Megan vs. the Atkins Man

Well, on Tuesday I reached 200 pounds. I was estatic. Everything seemed to be going great.

Then everything fell apart.

During my morning shift in composing, I rubbed my eyes feeling somewhat tired. All of a sudden, the room started spinning and faded to black for a moment. I didn't fall over, but the world came back in focus and everything was spinning again. I don't think I've been that dizzy since I got the stomach flu last February.

I clocked out of composing and sat at my desk in the newsroom. Everything was still spinning and when I got up and walked, I had this bad habit of running into walls. My co-workers grilled me about what I had eaten the day before. Eggs, strawberries and three chicken legs. The day before that? Pretty much the same. The solution? We ordered pizza and I was told to eat. I also managed to get some milk which I drank. Drinking the milk alone made me feel a lot better.

I still felt pretty woozy throughout the day and my boss's wife gave me some pasta for dinner. She works up at the hospital. She wants me to come in and talk to a friend of hers who is a pharmacist and pretty familiar with the Atkins diet. I'm going to take her advice. She also told me I needed to eat more vegetables, which I had abandoned entirely because I hadn't bought any. I agreed and immediately went grocery shopping.

The next day I did okay. I did a normal Atkins diet with my veggies but added milk back in. The diet isn't suppose to have milk but I was so scared of getting dizzy again that I had a glass. Then later that night, I snacked on some fat-free Pringles. That too is a no no.

Today I was flat-out bad. I had a piece of cake and a chocolate milkshake. Funny thing is I really didn't even want them. They didn't taste that good. That's when I realized I was scared of fully going back on the Atkins diet. What happened Tuesday really was frightening and I didn't want it to happen to me again.

But realizing I was scared made me feel better. So, I went to the grocery store again and picked up more vegetables (I had used what I bought in feeding my boss and his wife in return for the meals they made me), but I also bought some orange juice. I'm going to do a modified version of the Atkins diet. The food on there really is good - meats and veggies and not a lot of dependence on bread products. I ODed way too much on bread products. Now I hardly miss them. What will be different is I'm adding in milk and orange juice. Not to excess and with the OJ not every day. But having those sources of calcium and vitamin C back in my diet will help me out a lot.

So tomorrow I am starting anew. I'm back above 200 slightly but that's okay. I needed this lesson (Megan, eat your veggies!). But, when I passed by the Krispy Kreme display thinking I would get one just to have, I looked at them, shook my head and walked off. Score :-) I don't miss them. I don't miss ice cream or anything else like that. If anything else, this diet cured me of those addictions. And taught me how to eat breakfast.

Oh, and I also threw my scale in the closet. Instead of weighing myself once a day, I'll do it once a week.

I feel pretty good about myself right now.