A Complete Guide to the Atkins Diet
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Medically reviewed by Kierra Brown, RD
The Atkins diet is a low-carb diet developed in the 1970s by cardiologist Dr. Robert Atkins. The diet became popular in the early 2000s and is still used today to support weight loss, strengthen blood sugar control, and establish healthy eating habits. The Atkins diet is meant to help you lose or maintain a healthy weight for your body by burning more body fat instead of sugar to give you more energy and increase your metabolism.
How the Atkins Diet Works
The Atkins diet is a low-carb diet. Several types of low-carb diets include varying levels of carbohydrate restriction.
If you're following the Atkins diet, you start with consuming 20-100 grams (g) of carbohydrates daily, depending on which version of the Atkins diet you choose. Most people usually end up on a more moderate low-carb diet during the final phase.
Each phase of the Atkins Diet has a specific range of macronutrients or proteins, fats, and carbohydrates in food. You can choose from a selection of meals and plans that work best for you from the Atkins website.
The first part of the diet puts your body into a state of ketosis, during which your body burns fat for fuel instead of carbs. To reach ketosis, you consume less than 50 grams of carbs daily. According to studies, most low-carb diets promote weight loss, decrease blood sugar, and improve other aspects of health.
Atkins plans include the following:
Atkins 20®: Start with 20 g of net carbs and increase by 5 g increments (usually for people who want to lose over 40 pounds (lbs) or have diabetes)
Atkins 40®: Start with 40 g of net carbs and start increasing by 10 g when you hit a certain weight (usually for people who want to lose less than 40 lbs)
Atkins 100®: Start with 100 g of net carbs (usually for people who want to maintain weight)
The following guidelines for each phase are based on the Atkins 20® version of the diet.
Phase 1: Induction
This phase restricts your carb intake to 20 g of net carbs daily to kickstart the weight loss process. Net carbs are the number of carbohydrates left after subtracting the total fiber content and half the amount of sugar alcohols found in a food from its total carb content.
The goal in this phase is to help you get within 15 lbs of your weight loss goal by consuming less carbohydrates. The length of Phase 1 depends on your starting weight and final weight loss goal. If your goal is to lose less than 15 lbs of body fat, you can completely skip this phase.
Phase 2: Balancing
In this phase, you can gradually add more carbs into your diet. Once you're within 15 lbs of your weight loss goal, add 5 more g of net carbs daily. This may mean eating 25 g of net carbs daily.
By the end of this phase, you should consume 30-80 g of net carbs daily and be within 10 lbs of your goal weight.
Phase 3: Pre-Maintenance
When you're 10 lbs away from your goal weight, you can move on to phase 3. This phase is meant to help you get closer to establishing a balance of carbs that works best for your body.
Guidelines include increasing your carb intake in 5-10 g increments while paying attention to any changes in weight. You can adjust your carb intake to cut an additional 10 g of carbs if you don’t notice any changes in weight after at least a week.
Most people consume between 80-100 g of net carbs daily during phase 3. This phase lasts until you've reached your weight loss goal and have maintained it for at least one month.
Phase 4: Maintenance
When you've reached your goal weight and have maintained your weight for a month, you'll move on to the fourth and final phase of the Atkins diet.
During phase 4, you'll continue maintaining your carb tolerance level and weight while adding new foods to your diet. This phase is meant to introduce healthy life-long eating habits.
Guidelines
Though carbohydrate intake increases as the Atkins diet progresses, the diet is still considered low-carb. However, there are also other dietary restrictions included in the Atkins diet.
In addition to restricting carbs, the Atkins diet involves other modifications, such as eating three 4-6 ounce (oz) servings of lean protein daily during all diet phases. Lean proteins include foods like salmon and chicken breast listed on the Atkins acceptable foods list. During the first three phases, drink at least eight oz of water and eat three full meals or 4-5 smaller meals daily.
According to the Atkins website, the macronutrient range of the diet is:
60-70% fat
20-30% protein
5-10% carbs.
However, macronutrient ranges will vary depending on the stage of the diet and your individual "carbohydrate tolerance"—how many carbs a day is comfortable for you in phase 3 of the diet.
When following the Atkins diet, it's important to choose meals with foods from the "acceptable foods" list and avoid high-carb foods like pasta, cake, and bread—especially during the first few phases.
What To Eat on the Atkins Diet
The first phase of the Atkins diet is the most restrictive, but there are still many food choices. As you move through the diet phases, you can slowly add higher-carb foods such as fruits back in.
When following phase 1 of the Atkins diet, consider eating:
Low-carb vegetables: Greens, artichokes, mushrooms, cauliflower, onions, bok choy, tomatoes, zucchini, asparagus, and broccoli
Meat and poultry: Beef, chicken, venison, lamb, pork, duck, and turkey
Eggs: Whole eggs and egg whites
Seafood: Cod, trout, sardines, salmon, flounder, herring, clams, mussels, and shrimp
Fats and oils: Olive oil, butter, mayonnaise, avocado oil, and sunflower oil
Cheese: Parmesan, cheddar, goat cheese, Swiss cheese, and feta
Herbs and spices: Rosemary, basil, garlic, ginger, and parsley
Slowly add carb-rich foods back into your diet after the first phase. In phase 2, you can start eating small amounts of berries, legumes, and other higher-carb foods. You can also incorporate high-fat dairy products, like heavy cream into your diet.
What To Drink on the Atkins Diet
When following the Atkins diet, you'll want to stick to low-carb, low-calorie beverages, such as:
Water
Sparkling water
Clear broth
Decaffeinated or regular coffee and tea
Diet soda
Zero-calorie flavored seltzer
Unsweetened plant milks, like almond milk and soy milk
Foods Not in the Atkins Diet
When following the Atkins diet, try your best to cut out certain foods. During the initial phase of the Atkins diet, the following foods should be avoided:
Grains: Rice, oats, couscous, quinoa, and barley
Bread, pasta, and high-carb baked goods: Pasta, noodles, rolls, muffins, and bagels
Sweeteners and sugary foods: Table sugar, honey, maple syrup, ice cream, cookies, and sugary cereals
High-carb snack foods: Potato chips, granola bars, and crackers
Starchy vegetables and legumes: Potatoes, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, lentils, and chickpeas
Fruits: Oranges, pineapple, peaches, bananas, and dates
Sugary condiments: Sweet salad dressings, sugary dips, and barbecue sauce
After the first phase, higher-carb foods like fruits, grains, and legumes can slowly be incorporated into your diet. However, carbohydrate-rich foods will always be limited on the Atkins diet.
Drinks To Avoid on the Atkins Diet
For optimal results, try to avoid the following higher-sugar drinks while following the Atkins diet:
Sweetened soda, iced tea, and energy drinks
Fruit juice
Coffees and teas with added sweeteners or creamers
Chocolate milk
Milkshakes
Drink plenty of water and other zero-calorie beverages.
Meal Ideas
Your meals and snacks will depend on which phase of the diet you're currently following. A day of eating on phase 1 of the Atkins diet may look like this:
Breakfast: Omelet made with arugula, tomatoes, and cheddar cheese with a side of salsa
Lunch: Green salad made with grilled chicken, avocado, tomatoes, bell pepper, red onion, cucumber, and feta cheese topped with Cesar dressing
Snack: Tuna salad with celery
Dinner: Baked salmon in a butter and dill sauce served with roasted vegetables
You can still add more foods into your diet, such as fruits, nuts, seeds, and legumes, after phase 1.
Benefits
A low-carb diet, like the Atkins diet, may benefit your health in several ways. From improving blood sugar control to lowering blood pressure, the Atkins diet can be beneficial to your health in ways other than just weight loss.
May Improve Blood Sugar
One of the most evidence-based benefits of low-carb dietary patterns like the Atkins diet is its effectiveness in reducing high blood sugar levels. When following low-carb diets, foods that tend to increase blood sugar, like pasta and sugary drinks, are restricted, which helps support better blood sugar control. Diets low in carbs have been shown to improve blood sugar control. Plus, low-carb diets may also improve other health markers in people with type 2 diabetes.
One 2023 review of seven studies also found that low-carb diets, including the Atkins diet, were effective for controlling blood sugar, reducing insulin levels, decreasing body fat mass, and improving blood lipid levels in people with obesity and type 2 diabetes.
Could Help with Weight Loss
Several studies suggest that the Atkins diet may support weight loss by making you feel full sooner and reducing how many calories you consume. One 2017 review that compared the weight loss benefits of seven diets, including the Atkins diet, the low-fat Ornish diet, and the paleo diet, found that the Atkins diet was most effective at meeting short-term and long-term weight loss goals.
Low-carb diets, in general, seem to be effective for supporting weight loss. For example, one 2024 study found that a 16-week low-carb diet that delivered fewer than 130 grams of carbs daily was more effective for people with obesity when compared to a Mediterranean diet.
However, it's unclear if low-carb diets, like the Atkins diet, are more effective for weight loss than traditional calorie-restricted diets.
Weight Loss
Health.com does not promote or condone weight loss that’s not under the care of a healthcare provider. Only try a diet for weight loss if your healthcare provider recommends it.
Other Benefits
Following a low-carb diet may reduce the risk of heart disease and be helpful for people with certain medical conditions like polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS)—a hormonal condition that can lead to symptoms like weight gain. Some studies show that low-carb diets may protect against heart disease by lowering heart disease risk factors like hypertension (high blood pressure) and high triglyceride levels.
In one study, participants who followed a low-carb diet for 16 weeks experienced greater reductions in blood pressure, blood lipid levels, and blood sugar levels when compared to people who followed a Mediterranean diet. Low-carb diets like the Atkins diet may also improve symptoms like hyperglycemia (high blood sugar) and insulin resistance in people with PCOS and type 2 diabetes.
Is the Atkins Diet Safe?
Low-carb diets, like the Atkins diet, are generally considered safe. However, very low-carb diets, like the initial phase of the Atkins diet may not be appropriate if you are pregnant or have pancreatic and gallbladder conditions. Since the Atkins diet is restrictive, it's important to ask your healthcare provider if the diet is right for you—especially if you have a history of disordered eating.
The lack of calories in the initial phase of this diet can sometimes also lead to side effects like:
Nausea
Headaches
Weakness
Dizziness
Fatigue
Earlier phases of the diet are highly restrictive and cut out some nutritious foods. For this reason, following the more restricting phases of the Atkins diet for long periods may result in deficiencies in one or more nutrients, such as fiber, vitamins, and minerals.
Looking for Support?
If you or a loved one are experiencing an eating disorder, contact the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) Helpline for support at 1-800-931-2237.
Drawbacks
Though the Atkins diet is relatively easy to follow, it does involve strict rules, which may not work for your specific lifestyle or food preferences. Because the diet is so low in carbs, it can be difficult to follow for those who don't eat animal products, like meat and eggs.
Although not a part of the traditional Atkins diet meal list, there are now plant-based options for the Atkins diet. Following a more moderate low-carb diet that doesn't involve as many restrictions may be just as effective for helping you reach your health goals as the Atkins diet.
A Quick Review
The Atkins diet may improve your well-being by helping you maintain a healthy weight for your body and regulating your blood sugar. levels. The Atkins diet includes low-carbohydrate foods like kale, salmon, and bok choy.
Though the Atkins diet is generally considered safe, it's best to check with your healthcare provider before trying any restrictive diet—especially if you have one or more health conditions, a history of disordered eating, or are pregnant or breastfeeding.
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