ATKINS - DAY 3

Regardless of the time stamped on the bottom of this post, in reality it is 3:39 am. I woke up at 1 and fought my way back to sleep. Then I woke up at 3:15 and here we are!

I started the "Induction Phase" of the Atkins Diet on Saturday (June 12, 2010 for those of you who like to be precise). Why did I do this you may ask? Because I jokingly said to a friend, "Is it possible to lose 20 pounds in 2 weeks?" And she said yes! (Dr. Atkins makes no such promises, I'm afraid to say - his cautiously worded estimate is 3 - 9 pounds, depending on how metabolically resistant I am. But I'm an optimist, so I'm hoping for at least twice that.

And for those of you who have never heard of the Atkins Diet and don't know what an "Induction Phase" is - I will tell you! Meat, meat, and more meat. A few (a very few) veggies - and only certain ones. Eggs. Cheese (but only 3-4 ounces per day). And that's IT, folks! He wants you to give up caffeine altogether, but I've mixed my regular coffee half and half with decaf. I need some sanity, after all. And you can have diet pop - but only if it's sweetened with sucralose (Splenda), not aspartame. Fortunately, both Crush and Schweppes make diet pops with sucralose. So, basically, the Induction Phase is high protein / low carb; and the premise is that if I follow this diet, my body will start burning all the fat it's been storing for such a rainy day as this.

Before I started on this diet, I made a menu plan for myself that ensured some variety while still sticking to the "rules". It gives me a 3-day cycle. I knew I wouldn't be able to stick to the diet without seeing on paper what my options were - otherwise, I would open the fridge door and declare "there is nothing to eat", and then find something proscribed - like donuts!

So,... Recall of Day 1: ate a lot. I mean, a lot. Peed a lot. (I mean a lot). And felt hungry and tired all day. The worst part was actually the very first thing in the morning when I put cream in my coffee instead of 1% like I have been doing for the past year. Wow! does it ever change the flavour - and not for the better, in my opinion. Also, I went to Walmart, and right down the middle of the aisle was not one, not two, but three giant displays of sugary treats (marshmellow bananas, marshmellow strawberries, etc.)! Oh, it was nasty!

Went to bed a little bit early because I was feeling so tired. Slept okay until 4:25 am - I stretched in my sleep and my left calf muscle knotted up something fierce. I had to get out of bed and stand on it to release the knot. It really hurt! But this has happened to me before (not frequently) so I'm not sure if it's related to the diet or not.

Recall of Day 2: a lot less hungry. Food was not on my mind. My stomach felt a little out of sorts - and that's the best way I know how to describe it. Not really upset or sick feeling - just not quite normal. I went to Le Metro for some more meats and a package of mushrooms. I had to pass all the beautiful, colourful, delicious-looking fruits; then I had to pass the breads (actually that one was okay - no bread cravings so far); and then, oh then, I decided to buy a treat for Dean and Laura - a package of cinnamon donuts! I could hardly stand to touch the container! Throw it into the cart! Bury it under the grocery bag!

Slept poorly. Was defeated by wakefullness. Wrote blog. (It's 4:11 now).

Tune in later tonight (or possibly tomorrow morning) for a report on Day 3. :)