I'll be honest with you: the first week wasn't hard, but it was a bit weird.

Every time I went to reach for something carby - toast, a biscuit, a bag of crisps - I'd stop myself. I quickly realised was that this wasn't hunger, it was just habit. Forty-six years of reaching for carbs had wired my brain to expect them, and unpicking that felt strange rather than difficult.

But I never felt like I was starving. I just had to get comfortable with the idea that I could feel completely full without the cravings I was used to. By the end of week one, I got a mild headache. My body was telling me it missed sugar. Which is fair enough, I'd been feeding it sugar for nearly five decades. I treated it as a good sign. My internal systems were adapting. I pushed on.

Week two was when things got interesting. The brain fog lifted. I started waking up feeling clearer than I had in years, and something I really didn't expect: my general anxiety started to drop. Not dramatically, but definitely noticeable. The weight had started coming off too, which was surprising because I was building muscle at the same time. I was living almost entirely off protein and cruciferous veg and my body seemed to love it.

Weeks three and four I basically went into autopilot. I won't pretend it was all perfectly prepped meals (I work on a university campus with no supermarket nearby, so there were a few frantic lunches of plain grilled chicken and salad), but here's the thing: that was actually fine. I wasn't desperate to satisfy carb cravings, I was just looking for protein-heavy snacks.

Week five, my weight stalled. For about thirty seconds, I was mildly annoyed. Then I looked at the before and after photos side by side. My stomach had gone, my shoulders were wider, my chest was stronger. And the man boobs - moobs, which I had quietly accepted as a permanent feature of my life - had disappeared entirely.

Something else had shifted too. My taste buds! I now genuinely look forward to my zero-carb yoghurt with thick cream, walnuts, and blueberries. It felt like a real treat. The week before I started Atlas, I was eating Easter eggs - plural - and they didn't taste this good.

Five weeks. That's all it's taken to start feeling like a different version of myself. My blood pressure is lower, my weight has dropped, as has my body fat. My body is a different shape. I appreciate food more. I don't have abs yet but I don't have a tummy. I have more energy. I have less anxiety. These are all amazing things and I'm so pleased. Here's to the next five weeks!