Well, it's been about 4 days since I started avoiding carbs but I think, strictly speaking, I have not officially started my Induction phase.

I've been doing pretty well with not eating any breads, pastries and floury food. No cereals and no rice either. But I haven't been keeping to the 20g carbs limit.

Worst of all, I just realised how deceptively HEAVY honey can be. Here I was, thinking that mixing a little honey to my yoghurt will be a wonderful low carb meal / snack but turns out that my little honey over the course of one day is about 150g! Aiyiyi!

So I'm gonna re-start my Induction and this time be more vigilant about the carbs.

My observations so far is that this (pseudo-)Atkins diet is:
*good cos it makes me thirsty like **** and I'm drinking lots of water
*making me sick and tired of nuts and eggs - just thinking about it makes me nauseous
*makes me VERY tired!! The first couple of days I was very clumsy and heavy-headed. I was very cranky when someone asked me to do a favour or run an errand cos I just wanted to be left alone to sleep. And boy, I slept A LOT!
*gives me momentary bursts of energy and I start thinking of exercising.
*alleviates hunger pangs at night. It's easier now to stick to my cut-off meal time (8pm) cos I do not get cravings at night anymore.
*helps control my morning breakfast binges. I used to be ravenous first thing in the morning and binged on BOWLS of cereals...easily hitting 600 calories by lunch time. Now, a couple of servings of yoghurt is good enough for me. (i'll have to stop taking honey with it though!)

No noticeable difference to my body just yet but like I said, I haven't been vigilant with the carb-counting.

oh no...feeling sleepy again...snooze....

Is it Atkins's induction you are trying to follow? And if so, how strictly? I'm lost because yogurt & nuts are not permitted on Dr. A's induction...and definitely not honey LOL. You would also have to keep to 20g/day.

I noticed I had heaps more energy starting LC than I did when I had a carb heavy diet - but this is something I'm sure that varies from person to person.

Hiya etcetc

like Stacie said, yogurt and honey are definitely not induction foods. Not even the low carb yogurt. I use fitday to keep track of my carbs, its helped me alot!! Especially when I want more food, I can check to see if I have any carbs left over to have a snack.

Check out the valetine vixen thread, myself, Stacie and I believe Lacey and Bec are all on induction and we post our daily menus there. That will give you an idea as to what we eat in a day.

Good luck to you

The first few days of doing strict (Atkins) induction I was tired. VERY tired. When the carb withdrawal quit I get energy. I can tell when I've binged on carbs (even good carbs) right now. This weekend I had WAYYY too many nuts (and some cappuchino) and today I'm paying for it. I'm ready for a nap also. But I also know that with doing the strict induction I'll be back to an energy boost in a day or so Might want to either stick to strict Atkins induction or give it another couple days. Also, don't forget your vitamins. And there's more to breakfast than eggs!!

I thought I was dying the first day I started induction. Induction is the meat/eggs/cheese/some veggies stage.

no breads, yogurts, milk, sugar, honey, syrups, anything like that allowed. I literally layed in bed the first and second day. I was dizzy both days.

There are other low carb options to try if you don't like atkins..I THINK the south beach allows for more food than atkins. Hope you find what's right for you. A KEY in doing atkins is to read the book Good luck!!

Lacey

I agree with everything everyone else said, so no sense in saying it twice.

My only advise is to write down what you eat and really read the labels. Follow the serving measurements and count diligiently if you are going for induction.

Also, start introducing variety. Breakfast can be anything anytime. I am not a big egg person and I don't eat a lot of them now either. I have such a busy schedule in the mornings that on weekdays, I use Atkins advantage shakes with some frozen fruit and ice mixed in. I am not a fan of using shakes for meals, but this helps me so much during the week. I only use them for breakfast and I cook on any days off.

Thanks for all the comments, everyone!

Guess who just ate a muffin?

My instantaneous reaction was guilt and failure but I quickly brushed those feelings aside and took a look at my diet over the last one week.

I realise that I don't feel comfortable being on this carb-avoidance diet. As it is, I was already doing it poorly anyway. I guess the idea of eating so much fat is still hard to overcome. My body also started reacting weirdly. For instance, the toes on my right foot twithed and went into mini-spasms last night. It was very strange.

So I decided that I'll start all over again and this time try something more balanced (for me). I do still believe in carb-control (oh dear, my toes are twitching again...) but I'll do it in a less drastic way.

I'll go back to re-focusing on my calorie intake and my exercise. (My exercise regime has been on hold since I find it hard to exercise, feeling so fatigued all the time.)

I think my main downfall is portion size and control. This is my biggest demon. My friends are encouraging me and teaching me how to listen to my body and stop when it's full. I tried it last week. It's hard but I managed to do it and felt much better - cleaner, lighter, more in-control, less guilt. I started this Atkins diet mainly because I thought it would make me feel fuller faster or easier (and help me with portion control) but that's not the case...i just feel uncomfortable.

