And when the magic happens anyway.....

Well, I've found my sweet spot and have lost about 5 lbs in 5 days!

After about a week of not really understanding how the NEW Atkins WOE worked (due to contradictions, thank you very much), I decided to go with what Dr. Atkins had originally designed...and it's working.   Goes to show you... if it aint broke, don't fix it... is still the best course of action.

(stop staring at the woman with the cat already!)

As for anything else I can note today:  On the down-side.. I've been waking up a couple of hours after sleeping and not getting back to sleep for an hour or two or more.. ugh.  Not sure what that's about, except that I'm suspecting it's stress-related.  Oooooh, but I'm sure it's that!

Energy, despite the lack of decent sleep, is on the rise a bit.  Improvement is definitely something to celebrate, right?  Right!  So I will continue with this WOE and keep plugging along.  So far I'm pretty happy with the result.  It's early, so there will be much to tell as the days pass.

At this point I'm not sure what plans I have as far as how long I'll remain on Induction, but we'll see.  I'm just happy with what's going on right now.

Yay!

Now...if I could just get the rest of my life to sort itself out, that would be awesome. ;p

Slow but sure in this low-carb world

Plugging along and thinking that I could have done better without all of the conflicting information!  Thanks, whoever decided to change the way Dr. Atkins was doing things!  If it aint broke, don't fix it!  Hey, some cliches are still worth reciting and remembering!

For starters, I wasted money on the new edition of the Atkins book.  No joke.  Too much changed, and conflicts out that wazoo!!!  I mean, seriously??!!???  What in "High fat, low calorie" makes sense on ANY planet???

You should have seen me struggle to make THAT work.  No.  Really.  You shouldn't have.  8  days was enough.  Sheesh.  After coming to my senses I ordered the 2002 book and will use that from now on.  Hindsight and all that junk.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

I'm winging it and trying to adjust a few things to make it work.  Not easy, but not that difficult either.  Just takes a little perseverance on my part, and a whole lot of asking questions from the group I belong to.  One must never underestimate the power of such resources, trust me.

Feeling crappy overall, but after being stupid and using salt the way I did... hopefully I'll feel a little better over the next couple of days.  Heart isn't behaving as erratic since I've backed off the salt and upped the water, so that's good.  And I think I need to start taking my Vit-D again (5,000 mcg daily).  I tend to get deficient easily, so that could be one reason I'm feeling low.  Also ordered multi-vitamins that are sugar-free, gluten-free, dairy-free... basically crap-free.  Those will be here soon.

Begun using more of the pure virgin coconut oil in place of the olive oil, backed down my protein servings by 2 oz each and upped the fat/oils a bit.

So with all this said and done, we will see how things progress from here.

I'm tired and am way late for lunch.

Laters non-taters! lol ;p

It's been a rough few days

Atkins.  Day 3.  Okay.  Easy.  No cravings.  Going through carb withdrawal is fairly east as well because I wasn't eating much in the way of starchy carbs or sweets (only once or twice in the past month really).  Smooth sailing so far.

I'm going to give it a few days and see what happens with the carb withdrawal symptoms.  Not giving up or anything like that, mind you.  It's different than the way I'm used to eating, and it's also very weird for me as well.  Just a wait and see situation for the most part.

Life is weird as well.  Weird.  Weird.  Weird.  Most days I feel like I've woken up and found myself on another planet and have NO idea why the hell I'm here.  That's another talk show.

And those damn dreams.  STILL freaking weird.  WTH is up with that?

Odd.

Oh. My. GOURD!! It costs HOW MUCH????!!!

Day 17 and it's the end.  Yes, the end.  But not completely the end.  But don't break out the tissues and start playing Taps just yet!  Let me explain what made me decide to change up the fabric of what I'm doing...

No worries about juicing itself, because everything was fine.  It's a great experience that I am continuing, but not 100% as a juice fast!  And there's a damn good reason for this choice.

Cost.  Plain and simple.

At the beginning of this journey the cost was estimated to be somewhere around $120/week, roughly.  In that estimate certain factors were considered such as what was in season, not in season, local purchases (which would make things less expensive), and buying organic (which means more expensive).  All T's were crossed and all I's were dotted.  But what we didn't consider were shortages, and for any such shortages to include one of the main staples of juicing---kale.

Well damn!

While doing a bit of research yesterday I discovered a few threads on folks who had given up their juice fasts due to cost.  And I found as many discussions on those who chose to suck it up and continue despite the cost.  While this whole cost thing concerned me I wasn't all THAT worried.  But then, T insisted on doing the shopping since he wanted to use his credit card that gave this awesome cash back incentive for shopping at grocery stores.  Okay.  I'm down with that.  And what this translates to is this....

I had NO idea what juicing was costing us until last night!

OH.  MY.  GOURD!

So, how bad could it be, you ask?  $180.00 to $200.00 per week!  YES!!  I know!!!  OMG!

I asked, "WHY didn't you tell me it was costing this much??!!!"  And T's reply was... "I didn't want you to worry, and I knew it was helping you."  *sigh*  Super sweet, yes?  Of course it is.  Still, we have a lot going on and really, a Reboot doesn't HAVE to last 30 days to receive great benefit from all the micronutrients you take in!

