depressed

[britney]

Ok, so here is my problem - It is day 5 and I cannot tell if anything is happening here. I am eating lots of meat and eggs and bacon and I am making sure my carbs do not exceed 20 grams. My calories stay right at about 1000 per day. I exercise and drink tons of water and for some reason, I don't trust that I am doing the right thing. Believe me, I am working so hard for this weight to come off. To hard maybe - I want it off now. I keep checking the scale to see if Ive made any progress and I guess the scale has move a little - 1 or 2 lbs. Should I have lost more by now? I checked the ketosis strips and am still negative. Please help, any advise on how I can get my body into ketosis? Im going our tonight and I know Im going to have at least 1 drink. Will this cause weight gain, and will I have to start all over? Im pretty sure my depression is from lack of carbs...I am - check that, -was- a definite carb addict so it must be normal to feel a little depressed from the detox.

Thanks for listening....
Brit

[Karen]

A couple of things in your post set off the old alarm bells.

You say you are restricting your calories to 1000 a day, which leads me to believe that you may have been a yo-yo dieter who used calorie restrictive diets. If this is true, your body is telling you that it will not be fooled again. For the majority of people, you need to eat fat to lose fat.

You have not yet read Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution. It is essential to have a good working knowledge of whatever plan you are following and it starts with reading the corresponding book.

Sometimes our bodies have to be gently coached into giving up fat. It's a lifetime commitment to losing fat and become healthy and it doesn't happen over night. Mental health also comes into play. You may be eating the right stuff, but not thinking and living the right stuff to support yourself into sustained fat loss.

Going cold turkey on carbs can make you depressed, or angry as well as feeling just plain lousy. It's part of the withdrawal process, but becomes ultimately rewarding to be free of carbs.

With drinking, some do, and some don't. Your body will use alcohol for fuel before it uses carbs or your own fat. Will it cause weight gain? That depends on your metabolism.

Not all carbs are created equal. If you're eating any grain products, low-carb bars and forgoing lots of high fiber, low carb vegetables, you could be sabotaging yourself.

Read the Atkins book, read the Forum and make informed choices on what to eat and what not to. A lot of the time, our minds lead us down the wrong path because of stress, expectations, addiction or whatever. Focus on the bigger picture not the scale and you will be more than generously rewarded.

Karen

[misspam]

Hey Brit,
I'm a first time visitor to this site and so far I think it's great and sounds super supportive. First I would like to say congrats on keeping it up for five days! That's great news, and the first few weeks are always the hardest, so you've come a long way and should keep up the good work. Secondly I've been a concerned with weightloss for the longest time ever and have learned that loosing more than 2lbs a week isn't healthy. So you're doing the right thing and are bound for success!! Keep up the good work. Remember that you didn't put the weight on in one day so it isn't going to come off in one day. Great job though!!! Woo woo...
Take care and best wishes
misspam

[KatieB]

Brit:

Yes, that's good advice from Karen. You're actually lucky you are only feeling depressed. I was horribly sick for over two days on day three, day four and day five.

Post your foods in your journal so others can see what you are eating and help you with advice. It took me a week or more to learn to drink 80 plus ounces of water a day - very, very important!

Good luck, stick with it. We're always here for you!

Katie

[jude]

Hi Brit,

I just wanted to say....Hang in there--this does work! If you don't have the Atkins book, have you at least been to the Atkins Center web site? Here's a link the the Induction Phase I

http://atkinscenter.com/Archive/2001/12/15-325810.html

There are lots more foods you can eat besides meat and eggs--and that's a big key....don't let your taste buds get bored. Also check out the recipe section here at the forum for ideas.

Like Karen says, it looks like you're calories are too low--10x your current weight is a good guideline, and they should be about 70% fat, 25% protein and 5% carbs. I've only been doing LC for about two and a half months and I've lost 22 lbs without having a clue whether I'm in ketosis or not, so don't let it worry you.

And have you registered at Fitday? It's free--and a great way to keep track of everything. You can even make it public so that people here can take a look and perhaps give you some pointers.

Last but not least, try to stay away from the scales. I know it's hard, but it's worth it in the long run.

Good Luck !

judy