Kim Kardashian’s weight loss journey: Atkins, plant-based diets have helped reality star lose kilograms – as have lots of exercise

The diet was first promoted by Dr Robert Atkins, who wrote a bestselling book about it in 1972.

Kardashian told US broadcaster ABC News that the Atkins diet worked for her after giving birth to her first child in 2013.

“When I really need to kick it up, then I’ll do low carbs, like the Atkins diet,” she also told entertainment news site E! News in 2014.

And kick it up she did. As Business Insider reports, the Atkins ambassador used the diet to lose 60 pounds (27 kilograms) after welcoming her second child, Saint, in 2015.

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Specifically, Kardashian followed the “Atkins 40” diet, eating 40 grams (1.4 ounces) of net carbs, three 113-170 gram servings of protein, and two to four servings of fat per day. She also drank eight cups of water every day and treated herself to an Atkins peanut butter cup on occasion.

Regular workouts

While Kardashian has cycled through various personal trainers and workout routines, her dedication to fitness has stayed constant.

A 2016 video shows her boxing with her trainer Don Brooks. In an interview with People magazine, Kardashian said she was exercising with him at 6am “every day when [she was] home”.

She dropped 20 pounds in 2018 while working with her ex-bodybuilder trainer, Melissa Alcantara, writes People.

The Keeping Up With the Kardashians star once posted a Snapchat video of herself working out for the third time in a day. “I went boxing earlier, I did the treadmill earlier, and now legs,” she said while taking a selfie video.

In 2024, Kardashian has been seen training with personal trainer and fitness creator Senada Greca. In an Instagram video, Greca shared that Kardashian did squats, abduction exercises and hip thrusts as part of her lower body routine.

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A low-sugar, plant-based diet

In 2018, Kardashian’s trainer Alcantara prepared recipes to ensure her client was eating balanced portions of proteins, carbohydrates and fats – and zero processed foods.

The trainer told People that Kardashian began a typical day with blueberry oatmeal pancakes for breakfast, chicken, sweet potatoes and vegetables for lunch, and fish and vegetables for dinner.

In 2019, Kardashian admitted to eating the same Chinese chicken salad from the Los Angeles-based Health Nut almost every day for a year. The meal contains shredded chicken, noodles and pickled ginger in a sesame dressing.

In 2022, she hit a turning point, sharing with Interview Magazine that she was eating “as plant-based as possible” despite her many chicken-based meals in previous years.

She admitted that she was not perfect, but that it was a lifestyle choice that helped her feel “really good in [her] own skin”.

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Despite Kardashian’s intensive carb cutting in 2022, she does recognise the nutritional role carbohydrates play in a healthy diet.

“My trainer Mel always says that before and after you train, you should eat simple carbs, like sweet potatoes, and small amounts of fat and protein, like chicken,” Kim told subscribers of her workout app in 2018, writes Cosmopolitan magazine.

“You should also have veggies with your meals, since you need them to help effectively break down and absorb your protein, fat, and carbs,” she went on. “There’s a myth that eating carbs is bad, but this isn’t true!”