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Hackers On Atkins
`Sean writes "Salon.com has published a story about Hackers on Atkins. Although going on a diet is the last thing on the minds of the stereotypical geek basking in the ambient radiation of multiple monitors for 15 hours per day, many hackers have been embracing Atkins because utilizing low-carb methods to modify the metabolism is analogous to hacking and overclocking the body. Others have been combining Atkins with other systems, such as John Walker's The Hacker's Diet. I've personally lost a hundred pounds so far and will toss in the obligatory if I can do it, anyone can ism."
Also, its good to eat a regular portion. If you stuffed yourself, you probably ate too much. Most restaurants will give you a dump-truck full so long as you hit their price point or $5~7 per person.
IANAD, but that's just my thoughts.
It's not a diet where you just quit when you've lost weight. It's a change in your way of eating, and you can have still have a very proper diet on it. Once you've reached your goals, you can introduce some carbs back in (healthy ones, like fruits) to keep you at your ideal weight. You don't just quit and start eating pasta for breakfast, lunch and dinner. And, many people don't exercise because they're overweight, so losing weight often gets people interested in being more physically active.
Our "modern diet" is killing us, and since the government has been preaching "low fat" the past few decades, things have only gotten worse. People are eating more because carbs cause insulin surges which increase appetite.
Gluconeogenesis takes pyruvates and oxaloacetates and converts them into glucose. You get these through catabolism of amino acids, chiefly from muscle tissue. The muscle is broken down and transported to the liver for gluconeogenic processing. Alanine, cysteine, glycine, serine, & threonine can be deaminated directly or indirectly to form pryuvate and asparagine and aspartate can be made into oxaloacetates.
Hey, that's great that you remember your high school chemistry, but the clinical data don't support your theory. Atkins focuses on foods hight in fat & protein, so there's always enough protein intake that the body does not need to break down muscle tissue. This has been gospel among body builders for 30+ years. Low-carb diets preserve muscle mass moreso than low-fat diets, and the fat loss compared to low-fat is probably more significant than current studies already indicate.
I've been fat all my life, peaking at 277 lbs eight years ago. I just finished my first year on Atkins. I'm down from 244 to 187 (that in the first sixth months actually), the same weight I was a as a high school freshman (15 years ago). Now that I've broken my carb addiction I've added healthy carbs (whole grains, vegetables, fruit) back into my diet. It's been a year now and I haven't had a donut, french fry, or any sort of sugar or junk food. My triglycerides are under 80. Is your diet that healthy?