Atkins Induction, Day 2: I hate my life. (Also, Atkins questions)

[amnesiac]

So far I've gone 36 hours with strict adherence to the Atkins diet. Note that I'm really not trying to do Atkins per se, just a greatly reduced carb, lower-fat diet, but somehow I've managed to avoid all restricted simple and complex sugars.

I'm woozy because I haven't had any coffee. I'm starving all the time. I have all the symptoms of PMS including irritability and bloating.

Make it stop.

I think I'm going to have a Wasa cracker and break down and get a cafe americano (no sugar) in a few.

How long am I supposed to feel like crap? Also will it ruin things if I have a little bit of coffee? I'm planning on going drinking in a week and a half too. Hope that doesn't mess things up.

 

[Vortex22]

You should gradually decrease your carb intake at the beginning instead of cutting it off totally. It isn't good for your body to cut off all carbs right away.

 

[amnesiac]

I have. Over the past week I've been eating less and less carbs.

 

[Dedpuhl]

I never felt like crap. Some people are just addicted to certain things.

Before the diet, I drank about 7 cans of coke a day, ate pringles all day, had a bag of hershey's almond/toffee nuggets by my computer, and ate hamburgers and french fries all the time. Once I started the diet, I never experienced sickness or symptons of withdrawals.

Give it a week. Look for the suggested supplements to curb cravings (Atkins lists a bunch of different ones).

 

[beer]

I still fail to see how coffee is bad. Plain, brewed black coffee has NOTHING in it. I mean I realize that caffeine can cause you to crave, but that isn't that hard to control and sometimes the costs outweigh the benefits. I wouldn't be going and ordering frapuccinos or even espresso drinks, but I really don't understand how brewed coffee is bad.

EDIT: http://www.cnn.com/FOOD/resources/food.for.thought/beverages/coffee/compare.coffee.html <-- 4.5 cal per cup of coffee. speaking of coffee, im gonna go find some irght now

 

[VictorLazlo]

The Atkins diet may work, but I don't think it's good to trick your body into losing weight. If your metabolism was working properly, you could loose weight while eating a healthy, normal diet.

Solution: Get more exercise.

 

[conjur]

Yeah...exercise and LOTS of water.

 

[CrazyHelloDeli]

Your body is used to running on glucose derived from carbs, so when its not there your body is literally say "WTF?!". Give it a week or two where you might feel like a$$, but once your body wakes up it will go into ketosis and start burning fat. Remember, dont strive for perfection, just go for progress.

Have your self a cup of coffee

 

[crt1530]

Coffee causes cravings and is a diuretic. You will already be dehydrated from cutting back on your carbs. Drinking coffee will just exacerbate your dehydration. Drink lots of water. If you must, have some coffee, but compensate with at least twice as much water.

 

[Dedpuhl]

Originally posted by: Vortex22
You should gradually decrease your carb intake at the beginning instead of cutting it off totally. It isn't good for your body to cut off all carbs right away.

Why? Have you ever noticed that many people stopped smoking by going cold-turkey? That is because they WANTED to stop smoking. It's all in the mind. If you want to quit, you can.

I should've been the poster child for caffeine addiction. I could drink a 2 liter of Vanilla coke in one sitting.

 

[MacBaine]

Tricking my body into eating itself: My Anti-Drug

 

[MacBaine]

Originally posted by: Dedpuhl

Originally posted by: Vortex22
You should gradually decrease your carb intake at the beginning instead of cutting it off totally. It isn't good for your body to cut off all carbs right away.

Why? Have you ever noticed that many people stopped smoking by going cold-turkey? That is because they WANTED to stop smoking. It's all in the mind. If you want to quit, you can.

I should've been the poster child for caffeine addiction. I could drink a 2 liter of Vanilla coke in one sitting.

You must have really been addicted to get over the taste.

 

[CrazyHelloDeli]

Originally posted by: Dedpuhl

Originally posted by: Vortex22
You should gradually decrease your carb intake at the beginning instead of cutting it off totally. It isn't good for your body to cut off all carbs right away.

Why? Have you ever noticed that many people stopped smoking by going cold-turkey? That is because they WANTED to stop smoking. It's all in the mind. If you want to quit, you can.

I should've been the poster child for caffeine addiction. I could drink a 2 liter of Vanilla coke in one sitting.

Ditto. Cold turkey is the only way I got off Caffeine. Its all will power, some have it and some dont.

 

[skace]

I felt bad for 2-3 weeks. But I wasn't on the Atkins diet. I was basically kicking my starch and caffiene cravings. Apparently the cravings were worse then I realized, because once I kicked them, I felt incredibly bad. Yet once that went away, I felt awesome, best I've ever felt. I wasn't tired in the mornings, I was falling asleep instantly at night, I could run, I never felt hungry, etc.

Yea, uhm, I know 2-3 weeks sounds pretty crappy. But think of it as a fun experiment. Think of it as "What life without coffee is". Some people go through their entire adult lifetime depending on coffee and never know what they would be like without it.

 

[Ausm]

Originally posted by: conjur
Yeah...exercise and LOTS of water.

I agree the Atkins diet is EVIL!!

Ausm

 

[StageLeft]

Why? Have you ever noticed that many people stopped smoking by going cold-turkey? That is because they WANTED to stop smoking. It's all in the mind. If you want to quit, you can.

There is a difference - you have to go back to food at some point. If you quit smoking that is it for smoking. You don't need to have it again. But with food you do, and so going "cold turkey" on poor eating habits is in some ways much more difficult. Imagine how few smokers could quit if they were forced to be in a smokey room all the time at work? They'd light one up. Same with food - it's always there and always teasing you for more.

hellodeliQuiting caffeine is not hard Once you get over the 1-2 day headache hump you're home free other than any lingering habits that rely on caffeine, but they pale in comparison to smoking and overeating.

