2 1/2 weeks of Atkins Induction Experiment

Well, I am done with my 2 1/2 week experiment I did on the Atkins diet. For 17 days I did an exclusive low carbohydrate diet consisting of below 20 carbs a day. Most of my meals consisted of meats such as hamburger, steak, chicken, fish, pepperoni and cheeses like mozzerella, american, cheddar. I did not take the recommended 15 carbs a day from vegetables but did eat salads with lots of ranch dressing, if that counts.

Here are some of the things I personally experienced and did during these 17 days:

1. I dropped about 16 pounds in those 17 days.
2. I did not really care too much about tracking my calories, only my carb intake.
3. It took 2 days before I was in full ketosis and checked daily using urine ketosis test strips.
4. I did not cheat not once during this experiment. I strictly kept my carbs below 20 per day and was in constant ketosis.
5. I did consume alcohol during this time. No beer, but vodka. The vodka and diet sprite mix did not effect my ketosis.
6. I drank nothing but water (except for my vodka/diet sprites). I averaged about 130 ounces per day.
7. The 2nd day of no carbs I was feeling pretty down and drained on energy levels. After that, my energy levels came back to normal and have been there since.
8. Bowell movements slowed down quite a bit. It was always unexpected when they would show up.
9. I lost 1.5 inches in waist measurements, 1.25 inches in hip measurements, and .75 in neck measurements.
10. My clothes definitely feel loser.
11. Even though I did not care about my calorie intake, I did track them and I found that I was consistantly staying under about 1,800 calories per day.
12. There were times that I had to force myself to eat. I just was not hungry at all. I took alot to even meet my goal of 1840 calories per day. I really could have been fine and full on about 1200-1500 per day.
13. The food choices did get very boring, but my wife was very very creative with low carb recipes and I could see myself living eating this way for quite sometime if I had to.
14. I did not do too much exercise during these 17 days besides playing the drums and basic work functions.
15. I really really miss a Tropical Smoothie Pineapple Delight made with Splenda.

I'm sure there are other things that I am leaving out, but these were a few that I wanted to share so people can get some kind of idea what low carb is all about if they never tried it.

Starting tomorrow I am raising my carbs up to about 90-100 to see what happens. I am still going to limit my breads and pastas to pretty much none just because I would rather spend my calories on something more nutritious. The more I look at bread and pastas, I do not really see any reason to even eat them unless you love the taste. I cannot find much they help with our bodies and I do not think you get the bang for your buck with them. Most of my carbs will be coming from fruit.

My thoughts from my own experience on a ketosis diet plan is that it still comes down to calories in / calories out to a certain degree. I am sure people who are insulin resistant could benefit greatly from a ketosis diet, but in the end I think the reason I lost weight was due to always feeling full and basically not eating. Now that I have somewhat of a benchmark to go by with a low carb diet, I can track for another 2-3 weeks with my carbs at 90-100 and see the results.