I have to admit, I didn’t feel like I did as well on week three of the Atkins diet as I did on the previous two weeks. Factors beyond my control made it really difficult for me to stay on the diet. It has been said that people learn best from their mistakes. After getting through week three, I have some wisdom to share.
It wasn’t as easy for me to stay on this diet when my husband and I went out to eat. I work from home, and that means I am lucky enough to tailor my day, and my food choices, around my job. I learned that things become a lot more difficult when I leave the house, and have to navigate around menus.
My husband and I went out for “decadent desserts” with some friends. We wanted to spend time together with the friends, and two people in the group were celebrating a birthday that week. My plan was to drink iced tea, (black, with no sugar or sweetener added), and enjoy the company. I thought this would be easy since my food allergies prevent me from eating most of the desserts at the place we went to.
Instead, I learned that this place had sorbet, something I had never tried before. I learned that sorbet doesn’t contain any dairy. This matters to me, because I am lactose intolerant. The type of sorbet that was being served that evening was raspberry, which just so happens to be a fruit that I am not allergic to. I had decided to stay in the Induction phase for week three, which meant that I wasn’t supposed to be eating any fruit at all.
At this point in the day, I was still recovering from a big allergic reaction that I experienced the day before. (Some Atkins shakes have milk in them, unfortunately). I didn’t eat anything at all before we went out with our friends, except for some gluten free crackers to help settle my stomach. So, I was already over the carb amount I was supposed to stay under for that day anyway. What could a little sorbet hurt at that point? I ended up cheating on my diet, again, (but only ate a little bit of the sorbet).
I learned that if I cheated on this diet, even for just a couple of days, it wasn’t the end of the world. It also didn’t mean that the whole diet was over and done with. There wasn’t anything stopping me from making sure I stayed under the carb count for the rest of the week.
At the end of week three, I learned that I had managed to lose two more pounds, despite my mistakes. I went from 175 pounds at the end of week two, to 173 pounds at the end of week three. My grand total of weight loss is now seven pounds, since I started the Atkins diet. I decided to stay in the Induction phase for one more week, in the hopes of losing a total of ten pounds before considering if I should stay in Induction or move up to OWL.
Image by jspatchwork on Flickr