Hi,

I have been eating chicken breasts (6 x day) with water for over a week now. I lost 7 lbs (this is my record!). I feel great!
I am 5'6" and my weight is 137lbs - I want to lose another 20 lbs. I know that eating protein alone is not healthy, but it really works for me. I am planning on living on chicken only - for another month... My question is: Am I seriously killing my body? Could I suffer from some crazy disease later on (I am only 25 now).

K.

Hi Kamila,

Congrats on your weight loss. I know it feels great to feel you're making progress!

I can't answer your question about long-term health affects of eating just protein, but I can tell you my personal experience with ANY extreme diet. Sure, you'll lose weight. You'll feel great, clothes will fit better. You'll probably even go out and splurge on lots of new ones, and toss those old "fat" clothes. You'll ignore the fact that you might have dizzy spells, that you have low energy sometimes, and that maybe you're even losing some hair. Hey, it's worth it, right? As long as you're losing the weight. Then, you'll go completely off the program. You'll HATE the very sight of chicken. You'll eat all those yummy foods you skipped for weeks/months. And you will gain. And gain. Eventually you'll weigh more than where you started. You'll diet again--hey, you proved to yourself how much willpower you have. Then you'll start the whole cycle over again.

I would love it if I could somehow impart my experiences to help you prevent doing this to yourself, because whether or not your body can hold up to it, your mental state will most definitely be affected.

Please try a more moderate approach. Read over the program plans in the Quick Link "Which low-carb plan is right for me?" Then follow the program. Make changes in your diet today that you can LIVE WITH long-term.

Don't you think your goal weight is a bit low for your height?

Insurance and medical charts put people of your height at a healthy weight of 130.

100 pounds for the first 5 feet, then 5 pounds per inch of height.

Perhaps you should seek professional counseling for eating disorder or perhaps body image.

You really are a perfect weight for your height. I too am 5'6" and shooting for 137 as a goal weight.

If you eat this way for another month, you may or may not suffer from some crazy disease later, but your teeth and bones and skin and hair are sure likely to take a beating. I'm assuming you want to lose weight to look better. If you eat like this for another month, you may be thinner, but you probably won't look better. You would be miles ahead by going at a healthier, slower pace. Another horrible result of drastic diets is you could really screw up (slow down) your metabolism.
asugar

Kamila....

Maybe I missed something when I read the book, but where exactly does Dr. Atkins say that you should eat nothing but chicken and water for weeks at a time?
My dear...if you aren't already, you are headed for some serious constipation to say the least.
Can you exist on nothing but chicken breast and water? Sure! Can you do it and stay healthy? I doubt it. I have a feeling that you won't be feeling so great in a couple of weeks if you continue with this and you are going to want to scream every time you see or smell chicken!
Atkins is not a low fat diet. It is not a meat only diet. It is not a starvation diet. Heck, it's not even really a diet...it's a permanent change in eating habits. Even on induction, fats are unlimited and you are encouraged to eat at least 2 cups of salad vegetables and 1 cup of cooked vegetable every day. He also recommends supplements which you don't mention whether or not you're taking.
I'd say at this point you are doing well if you are getting 800 calories a day. If your goal is to lower your metabolism and make it even harder to lose weight, you're right on target.
Please stop starving yourself and read the chapter on induction again. You might be losing weight quickly, but this is not a healthy way to go about it.

Well,Ive been wondering the same thing,if its "ok" to do,for a period of time.Im on my 7th day in a row of only eating gr.turkey& gr.beef.I have always folowed a lc woe,so i know it a "legal food".But seems i wasnt planning on just meat,its just that its all i seem to want to eat.(plain meat)and i figure ill keep eating like this until my body starts craving some other type food (natural food)i dont feel deprived eating this way,im not feeling no Ill effects at all.once i do id most definatly add something more.But i haveta say as long as you feel ok,it is something our body wants,so give it some.and if you feel your body asking for something different give it that!some people are vegans for a time frame,some only eat fruit(fruitarians)some go on liquid diets for a time too.so i see nothing wrong with only meat for a while.not sure im gonna wany only meat for a month,but who knows,i let my body decide that.and hey eskimo people live on a protien only woe,and they live along time.hope i helped a little.(and those weight charts are about as accurate as the usda food pyramid!)
hatty

