How To Take Off Weight With The Atkins Diet
August 22nd, 2008Despite the popularity of the Atkins Diet, it is often greatly misrepresented! Popular, but slightly exaggerated depictions of the diet portray dieters devouring nothing but huge portions of meat and fat. Although the program is not quite this simple, many people under the plan have successfully lost weight and improved their health.
On this plan, dieters follow a highly specific regimen based on cutting carbohydrate intake. The nutritional aspects of the diet are emphasized over exercise and other factors, although getting physical activity is recommended. There are 4 phases to the Atkins diet:
Induction: For the duration of this two-week stage at the beginning of the diet program, dieters can only have up to 20 grams of carbohydrates each day. Dieters can ingest high protein foods such as meat and eggs, fats such as oils and butter, and other foods with little to no carbohydrates. Many foods containing carbohydrates are not allowed at all during this stage, including alcoholic drinks.
This early phase is intended to help the body go from burning carbohydrates for energy, as it usually does, into burning fat stored in the body (the state called ketosis). Most dieters begin to lose pounds during this stage.
Ongoing Weight Loss: During the Ongoing Weight Loss stage, dieters gradually increase their carbohydrate intake by adding 5 grams of carbohydrates into their diet each week. Dieters adjust their diet, losing weight to put themselves within 5-10 pounds of their target weight, before moving into the Pre-maintenance period.
Pre-maintenance: Dieters use the Pre-maintenance stage to find out the maximum amount of carbohydrates they can consume without gaining weight. During this stage, dieters add 10 grams of carbohydrates to their diet each week. Once dieters reach their target weight and can keep it stable for one month, they move into the Lifetime Maintenance stage.
Lifetime Maintenance: For lasting results, the Atkins program is designed to be maintained throughout the dieter’s lifetime. Using the techniques that helped the dieter reach their target weight, the dieter keeps up an eating and exercise plan to stay at their target weight. Individuals can revert to previous stages if they ever begin to regain weight.
Dieters who can stick to the Atkins diet are often successful in losing weight; unfortunately, many people cannot keep following the program and end up quitting early on in the induction stage. In general, most diet plans fail simply because dieters cannot stay on the plan.
Many people are unable to stay on diets because they experience strong food cravings, have problems with compulsive overeating, cannot regulate their appetites, or simply are not motivated to lose weight. Getting over these mental obstacles is the most challenging aspect of losing weight.
One reason why many people struggle to manage their eating is because they are emotional eaters. Such people eat in response to their emotions, such as when they are bored or upset. However, this practice programs a “conditioned response” into the unconscious mind. This means that when individuals experience the same feelings that made them overeat initially, they will feel compelled to overeat once again.
Hypnosis works by helping our unconscious minds disassociate our emotions from our eating habits. To eliminate the conditioned response to overeat, a hypnotherapy weight loss program is used to break the bond developed in the unconscious mind between overeating and specific “trigger” situations.
For example, if you tend to binge eat when you feel bored, hypnosis can disassociate boredom from eating in your unconscious mind. Hypnosis techniques can then be used to replace the compulsion to overeat with another activity, such as exercising. That way, the next time you become bored, instead of having an urge to eat, you will feel motivated to exercise, resulting in natural weight loss.
Hypnosis is a powerful tool for stress relief as well, helping us cope with our stressful feelings and relieve tension without eating. As a relaxation tool, it calms the mind, helps you develop positive strategies to manage stress, and boosts your self-confidence to motivate you to lose weight.
Self hypnosis can also be used to remove the emotional stressors that keep you from losing weight. Many overweight people hide behind their weight for emotional protection. For example, after a painful end to a relationship, people often find themselves becoming overweight so they can avoid relationships and avoid experiencing emotional pain again. Through hypnosis, we can think more positively and focus on having better health instead of becoming overwhelmed by our anxieties.
Not only is hypnosis an ideal motivational tool, it relieves tension, eliminates conditioned responses that trigger overeating, and can be used to overcome the mental obstacles that prevent weight loss. Hypnosis is very effective at helping people stay on a diet plan, such as the Atkins diet, and lose weight.
Alan B. Densky, CH is certified by the NGH. Visit the hypnotism website for Free NLP videos, newsletters, and downloads. He offers several ways to lose weight, including hypnosis to lose weight DVDs and weight loss hypnosis CDs.