 

[Dedpuhl]

Originally posted by: VictorLazlo
The Atkins diet may work, but I don't think it's good to trick your body into losing weight. If your metabolism was working properly, you could loose weight while eating a healthy, normal diet.

Solution: Get more exercise.

That's the problem. When you eat all those pastas and cakes and cokes and pizzas and hotdogs and chili-cheese fries and hamburgers and twinkies and cupcakes and vanilla coke and ice cream and oreos and pie etc....your metabolism goes all out of whack. You are bogged down with carbs and lack the energy to exercise.

Even if you begin to eat healthier, your metabolism stays out of sync. That's why many people cannot lose weight by exercise and calorie-counting.

Cut the carbs and keep an eye on the calories....exercise and you will lose weight.



...man....I'm craving some twinkies and vanilla coke right now

 

[StageLeft]

That's why many people cannot lose weight by exercise and calorie-counting.

I have never met a single person in the world who can't lose weight by excercise and PROPER calorie counting. Afterall the lack of both is the reason they got fat in the first place!

 

[Rudee]

Make sure you're taking in plenty of protein or your body can easily consume lean muscle mass to use for normal maintenance functions. The important thing to know about low carb diets, is that they can backfire and bring disasterous results just as easily as they can bring good results. Just because you're not ingesting carbohydate doesn't mean your body is burning pure ketones for fuel. It can also burn muscle tissue, which is obviously not good.

 

[Dedpuhl]

Originally posted by: Skoorb

Why? Have you ever noticed that many people stopped smoking by going cold-turkey? That is because they WANTED to stop smoking. It's all in the mind. If you want to quit, you can.

There is a difference - you have to go back to food at some point. If you quit smoking that is it for smoking. You don't need to have it again. But with food you do, and so going "cold turkey" on poor eating habits is in some ways much more difficult. Imagine how few smokers could quit if they were forced to be in a smokey room all the time at work? They'd light one up. Same with food - it's always there and always teasing you for more.

That's simply not true. The breakroom at my old job was a nonsmoker's nightmare. There were several people that had quit smoking, but they liked to talk to the others. So they ventured into the breakroom. I never heard one of them say "I miss that" or "can I have a smoke."

It's in the mind. Plain and simple.

My first big test was going to a Mexican restaurant after my first week (maybe 2nd) week of induction. I got there thinking I would break the diet, but I didn't. I looked at the freshly baked and lightly salted chips....and the chuncky salsa. I thought for a second that I would get some. Then, I realized that I didn't want any. I didn't eat any. I got a steak (best darn steak ever) and drank water.

It's in the mind. Plain and simple...

 

[skace]

Originally posted by: Skoorb

That's why many people cannot lose weight by exercise and calorie-counting.

I have never met a single person in the world who can't lose weight by excercise and PROPER calorie counting. Afterall the lack of both is the reason they got fat in the first place!

An overweight person who is calorie counting but still overeating carbs, will be far too tired to ever exercise. Hence the entire point of cutting out complex carbohydrates. They are the hardest thing for your body to break down.

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: Dedpuhl

Originally posted by: Skoorb

Why? Have you ever noticed that many people stopped smoking by going cold-turkey? That is because they WANTED to stop smoking. It's all in the mind. If you want to quit, you can.

There is a difference - you have to go back to food at some point. If you quit smoking that is it for smoking. You don't need to have it again. But with food you do, and so going "cold turkey" on poor eating habits is in some ways much more difficult. Imagine how few smokers could quit if they were forced to be in a smokey room all the time at work? They'd light one up. Same with food - it's always there and always teasing you for more.

That's simply not true. The breakroom at my old job was a nonsmoker's nightmare. There were several people that had quit smoking, but they liked to talk to the others. So they ventured into the breakroom. I never heard one of them say "I miss that" or "can I have a smoke."

It's in the mind. Plain and simple.

My first big test was going to a Mexican restaurant after my first week (maybe 2nd) week of induction. I got there thinking I would break the diet, but I didn't. I looked at the freshly baked and lightly salted chips....and the chuncky salsa. I thought for a second that I would get some. Then, I realized that I didn't want any. I didn't eat any. I got a steak (best darn steak ever) and drank water.

It's in the mind. Plain and simple...

WEell I'd like to see a study but I suspect that you'll find that out of a group of ex smokers (quit for two years) and ex fatsos (thin for two years) the fatsos have a greater liklihood of returning to their ld ways than the smokers. The thing with dieting is that it takes a constant lifelong vigilence. However, with smoking once you've kicked it and your cravings have gone away other than any lingering desire for a smoke (which can stay with some for years) you're basically done with it. You are not very likely to start up again. But look at al the people who do with food? A SMALL portion of the population is capable of controlling their diet to where they want it for years and years on end.

 

[crt1530]

Losing or gaining weight is all about will power and choices. NOBODY is incapable of losing weight. People who say that are unwilling to change their lifestyle sufficiently to acheive weight loss.

 

[StageLeft]

An overweight person who is calorie counting but still overeating carbs, will be far too tired to ever exercise. Hence the entire point of cutting out complex carbohydrates. They are the hardest thing for your body to break down.

Surely I expect nobody to excercise using chocholate and white bread as their calorie intake, but one can still keep carbs as a majority macronutrient in their diet and have ample energy to perform.

 

[amnesiac]

I think I'm just going to do an XXXTREME cutback on carbs as opposed to eliminating them entirely. I'm also a lot more consious of what I'm eating too. I also work out 4 times a week.

Oh yeah and I'm quitting coffee for a week or so to detox and drinking tons of water.