Short Version:
I am going through some serious psychological withdrawal symptoms and some physical ones as well. This has made me uncharacteristically grumpy, rather depressed, and completely unable to focus. This is how you loyal readers have been granted with a whiny post rather than a brilliant and informative one. :-)
Long Version:
As you may know, if you actually make it down to the bottom of my Weekly Review posts, my husband and I have been trying for a healthy lifestyle upgrade in hopes of reversing the steady upward trend in our weights we've experienced since we got married. We've been tracking our activity levels (yea Fitbit - highly recommended) and calories in and we've both lost about 10 pounds in 12 or so weeks.
Then, on the recommendation of a coworker of my husband's, we read the book: Why We Get Fat by Gary Taubes. It is a very interesting read full of history and research summaries. I'm always disproportionately swayed by research. I'll give you a hint. This book essentially explains the science behind why an Atkins style low-carb diet works to help you lose weight, and helps with controlling blood sugar swings. We decided to try it.
Here's the problem. I love carbs. I like the sweet kind and the bread kind. I don't actually much like meat or fats (although I do love cheese). In fact, I would often substitute a small sugary item (hello mini ice cream cones) for a healthy snack during our previous 10 weeks of tracking calories under the assumption that 130 calories is 130 calories no matter what you're getting it from.
Nevertheless, we came up with a week's worth of breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and snacks that we were pretty excited about. After all, after 10 weeks of eating only 1200 calories a day, eating as much as I like of a subset of foods sounded kinda fun. We're all of 36 hours into our first week. Neither of us are happy campers. It is amazing how much I want something sweet even though I'm not actually hungry. It is amazing how little I've been able to focus today. I couldn't concentrate on the speech post I had planned. I didn't get any work on the s-blends resource I'm putting together. I usually enjoy those activities.
Someone tell me that you've tried this low-carb thing and that things get better. While I'm wishing, please tell me they get better sometime in the next 24-48 hours. Please?
I've heard that if you crave sweet you need more protein. It's working for me! It was hard at first to not give in to sugar cravings, but it's gotten much easier, and when i do give in and eat bread i feel so icky the next day. I read Nourishing Traditions (amazing info about healthy fats, why low fat is bad, etc.) And am trying to research GAPS and Paleo.
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