Hi hatty...

actually, the inuits didn't live on just protein. They ate a high fat diet of seal meat and whale blubber (which is quite high in calories, so they weren't starving themselves on lean meat) and many of them ate vegetable matter and fruits when they were in season. Just because certain people eat only one food or food group for a period of time to the exclusion of all others doesn't mean it's healthy. Fortunately, you can get many of the nutrients you need from fats and protein, but not all. Vegetables contain vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals that are important to long term health as well as fiber that is important to gastrointestinal health. I can't say anyone is going to harm themselves beyond repair by eating only ground turkey and ground beef for a few weeks, but I wouldn't recommend it for longer than that. Something else to remember: "listening to your body" isn't always the best thing to do because there are times when your body is wrong or you simply may not understand the message it's giving you.

The Innuit also ate various greens and berries that were preserved in seal oil for the winter.

Wasn't there an illness - perhaps death? - that was caused by eating only rabbit meat - it's pretty lean - because game was hard to come by?

It escapes me now.

Karen

Hi Kamila,

I guess that question that pops into my mind is "why do you only want to eat chicken breasts???" You will still lose if you eat some greens and a variety of meats. Why do you want to limit yourself in such an extreme manner? I hope you decide to make some healthy food choices, your body will thank you for it.

Dear KamilaB,

I don't want to alarm you, but here is a piece I found on the diets of native North Americans.

Rabbit eaters, if they have no fat from another source—beaver, moose, fish—will develop diarrhoea in about a week, with headache, lassitude and vague discomfort. If there are enough rabbits, the people eat till their stomachs are distended; but no matter how much they eat they feel unsatisfied. Some think a man will die sooner if he eats continually of fat-free meat than if he eats nothing, but this is a belief on which sufficient evidence for a decision has not been gathered in the North. Deaths from rabbit-starvation, or from the eating of other skinny meat, are rare; for everyone understands the principle, and any possible preventive steps are naturally taken.”

You might like to cosider adding some fats back into your diet. Maybe cod liver oil, olive oil or flax seed oil. I think you could make yourself ill on a diet of chicken breasts and water.

Best wishes,

Robert

Thank you all so much for your replies!

I will be adding vegetables and fat to my diet today.
You are right, it is stupid to live on lean meat only.

K.

Guess what..7lbs in a week isn't a magical amazing loss...so don't think it was eating just chicken that did it...i ate all sorts of meats..cheese..cream..salads..veggies...and i lost 8 lbs in 1 week when i first started..

At 5'6" tall and you want to be 117..you desperately need to get some counselling..anarexia here you come...you better be careful...

No offense..but it's people like you that do things like that that give low carb a bad name...THIS is exaclty what the nay sayers think atkins is about..just eating meat...ugh..how annoying

Jenn...

6 lbs. in a week IS a lot for someone who starts at 135 lbs; that's 5% of her total body weight where your 8 pounds the first week was 2% of your total body weight. That's still a very good loss for your first week, but you also have to look at where the person started and percentages when you compare numbers.
I think Kamila understands that eating just protein is not a wise way to pursue losing weight, especially when I read her last post above.

Kamila...

I'd still like to seriously encourage you to re-examine your goal weight. At the height you are, that is far too low even for someone with a very small frame. Trying to get too thin will only come at the expense of losing muscle tissue, even if you are eating plenty of protein and this is not something that you want to do. Less muscle means that your body will burn less fat and need less calories and I don't honesly believe that you want to spend the rest of your life having to eat a very low calorie diet just to maintain. Once most of the fat is gone, your body has to get it's energy from someplace, especially if it is not getting enough calories. If you are just feeling a bit flabby, then weight resistance training will help you tone up and look long and lean; losing more weight isn't the answer there.
Please reconsider how much weight you think you need to lose or consult a health care professional before you lose too much more.