I started eating low-carb Oct. 2 2019

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

79. One thing I learned (the hard way) is that you have to drink a lot of water.

I decided I needed to lose some weight so about 5 weeks ago I started Atkins (I'd had some success with it years ago). I was careful with carbs, got through Christmas with only a few cookies, didn't overeat anything, and thought I was doing really well. But I don't have a scale; my old one, which was never accurate, finally broke and I never bothered to replace it. So at a doctor visit the other day for a follow-up on an unrelated, minor thing, I discovered to my horror that I'd actually gained five pounds! I asked how that was even possible, considering how diligent I'd been, and was told that I'm probably retaining water. The doctor said I should drink a lot of water because if you don't (and I tend not to), your body senses it's not getting enough and automatically tries to retain it. She also said that even on Atkins you have to watch calories and salt and not gorge on stuff like bacon and cheese, which are packed with those things. So it's more vegetables and more water for me.