Today marks day 8 of Atkins for Life. In past week, I’ve learned a lot about the meal plan, and the induction process. Five pounds of weight lost so far. Quite possibly this is entirely water. I’ll know for certain in another week.

All workouts went as scheduled, with no noted loss of strength, endurance or muscle mass. Motivation and energy levels are fairly consistent.

My purpose to determine does the eating plan actually burn fat or not? Body fat measurements taken with calipers on three areas of the body – the thighs, waist and chest, will prove this.

I’m following the diet to the letter, recording all carbs I ingest, and never consuming more than twenty grams total from the approved list per day. The water intake is met or exceeded.

There’s a few misconceptions about Atkins that can only be addressed by reading the book from cover to cover. Certainly, I had more than a few.

Here’s the biggies:
1)You can eat as much cheese, butter, heavy cream and sour cream as you want.
FALSE. During the two week induction process, three to four ounces of cheese, totaling four grams of carbs are allowed each day. One to two tablespoons of sour cream are acceptable ( at the cost of one gram per tablespoon ). Heavy cream counts as one gram for every two tablespoons.
2)Eat as many fatty meats as you like. Bring on the lamb, baby!
FALSE: The plan calls for liberal amounts of all kinds of meats, however at a certain point proteins are metabolized as glucose, rather than protein. Obviously this works against the diet. The exact level varies but a rough guide is about forty five grams per three hours. It’s a lot, and most meals aren’t nearly that protein rich, but there is a limit.
3) People do Atkins for two weeks lose some week quick, quit and wind up fatter than before.
TRUE: People fail because they quit the diet or cheat. Once off the diet, it’s likely that they will gain some weight, and weigh even more. This fact is not hidden in the book or on the website.
4) Atkins is not maintainable because eventually everyone craves carbs.
UNKNOWN: There are four stages to Atkins, and I’ve only done the first half of one, so I won’t speculate as to why people stray. However, according to the book it should take about three to four months to reach Maintenance. As you cycle through the process, more carbs are allowed. The exact level varies per person, and everyone is different. A healthy adult in maintenance might be able to consume as many as ninety grams of carbohydrates per day. That’s about one third of the average American, and it’s certainly not no carbs.
5) Carbohydrates are critical to health, denying them is crazy. Atkins is no carb, therefore it is asinine.
FALSE: Nowhere does the plan say not to eat carbs. It is an eating plan that discourages enriched carbs, like bread and pasta, as well as refined sugars like corn syrup or sugar. The plan does call for plenty of nutrient rich vegetables which contain carbs. Right now I’m eating three cups more of veggies per day than before Atkins.