I said... "It's time to Transition out."  And so last night I had lentil & veggie soup (vegan, gluten free, organic), and began my transition back into solid foods, and I feel great about my decision.  :)

I had 17 awesome days where my body was flooded with pure, fresh vegetable and fruit juice, free from packaged food, fried food, sugar, gluten, and any other form of garbage that most of us humans put into our systems on a regular basis.

I sleep better than I have since I don't know when, my hair is growing faster, my nails as well, and my skin looks great!  And... I don't crave junk food or sweets!  And trust me, I used to LOOOOOVE sweets.  Not that I wouldn't eat desserts, mind you.  They're just not a temptation anymore.  Also, the allergies that have plagued me over the past two years are GONE!!!  I couldn't breathe before this cleanse, and now I can breathe normally!

And it took only 17 days.  Actually, it took less than that, but I continued my cleanse for 17 days.

What's next?  My next goal is to go vegetarian/vegan.  I didn't grow up this way, and I didn't have this environment ever in my life.  So it's not going to be a "cold turkey" situation (no pun intended).  At least I don't think so.  I still have weight to lose as the prednisone monster and subsequent effects will take some time to correct, but it's okay.  I've come this far and have lost 17 lbs during my Reboot.  :)  I'm good.

So this is really where the fun actually starts!  Phase two is where the works begins, and "the work" IS the fun part, because the journey is going to be fun...  because nothing's really changes, has it?  I mean, all we really want is to look good naked, so... having said that... let's get to work!

Day 14 - Wake Up, Kick Ass, Repeat

Day 14 -  I tried standing like that and I think I pulled something and scared my family.  And my dog.  But the good news is that I've lost 14 lbs so far and I'm one day away from my first 30 day goal!  30 days of juicing, and I'm half way there!  Yay!

Funny ad, but I have to say there's a little truth in it.  These days people are shallow, and unless your significant other truly loves you, he/she will hit the dusty cow pie trail and you'll be left in a fatigue-laden, dust-clouded aloneness.  But then, maybe that's for the best.  Either way, this goofy ad speaks about a "vegetable compound," so there IS a little truth in this advertising, after all.  They just didn't tell the whole truth.  Of course, they were just trying to sell something.

Juicing is still the best way to get an abundance of the good stuff into your body.  Plain and simply put.  And... you'll be peppy too, for yourself, your family, your LIFE!

Life.  My life.  That's really what it's all about anyway.  I have to wake up every day and face myself, who I am, where I am, no matter what, and tell myself that I am okay!  :)  Now, if you're like me you may know you're a bit on the 'not-so-normal side,' and that's even better!  ha!  So go with it. I do, and I plan to keep doing so.

I embrace my not-so-normalness!;p

So today I got out of bed and I told myself that I'm going to take it easier than I did the last few days.  I over extended myself a bit and now I'm paying the price.  But that's not a bad thing, because it just means that my energy is up and that my body is in a state of "WTF??!" lol

Now it's just about taking it a step back and easing into things a little bit at a time and deciding not to conquer the world in one day.  Dang it.  I was so hoping to do that in a day, too!

Another thing I need to remember is to stop being so impersonal about things when I'm making my entries here.  As I was typing I realized I was going down the road of disassociating myself, personally, from my entries (for the most part) and had to go back and change some wording, phrasing, etc.  Old habits, I guess, not wanting to expose myself too much.

Bad habits are meant to be broken, and I'm going to make that one my bitch.

So, what bad habit are you going to make your bitch today?

Noodles!

Day 13 - Big Girl Panties OR Action Pants? Which are you?

Day 13 - and not one f**k shall be given today.  Ha!  Did I just say that? ;)  Yes I most certainly did, and I save that kind of talk for special occasions, honey! lol

Bad mood?  No way!  Just feeling ornery is all.  I do find myself wondering how many more layers of 'skin' I have to grow to be able to handle the smell of cooking food and all those spices!  I still don't have cravings, and I'm not ravenous.  But I miss spices.  I really do.

My tongue is unhappy.

Then... I look at the juices I have to make for tomorrow and see the dreaded.. "Celery Root" recipe!  EGHADS!  NOOOOOOOO!  Seriously, that stuff leaves an aftertaste in my mouth like... oh trust me.. you really don't want me to say that word.  Do you?

I'm not kidding.  And I won't use that word, because I'm really not sure who can or cannot handle it.  I don't know who's wearing their big girl panties, or if any guy who stumbles upon this is wearing his "Action Pants." lol

I mean, 16-20oz of ice cold after-taste of "THAT" in my mouth was too much for me to take, my friends... and it was ALL I could do to gag it down.  ((( shivers )))  Some things should not be cold or in that large of a quantity when you swallow it.  That is all I will say on the matter.

Needless to say I promptly set about looking for an alternative for that particular juice.  Luckily, so far I've come across only two I've disliked.  And "dislike" is far to weak a statement to fully explain my, er, distaste for that particular recipe.

So now what is one to do after learning of that particular unpleasant experience?  Well, my dears, you simple go out and juice yourself a glass and taste it for yourself. lol

Enjoy! ;p

till next time!

Noodles!