Is Keto or Atkins Better for Weight Loss?

You’ve probably heard about both the keto diet and the Atkins diet.

But is keto or Atkins better for weight loss?

In this article, I’ll discuss the pros and cons of both of them, and which one you should choose based on your goals.

What Is the Keto Diet?

The keto diet is a popular eating plan that emphasizes consuming high levels of fat, protein, and very few carbs, for weight loss.

The diet was originally developed as a therapeutic approach for people suffering from certain disorders, like epilepsy or type-II diabetes.

Today, however, the majority of people follow a keto diet to lose weight, or just stay fit and healthy.

The key to the diet is to consume lots of healthy fats and proteins (and very low amounts of carbs.) If you want to lose weight, a lot of keto dieters recommend eating more vegetables, since it’ll lower your intake of overall calories and improve your health.

How Does Keto Work?

When you follow a keto diet, you consume very few carbs and increase amounts of healthy fats. This will put you into a state of ketosis (where your body burns fat for energy.)

This is why, on keto, you lose weight without feeling hungry.

When you consume carbs, your body uses them to produce glucose, a type of sugar that is easily stored as fat. Replacing carbs with fat also indirectly increases your protein intake which has benefits for satiety and keeps you feeling fuller longer. Not to mention the fact that fats have been shown to increase satiety levels more than carbs.

What Is the Atkins Diet?

The Atkins diet is a diet where you can eat as much protein and fat as you want but carbs must make up less than 10% of your daily calories. Because the diet is low in carbs, your body’s insulin lowers, helping you lose weight quickly.

How Does Atkins Work?

Atkins works by reducing your carb intake, thus lowering insulin, which leads to your body burning fat through its stores.

That’s why people often see significant weight-loss results within a few weeks of the Atkins diet.

Pros of Keto

Lose Weight Easily 

It’s very easy to lose weight on the keto diet after your body has become adapted to it.

Since you’re running off your own fat, you’ll be a lot less hungry than people eating a different diet, like Atkins, for example.

Sustained Weight Loss 

Since keto is easy once you get adjusted to it, you can do it for a long time.

This means that you’ll lose weight, and keep the weight off much easier.

Even if you do decide to get off the keto diet, you can always come back to shed off a couple of pounds of fat if they come back.

Mood and Mental Clarity Improvements 

Keto can help improve your mood and mental clarity because your body fat is always available as fuel.

Compare that to carbs which cause you to have drastic mood and energy swings.

Reduced Inflammation 

Keto can also reduce your levels of inflammation in the body, which is important for fighting against chronic diseases and overall health and happiness.

Slows Down Aging 

Since ketosis is an anti-inflammatory and autophagic state, you’ll slow down your aging if you do decide to go keto.

Cons of Keto

Hard In The Beginning

It requires a lot of discipline, especially in the beginning when you’re completely changing what your body eats.

Hard to Eat Out 

Staying in ketosis whilst eating out can be challenging.

If you constantly like to eat out and you don’t want to change that, then the keto diet may not be for you.

Possible Deficiencies 

If you’re not eating enough vegetables, which is around six cups per day, you may suffer from a lack of vitamins and minerals, which can lead to a lot of issues.

Some of these issues are fatigue, fatty liver, increased cholesterol, and an increased risk of infections.

But, as long as you make sure to do a healthy ketogenic diet with a wide range of foods, then you likely wouldn’t run into any deficiencies.

Pros of Atkins

Less Restrictive

Compared to keto, Atkins is a less restrictive diet. Keto focuses on cutting out carbs to under 50 grams per day whilst Atkins focuses on limiting carbs to under 100 grams per day.

Easier to Eat Out 

Compared to keto, Atkins is much easier to eat out at restaurants since you can allocate your 100 grams of carbs per day to your restaurant meals without worrying too much about going over your limit.

Cons of Atkins

Less Effective 

Since Atkins allows for more carbs and protein, you can’t get into ketosis as often, if at all. This means that you’ll lower insulin and see some of the benefits of keto, but not to the full extent. Just by eating low-calorie and high-protein like the Atkins diet, you won’t get into ketosis as easily since the carbs you eat will increase insulin. Also, more than half of the calories in protein get converted into glucose (sugar) through gluconeogenesis. This means that basically half of the protein you eat is like pure sugar for your insulin. This is the biggest reason people usually choose keto over Atkins.

Less Energy — The most common side effect of the Atkins diet is a lack of energy. This is because your body cannot fully use its own fats for energy since it’s halfway between carbs and fats. If you limited your carbs and ate less protein, like in a ketogenic diet, it’d be much easier to tap into your own fat for fuel. However, this could also be caused by electrolyte imbalances or an inadequate intake of micronutrients.

Fewer Effects on Mental Clarity, Inflammation, and Aging — Because Atkins is a higher-carb and higher-protein diet, you won’t be able to fully lower your insulin and thus tap into your fat stores for fuel. This can lead to less mental clarity, less of a reduction in inflammation, and less of an effect on aging. Possibly, the Atkins diet could lead to more inflammation and aging as protein itself is slightly insulinogenic, inflammatory, and a cause for aging.

Is Keto or Atkins Better for Weight Loss?

Though both diets can help you burn off fat, keto is more effective for losing weight quickly and whilst staying full. However, if you don’t want to limit your carb intake by too much, the Atkins diet can still help you lose weight.

Which Diet Should You Choose?

Keto and Atkins are very effective diets that can help you lose weight and improve your overall health. If you want to lose weight more quickly and easily, choose keto. If you want to be more flexible, but are okay with sacrificing some of the other benefits of keto, Atkins may also work. Remember that both diets can help you achieve your weight-loss goals, so you don’t have to stress too much about your decision!

If you’re interested in starting a keto diet but don’t know where to start, I have an article here helping you find out the benefits of keto and how to get started.