Atkins Diet Tips

There comes a point in most diets where individuals will find that they cannot lose any more weight. Try as they may, something is keeping them from being able to move past their current state. In most cases, these situations that involve not being able to lose weight with a specific diet are referred to as stalls or plateaus.

A stall often refers to a period of time during a diet where an individual is no longer losing weight. Many times, individuals have been carefully following a low-carb diet like Atkins but are no longer seeing any measurable results. Before assuming that a plateau has been reached, individuals should be careful to look into other possible source of the apparent stall. In fact, many people find that a stall is not a stall at all, but rather their body putting on lean muscle mass and re-shaping itself. Remember that muscle is more dense than fat, so anyone who is lifting weights while also following a low-carb diet will soon see that their body is in fact thinning out, even though their weight may not be dropping.

Once it has been determined that an individual has in fact reached a plateau, certain measures need to be taken. First of all, anyone who has stalled at any point during a diet needs to know that stalls are rather common during a diet. A stall that lasts about three to four weeks is nothing for a dieter to become alarmed over. However if a stall has lasted for more than three or four weeks, there are several factors that need to be looked at as possible causes of the stall.

The first factor to consider when determining what is causing a stall is to determine if the individual’s carbohydrate levels have been set at a level that is too high. As part of the Atkins diet, 20 grams of carbohydrates can be consumed per day. Some individuals might be able to eat as many as 50 grams of carbohydrates per day and still lose weight, while other participants may be forced to keep the carbohydrates near the induction levels in order to achieve and maintain weight loss.

Another important factor involved in individuals not being able to lose weight is the factor of hidden carbs. Too many times, individuals are eating foods that they assume to be low-carb or even non-carb, only to find later that they were not. A hidden gram of carbs per meal or per piece of food can be enough to completely sabotage a low-carb diet. Herbs, spices, and even lemon juice are not carb-free, and neither are processed foods. The best solution to the problem of hidden carbs is to carefully inspect the labels on the foods a person eats.

Another major cause of stalls is overeating. Even though most low-carb diets do not place any restrictions on calories, it is important not to overeat. A low-carb diet is not a license to pig-out. Most dietary experts agree that it is best to eat smaller meals more frequently, than larger meals less frequently.

One final factor that can contribute to a stall is lack of exercise. There is no such thing as a miracle diet, at least not one that can achieve weight loss without the help of a proper exercise plan. In fact, some of the most successful diets are the ones that are able to combine both diet and exercise. Exercising helps boost the body’s metabolism, contributing to the burning of fats. An individual who is already exercising and participating in a low-carb diet should consider changing the exercise routine, perhaps by increasing the weight or increasing the repetitions during a particular exercise.

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