This change also let you eat cream cheese, nuts, protein powder, and even soy flour on Induction, which many people did because Induction was lengthened to two weeks instead of one. Induction was more than just meat, eggs, cheese, and lettuce.
Due to an accident, however, I no longer have this book, so I don't have the specifics anymore.
After looking over the 82 plan, my guess is that Atkins 92 might have included some of the changes that were published in 1982, but gave you the option of not following those changes if you didn't want too.
I'm going to have to pick up another copy of that 1992 book.
In 1999, the diet did not change at all, except for a small comment Dr. Atkins included about subtracting "insoluble" fiber from your total carbohydrate counts as a reasonable deduction.
Please note that at this point, he said insoluble fiber and not all fiber.
Insoluble fiber doesn't absorb water, so it doesn't digest. It passes through the digestion process unchanged.
Soluble fiber does absorb liquids. It comes from plant fiber and turns into a gel-like substance when it mixes with a liquid. This gel binds to bile acids and together they are degraded in the colon by the process of fermentation.
The result is a type of fatty acid that can be used either by the colon or sent to other cells.
The bacteria in your colon digests soluble fiber, with the end product providing calories and nutrients. This is why some people have to count total carbs instead of "net."
On Atkins 92, carbs are returned to the diet very slowly, 5 total carbs per day, just like the other Atkins diets -- up until you reach your carbohydrate tolerance level. At that point, you dial back your carbs by 5 carbs a day and stay at that weight-loss level until you are about 10 pounds from goal weight.
My Experience with Atkins 92
In 1999, I gave the Atkins 92 diet a try.
I didn't purchase the 1999 diet book pictured above because Dr. Atkins said it wasn't necessary to buy that new book if you already had the 1992 version available. The diet didn't change again until 2002.
Weight came off a little more slowly. I lost 8 pounds on Induction instead of 10. I'm guessing that the body was more efficient at burning ketones for energy than it was in 1975 because I didn't turn the ketone testing strips darker than medium this time.
I also went through what's known as the Keto Whoosh.
After the first two weeks on Induction, I went into a lengthy, 6-weeks stall, which is quite common in those who have done Atkins before, and due to the body stuffing water into your fat cells to keep them from shrinking.
The body doesn't like getting rid of its fat-storage depots if it doesn't have to, so it doesn't proceed with atrophy until it's sure you're not going to supply it with the amount of triglycerides it needs to refill them.
After six weeks, all of a sudden, I dropped 12 pounds for a total of 20 pounds for the first 2 months.
Even with the slight increase in vegetables on Induction, this diet still worked very well for me.
Who Does Atkins 92 Work Best For?
Those who want a stricter initial Atkins Induction diet than the modern-day version, but one that still allows a little salad and some cooked vegetables, will be happier with Atkins 92 instead of Atkins 72.
It's also best for those who don't want to give up their cream cheese and nuts during Induction and don't want to wait to add them back in.
The major difference between Atkins 72 and Atkins 92 is only week one's addition of vegetables and the freedom to create your own weight-loss diet plan.
Additional Resource
For more details on what I ate to lose the weight using Atkins 92, check out the blog post on my second attempt at doing Atkins.
5. Atkins 2002
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| In 2002, Dr. Atkins introduced the Atkins Carbohydrate Ladder |
Atkins 2002 brought a major upheaval in the Atkins diet.
There were expanded food lists and the option of designing your own Atkins program was gone. In exchange for giving up that flexibility, deducting all fiber from the total carb count (net carbs) became the norm, and cooked vegetables were raised to 1 cup per day.
The diet worked so well that it quickly became the preferred low-carb diet of its day.
(Available at Amazon)
Carbs on a 2002 Induction include 2 cups of salad and 1 cup of cooked vegetables or 3 cups of salad vegetables for the day. Total carbs on Induction are still limited, but are higher than on prior versions because you get 20-net carbs, rather than 20 total carbs.
Since Induction now contained an adequate amount of vegetables, you have the option of extending the Induction phase beyond the first 2 weeks.
But keep in mind that staying on Induction will not help you lose weight any faster.
What it does is give the body more time to lower your insulin level, stabilize blood sugar, and become fat and ketone-adapted before returning carbs to the diet. Sticking with Induction is a good choice if you didn't lose weight during the first two weeks, or very little.
There are major changes in food limitations and maximums on the 2002 plan.
Sugar alcohols were not counted in the carbohydrate count at all, but this can be dangerous if you try to replicate it today because many sugar alcohols are not as low-glycemic as Dr. Atkins thought they were.
To get the truth about sugar substitutes and sugar alcohols, check out our article here.
2002 also brought the introduction of the Atkins Carbohydrate Ladder, which specifies which food groups you can add back into your diet, and when. You no longer have the option of choosing your favorite carbs or food groups at all.
The ladder is based on the glycemic index, and returns foods that are lower in glycemic response first.
Due to the move to net carbs, the amount of carbohydrates you'll be able to add back into the weight-loss phase will be much lower than it was on earlier versions of the diet.
