mrsmole's Journal, 04 Sep 14

I got my blood monitor today. Couldn't wait to see what my blood sugar and ketones were. Braced for the worst. Good thing.

Blood sugar was 81 mid-day. That's fine.

Blood ketones should be between 1.5-3.0 to be ideal. I knew they wouldn't be because my urine strips have been barely registering for the last 18 hours, but I did it anyhow.

It was a whopping 0.2. Holy cow.

But I didn't panic. This is typical. It just means I'm doing something wrong. I took a good look at things and I can only think that it's the Diet Coke. It claims to have zero carbs, and Atkins says you can have up to 3 per day, but I'm guessing that the evil artificial sweetener is screwing me somehow and causing insulin to be released and slowing and/or negating my ketosis.

So that's it, I'm ditching the Diet Coke. Back to water. Again. UGH. I was doing well on water, I just hated it so effing much. But my sticks were really purple when I hunkered down and just had water.

So here's what sucks about Atkins/Nutritional Ketosis after 12 days of (almost) doing it right:

1) I miss diet sodas. A lot. Drinking only water is boring and kinda sucks.
2) I miss juice. Tomato juice, especially, because I got hooked on it while low-calorie dieting. But tomatoes are FRUITS, they are just disguised as veggies, so I can only have one per day in this phase. More can be had later, but when juiced, tomatoes lose their fiber and those carbs add up fast.
3) Eating out: The sheer amount of work and vigilance of checking websites in advance, finding sugar in absolutely everything, bringing my own mayo and salad dressing to be on the safe side. What a huge commitment. Disappointed that they cater to vegetarians, vegans, gluten frees, but not low carb folks!
4) Sometimes feeling weak and missing sugar highs (NOT missing the sugar), especially at the gym. I'm told this will change as my body adjusts over time.
5) Constipation still an issue in spite of greens galore, but this is nothing new and I'm coping as I did before (no home remedies, please - I've listed and tried them all, and a few I like, a few I don't).

Here's what's awesome about Atkins/Nutritional Ketosis:

1) Bacon
2) Cream cheese
3) Pork rinds
4) Salami
5) Mozzarella
6) Not feeling bloated and overstuffed

Here's what's interesting about Atkins/Nutritional Ketosis:

1) When I crave carbs and feed myself fat, the craving go away. Caution: This will hurt you if you are not already cutting your carbs.
2) Fat is really filling and keeps me full for hours after eating it, far longer than protein or carbs ever used to. Shooting for 75% calories from fat, 20% protein and 5% carbs. And if you're tempted to tell me this isn't a healthy way to eat, please resist the urge and save me from deleting the comment. I've done my homework, and this is a very healthy way for ME to eat. Maybe not you, but me. This is borne of medical necessity because carbs were killing me.
3) Keeping protein to moderate levels is harder than you'd think. More cream cheese is the answer. Too much protein turns into blood sugar! That's bad for me.
4) Calories still count, though people will say not to worry about it. Calories act differently, certainly. My body has to work harder to process the fat I eat without a ton of carbs.

Well, that's my take so far, and as of now, I'm on target to be losing about a pound a week, which is a huge improvement for me over zero pounds a week for about 10 weeks with low calorie thanks to my Insulin Resistance.

Stand by for additional progress reports as I learn more every day.

89.6 kg Lost so far: 37.4 kg.    Still to go: 22.0 kg.    Diet followed: 100%.

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1123 kcal

Fat: 86.70g | Prot: 65.39g | Carbs: 16.56g.   Breakfast: Atkins Advantage French Vanilla Shake, Blue Diamond Almond Breeze Original Unsweetened Non-Dairy Beverage. Lunch: Blue Diamond Almond Breeze Original Unsweetened Non-Dairy Beverage, Great Value Fancy Low-moisture Part-skim Mozzarella Cheese Shredded, Tomatoes. Dinner: Litehouse Foods Big Bleu Cheese Dressing & Dip, Country Crock Shedd's Spread Original, Kroger Pork Rinds, Philadelphia 1/3 Less Fat Neufchatel Cream Cheese, Gallo Salame Light Italian Dry Salame, Kraft Big Slice Aged Swiss. more...

2182 kcal

Exercise: Sleeping - 8 hours, Resting - 16 hours. more...