Am I crazy....
 

Good Day!

I have a lot of questions. I have read the diet rev. and scanned the site for information - to no avail...

1. Day 5 of induction - I'm starving and dizzy...I don't mind that. My muscles hurt and I'm a bit snappy.
Am I eating too much:

Meals for today - it's already 3:30

1 - 2 1/2 (2eggs, 2oz cheese, 1/4c spinach, ground turkey)
2 - Nachos with 1 serving Atkins chips and ground turkey
3 - 4oz of bakes salmon....
4 - 30 ounces of water

2000 calories already

"The more I sweat in peace, the less I bleed in war!"

Any advice...

Where are your veggies? Where is your salad? Don't worry too much about calories at this point, just give your body the wholesome, healthy food it needs.
Induction can be rough, and different people have different "symptoms" as their body gets used to lower levels of carbs. I know I had a headache for about 5 days..it was really hard not to quit (like I did my first 3 tries). but, I toughed it out, and it really gets better.
Hang in there, be good to yourself, and don't forget those veggies..

What are your other questions?

I don't think you are eating too much-just keep it at 20 grams of carbs and get in your veggies. Can you tell if you are in ketosis? Bad breath? Metallic taste in the mouth?

You can't have Atkins chips on induction. It isn't one of the approved foods. You can have the chips after induction.

Don't worry about calories. Just count carbs. You can use fitday.com to help you keep track of your carbs.

You should add some veggies from the extensive "approved" induction list.

Hang in there with the symptoms. It is just your body reacting to getting rid of sugar cravings. Induction is such a short period of time, realtive to the duration of low carbing for life. It is worth it!

The snappiness is part of the carb withdrawal. It goes away after 3-5 days or so. It's a lot like quitting smoking and is nasty! :)

Enough have already asked where're your veggies, so I'm going to ask, where's your fat? I see a lot of low-fat meats in your menu--absolutely NOT a good choice, especially on Induction. You need fats to give you a good amount of calories. It also helps you to feel better.

There's absolutely NO way you're already at 2,000 calories with what you've already eaten. Shoot, I ate 2,000 calories yesterday and had a food list a mile long! From where are you getting your calorie count?

I am on day 7 and going through the same thing. I increased veggies and felt better.I was a carbaholic and this is a huge change for my body just like when I quit smoking so I guess a little dizziness was to be expected but on the plus side I have already lost weight and I am excited about that.Check out fitday.com it was really a big help for me to keep track of carbs and also the peeps on this forum are great. They are a lot of help

When I read your menu I thought the same as everyone else.
Where are the veg, where is the fat, not enough water, and ditch those atkins chips.
I assumed the '2000 calories' must have come from the chips, because the other things looked fine.

Have you read the book, or looked at the website? The induction allowances are laid out very clearly. It really is the easiest part of the WOE to get right.

Your induction side -effects should have gone now, but if they haven't, I'm sure they they soon will, once you start following the rules.

med

Everyone reacts differently, but I find that eating higher-fat meat helps satisfy me and reduce "bad" symptoms. I like to buy 80% lean/ 20% fat ground beef and pan fry a simple hamburger patty (or two). You could have a slice of cheese on top of that if you wanted it. Another good choice is good ol' bacon--it's so easy to microwave it. Ground turkey and salmon are healthy foods, but they are low fat and won't give you the same satisfaction as higher fat meats. If you don't want to eat beef, consider making tuna, egg, or chicken salad with mayonnaise. The mayo is another good source of the fat you need.

As far as the "snappiness" is concerned, it took me about a week before I came out of it. My wife almost asked me to quit the first week because she said I was so irritable it was hard for her to be around me. But she toughed it out, and after the first week, it quickly went away and all of a sudden I felt great! So hang in there, it really does get better.

You may want to go back and recheck what Fitday defaulted to for amounts. What you have listed there doesn't look even close to 2,000 calories. If I had to guess, I'd have to say that it might not even be close to 1,000.
Fitday will sometimes default to some very strange amounts like "1 cup of egg" and "1 cup of mayonnaise or butter" when you really had much less. If you don't watch those defaults, you could get quite a shock. :eek:
I also agree with all of the above...you need veggies; at least 3 cups a day, and increasing the fat will help with hunger.
Also...are you taking any kind of supplements? The dizziness and muscle aches could be due to low potassium. Then again, if the above has been a typical daily menu for you, you just might be feeling cruddy because you aren't eating enough!

Edited to add:

1 put your menu listed above into Fitday, allowing for 6 oz. ground turkey and 150 calories for the Atkins Crunchers and came up with just under 1,200 calories.

Ditchin' the chips...thanks.

Ignoring the calories...

I am finding that my body is reacting totally different to exercise...I used to be able to do aerobics for a few hours, without loosing an inch, not even breaking a sweat... Tae bo was a joke...

I bought the Atkins for life kit and I wonder if I had so much extra carb energy that I never got to my reserves... I was never tired...

I have never been able to sleep well. Before Atkins, it took me hours to go to sleep and when I did, it was for 5 hours or less...

I still need little sleep, but when I lay down, I'm out... I love that. I remember asking my husband how to fall asleep.

The first eleven pounds came off with 14 days. Now just getting one pound off in a week is tough even though I am still limiting my carbs to under 20. any suggestions.

I had similar symptoms the first 3 days were the worst but I was still on edge for the entire first week.

upping veggis and fat and keeping a fitday journal should help

good luck

MJ

"...you're not crazy, you're just a little unwell."


.......sorry, i couldn't resist!!!! rob rules! :dazzle: