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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.
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 Comments
Hope it works for you. From being on Atkins before, it only worlds if you follow the plan..
04 Sep 14 by member: wholefoodnut
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Following the plan to the letter, including the 3 sugar substitutes allowed by the plan, but I believe they are messing me up. No other deviations whatsoever, so it has to be the diet sodas. I'm slowly losing weight, not a pound a day like some insane reports I've read, but I wouldn't be happy with that anyhow. That's radical, and I'm not looking for radical. Slow and steady wins the race.
04 Sep 14 by member: mrsmole
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Stay away from the sugar subs, they can play havoc. I know they even trigger my asthma and migraines.
04 Sep 14 by member: wholefoodnut
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Good for you on your weight loss!
04 Sep 14 by member: Deb_N
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Good for you. You've clearly done your homework and you are doing what works for you, that's what's important.
04 Sep 14 by member: ChrisSpark
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My understanding is that too much protein in your diet will kick you out of ketosis. Maybe you should try 1 gr protein per pound of lean body weight?
04 Sep 14 by member: northernmusician
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04 Sep 14 by member: eddie1261
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Eddie, I learned that about effing Aspartame too late, but not really. Making the adjustment immediately. NM, that would be 50g protein per day according to my fancy scale. Unless you think I have more than 50 pounds of muscle for my 197.5 pounds? Wait are you talking about non-fat tissue, or lean muscle? Those are two different numbers!
04 Sep 14 by member: mrsmole
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Watch that you don't get them with lots of stuff added.
04 Sep 14 by member: wholefoodnut
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Ingredients: Pork skin, salt.
04 Sep 14 by member: mrsmole
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Lean mass includes bone and cartilage. I would think around 120 to 130?
04 Sep 14 by member: northernmusician
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Mrsmole you are right...water can be a bore so that's why I drink beer. Bud 55 Select and I have become good friends and share many afternoons together. I figure in the 1.9 carbs/beer, dont even consider the calories of 55, into my daily carb intake. I know I didn't follow the Atkins diet to the letter, but I was able to make it work for me. One year later, 50+ lbs gone and below goal weight is a good thing. I believe if we deprive ourselves of all the foods we truely love we set ourselves up for failure. This journey for we was to find a path to a healthy life while still enjoying the friends and foods that make life worthwhile. Good choices in both of those things are necessary. Stay true!
05 Sep 14 by member: Hoffner
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Mrsmole, my friend gets pork skins with all kinds of flavorings added including sugar and eats an eight serving bag in about 10 minutes, leaves the bags in my car. That's why I mentioned that.
05 Sep 14 by member: wholefoodnut
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05 Sep 14 by member: northernmusician
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Try club soda. Put a splash of lemon or lime juice for flavor if you want. In a few weeks your "taste" will reset & the cloying sweetness of soda won't even taste good.
05 Sep 14 by member: trleith
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I can fix most of that, but you won't like any of it. Diet pop is AWFUL because of the aspartame. You can research the carcinogenic values of aspartame if you like but in general it is an awful chemical to have in your body. If you stop drinking diet pop today the aspartame will not be gone from your body until Sep 5 2015. Accept the fact that diet pop has to go and move on. That has nothing to do with low carb or weight loss. It is awful for everybody. As far as eating out, don't eat out. Cooking is a LOT of fun!! And you eat mayo? Even before I decided to get healthier I did not eat mayo. Even the "lite" versions. ("Lite" anything is one of the worse marketing ploys ever foisted onto Americans. Nothing "lite" is as "lite" as not having it at all. Atkins or any other diet is not going to do this FOR you. They give you tools. You have to use them. Some of those tools require that you make compromises, and some of those compromises are just being willing to let go of bad foods like you'd let go of a bad spouse. There is one person here (no names) who shows a starting weight of 250, a current weight of 260, yet continues to post about "I LIKE ice cream". Fine. Eat a gallon a day. And be fat forever. If you don't want to be 260, stop eating ice cream. Not cut down, not once a week. Stop. When status quo is obviously not working, you need a new status. (Or a new quo.) Everybody will find their own motivation, and while they may be of the same general theme, that catalyst will come from something that matters to them. In my case, I both got tired of seeing my stomach enter a room 2 minutes before the rest of me, and stopped accepting that diabetes had to kill me by age 68. I may still die by 68, but it isn't going to be from that damned disease. Any time I think I might stray, I look at my left wrist and see the gray diabetes awareness bracelet and it stops me cold. I realized that you don't get it both ways. You either stay with "but I LIKE' or you zero in on this and step over the bodies of the people who try to block your light.
05 Sep 14 by member: eddie1261
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Mayo isn't bad if you make it yourself--some olive oil, an egg yolk, a little ground mustard, mmmmh. If you're doing low-carb, high-fat or Atkins it's a good source of fat calories. I actually hated mayo until I made it myself.
05 Sep 14 by member: marissastewart
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I would freeze blueberries, then each morning I would add the frozen blueberries and the juice of a freshly squeezed lemon to my 48 fl oz. The berries cool the water and Bonus - you get a nifty treat at the bottom of your water! You may can try this with club soda....I haven't, but I understand you miss the soda. I miss the carbonation....so I will drink Perrier or other sparkling waters. Seems to help. Just look for items that do not contain too much extra stuff in the water!
05 Sep 14 by member: MightyFull
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Eddie, thanks for the Aspartame info. It might be evil, but it's probably not as evil as being 130 pounds overweight. I'm all about the lesser of the evils. I'm not striving for perfection. Progress, not perfection. Sound familiar? There will ALWAYS be something I'm "not supposed" to be consuming, but to effing bad. I have to go with what I can manage. I don't drink. My liver is that of a 6 month old baby, so I got that going for me, as Bill Murray from Caddyshack would say. LOL. What I'm saying is, I will quit the Aspartame because it's messing with my blood sugar, but that's all. And yes, I eat mayo. Not sure where you were going with that. It's allowed on my current plan. It's even encouraged because of the fat. I'm on a high fat plan right now, and it's working and I feel great. There is plenty of science to support it, and a low calorie high carb planned sucked for me. That's all I'm going to say to defend it. Meanwhile, I want to feel as if I can bitch a little bit about not liking something. It's called venting. I like my diet soda. ill I drink it? Hell no. I will try the club soda, however. Good idea.
05 Sep 14 by member: mrsmole
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NM she tells her DH she's following doc's orders and is on a
"diet". He was picking her up at our meeting spot so she'd leave the empty bags. Her hours changed so she's no longer riding with me. Mmmmm today at work her team had a food day, every time I saw her she was eating, including at least 4 big cupcakes. Instead of smaller she's getting bigger. I feel bad for her because her health issues are getting worse and she isn't taking care of herself.
05 Sep 14 by member: wholefoodnut
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