Atkins, South Beach - Weight Loss Is Still Just Math

I have this friend, who will remain nameless, he is desperate to lose weight. I have to admit I dont understand why at all, he is 6'2" and 200 pounds, as far as I'm concerned he looks perfectly normal. Maybe he is trying to measure himself against the current heroin-chic thin trend, I dont know, but he is going on the Atkins diet. Yikes.

A few comments on the Atkins diet. First, it was created by Atkins, a cardiologist, to prepare his patients for heart surgery. Yes, the diet does clear out your arteries and it does allow you to drop weight quickly. But it does so by forcing your body into an unnatural state. This unnatural state puts additional strain on your kidneys, liver and eventually the heart itself. It was not intended to be a lifesytle, it was intended to be the lesser of two evils in preparation for major surgery. There is also a portion of the medical community that will recommend Atkins for those people that are obese; health risks of the diet somehow eclipse the health risks of being drastically overweight ( and there are many!). But this diet was not intended for those people wanting to lose 5 or 10 pounds.

Yes, I've tried to warn him about the pitfalls but he falls into the category of I-only-hear-what-want-to-hear. I guess the quest for others approval via thinness outweighs the short term health risks in his mind.

I mentioned Southbeach, the healthier, friendlier version of the low-carb diet but it didnt seem to register; I guess the idea of eating steak, butter and cheese all day is more appealing than egg white omeletes and limitless green veggies.

Weight loss is just math. Calories in, calories out, metabolism. Eat less, exercise more. Take it from a hypoglycemic, spreading out your 3 meals a day into 6 smaller meals will increase your metabolism, it tricks your body into thinking it must always be metabolising, so it does. Building muscle also helps in the metabolism area.

I've known a million people to go down these low carb diet paths only to go back to carbs, tired of feeling low energy and cranky, they always gain their weight back.

Oh well, I've spoken my peace and ultimately he'll pick the path that works best for him.