Ok, I’m sure that my body detoxing from carb overload is nothing compared to the detox an alcoholic or drug addict goes through, but since I’ve never experienced either of those things, this feels fairly cruddy to me!!

I didn’t start the Metabolism Miracle diet on Monday, as previously planned (see this post for the background on my discovery of this book, if you missed it), because I just wasn’t able to finish the book (or do any shopping) on Easter. So, I finished the book on Monday, did a little shopping and started on Tuesday. Only one day later than planned, yes, but that means I’m just starting day 3 of the 3-day detox on not day 4! Boo!

To be honest, it’s actually going really well, even though I’ve been a bit weak and had a mild headache (which the book said was likely for the first three days as your body releases its 3 days of glycogen stores). The science behind the book seems to make complete sense (of course, I don’t have anything to compare it to, but the author has been a dietitian for 25 years) and I am extremely hopeful this is a plan that will work even better for me than Weight Watchers. While I started out gang busters on that plan, the weight loss was slowing… slowing… slowing… and I couldn’t understand how I could be eating so few calories and not losing weight! This is something else addressed in the book that applies to the ½ of the population that is plagued with “Metabolism B”.

The dietary side actually reminds me a lot of SlimGenics (and even somewhat validates just how healthy, overall, I was eating on that plan), which was clearly very successful for me, but it seems to take it to the next level and requires mandatory exercise, which SlimGenics actually seemed to somewhat discourage. Of course, after finishing the book, I can totally see why; they are very scale-based and advertise losing 3-5 lbs a week. With regular exercise, your body will attack the fat and not the muscle (which weighs more), and you’ll lose inches faster than lbs on the scale. Personally, even though I’m a numbers person, I would rather look great and feel great than see a number that I perceive as “ideal” on the scale.

It also seems to explain why, even at my goal weight with SlimGenics, I was still very unhappy with how my body looked, unclothed. I was still very loose around the middle and felt like I weighed a lot more than I actually did. Here, it’s supposed to be the opposite. You will look like you weigh a lot less than you actually do, because you will be shedding purely fat. It also goes into far more detail about when to eat and how to spread out different foods, when to exercise, etc. These are things that have never really been addressed specifically with any other diet plan; they’re generally just about calories in must be less than calories out/calories burned.

The exercise part is very interesting, too, as it’s far less stringent than what the traditional exercise plans mandate. The minimum requirement is 30 minutes a day, but since it’s about activating your muscles and not gaining cardio benefits at this point, it’s just fine (and even recommended to keep your muscles active throughout the day) to do 10 minutes in the morning, 10 more at lunch and finish off with 10 at dinner. Well, that’s easy! Tuesday I did about 40 total minutes on playing Wii Fit Plus, three separate times throughout the day. Yesterday I did about 20 minutes of WiiFit Plus after lunch, then about 3o minutes of Zumba Party on the Kinect last night after dinner. Despite feeling less than fabulous, I find I still have plenty of energy for exercise!

So, today is Day 3. The last day that my body should have glycogen stores to deplete, hence the last day I’ll feel this way. Tomorrow I’m supposed to wake up feeling great – more energy, etc. Looking forward to it!

Oh, and I’m not supposed to step on the scale AT ALL until I’m finished with Step 1, which is 8 weeks! Umm.. yeah, pretty unlikely. But, I am going to try and resist until the end of the first month, when I’m supposed to take my measurements again. We’ll see how successful I am with that…