Chapter 5: How to Start Atkins -

My First Turn

How I Started Atkins in 2009

In 2009, I stood in front of my bathroom mirror, barely recognizing the person staring back at me. The extra weight had crept up so gradually that I hadn’t fully acknowledged how much I’d changed. My clothes felt restrictive, my energy levels had plummeted, and despite regular sessions of aerobics and weights, nothing seemed to make a difference. At 61, I felt decades older than my actual age—winded after climbing a flight of stairs, uncomfortable in my skin, and increasingly concerned about where this trajectory would lead me. I refused to end up like my father, his vitality drained by illness, his days reduced to pills and weakness. As an award-winning author, former CPA, and entrepreneur—having built a securities firm that I sold to HSN, coded an accounting package on a TI 990 Model 1, and outsmarted IBM’s Outlook and Exchange protocol, sparking their $1 billion Linux investment—I’d spent decades solving puzzles. My mind, honed by dual majors in literature and business at UT Austin and a CPA at SMU Cox, had written songs for Pompeii Records, weaving melodies as effortlessly as I untangled financial systems. My passion for biotech and longevity, sparked by years of studying resilient survivors like those of the 1720 Plague of Marseille, drove me to keep pushing. I wanted to reclaim my clarity, joy, and zip—not just for myself, but to inspire others through my writing. Something had to change. Not just a temporary fix, but a fundamental shift in how I approached my health. After researching various options, I decided to try the Atkins low-carb diet, a decision that would kickstart my entire journey toward age reversal and optimal health. Within three months, I had shed an astonishing 65 pounds, completely transforming not just my appearance but my entire outlook on nutrition and aging. This chapter details my Atkins experience—the extraordinary initial success, the unexpected challenges, and the valuable lessons that would later inform my transition to keto and ultimately the carnivore diet. If you’re considering Atkins as your entry point into the low-carb lifestyle, here’s my comprehensive guide based on what worked (and what didn’t) during my 2009 journey.

[Insert Image: A 2009 photo of me standing in front of the bathroom mirror, reflecting on my health journey]

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Understanding the Atkins Approach

Before diving into my personal implementation, it’s worth understanding what makes Atkins different from other dietary approaches. Developed by Dr. Robert Atkins in the 1970s, the diet challenges conventional wisdom about nutrition by focusing on restricting carbohydrates rather than fats. When I first encountered Atkins, the nutritional establishment was still deep in the throes of low-fat dogma. Butter, bacon, and red meat were villainized, while “heart-healthy” whole grains were promoted as dietary saviors. Atkins flipped this narrative, arguing that carbohydrates, not fats, were the primary drivers of obesity and metabolic dysfunction. The scientific premise behind Atkins is straightforward: when you drastically reduce carbohydrate intake, your body runs out of glucose (its preferred fuel) and must find an alternative energy source. After depleting glycogen stores, your liver converts fat into ketones, fueling your brain and body. This metabolic state—ketosis—is the cornerstone of the Atkins approach and explains its remarkable effectiveness for fat loss.

What drew me to Atkins wasn’t just the promise of weight loss but the growing body of research suggesting that low-carb diets could address numerous health markers beyond the scale. Studies were beginning to show improvements in triglycerides, HDL cholesterol, blood pressure, and insulin sensitivity—all contributing to biological aging. As someone passionate about biotech and a history of solving complex problems, I saw Atkins as a new puzzle to crack—a way to rewrite my health narrative and defy the aging process.

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Step 1: Cut Carbs to 20 Grams a Day

My Atkins journey began with what the program calls the “Induction Phase”—the most restrictive but also the most transformative period. I committed to consuming no more than 20 grams of net carbohydrates daily, an amount so minimal that it virtually guaranteed entry into ketosis within the first week. Those first few days were eye-opening. Like most Americans, I had unknowingly built my diet around carbohydrates—toast and juice for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch, pasta for dinner, with snacks and desserts filling the gaps. Suddenly, these staples were off-limits. Instead, I filled my plate with foods I’d been told to limit: beef, eggs, cheese, butter, and fatty cuts of meat. My typical day looked like this:

