Day 4 AM

Today is day 4 of my 40 days - 40 carbs - 40 prayers.

Weight: 166 pounds
BFI: 28.5%

During the first stage of Atkins your body is still in a state of detoxification. You body is slowly weening itself off of the carbohydrate addiction. You feel lousy, you want to quit. You may have trouble sleeping. You may feel like absolute crap. I know that the first time I did it, I thought I was losing my mind. For example, this morning I wanted to eat a clipart of a pizza.

However, you have to remain strong. You have to find something to satisfy your desire to eat, the flavor of sweet, but isn't going to start you back on your addiction. Once you get through this first crazy stage, then you start to feel strong and energized. You have less of an urge to eat, and if you do cheat and eat something not on the diet, you actually feel sick. It was this experience more than anything that showed me that we just weren't meant to eat processed flour. I love it, it just doesn't love me back. -sigh- such sweet sorrow.

The trick with the first phase of Atkins is to induce Ketosis. What is that? According to About.com Ketosis is – "a situation where fat metabolites show up in the urine where they can be detected with Ketostix." And why is this important? "ketosis (is) a sign that people are using fat for energy" How will I know that I have reached this crucial stage? "When people are in a state of ketosis, their appetite tends to diminish. They also may have changes in their breath as extra ketones are expelled from the lungs as well as the urine."

So yes, the beginning of the end is bad breath. Once your breath and your urine start to smell strange you have almost reached the end of the hard part. The blood sugar roller coaster that has you so tired at 3 PM, as advertisers like to show on commercials, will stop. The mind fog that you try to function through will stop. It all gets easier from there.

What this means for me is that I need to hold fast to scripture. BTW, I never found the scripture on pickles. So let's look in the bible for something on temptation...

Matthew 26:41 NIV
"Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak."

That's a good one. Watch and pray. So get out your Bible and find a scripture that will lift you up. I like this one because it is a promise to those with faith.

Matthew 17:20-21 NIV
He replied, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you. "

Today will be a good day for us. Praise God!