I admire you girls for your discipline and resilience to the Atkins diet. I'm gonna go back to "normal" eating but will exercise carb-control (no bread, no crackers, no cereals, no pastries and cakes*). I'll have eggs for breakfast more frequently and more meat-based lunches. I'll try and slowly work towards eating lesser amounts over dinner until I reach the point where I can get by on a liquid or fruit dinner.

*I promise to only indulge in a small cake at the most once a week.

Thanks for reading and supporting.

Good luck with whatever WOL you chose to pursue. I will say (I'm an Atkins defender...I can't help myself ) when done properly - following the Induction rules and one's body is in ketosis, the majority of people aren't hungry all the time. Me personally, there are many times I have to force myself to eat something just so my body doesn't go into starvation mode. The fat & proteins fill me up SO much whereas when I ate carbs I could easily consume an entire box of Lucky Charms & 4 slices of toast and still be hungry . I hope you continue to check in & let us know how you're making out on your journey .

Well, good luck to you. We understand that Low Carb is not for everyone. AND there is a reason it is called the Carb Addict's diet. You, apparently, are not addicted to carbs and can control your intake of them and do well on other diets where carbs are not restricted. Best of luck to you.

OK I come crawling back. Over the last few days, I went COMPLETELY out of control and went through several BINGE sessions with eclairs and cookies and other sinful sweets. I went out and bought the Atkins latest book and read it.

I think I now know why my body just felt terrible when I had nuts and yogurt without strictly counting my carbs...I was not doing myself any good since I was not yet in the fat-burning metabolism phase. There were many other things I was doing wrong as well I think. I found out that i'm in the Grade B category.

I am going to start the Atkins again but not immediately. I need a game plan: recognise my pitfalls and set up countermeasures first.

I've decided that I'll need my own Pantry away from everyone else's (so I don't get tempted by the carbs) and I need to stock up on the right food. In the meantime, i'll be consuming the remainder of my yogurt (i have 2 big tubs left and I hate waste). Also before I begin my new Nutritional Approach, I'm getting into the habit of exercising first thing in the morning. So far, so good. I've managed to keep that going for the last few days and also increased the intensity and duration of my runs during the weekend.

I do need to ask you a question though:
How many carbs is there in one McDonalds sausage pattie (the one in Big BReakfast)? I want to make sure it is ok to consume it during the induction phase. Thinking of just getting rid of the muffin bread and has brown and just have the patty and omelette.

Also, is Diet Coke made from saccharin sweeteners?

etcetc

I would suggest you start with real food. Forget "McDonalds" or any of that for awhile.

Meats (most of them) don't have any carbs. Sausage patties sometimes have some carbs added, but I wouldn't trust anything completely from McDonalds.

I would really suggest keeping it clean if you want to do induction and do it right. Buy some steaks, some chicken, some green vegetables, some salad makings. Buy some salad dressing without a lot of sugar, (one or two grams per 2 tablespoon serving) and then only use one tablespoon or less. Buy eggs, bacon, tuna, or other fish.

Buy real butter and put some on your veggys (not a lot, but some). Give up all breads, all "Atkins bars" all starchy foods, forget the honey or sugar or anything sweet. You can use some splenda if you have to have something sweet, but even limit that. Go clean with what you eat. Make every meal a feast of wonderful protein and freshly cooked fresh vegetables.

Yes you may feel kinda miserable part way into the process, expect that. Take some potassium pills because muscle twitching or leg cramps are a sign that you are losing water weight very fast and electrolytes along with them. Potassium is usually the one thing you do need to supplement for a few days.

Drink lots of water, but you don't have to get excessive about it. After awhile you will start to feel great. And you won't feel hungry. Like others have said you may have to force yourself to eat. Sometimes what we recognize as hunger isn't. I've been told that true hunger is a pleasant taste in your mouth, not a gnawing feeling in your stomach, not a drop in blood sugar. When we eat lots of carbs, that drop in blood sugar after a high carb meal leaves you feeling weak and (what you think is) hungry. So you wind up eating more than you actually need to survive.

When you really get into low carb you find that you aren't that hungry most of the time. You get to the point where you can truly get in touch with your body so that you start to really know when you are hungry and when you aren't.

Sometimes when we think we are hungry we are really just thirsty. So when you think you are hungry, drink something. If the hunger goes away then you weren't hungry at all. Those two are hard for me, I still get confused between the two.

I don't know how heavy you are or how much you need to lose, but your first time on Atkins is a real surprise for your body. If you do it right you can lose a lot of weight really fast. If you do it wrong, you've blown that first opportunity and you may not be able to ever get that back. The body does adapt to whatever we do to it, and sometimes if you screw up too much that adaptation makes it hard to do it right later.

ITA agree with everything Sherry said!!