Why I love Atkins

Why I love The Atkins Diet.
By Christine W.

I love the Atkins Diet for several reasons. Firstly, I get to eat a lot of bacon. I love bacon because it is salty, crispy, and delicious. Also, when added to any meal (or even eaten alone) it has the added benefit of making and keeping me full, for hours. Its ability to do this is darn near miraculous, especially given its relatively small volume.
Secondly, on the Atkins diet I get to eat until I am full, and of rich, delicious, satisfying food like cheese, salads, deviled eggs, steaks, and seafood. This keeps me from getting hungry or discouraged at any time. For example, a cheese stick and a handful of walnuts make a delightful snack that will tide me over for hours without creating more cravings or energy dips. On low fat diets that I have tried in the past, I was cranky, tired, and perpetually hungry. This is a much better way to live.
Thirdly, it makes me feel great. I have much more clarity of mind and energy of body when I am eating this way. Getting up is so much easier every morning now, and I actually have the compulsion to exercise. While at work I feel like I am bouncing off the walls. This is such a stark contrast to the previous way I felt, which was chronically lethargic.
But most of all, I love this diet BECAUSE IT WORKS. And it works well. This is a way of eating I will adopt for the rest of my life, as I am firmly convinced that for me at least, this is how I need to eat to work best with my body chemistry. When not eating sugar or flour or starch of any kind, my weight returns to a normal range all by itself, as does my mental state. Elevated, even. I lost 60 pounds easily, almost pleasurably, eating this way. I love the Atkins Way of Life.

Back!

Again!!!! I have been gone for a while again. Was in a dark place. Its been interesting to go back and read the previous posts I did here. Well over the weekend (it was my birthday) I weighed in, after 2 days of food and cake, and was an unbeleivable 192. Oh boy. I knew I was gaining, because again my clothes and bras are very uncomfortable and nothing looks good when I wear it. Too much back and side fat spilling out, and is visible under the clothes. But even with that, I was having some trouble getting kicked started again. So I did 2 things. I put Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution boo on cd into my ipod and started listening, which worked amazingly well to motivate me and remind me how wonderful it is to live low carb. I also realized I was having some resistance to doing it again full speed for some reason, so a great book I found recently that deals with letting go is The Sedona Method. Well I did the Sedona Method on my resistance to dieting and here we are! Day 4, motivated as ever, 4.2 pounds down. I dont care if that was water. Some other things I have been letting go of around this area are the notion in my head that is is hard to lose weight, easy to gain, the fact that I am still a fat person (back from when I was a size 18), and the idea that it is a constant struggle to lose weight and is super hard work and on and on. I think those limiting beliefs were making it harder for me than it needed to be.
I have had to do some real work on myself and my job too, the last couple of months I have been reading a lot about positive thinking, the power of intent, the law of attraction, etc. I think I have made some really good progress in detaching from the automatic negative responses to everything that I was doing before, and to everyone that I interact with at work. True, as predicted in a post from a few months ago, the new job is not exactly what I had thought or hoped, but I have learned a lot, gained confidence, learned new skills, and being so confronted here forced me to deal with my feelings. It forced me to find a way to reframe people and events and circumstances, it forced me to find the way to leg go and unplug from all that negative energy.
Another motivating thing I did yesterday was poke around the atkins website, and also read some blogs by dr. eades on proteinpower.com. I like his writings. It reminded me of the intermittent fast option, however modifed. I tried to skip dinner last night but was really hungry when I got home (even though I had a pink keto stick test) so as a compromise, I only had a piece of chicken, thinking I will try again tonight.
Oh, item, I devised what I think is THE perfect lunch for me:
A handful of fresh spinach, a scoop of tuna salad, a side of bacon, one cherry tomato, and a handful of raw almonds. I had this yesterday, and felt great all afternoon. It kept me satisfied for 6 hours, with no cravings or energy dips. I am going to try to replicate my exact food diet from yesterday, it was perfect. Breakfast was 2 hard boiled eggs, 2 pcs of bacon, and a small peice of cheese, coffee with cream and splenda and an Atkins bar mid morning. Meat and salad for dinner would put me at about 17 carbs for the day. Nice.

Want to go sit at Forest Lawn

What is wrong? I will take a stab at it.
I worked my ass off for almost 2 weeks (practically starved at only 20 carbs a day, worked out every day) only to find that I actually gained weight. If Atkins now doesn’t work for me then I truly have no hope at all. Atkins is (was) the only thing that worked for me. Here I was, all excited to eat my hard boiled eggs and string cheese and to get up early and exercise. For nothing. NO, I don’t “feel” better, and I want to lose weight to LOOK better. Of course, hubby lost 10 pounds the first week, without exercise. I feel run down and cranky and sad.
I feel exhausted and have a lot of trouble staying awake at work, because hubby won’t let me go to bed early and when I finally do go to bed, he won’t let me stay asleep.
I don’t know what to do about my mother. I simply cannot stand to be around her and to participate in the circus of self inflicted degeneration and the circus that is her arrival. I want to take a very long time off from her but don’t know how to make that happen. No one cares how painful this relationship is for ME, everyone only cares that if I pull away it will hurt her.
I am let down that the holidays are over, and that a beautiful month was capped by a horrible day and that I was robbed of a normal family Christmas. Or a normal family at all, for that matter.
The job is not turning out like I hoped, like I planned. The only useful information I get from him is doled out in little tiny and infrequent pieces with hardly any backup. I feel like I am in a maze.
I wonder if it is unhealthy that I want to stop on the way home, buy about 10 sugar free chocolate bars and eat them all at once. Who cares if I am in the bathroom all night? Bet I lose weight THEN.