Breakfast: Three-egg omelet with cheddar cheese and spinach, cooked in butter

Lunch: Bunless burger patty with bacon, avocado, and a side salad with olive oil

Dinner: Ribeye steak with broiled asparagus, topped with hollandaise sauce

Snack: String cheese or a few slices of deli meat when hunger struck

The transition wasn’t seamless. For the first four days, I experienced what low-carb veterans call the “keto flu”—headaches, irritability, and fatigue as my body protested the sudden withdrawal of carbohydrates. I nearly abandoned the experiment on day three, but online forums assured me this was temporary. By day five, something remarkable happened: the fog lifted. I woke up with more energy than I’d had in years, the persistent hunger that had plagued me vanished, and my mind felt unusually sharp, as if I’d tuned the strings of my mental guitar to perfect pitch.

The scale confirmed my feelings—I lost nine pounds in the first week alone. While some of this was undoubtedly water weight (carbohydrates cause water retention), the rapid results provided powerful motivation to continue. By the end of the first month, I had lost 22 pounds, and my clothes were noticeably looser. What surprised me most during this phase wasn’t just the weight loss but the dramatic change in my relationship with food. The constant cravings and between-meal hunger that I had accepted as normal disappeared. For the first time in my adult life, I wasn’t thinking about my next meal while still digesting the current one—a freedom that felt like a new melody in my life’s symphony.

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Step 2: Eat Plenty of Protein and Fats

Perhaps the most counterintuitive aspect of Atkins—and the reason many nutritionists dismissed it—was its emphasis on dietary fat. Having grown up during the height of the low-fat era, I had internalized the message that fat, particularly saturated fat, would be avoided at all costs. Atkins turned this notion on its head. Not only were fats permitted, but they were actively encouraged as the primary fuel source. This required a complete mental reset on my part. I remember the strange guilt I felt adding butter to my vegetables or choosing the fattier cuts of meat at the butcher. It felt like nutritional rebellion—a rebellion I was ready to embrace as a former CPA and problem-solver.

My daily fat intake came from various sources:

Animal fats: Marbled steaks, chicken thighs with skin, bacon, and eggs

Dairy fats: Heavy cream in my coffee, full-fat cheese, and butter

Plant fats: Avocados, olive oil, and occasional nuts

The protein component was equally important. I aimed for at least 100 grams daily, prioritizing complete animal proteins to ensure I received all essential amino acids. Steak quickly became my preferred protein source—a 10-12 ounce ribeye for dinner left me satisfied until the following morning, eliminating my lifelong habit of late-night snacking.

The results spoke for themselves. By the three-month mark, I had lost a total of 65 pounds. My energy levels remained consistently high throughout the day without the afternoon crashes I had previously experienced. Sleep improved dramatically—I fell asleep faster and woke feeling genuinely refreshed. Even my skin cleared up, an unexpected benefit I hadn’t anticipated. Colleagues and peers were astonished by the transformation. Many expressed concern about my fat intake, particularly the saturated fat I consumed. “Aren’t you worried about your cholesterol?” became a common refrain. At my six-month check-up, my doctor was preparing to lecture me until he saw my bloodwork: my triglycerides had plummeted, HDL (the “good” cholesterol) had increased, and my previously borderline high blood pressure had normalized. For those first six months, Atkins seemed nothing short of miraculous. I had found a sustainable way of eating that kept me satisfied, energized, and steadily losing weight. But as with any significant life change, challenges lay ahead.

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Step 3: Watch for Plateaus and Adjust

The Atkins program is designed to be progressive, with four distinct phases gradually increasing carbohydrate intake as you approach your goal weight. After the initial Induction Phase, the plan allows for the slow reintroduction of certain carbohydrates—nuts, berries, and more vegetables—to determine your personal “carbohydrate tolerance.” This is where my journey hit its first significant obstacle. After six months of unprecedented success, my weight loss stalled completely. The scale didn’t budge for three consecutive weeks despite my maintaining the same level of dietary adherence. This plateau coincided with a creeping return of cravings and hunger between meals.

