I am sure this is normal but I never expected to feel like this! I only drank half-cafe instant coffee and not alot either. I am assuming I am so lethargic and tired and headachy because of the withdrawal from caffiene?
Oh I wish I could go back to bed and sleep......

Yeah, it sounds like withdrawl. Hold on. You won't believe how good you will feel in just a few days.

Make sure you aren't supplementing aspartame products in to your setup. Aspartame can cause headaches.

As for the fatigue, you may want to force yourself through a good 1-2 hour walk just to get you over the hump. You'll stumble a bit and may need a nap afterwards, but soon after you should feel refreshed and fully in to fat-burning mode for energy.

Tom C

Thanks everyone for the encouragement.

I just came back from my daily walk with who else but my lab!

I went to the gym (as usual) this morning, but took it easy and spent less time there. Dr. Atkins advised against excessive excerisise during induction.

I am cold turkeying it for everything. No aspertane (sp?), caffine, sugar, my evening glass of wine.

I just drink my 8+ glasses of filtered water(which I do anyways) and have decafe coffee and yesterday tried decafe tea. I am using cremo until tomorrow when I switch to whipping creme.

So if I want to sleep, I will sleep. As long as I get my work done first!

I can't imagine trying to work outside the home with this going on!

How long? 3 or more days?

Thanks again
lm

I'm just popping in to add to the enouragement.... you'll be fine in just a bit. Yes, it's the detoxing of ALL the junk that happens during induction...the sugars, toxins, caffeine, etc.

This is when the body is adjusting to a new method of metabolizing energy for you...it's moving from burning carbs for fuel into a fat-burning system... LOTS of changes going on.

That's nice to remember after you lose some, and then level out without a loss later...remind yourself that it's still working, it's just working on something else.

Good luck,

Wow...all three posts on the same minute!

Yes, Im...a few days, not usually beyond the first week! Hang in there... munch on some protein/fat snacks...rolled turkey dipped in ranch dressing or something... always helps me!

Hi there,

I can fully appreciate and empthize with you first hand on some of the more unpleasant effects of Induction. Naturally, we're all different and respond to physiological changes in a plethora of different ways; but, for me, I was suffering headaches, warmth, and general listlessness for the better part of 2 weeks--with occasional heart palpitations and sporadic insomnia. Hopefully, you're transition will be infinitely less "eventful" than mine.

Even now, being off Induction for about 2 or 3 weeks now, I still haven't fully regained "normality" in how I feel. Albeit, I do feel much better now relative to how I was feeling while on Induction. The encouraging thing is that you will begin feeling better, but how soon will depend on how your physiology naturally makes this transition, in my view.

I'm still waiting for that magical burst of energy which everyone here raves about to suddenly strike me. Hopefully, it will happen soon for both of us.

Good luck!

I know I did things backwards but I had trouble giving up my coffee in the a.m., diet coke through the day and wine in the evenings. I gave up my diet coke and coffee after about the 3rd day. Had a headache for about two days afterward, but been of off them for my forth week. My wine was a different story, I just didn't want to give up those nice relaxing evening with my spouse sipping wine. I still managed to do well, even though I didn't actually do the introduction, because my carbs stayed at about 23-26. My calaries were about 1600-1900. I still lost 10 lbs in the first two weeks. This past week I lost nothing. I start my forth week tomorrow, and I have decided to give up the wine and see how this works. So I guess you can say after three weeks, I'll be starting the introduction now. I've had to take steps to get here, but I think I'll be ok. Oh by the my sticks have been pink, so I do know thats good.

I really need to loose this weight, not just for myself but for my future. I've always gone from 115 to 160, then problems with my stepdaughter put me on paxil. I've been off paxil for over a year, but the paxil caused rapid weight gain. And of course it didn't come off when I got off the paxil. Well my other stepdaughter is getting married in June and I surely don't want to be in pictures with my spouses exwife (who weight maybe 115) looking like I do. Plus my spouses 25 year high school reunion is in Sept. So I really want to loose the weight, because I remember what its like to be thinner, and I want to feel better and healthier.

Well the more I hear from you all the better I am feeling! (mentally only!)
Since I have gone cold turkey, I hope my symptons will diminish sooner than later! I still have trouble accepting that I am going to lose wieght drinking a decaf coffee with cremo, hamburger patty with mayo and mustard, and bacon and eggs too!

I am not really counting my carbs or calories, just following Dr Atkins lists of what I can eat during induction.

Forgot to mention the heart palpatations too. Mind you I had them prior as well.

Thanks again for the encouragement, and here's hoping this thread will help another newbie also.

LM

RE Heart Palpitations

When I brought this to my Doctor's attention, naturally he suggested all I'd have to do is return to my old eating regimen--the now seemingly esoteric low fat/high carb diet--which wasn't exactly the answer I was ideally looking for. However, when he was fully convinced that my conviction to stick to this was real, he offered me some theories.

First, there could have been an imbalance of potassium to sodium. During Induction, my sodium intake increased while my potassium intake decreased--relative to what it was normally. I'm not sure, but he also mentioned since I insisted on running 30 minutes per day, it exacerbated the issue of this imbalance which could cause heart palpitations. My heart rate never increased, but it felt heavier than usual.

Secondly, he suggested that since my body is making an effort to burn fat as a primary fuel for the first time, my body is working harder and less efficiently than it is used to during the transition especially since, according to him, fat is primarily used as a back up fuel never meant to be used as our primary fuel source. Of course, he advised me that Carbs ought to be my primary fuel source and if only I returned to my normal carb intake, all my recent "issues" would disappear at once.

Obviously, my Doctor is highly skeptical of my choice to embrace this eating philosophy. However, recently, I have felt much better and my palpitations are beginning to lessen day by day. Naturally, in my view, one should be fully examined by a physician when suffering from any sort of heart or chest irregularites irrespective of what the perceived causes might be.