Additional carbs are still returned very slowly, about 5-net carbs per day, per week, until you reach your carbohydrate tolerance level.
If your tolerance is low, you are free to move up the carbohydrate ladder, anyway, experimenting with the different food categories, provided you stay below your total carbohydrate tolerance for the day.
My Experience on Atkins 2002
When I started this blog in April of 2007, I chose to go with Atkins 2002, but didn't lose much weight because I was listening to what many dieters within the low-carb community believed was acceptable as far as calories, carbs, and fats were concerned.
When I started following the diet, as written, the weight began to come off, but it was super, super slow -- about 2 pounds per month is all.
As a result, I moved to an earlier version of the Atkins diet, stopped counting "net" carbs, cut back on fat, and the weight began to come off at a much faster speed.
Who Does Atkins 2002 Work Best For?
When most dieters talk about the Atkins Diet, Atkins 2002 is the diet that is recommended more than any other weight-loss diet, including Atkins 20. Even today, Atkins 2002 is still considered the bible of low carb.
As written in the book, it works for almost everyone, except for those who are severely insulin resistant or have been on low carb several times before, and quit.
For those who don't want to count carbs, this is a nice Atkins diet to start with because it's easier to measure out your salad and vegetables and just use a minimum of everything else.
Additional Resources
For more information on Atkins 2002, see our posts on how to do the Atkins Induction Diet correctly and how to do Phase 2.
You can also check out our 7-day menu for Atkins 2002 and what to eat on Atkins Induction.
6. Atkins for Life (2003)
Atkins for Life is the Atkins maintenance plan that came out in 2003. Up until this point, maintenance was handled by sticking to your carbohydrate tolerance level and then returning to Induction when you gained a few pounds.
(Available at Amazon, Used)
Maintenance level of carbs was now called your Atkins Carbohydrate Equilibrium (ACE) and ranged between 60-net carbs and 150-net carbs a day, depending on your activity level. The more active you are, the more carbs you can eat.
However, carbohydrate still needs to be restricted to some degree in order to keep cravings for sweets and starchy foods under control. This plan shows you how to add back higher carb vegetables, fruits, beans, and whole grains into your diet without gaining the weight back.
The diet food categories are separated into foods to eat regularly, foods to eat in moderation, and foods to eat sparingly. Emphasis is more on nutrition and eating a well-balanced diet than it is on your carbohydrate intake because it's assumed that you'll craft your diet to match your personal tolerance.
Who Atkins for Life is Best For
This Atkins diet is well suited for those in the pre-maintenance and maintenance phases of Atkins. However, if you don't do well on very low-carb diets, you might find the food lists and nutritional advice in this diet plan very helpful in crafting a good, moderate-carb, low-calorie diet.
7. Atkins 20
Atkins 20 is advertised to be the original Atkins diet, but it's not.
This is the Atkins Nutritonals, Inc., version of Atkins 2002, with a few updates; and is the version that was originally published as The New Atkins for a New You.
(Available at Amazon)
The latest instructions for Atkins 20, 40, and 100 can be found at atkins.com or in Colette Heimowitz's newest book, Atkins: Eat Right, Not Less.
(Available at Amazon)
Along with the limitations and recommendations found in The Atkins New Diet Revolution book and at the Atkins Nutritionals website, Atkins 20 requires you to eat 12- to 15-net carbs worth of vegetables per day, which is not negotiable.
Measured out, 12- to 15-net carbs comes to about 6 cups of salad and/or cooked vegetables a day.
Induction lasts 2 weeks and is the most limited phase of the diet.
Like prior versions, after Induction, you can return carbs to your meals and snacks very slowly, in 5-gram servings per day per week, until you reach your carbohydrate tolerance level. You then stick with that carb level for the weight-loss phase.
Your carbohydrate tolerance may, or may not, be at a ketogenic level, depending on your insulin sensitivity.
Nutritional Ketosis is not really the focus of Atkins.
The Atkins diet is more concerned with helping you achieve stable blood glucose to avoid hunger and cravings, making it easier to eat at a calorie deficit without having to count calories.
The average carbohydrate intake on Atkins 20 is 35- to 45-net carbs per day, but some people find the weight comes off better at lower carb levels.
Atkins 20 also comes with recommendations and restrictions for protein intake, added fats, and sugar substitutes that the 2002 book didn't have, to help you avoid as many stalls and plateaus as possible.
Who Does Atkins 20 Work Best For?
Atkins 20 is designed for those who are younger, reasonably active, and have more than 40 pounds to lose. If you're older, or very short, this Atkins diet may, or may not, be too many vegetable carbs for you.
Those who have been on and off several diets over the years do not tend to do very well on Atkins 20 Induction. If this isn't the first time you've done low carb, it's best to use an earlier version.
Additional Resources
For more details on the Atkins 20 Nutritional Approach check out our article on Atkins 20. You can also get a menu to help you get through Induction in our Atkins 20 14-Day Meal Plan.
8. Atkins 40
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| You get 40-net carbs on Atkins 40 and can eat from all food groups from day one |
With Atkins 40, the focus is on portion control.
Designed for those who have less than 40 pounds to lose, Atkins 40 skips Induction and gets you right into the heart of a low-carb diet from day one.
The benefit of using Atkins 40 over Atkins 20 is that you don't have to deal with feelings of deprivation since you get to eat from all food groups right away, including whole grains, potatoes, and fruit.
However, the diet, which is described in Colette's book above, requires you to spread out those carbs evenly throughout the day, except for an occasional higher carb meal or snack.
Unlike other versions of the Atkins diet, there is no adding back carbs during the weight-loss phase. Forty-net carbs is what you get until you reach pre-maintenance, no matter what your carbohydrate tolerance is. This is because Atkins 40 is a low-glycemic plan.
It's not your typical low-carb diet. It's a highly structured low-carb program that tells you how many carbs you can eat at each meal or snack.
Protein and sugar substitute restrictions are the same as for Atkins 20, and you are still required to eat 12- to 15-net carbs in salad and vegetables, but Atkins 40 offers more flexibility than other Atkins approaches since you aren't required to climb the carb ladder.
You can spend your extra 25-net carbs per day on anything that is found on the Atkins acceptable food lists in the portions recommended. These food lists and portion sizes can be found at the atkins.com website.
Who is Atkins 40 Best Suited For?
Atkins Nutritionals, Inc. has stated that Atkins 40 is suitable for those who are:
- pregnant
- breast feeding
- bored with your food choices
- less than 40 pounds from goal weight
However, this is not a free-for-all type of diet. The specific food lists and serving sizes are pretty strict.
In addition, since you never eat at Induction levels for carbohydrates, there won't be as dramatic a drop in weight as there is for Atkins 20 during the first month.
You'll need to have more patience with this Atkins diet because weight loss starts out very slowly.
Insulin is required for the body to convert T4 thyroid hormone to T3, so if you have problems doing that, Atkins 40 would be a better choice than the newer versions, as well.
General recommendations for those with hypothyroidism is to not go below 35-net carbs a day, due to stress placed on the adrenals, but I have found the same thing with hyperthyroidism, too.
I do best on a diet that contains at least 60 carbs.
At 40-net carbs, instead of 20, getting into ketosis will also take an extra day and you won't see a drop in appetite or cravings as quickly, so if you're looking for the fast hunger reduction, you're better off doing a 20-net carb Induction first.
Additional Resource
For full instructions on how to manipulate your carb intake, see our article on Atkins 40.
9. Atkins 100
Atkins 100 is the newest Atkins diet, which was introduced in Colette's latest book, pictured above, but it isn't well advertised. Designed for those who want a well-balanced, sugar-free, lower carb diet, rather than a very low carb one, it follows the same rules and restrictions as Atkins 40.
Like Atkins 40, Atkins 100 is a low-glycemic program. It just allows more carbs.
At 100-net carbs per day, this diet still falls within the low carb definition of 120 carbs or less, and uses the exact same food lists as Atkins 40, but portion sizes for carbohydrates are much larger since your carb budget is bigger.
Instead of 10- to 15-carbs per meal, you can reasonably expect to have 25- to 30-net carbs per meal, and still have room for snacks.
Who is Atkins 100 Best Suited For?
Atkins 100 offers a way for those not interested in a very low-carb diet to curb their intake of sugar and starchy carbs by focusing on making better food choices from day one.
Atkins 100 works best for those at normal weight who want to move to a healthier diet or those who can't digest as much fat as a standard Atkins diet requires and want to still curtail their carbohydrate intake.
Atkins 100 is designed for those who are insulin sensitive and already live fairly active lives. For this reason, it is also a good choice for a maintenance diet for those doing Atkins 40.
However, not everyone on Atkins 40 will be able to eat this many carbs at maintenance.
Don't Get Hung Up with Choosing the Best Atkins Diet
When it comes to choosing the best of anything, fear of making a mistake can cause you to procrastinate making healthier lifestyle choices. Instead of worrying about whether an Atkins diet is right for you, or not, just pick one and see how well you do.
If it doesn't work as well as you hoped, then pick another.
You don't have to stick with your very first choice.
In fact, you might even choose to not pick any Atkins diet at all. There is nothing wrong with designing your own low-carb diet.
That's what I did.
I started out with the 2002 version and when it didn't work, I moved to Atkins 72. When that was too slow for me, I decided to just create my own weight-loss plan.
Using Atkins as a foundation and template for my own personalized low-carb diet, I had so much success with my own modified version, that I managed to lose over 100 pounds.
Today, I'm in recovery from a major set back, due to having hyperthyroidism, and having good success with cutting back on portion sizes, so don't get so obsessed with Atkins that you don't include your tastes, lifestyle, and physical limitations in your decision.
Using the back door or setting yourself up to coast into a lower carb maintenance plan is just as viable as a very low-carb diet is.
Whatever you choose to do, it has to be something you enjoy and can do for the rest of your life.
Which Atkins Diet are you on? Please share your experience with us in the comments below! We're anxious to hear how well you're doing.
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