According to the Atkins protocol, this signaled the need to reassess my carbohydrate intake. The plan suggests that each individual has a unique threshold at which carbohydrate consumption begins interfering with fat burning and weight loss. Finding this threshold requires methodical experimentation, adding 5-gram increments of carbohydrates weekly and monitoring the impact. I attempted to follow this approach, reintroducing berries, nuts, and slightly higher-carb vegetables like onions and tomatoes. In retrospect, I made several critical mistakes during this phase:

Adding too many carbs too quickly: Rather than the methodical 5-gram increments recommended, I often added 15-20 grams at once, not giving my body time to adjust.

Choosing the wrong carbs: I gravitated toward borderline foods like low-carb protein bars and sugar-free chocolates, which, while technically permissible, contained artificial sweeteners that triggered cravings.

Underestimating portion sizes: As I became more comfortable with the diet, I became less vigilant about measuring portions, particularly with calorie-dense foods like nuts.

Emotional eating: As the novelty of the diet wore off, old stress-related eating patterns began to reemerge, particularly during a challenging period of balancing my writing and research.

The result of these missteps was predictable but no less disappointing. Over the next four months, I regained about 30 pounds of the 65 I had lost. This wasn’t a complete reversal—I was still 35 pounds lighter than when I started—but the trend was concerning. This period taught me perhaps the most valuable lesson of my entire nutritional journey: initial success doesn’t guarantee long-term results. Sustainable weight management requires constant vigilance and adjustment. The body adapts to dietary changes, necessitating periodic reassessment and fine-tuning—a lesson that would resonate with the detective in me, always seeking the next clue to optimal health.

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The Science Behind My Experience

Looking back at my Atkins experience through the lens of what I now understand about metabolic health and aging, I can better appreciate why the diet produced such dramatic initial results and why I struggled to maintain them long-term. The rapid weight loss I experienced during the first three months can be attributed to several physiological mechanisms:

Reduced insulin levels: I dramatically lowered my insulin production by severely restricting carbohydrates. Since insulin is the primary fat-storage hormone, lower levels create an optimal environment for fat burning.

Ketosis: Once my glycogen stores were depleted, my liver began producing ketones from fat, providing an alternative fuel source for my brain and muscles. This metabolic state is highly efficient for fat oxidation.

Decreased appetite: Ketones have a natural appetite-suppressing effect, and the higher protein intake increased satiety hormones like peptide YY and GLP-1.

Water loss: Carbohydrates cause water retention in the body. Restricting them leads to a significant initial reduction in water weight.

Reduced caloric intake: Without consciously counting calories, the combination of increased satiety and elimination of calorie-dense processed foods naturally reduced my overall caloric consumption.

From an aging perspective, the benefits extended beyond mere weight loss. By reducing carbohydrates, I addressed what longevity researchers now call “Dysregulated Nutrient Sensing”—one of the nine Hallmarks of Aging identified in the scientific literature. Specifically, the low-carb approach:

Reduced glycation, the damaging process where excess glucose binds to proteins

Lowered IGF-1 signaling, which is associated with accelerated aging when chronically elevated

Improved insulin sensitivity, a critical factor in metabolic health

Initiated autophagy, the cellular “cleanup” process that removes damaged components

My plateau and subsequent weight regain likely resulted from a combination of physiological adaptations and behavioral factors:

Metabolic adaptation: As I lost weight, my basal metabolic rate decreased, requiring further caloric reduction to continue weight loss

Carbohydrate creep: Gradual increases in carb intake eventually exceeded my personal threshold

Hormonal adaptation: The body adjusts hormone levels to defend against what it perceives as starvation

Dietary fatigue: The psychological challenge of maintaining strict limitations indefinitely

As someone who’d tackled complex problems in finance and technology, I recognized the need for a more refined approach—a new verse in my health symphony.

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Lessons Learned from My First Low-Carb Experience

My 2009 Atkins journey, with all its successes and setbacks, provided invaluable insights that would shape my approach to nutrition in the years that followed:

Low-carb approaches work, but individualization is crucial: The dramatic results I achieved confirmed the effectiveness of carbohydrate restriction, but my experience with plateauing highlighted the need for personalized adjustments.