I Love Turbo Jam!

What a goofball I am to sing the praises of a workout video but its so fun! All those reveiws on Amazon were right, I keep looking forward to the next time I get to do the video. I did the 40 minute workout this morning, and I feel a little bit like I wasted it. I didnt work as hard as I could or should because I woke up in a bad mood and kept concentrating on that. By the end of the workout, my mood had improved, and I instantly regretted wasting time and energy being cranky and petulant. When it was over and I wasnt nearly as winded and worked as I was on Sunday, I immediately wanted to do the workout over again but my time was up, it was 7 and I had to start gettign ready for work. That workout is the best! Not only is it fun, the participants really look like they are having fun and my stomach and arms and back really feel it! All those girls with the 6 pack abs are very motivating, too.

Day 7

Today marks day 7 of my new and improved steely resolve. Tomorrow I will weigh in again for the one week mark. Not one processed carb has been eaten. I have also been exercising every day. Over this past weekend I started doing Turbo Jam the kickboxing workout. Its tough, and exactly like the one at the gym. My arms, back, sides, and stomach are very sore. I did it 3 days in a row and took today off. Undecided about whether I will do it tonight or take today off all together. I could see that working quite well for me. After I did the 40 minute workout yesterday ( I ate breakfast at 1bout 11), not only was I mildy nauseous until about 8 (thus, did not eat) but an hour after doing the workout I tested my ketones and registered very dark pink, bordering on purple. I very seldom get that color, no matter what I eat. I usually have to exercise very long or very hard to achieve that. This workout was hard but only about 40 minutes. I am anxious to start losing more, when I look in the mirror now all I see is love handles and stomach. Ick.

Day 4 - 3.2 lbs down, 36.8 to go

On Day 4 of the No Carbs for One Year Quest.
I know that is ambitious, but why set goals that are easy to attain? Nothing is gained by that. Lost 3.2 pounds since my All-Time-High-Since-Losing-The-Weight of 190 on New Years Day.
Arrrgh just thinking about it makes me cringe. I am spilling over my low rise boot cut jeans. Is there anything less becoming than that? Hence my cardigan over the hideous sight. There is a great line in The Devil Wears Prada, when Andy is getting some corn chowder for lunch and the guy says "You know cellulite is the main ingredient in corn chowder". How true. A nice coworker brought in fresh made coffee cake this morning and while it smells divine, I said to myself: "You know the main ingredient in that cake is backfat" and poof, the desire to eat it was gone, just like that.

Happy New Year - Day 1

Happy New Year, happy new diet. Yes, like everyone else in the world today, I am starting my diet and exercise plan anew. I have made a bet with my husband that i can go more days without eating carbs this year. Got on the scale this morning. 190. I almost fainted. Wanted to jump out the window. In that sense, I am so glad the holidays are over. I brought all the leftover chocoloate and cake to work. 5 minutes and it was gone. Better them than me, I say. Not surprisingly, I did not stick to my zero carb meal plan over Christmas. I had lots of cookies and pumpkin pie and pumpkin bread and lots and lots of chocolate. Other things I had lots of: Tiredness, grogginess, cravings, hunger, highs and lows, anger, bloating, weight gain. Sugar really is the devil. Nothing says "sexy" like newly regained backfat. Ugh.
Only going to look forward now. What's done is done.
Resolution number one, lose 40 pounds this year. That puts me squarely at 150 pounds. I havent been that weight since probably 8th or 9th grade.
Number 2, exercise 4 times a week, varying my workouts to keep my muscles guessing and evolving.
Number 3, and this is more of a life resolution, not to get above 155 again. Ever.
To take the Great Dr. Atkins advice of never allowing yourself to backslide more than five pounds from where I am on the journey.
Induction is always available, and at this point, quite easy to implement. It is just the first 2 days (I am in them now, started this monring) that are tough.
My husband and I are taking a trip to England in early June, maybe I can use that for my goal. To be fitter and thinner by then, for the plane ride and the pictures. Would rather be in size 8 jeans than the current awful 12's.
Tonight am cleaning out the fridge of all the holiday and assorted CRAP. The starchy gravy and rolls that are left, the last piece of pumpkin pie, the dry turkey cuts and wings, the full sugar pudding packs, the vitamin d milk and cereal, the icky fruitcake and sugar bread, the fudge that the neighbor brought over, the rice krispy treats and chocolate covered pretzels. The half loafs of cranberry bread and dried out remaining pieces of red velvet cake. Good riddance.