Keto And Atkins Diet? What's The Difference.

I recently tried the keto diet in the name of research, and pretty much all I talked about over the course of the week was keto. And, more specifically, everything I couldn't eat. While my increased banter on all things low-carb probably made me a bit of a buzzkill, it actually led to an influx of keto-related questions from family, friends, and colleagues. And there was one question I was asked more than any other: is there a difference between keto and Atkins?

Although I knew they were both fundamentally low-carb diets, I felt embarrassed to admit I didn't actually know the ins and outs of what made these two diets different (if there were, in fact, any differences at all). So feeling the need to investigate — mostly so I could correctly answer people's questions, but also out of my own curiosity — I set out to discover if there really is a difference between the two diets. Here's what I found out.

Related: What Is A Ketogenic Diet?

They Aren't Actually the Same Thing

Although both diets put your body in a state of ketosis (i.e., the lack of carbs forces the body into a state of ketosis, during which it burns fat instead of glycogen for energy), they are not exactly the same diet with two different names. The keto diet originated in 1924 and was initially designed by Dr. Russell Wilder as a non pharmacological option for treating epilepsy. The Atkins diet came along later in the 1960s as the brainchild of Dr. Robert Coleman Atkins (where the name originates from), with the sole purpose of creating a diet that restricts carbohydrate intake to "fast track" fat loss.

CICO? What Is It, And Is It The Key To Weight Loss.

When trying to lose weight, the specific diet plan you're on might not matter much. What experts say gets you pound-shedding results is an equation called CICO or "calories in, calories out." For weight loss to work, you have to restrict calories in some way, so it doesn't quite make a difference if you're eating keto, Whole30, Paleo, or gluten-free, so long as you're making sure you take in less calories than you're burning.

What Are the Origins of the CICO Diet?

"In 1780, French scientist Antoine Lavoisier used a guinea pig to measure heat production as a way to measure energy (or calories) in food," explains Dr. Deena Solomon, a Los Angeles-based weight-management expert and cognitive behavioral psychotherapist and author of Immaculate Consumption: The Path to Lifelong Weight Management. Lavoisier devised a mathematical formula that could be easily calculated.

Measuring energy (or calories), he came up with the name calorimeter for a device to determine how many calories are consumed when eating. "In the early 1920s, Dr. Lulu Hunt Peters, an American doctor, came up with a simple formula based on Lavoisier's precise and scientifically-proven equation: The one and only way to lose weight is to lower calories. This became the universally accepted method for weight reduction," Dr. Solomon says.

CICO and the idea of calories in, calories out follows the notion that weight loss requires a balance between the energy consumed and energy used. "Increasing your calorie expenditure beyond what is consumed will result in the number on the scale going down," says Dr. Adrienne Youdim, an associate clinical professor of medicine at UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine and a diplomat of the American Board of Internal Medicine, the National Board of Physician Nutrition Specialists, and the American Board of Obesity Medicine.

Related: 6 Ways To Cut Calories Every Day

I Tried It. Keto Diet

         
                           

Check out this video on the Keto Diet. 

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Related: Keto Diet Recommended By Doctor On One Condition