I've eaten less than 20 carbs every day and drunk at least 9 glasses of water + decaf tea (not counted). I'm not exercising yet, but hope to start slowly at that tomorrow. How long should I stick with this odd way of eating?
God I wish Labor Day would hurry up. LOL!! ;^)
Give it at least another week. Sometimes the body takes a while to realize that it's not going to get what it usually got, nutrition-wise.
Are you hungry? Tired? The exercise will help some.
Well first of all, look on the bright side. You haven't gained any weight either!
I must say that exercise was a part of my plan from the get-go. All the low-carb books I have read (including Atkins) stresses that exercise is a very important part of the diet.
Yes, you will see people post here that they lost tons of weight on Atkins "without exercise" but that never appealed to me. I didn't just want to lose weight. I wanted to be physically fit too.
Trust me, I was badly out of shape when I started my program back in April. I couldn't climb a set of stairs briskly without my heart pounding like a hammer. Now I bound up them with the energy of a 12-year-old boy. All because I walk, walk, walk.
I'm a busy guy but I found the time to walk. I get up an hour early and walk for an hour before going to work. I then use my lunch hour at work to walk again. I don't "stroll" either. I walk briskly and now I am starting to "power walk" but that is something you really need to work up to. For now, just walk at the briskest pace that you can comfortably maintain. If you are out of breath, you are walking too fast. If you can breathe too easily, you are walking too slow. Find that happy medium and stick with it. My walks are now the most pleasurable part of my day.