TNT v. Atkins

[Heatrae]

When I talk to people about what I'm doing on TNT, consistently people are telling me that Atkins is BAD. It doesn't really concern me they say this, but I've been told on this board that TNT is NOT like Atkins.

I've read the TNT book, but can someone please tell me the differnce between the two and how to stay on the TNT path.

I am using an Atkins recipe book, but that's about it.

Thanks!

[PerfectMartini]

Originally Posted by Heatrae

When I talk to people about what I'm doing on TNT, consistently people are telling me that Atkins is BAD. It doesn't really concern me they say this, but I've been told on this board that TNT is NOT like Atkins.

I've read the TNT book, but can someone please tell me the differnce between the two and how to stay on the TNT path.

I am using an Atkins recipe book, but that's about it.

Thanks!

Atkins has phases at the beginning that are more strict than any phase of TNT.

Atkins endorses sugar alcohols and processed foods, TNT strongly discourages their use.

TNT advocates strenous exercise, Atkins would not discourage strenous exercise but considers less strenous exercise to be appropriate as well. This is probably the most important difference not related to food.

Atkins suggests gradually increasing carbohydrates as you get closer to your goal weight. TNT suggests eating more carbohydrates on a week to week basis as you get closer to your goal weight but only to eat them at certain times, this is probably the most important difference related to food.

That being said, if someone says Atkins is bad they probably will also think TNT is bad.

Most people who say Atkins is bad are dramatically mistaken about what exactly it is that Atkins recommends. Most people who have "done Atkins" are similary mistaken and probably have never touched one of his books.

[LisaS]

Tell them you eat meat, eggs, fish, lots of vegetables, a few nuts & seeds. What's to argue against in that?

On plans and plan attacks and plan defending:

Most people who have poor opinions of Atkins have never read the book and never known anyone (including themselves) who actually followed the book. Right or wrong, they are attacking a straw-man of the plan not the real plan. I wouldn't engage with them if that is what they are doing.

If they want to argue about TNT - tell them after they have read the book and can accurately explain each of the TNT plans to you in their own words you'll engage them in discussion. Until then - no discussion, no defending, no arguing.

[DirtyMartini]

Vegetarians.

[MPaquin]

I think TNT handles saturated fats differently as well.

I tried Atkins years ago and got some great results from it, but it gets too vague once it loosens up on the carbs. My brother has been struggling with it for years and refuses to lift weights. He played college football and now has an aversion to weight rooms. Those weights really make a difference though.

[Espi]

I've got several versions of the Atkins book, but haven't read the TNT book, so can only comment on Atkins.
Atkins actually understresses the importance of both aerobic exercise as well as resistance training in his last book and says you aren't really following his plan if you don't exercise. But he then goes on to admit that while he loves tennis, he hates resistance training and then tells you that fortunately you can already get benefits from doing just 1 single exercise per machine.
And actually for someone who's just looking for muscle retention and is quite fat to begin with, that may be just enough. I'm not saying it's a great way to do resistance training but if you really loathe lifting weights it's a way to do it. This is actually true for a majority of people, including one of my best friends who could run a marathon in a heart beat but flat out refused to do that boooooring stuff,

On the food: there's less emphasis on what kind of fats. As for heart health, recent resxearch shows there's NO difference whatsoever in cardiovascular risk between eating a lot of mono-/poly-unsaturates or saturated fats. The difference is that the mono/poly fats will result in a slightly higher metabolic rate, esp. fish oil.

And yes.. there's far too much emphasis on the benefits of ketosis and it makes people think they can stay in phase 1 forever until they are slim again. And the reason they aren't on target wt yet is due to eating too many carbs. While it is mostly just due to eating too many calories, period.
You won't believe how many recipes there are on Atkins forums that involve desserts and (fake)pastries and how few meat/fish/chicken etc. recipes there are. Most of them are not really eating enough veggies. Never mind fruit.

So there.. an Atkins diet has some very good parts and some bad ones.

From what I've read TNT is more like a Paleo diet. Hopefully not too much like Cordain's Paleo diet for Athletes... and more like Anthony Colpo's version of it that has less sat-fat-phobia. I'm afraid it's more Cordain/Friel like.. is it?

[PerfectMartini]

Originally Posted by Espi

I've got several versions of the Atkins book, but haven't read the TNT book, so can only comment on Atkins.
Atkins actually understresses the importance of both aerobic exercise as well as resistance training in his last book and says you aren't really following his plan if you don't exercise. But he then goes on to admit that while he loves tennis, he hates resistance training and then tells you that fortunately you can already get benefits from doing just 1 single exercise per machine.
And actually for someone who's just looking for muscle retention and is quite fat to begin with, that may be just enough. I'm not saying it's a great way to do resistance training but if you really loathe lifting weights it's a way to do it. This is actually true for a majority of people, including one of my best friends who could run a marathon in a heart beat but flat out refused to do that boooooring stuff,

On the food: there's less emphasis on what kind of fats. As for heart health, recent resxearch shows there's NO difference whatsoever in cardiovascular risk between eating a lot of mono-/poly-unsaturates or saturated fats. The difference is that the mono/poly fats will result in a slightly higher metabolic rate, esp. fish oil.

And yes.. there's far too much emphasis on the benefits of ketosis and it makes people think they can stay in phase 1 forever until they are slim again. And the reason they aren't on target wt yet is due to eating too many carbs. While it is mostly just due to eating too many calories, period.
You won't believe how many recipes there are on Atkins forums that involve desserts and (fake)pastries and how few meat/fish/chicken etc. recipes there are. Most of them are not really eating enough veggies. Never mind fruit.

So there.. an Atkins diet has some very good parts and some bad ones.

From what I've read TNT is more like a Paleo diet. Hopefully not too much like Cordain's Paleo diet for Athletes... and more like Anthony Colpo's version of it that has less sat-fat-phobia. I'm afraid it's more Cordain/Friel like.. is it?

TNT is not saturated fat phobic at all. The advice wrt fat is to limit omega 6 oils by using other fats (butter, monounsaturated eg olive oil) to cook with and to either eat fish frequently or supplement with fish oil. Other than that there isn't much in the way of restricting a certain type of fat (certainly not saturated fat) or overall fat intake.