What Is The Atkins Diet? The Atkins weight loss diet is based on one simple principle: Your body burns both carbohydrates and fat for calories. If you reduce the amounts of carbohydrates available, it will burn more fat and you will lose weight. According to Atkins, calories are unimportant. The key to losing weight is to restrict the carbohydrates that you eat and force the body to turn to its stored fat as an energy source. As proof of this, proponents of the Atkins Diet point to the following facts derived from research: * When the body doesn't have enough carbohydrate, it will use ketenes derived from fat as energy. * You can eat more food and lose more weight on a low carbohydrate diet than you can on a low fat diet. * You crave less food when you eat fewer carbohydrates. * By eating fewer carbohydrates, people tend to eat fewer calories without counting them. * The greater the difference between fat and carbohydrate, the greater the weight loss.