Transition planning is essential: The Atkins program outlines a sensible progression through increasingly liberal phases, but I failed to navigate this transition effectively. Any successful dietary approach needs a maintenance strategy as carefully planned as the initial weight loss phase.

Food quality matters: Not all low-carb foods are created equal. Processed low-carb products ultimately proved less satisfying and more likely to trigger cravings than whole foods.

Mindset adaptation takes time: While I quickly adapted to the physical aspects of low-carb eating, the psychological components—handling social situations, breaking emotional eating patterns, developing new cooking skills—required more time than I had anticipated.

Data-driven adjustments are key: My most successful periods came when I kept detailed food logs and regularly measured outcomes beyond the scale (energy levels, sleep quality, mood, etc.).

These lessons didn’t fully crystallize until years later, but they laid the groundwork for my subsequent, more successful forays into keto and carnivore nutrition. The Atkins experience, despite its eventual challenges, demonstrated that conventional nutritional wisdom was deeply flawed and that a new paradigm was possible—a paradigm I’d continue to explore with the curiosity of a biotech enthusiast and the precision of a CPA.

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Why Atkins Works for Age Reversal

While my initial motivation for trying Atkins was weight loss, I’ve since come to understand that the low-carb approach addresses several fundamental processes in biological aging:

Reduced glycation: Advanced Glycation End-products (AGEs) form when excess glucose binds to proteins, damaging tissues and accelerating aging. By minimizing carbohydrate intake, I significantly reduced my AGE formation.

Improved mitochondrial function: Ketones provide a cleaner fuel source for mitochondria than glucose, reducing the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) that contribute to mitochondrial damage and cellular aging.

Enhanced autophagy: Periodic carbohydrate restriction triggers autophagy, the cellular cleanup process that removes damaged proteins and organelles. This process is essential for cellular renewal and longevity.

Normalized nutrient sensing: The low-carb approach naturally modulates the nutrient-sensing pathways—insulin/IGF-1, mTOR, AMPK, and sirtuins—that play crucial roles in determining lifespan and healthspan.

Reduced inflammation: By eliminating refined carbohydrates and vegetable oils, the Atkins diet inherently reduced dietary drivers of chronic inflammation, a major contributor to age-related diseases.

These benefits explain why, despite regaining some weight, my overall health markers remained significantly improved compared to my pre-Atkins baseline. Even with the partial regain, I had inadvertently stumbled upon a nutritional approach with profound implications for longevity—a first note in the symphony I’d continue to compose.

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The Road Ahead

My 2009 Atkins experience, with its dramatic initial success and subsequent challenges, was just the first step in what would become a much longer nutritional journey. While I didn’t maintain the full 65-pound loss, the undeniable benefits I experienced planted a seed that would eventually grow into a much deeper exploration of nutritional optimization. The lessons from this first foray into low-carb nutrition would prove invaluable when I later discovered the ketogenic diet in 2014—a refined approach that addressed many of the limitations I encountered with Atkins. Transitioning from traditional Atkins to a well-formulated ketogenic diet would provide even more profound insights into metabolism, aging, and sustainable dietary change.

In Chapter 6: “How to Start Keto - My 2014 Turn,” I’ll share how I refined my approach, incorporated the lessons from my Atkins experience, and achieved even more remarkable results with greater sustainability. You’ll discover the key differences between Atkins and keto, why the latter proved more effective for my body, and the specific strategies that finally allowed me to break through plateaus and maintain my results long-term. For more insights on my complete age reversal journey, including my current carnivore approach and the latest scientific research on nutrition and longevity, visit my main blog at https://agereversaljourney.blogspot.com/.

The path to optimal health is rarely linear, but each experiment, even those with mixed results, provides valuable data for refining your approach. My Atkins experience wasn’t perfect, but it was the essential first step that launched me toward truly transformative nutritional discoveries—a melody I’d continue to play as I sought to inspire others through my writing.

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