For Kim Kardashian, Atkins works! The Keeping Up With the Kardashians star, 35, is only 10 pounds away from her goal weight thanks to following the protein-rich diet. Here, Colette Heimowitz, vice president of nutrition and education at Atkins, tells Us Weekly exactly how the reality star — who is a client of hers — did it.
“The secret to success is to stay fortified. You do not skip meals,” Heimowitz tells Us of Kardashian’s diet plan. “Kim ate an egg, cheese and vegetable omelet for breakfast. Then she would have a snack of either Greek yogurt and berries and almonds, or hummus and peppers. For lunch, it would typically be a turkey burger with salad and pickled onions. Typical dinner would be zucchini noodles with spicy chicken sausage.”
The diet guru explains that the principle is to make sure you get adequate protein from foods such as fish, chicken, meat or eggs, along with vegetables and healthy fats, including avocado, olive oil or nuts.
“She always has breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks in between,” Heimowitz says of a typical day for the Selfish author. “The meals always have some kind of protein that’s fish or meat or chicken, always has lots of colorful vegetables, always has healthy fats and depending on how the rest of the day goes, she will have a little side of brown rice or a little bit of a potato.”
For snacks, or to fulfill her sweet tooth, Kardashian resorts to Atkins’ Indulge line.
“Atkins has these Harvest Trail bars – fruit and nut bars – that are convenient. She puts them in her bag and they’re always available,” Heimowitz tells Us. “For a sweet tooth, she loves the Indulge chocolate-covered peanut butter cups.”
Kardashian, who is mom of North, 3, and Saint West, 6 months, has lost more than 60 pounds since starting the diet.
“She’s making Atkins a lifestyle now. It’s not like when you lose weight and go back to what you ate. She’s looking so good and eating so well. … It helped her rejuvenate — after pregnancy, the body goes through a lot and you need those kinds of macronutrients to get back your health and your strength. … She feels so great that she will continue this way of eating,” Heimowitz explains, adding that now that Kardashian is close to her goal weight, she can begin to slowly incorporate more carbohydrates into her diet.
The slimmed-down reality star chose Atkins because it not only works for her, but because it’s close to her heart.
“She did the diet with her father,” Heimowitz tells Us of the E! star, whose dad, Robert Kardashian Sr., died in September 2003. “So she had this cherished memory of doing something with her dad and she was very successful with it. He taught her how to do it.”
The social media maven has also been regularly working up a sweat by doing cardio and circuit training.
“Kim can be motivation for all of us. She works hard! It’s not easy, you know? Nobody should think it’s that easy. It takes commitment and motivation and consistency,” Heimowitz concludes.
