Well, as the title of this blog reveals I am now on day 19 of induction. I chose to stay in this phase for an additional week just to give me body a chance to realize what is going on; I mean, this way of eating is a shock to it. I also have about 95 more pounds to lose before I reach my desired goal of 140 lbs. I'm growing a little tired of the food choices but I'm making a diligent effort to be very creative with my recipes; that really seems to help with the boredom. The strangest thing to me is the fact that I am NEVER hungry. In fact, most of the day I that I have to make myself eat something because my apetite is totally gone due to the lipolysis. I'm trying to take advantage of this phenomenon because it is truly new to me!! I've also been doing some reasearch on the effects of High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) and the effect that is has on the body. I ran across this interesting fact: HFCS causes the body to never feel full; boy, that explains a lot about my previous eating habits. I began to realize that maybe my overweight condition had more to do with than just my lack of willpower, etc. I always suspected that there was something in the foods Iate that MADE you crave more; well, I think HFCS may be that thing.

Anyway, my mom is doing Atkins with me because she has a heart arrythmia that plagues her. She has lost at least 13 lbs! She goes to see a new cardiologist on Aug. 14 and I am so proud of her because she is going to be able to tell him that she has lost weight. I'm hoping that in the next 2 weeks that lead up to her appointment that she can shed a few more pounds. She always dreads going to doc. because she knows that she is always going to be reminded of her need to lose weight. I really started Atkins to encourage my mom but I have to say that I'm glad I've stuck with it; I am really beginning to feel GREAT!

In my 19 days I've shed 8.5 inches and 13.4 lbs. I have so much more energy. I actually feel like cleaning the house, running errands with my kids, walking my dgos in the evening and so much more. In fact, I am looking forward to the day when I can go look for some smaller clothing; something I hated to do in the past. I always figured,"why bother?", it was too depressing. Now, my clothes are fitting my more comfortably and maybe in a few weeks I'll need some replacement ones!

Well, I hope someone will find encouragement from this blog posting. I was once highly skeptical of Atkins but I'm sold on it now and I would recommend it to anyone seeking a better and healthier life.