The Atkins diet was all together rough on my body. My sister who is only 16 did not last but 2 weeks before she became weak and dizzy. She came off the diet losing only a few pounds. I stayed with it for 5 weeks only to end up fainting and very ill. I lost about 9 lbs and dropped down to a 12. was not my goal but I had to stop the diet due to health risk. I am now just counting calories and getting excercise. I drink a lot of water and do not eat after 6pm. This seems to be working better. The Atkins diet did not work well for me. It made me sick. It made my little sister sick. Perhaps we did it wrong. I was pretty strict about my carb intake. By the end of the 5th week I was only getting 10-15 carb grams per day and that was pushing it. The dizzy spells came after 3wks but the fainting was what scared me. I knew then I was either not doing it right or it just wasn't the right diet for me.