Atkins Article : The Fat Fast

Counterintuitive as it may sound, if you can’t budge the scale , a few days on this regimen may well allow you to break through metabolic resistance.

Certain individuals are so metabolically resistant that only more intense dietary restrictions prove successful. Once medications, thyroid problems and candida are brought under control, almost all overweight people who diligently adhere to the Atkins Nutritional Approach™ will lose and keep off weight. But for the small group of people for whom it does not work, more extreme measures are necessary.

To help these metabolically resistant people, Dr. Atkins has modified what he calls “the most effective weight-loss eating pattern ever described.” British researchers Alan Kekwick and Gaston Pawan developed it, and Frederick Benoit and his team confirmed its superiority in burning off fat, compared to an absolute total fast. This extreme diet consists of 1,000 calories daily, comprised of 90 percent fat. No other weight-loss regimen has matched its ability to burn off stored fat. Dr. Atkins modified the Kekwick diet to make it as enjoyable as possible and dubbed it the “Fat Fast.” He tried it on scores of patients and found it often worked for those who were unable to lose weight in any other safe, drug-free way.

The Kekwick diet forces the body into lipolysis so it burns its stores of fat. Lipolysis cannot take place if there is a significant source of glucose. Since all carbohydrates and some protein convert to energy by way of glucose, eliminating almost everything but fat from the diet forces even the most resistant body into lipolysis. That explains the 90 percent dietary-fat component. Lowering the caloric intake accelerates the need to burn up body fat—thus the 1,000-calorie limit.

The Fat Fast is one controlled carb program where you do have to count calories. You’ll eat 1,000 calories a day, with 75 percent to 90 percent comprised of fat. Frequent feedings prevent hunger better than three meals a day, so you consume five feedings, perhaps one every four hours, comprising 200 calories each. Because of the high fat content and frequent feedings, very few people experience much hunger. The stumbling block for some people is the absence of conventional meals. But most are willing to stick with it for a few days, even if the food selections are unfulfilling.

Caution: The Fat Fast is actually dangerous for anyone who is not metabolically resistant. For people who lose weight fairly easily, the rate of weight loss is too rapid to be safe. But it carries very little risk for people who can barely lose on any other regimen.

Step One: Eat Mostly Fat Begin with five 200-calorie feedings per day and follow for four or five days. Each item equals approximately 200 calories:

one ounce of macadamia nuts or macadamia nut butter two ounces of cream cheese or Brie one ounce of tuna or chicken salad with two teaspoons of mayonnaise served in one-quarter of an avocado two deviled eggs made with two teaspoons of mayonnaise two ounces of sour cream and two tablespoons black or red caviar two and a half ounces whipped heavy cream topped with sucralose zero-calorie syrup two ounces of pâté (check label for fat content) two egg yolks (hard-boiled) with one tablespoon of mayonnaise

Step Two: Modify the Fat Fast If increasing the fat-to-carbohydrate ratio and cutting calories work, any dietary change in that direction might get the job done. Next, you can try four meals a day of roughly 300 calories for a total of 1,200 calories. That should work, too, and what it allows is definitely more appealing to the taste buds:

two ounces of beef chuck (do not drain fat) cooked in two tablespoons of olive oil two scrambled eggs with two strips of nitrate-free bacon two tablespoons of full-fat sour cream with a tablespoon of sugar-free syrup one-quarter cup chicken or tuna salad made with two tablespoons of mayonnaise three ounces of pâté (check label for fat content) one-and-a-half ounces of macadamia nuts

*Thanks to the Atkins Center for the above article.

I personally simplify this whole thing down to doing just the one ounce mac nuts servings in 5 small bags. Which is 5 ounces total for the day;)

My Recent Experience –

When I got back from enjoying my brother’s wedding in Hawaii I could still wear all my clothes that I always wear quite comfortably. That is a good thing but I point this out because though I don’t think someone should have to take their scale on vacation, it is still very important to get back on track once you are back from happily indulging.
Sometimes how your clothes fit isn’t enough of a gauge and leads to the weight creeping back up on us.
This is what happened to me – I got back and on Monday (5-2-11) weighing in at 129.1. That is definitely considered “Danger Zone” for me. I did as I now call  the “nut fast” and this morning Wed.(5-4-11) I weighed in at 123.1.
So by tomorrow I should be back to what my body prefers which is 122.

As long as you keep on top of it, once you are at goal and everyday you have your new “set point” your body will strive to get back to that number.

That my friends is a very good thing 🙂

**A warning about the fat fast **
I want to point out two things about this “trick”.
You must go back to strict protocol after doing this (if on P2) or eat super clean afterward (P3&4) to give your body the time to adjust to the flux that just happened to  it.

Basically giving you body a chance to be o.k. with the sudden release and not try to go back to the weight it was before.

The other warning is  – Don’t do this for long, I would say 3 days MAX. I no longer have a gallbladder but those of you that do, the increase of fats in your system could aggravate the gallbladder and cause problems. Quite simply, you certainly don’t want that.