Day Five: The end of the bulging

I promised myself that I wouldn't be obsessessed with the scale when I started Atkins. And I haven't but I'm pretty sure I've lost some weight. I feel that my pants are looser than they were five days ago, which is awesome because I don't have to spend half an hour trying to find a top that will cover up my stomach bulging from the pants.
I've been feeling great lately, like I'm really achieving something. I made this low-carb Sheppard's Pie the other day and it turned out delicious. This is actually one of my favorite low-carb recipes. And it's good because it's actually a big pie and it lasts a couple of days. I wonder what it would taste like if I substituted the green beans by spinach...I have to try that. I even took a piece to work to eat at lunchtime and my co-worker could not believe I could eat the low-carb Sheppard's Pie and be on a "diet." It's kind of funny to me that with the ever-growing popularity of low-carb eating a lot of people still don't understand low-carb eating. They think it's kinda weird and that I'm not going to lose weight (that's what it sounded like when my co-worker said : "You're not on a diet! Look at what you're eating!"). Well, time will show her.
For the low-carb eaters and others who are following another plan: Were you ever criticized for your nutrition plan? How did you react?

Day Three: A Trip to the Supermarket

My boyfriend and I (Have I mentioned I live with my boyfriend?) went grocery shopping yesterday, walking all the way to the supermarket and back. Although there's one right next to where we live, we decided to go to the further one, just to get some walking done. I got all ready, made a list and parted with my recycled grocery bags in hand. I have to admit it wasn't easy walking throughout the whole supermarket with all those carb-filled products staring at me, begging to be bought, at least considered. Well, they were considered and bought...by my boyfriend who's not on Atkins. It's quite alright. I stuck mostly to veggies, eggs, cheese and meat. My boyfried was pretty supportive and actually made supper later on, a delicious broccoli quiche and some pork.
It's always fun to go to the supermaket. I like to look at what people are buying, the choices they are making. People of all sizes. Makes the expression "You are what you eat" quite true. People struggling to resist certain foods, people sure of what they're buying, others not so sure. Some stare at the shelves for hours trying to pick the right thing. The younger people I noticed (there are a lot of young people and families where we live) fill their cars with chips, popcorn, regular soda. I want to shake them and tell them not to buy crap because they'll eventually look like crap and feel like crap. Hopefully they'll realize in time. And It's something they have to do by themselves, I think.

This is for the low-carbers and others who are trying to change their eating habits: How did you realize you had to lose weight? How did it click that you had to change?

As I mentioned on my first post, I had to hit an ugly bottom first and ask myself if I was happy, to which my immediate answer was no. I know that It's only been three days, but I feel more in control now and happy I found support and others who are or went through the same thing I'm going through.

Oh...Hello...

I just noticed the Jimmy Moore from Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Blog listed this blog in his website! That's awesome! It makes me feel good and motivated that people are actually reading Fatsuit Withdrawal! Thanks Jimmy!

Day Two: Oh...those menus are outta here!

Yesterday I had to pull a double shift, eleven hours. It was pretty tough to resist buying a sandwich at the coffee shop across the street from my job. However I walked to McDonalds and got their ceasar salad, which I must admit is pretty good. I know their sauce is heavy so I only had half of it. Had a diet coke and I was good. The salad with the chiken is filling, so I was ok until about seven o'clock, when I went to the coffee shop and bough some cheese.
I was hungry by the time I got home and really tired. I wondered about ordering and not cooking at all because I was so tired. Those evil menus are out of this apartment from today on, I cannot bear having them around, the temptation to get food ready at my door has to stop. I didn't order after all. I thought "but If I do order, I'll have to restart Atkins all over again, I'll feel like crap after I eat and all the effort made the day before would be in vain." So I made some meat and ate the rest of the egg salad I had made the day before. It worked. The truth was that I wasn't hungry for a specific food, that is, the junk food from the menus, but was just hungry in general, and the easiest solution was to pick up the phone and call. It's always good to have some food ready at this phase, while the pounds still haven't come off, as a motivation to not make stupid mistakes. I know that when the pounds do start to come off I will be stronger about eating right, and the pounds off will be my motivation.
I have been searching for other low carb bloggers, and I did find some, which makes me not feel so alone doing this. I will soon add them to my links.

