Day Three of Atkins - and I feel like crap!

[Roland Hulme]

I've been following the induction religeously for the last three days and I must say, I was struggling yesterday.

I started on Monday and was pretty much okay - a bit sleepy in the afternoon but that might have been jetlag (flew in from New Jersey the day before.)

On Tuesday, I had NO energy and was literally falling asleep at my desk by lunchtime. I finished off the day with a terrible headache and that got so bad I ended up going to bed as soon as I got home and slept through until the next morning.

Today I feel MUCH better. Had a big breakfast (two scrambled eggs, bacon) and a good, big lunch (spinach salad, chedder cheese, roast turkey.) But I'm still lacking energy...

Please tell me it gets better!

I think the headache was probably coffee detox. I was a coffee fiend! I used to drink about four or five cups a day. I also drank a lot - about half a bottle of red wine a night. So even though I'm eating lots, I'm still dropping a significant number of daily calories by cutting out the liquor.

[Laurenfra]

Re: Day Three of Atkins - and I feel like crap!

Congrats you have induction flu. As soon as your body adjusts ( just a day or 2) you will feel great. Unless of course you body is just rejecting badly to having been in NJ lol. I was born and raised there so I can pick on it.

[Roland Hulme]

Re: Day Three of Atkins - and I feel like crap!

Actually New Jersey was GREAT. I love the city, but it was so nice to drive just an hour out and find the beautiful countryside. And I went when the trees were turning beautiful colours.

I think the caffiene withdrawl wasn't helped by a week in the US drinking four to five cups of REAL filter coffee. In England I drink that many cups of instant, but it's got half the caffiene in. And half the taste.

[2big4mysize]

Re: Day Three of Atkins - and I feel like crap!

hang in there it takes time for your body to switch from being primarily a sugar burner to being an effiecient fat burner chemicals need to be produced in large amounts to move the fats, break them down and such. Mitochondria need to be grown so you got more local power plants in every muscle cell and it takes a body a bit to do it. Think how long it would take to switch your car from petrol to disel.

You can take any caffiene free OTC pain med you regularly use ofr the withdrawal headaches. my 24 can a day habit almost got me to quit Atkins but day 4 was quiet energized and painfree.

[ValidRouge]

Re: Day Three of Atkins - and I feel like crap!

When your body switches to using fat for fuel instead of glucose (sugar), you are going to feel GREAT! You'll have lots of energy, probably more than before even with the caffeine. It's almost like a high. LOL Well, not really...but...yeah.

Stick through it. Spend the next couple days browsing the before and after photos and the success stories to keep you motivated in the meantime.

Read the forums here to make sure you are following the plan, learn about what your options are for after induction to start to add foods back in.

[Roland Hulme]

Re: Day Three of Atkins - and I feel like crap!

On day three I feel MUCH, MUCH better. Haven't had any headaches and haven't felt tired during the day at all. My digestion - ahem - wasn't want it normally was. I took a spoonful of medicine for that and discovered to my horror that it contained 2g of sucrose. Is that going to be enough to knock me off?

Hope not. It was a real battle of wills last night. My wife decided to do the Atkins at the same time as me, but hers is a slightly different version that included coke at lunch time and a packet of crisps in the evening! I was SO tempted to say 'screw it' and go out and get a bottle of wine and a large chocolate cake (I never even ate chocolate cake before the diet) but I managed to resist.

I've really been enjoying my lunches and breakfasts. And I used to get TERRIBLE heartburn which has vanished. Just to clarify, apart from my hiccup with the medicine, I've had a totally clean induction so far. Which probably explains why I felt so wretched!

[Roland Hulme]

Re: Day Three of Atkins - and I feel like crap!

Okay, to answer my own question I just had a light headed sugar rush and am now the proud owner of another bloody headache.

Hmmm. No more medicine for me.

[ValidRouge]

Re: Day Three of Atkins - and I feel like crap!

Roland,

I hate to say it....but your wife is not doing ANY version of Atkins. I don't know what it is...but it isn't Atkins.

Once you get into the plan and have been in ketosis a couple weeks...2g of sugars isn't going to be that big of a deal if you are sick and need syrup. HOWEVER in this transitional phase of switching from burning sugar to burning fat, that 2g of sugar does a lot of harm. Notice how you said you were feeling better, but then after the syrup you thought about saying "screw it"...that was your body trying to hang onto the sugar for dear life.

Keep going, do NOT give in. You're almost there.

I used to eat tums/pepcid on a daily basis for heartburn, and it has 100% disappeared since I've been on Atkins. I don't have neck pain/stiffness anymore, I don't have headaches, I have lots of energy, I'm losing weight, my cholesterol has dropped through the floor, my doctors are thrilled, my husband is happy, my friends are happy and I AM HAPPY. I wouldn't give this up for anything.

[Roland Hulme]

Re: Day Three of Atkins - and I feel like crap!

Ah, my wife works to her own rules! I'm still detirmined to play it by the rules, though. I think I'm more detirmined just to stick the bloody thing out now than see the results, but I do feel a lot less bloated and I have quite a bit of energy.

Thanks for the support and advice, though. It's funny. If I hadn't made the postings on this forum and got such positive response, I probably would have given in last night. I'm very pleased I didn't.

[ValidRouge]

Re: Day Three of Atkins - and I feel like crap!

I can totally relate. This board has been salvation for so many of us. Any time you are struggling, come here. Someone will talk you out of cheating or whatever.

Have you read Dr. Atkins booK? the 2002 version of Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution. When you can understand the science of WHY it works and HOW it works, it makes it a LOT easier. When you are armed with the science, your mind can't play tricks on you and sabotage you. It happens to almost every one of us.

I have to think of myself as an addict. I quit my nicotine addiction too...but let me tell you, those carbohydrates have a stronger hold on me than those cigarettes EVER had. When I came to that realization, my whole outlook has changed.