I'm not typically one to diet. I try to eat healthy and exercise, but sometimes I eat fast food and binge watch Netflix in bed for a week. At college, I definitely gained the freshman 15. I've been trying to lose it all summer with some success, but summer's almost over. I'm currently 5'3" and 131 pounds, and I used to weigh 127 pounds.
Not eating carbohydrates or sugar was really popular in the early 2000s, and it was called the Atkins diet. All the celebrities were doing it, and there were tons of books about it. More recently, Kim Kardashian said the Atkins diet was how she lost the baby weight after having her son Saint. As I understand, it's similar to the currently popular Paleo diet, during which you don't eat grains, processed food or refined sugar. The main difference is that you don't eat dairy on the Paleo diet, though I won't be eating dairy because I'm allergic to it.
I'll be limiting myself to 20 grams of carbohydrates a day, or the "Atkins 20." This is the most restrictive version of the diet. The idea is that when you eat under 30 grams of carbohydrates a day, your body goes into a process called ketosis, which causes you to lose weight. You can read more about ketosis and this diet here.
My mom has been eating like this for about a year. She swears by it, as it's helped her lose 30 pounds. She claims I'll lose five pounds in just this week. Let's see.
Day 1: Seriously craving carbs all day, especially bread and pancakes, and I don't even usually eat bread or pancakes. In fact, it's kind of distracting how much I want something other than meat and vegetables.
Day 2: My stomach keeps feeling weird, like hunger but I'm not hungry. I think it's my body craving sugar. When I'm full I don't really feel full either, more just not hungry. Iced coffee with cream and sugar substitute is my lifesaver on this diet so far, though I still basically want to murder someone and eat every pastry in sight.
Day 3: I weighed myself today and I'd lost two pounds. That gives me hope that this is actually working and not all for nothing, which is nice. I'm still cranky and kind of antsy though. I've found another lifesaver, which is kale chips. I didn't think I'd like them but they're surprisingly delicious.
Day 4: I weighed myself again and I'd lost another pound. The cravings have definitely decreased, though I did get emotional looking at a picture of waffles.
Day 5: I lost another pound, which is four so far. I feel much better today and very satisfied by the foods I can eat. I don't necessarily feel better than I did before I stopped eating sugar though.
Day 6: I feel great today, really energized. I also feel a lot better about my body than I did before. Though I'm not sure I look any different, knowing I'm losing weight makes me feel better about myself.
Day 7: I don't feel great, as I'm on my period, but I feel better than I usually do during my period. I'm glad this is my last day, because I really miss eating fruit.
Though I'm not going to continue eating like this, I'm definitely going to eat less carbohydrates and sugar. I'm also going to start taking a closer look at the carb and fiber amounts in the foods I eat. I would recommend this diet, especially to anyone who's trying to lose weight really fast in a healthy way. The first three days are really hard, sort of like drug withdrawal, but after that you feel like yourself again. Overall, I think it definitely lived up to the hype, and I can see why people live their lives like this. I would do it again.