Day One

Day one for me when I'm trying to change my eating habits usually goes okay, I feel really motivated. I can't say that I didn't feel like having bread or sweets, but I fought really hard against giving in. And I did it. I always think about the way I'd feel about myself if I gave in and I know I would feel like shit for not being strong. It's really a nasty feeling. Also, I thought about the effort I made throughout the day and if I cheated at supper, all that effort would be worthless because 'Id have to start all over again tomorrow. No, It's not worth it I told myself.
I actually did some exercise, walked from the subway home, which is about 15 min. I think this is a really good goal. Not take the bus, but walk to the metro, after all, it is summer. I also did my first weigh in this morning: I'm at 180, which means four pounds lighter than I was at my heaviest.
Tomorrow is a tricky day because I have work and I'm really bad at making lunches, especially low carb ones, but I'm going to try and wake up a little early to make something.

The day before Day 1

As I was packing today I found some photo albums with pictures from a few years back. As i looked through them I saw an old me that i had forgotten about. Happy, healthy, slim (Although at the time I thought I was fat, like the majority of teenagers). Then, as I flipped though the album and as the chronological sequence in which the pictures were organized brought me back to now, I saw another me: inactive, sad, chubby. The difference is astounding, not only in terms of how much weight i gained in the last few years, but also on how I perceived myself. I remember, very clearly. I used to be confident, I used to really think I was pretty. As I compared the photos I thought about where I was now. Was I confident? Was I happy with my body? As the answers were a swoop no, I hit a rock bottom. I used to like myself in pictures, now I detest myself in every picture I take, and try to desperately photoshop them to make myself look decent. How could my eating habits get so bad? I suddenly hated all those junk food menus I got by mail, from which I ordered so many times. I hated my obsession with chocolate, chicken burgers, oreos. A scary thought came to my mind. If I thought I was fat in those pictures that now I seem to be perfectly okay, what is going to happen five years from now? Am I going to be bigger than I already am and look back at the pictures I take now and think I wasn't that bad? How big am I going to get? And will I ever be able to jog for at least half an hour, without almost puking my heart out? My body, I know, begs me for exercise every day. And when it does get some, punishes me with muscular pain.
This doesn't come as I surprise. However, as it is said of drug addicts, for a person to change they must hit rock bottom, if not they wont stick to any sort of program. Last year I had hit rock bottom and actually lost thirty four pounds doing the Atkins Nutritional Approach. There's no words to describe what I felt, I could fit into jeans that I hadn't worn in years! As school started, I found myself being too lazy to cook, to eat right, to follow the plan. As I gained weight I promised myself I would go back to eating low carb and found myself always postponing the "going back," finding such excuses such as "I'll do it after my exams are finished," "I have to join a gym before I restart," "I'll only be able to do it after the holidays." I was weak, lazy, couldn't say no to pizza and movie night.
The pounds came back, all of it. And as I look at pictures from a year ago, before I had started Atkins, I find myself yet again in the same weight and the same bottom.

My plan to change consists not of a diet, but a reeducation, following the principles of Atkins (www.Atkins.com), using Fitday (www.Fitday.com) to track what I eat, and a daily walk of half an hour, plus the basics such as using stairs instead of escalators, drinking two liters of water a day and not skipping breakfast.

This blog came out of hitting rock bottom and wanting to change more than anything. Summer is here, and as slimmer and healthier girls are out buying bikinis and playing outdoor sports, I find myself in my apartment, depressed for not being out there, doing the exact same thing. Yet, full of plans to climb back to the top.