what to eat to get 20 carbs in a day

[jcbanik]

I have been on the atkins plan for seven days know, and I just found this board. I love this woe and have lost 15 pounds in a week. I am 6' 8" tall and my starting weight was 333. My normal daily menu looks like this:

Breakfast
5 0 carb omega 3 enriched eggs

Midmorning snack
advant edge chocolate shake ( 2 net carbs )

Lunch
2 cups of salad with pepperoni (2 net carbs)

Dinner
1 cup of steamed zucchinni ( 3 net carbs )
1 large piece of steak, pork, or chicken

Snack
1 pria chocolate mocha crisp bar ( 2 net carbs )

As you can see thats only 9 net carbs. I know most on this board are against so called Frankenfoods but without them I would be down to 5 net carbs a day. My Atkins For Life book says I need 20 grams of net carbs a day from salad and vegetables but it says dont go over three cups. So my questions is how do others on induction get 20 grams of net carbs a day.

Thanks,
James

[Almost-30-Years_Old]

Hello :wave

Have you read DANDR? With induction you should not be using the shakes or any candy bars. You have to stick to the list of induction foods in order for your induction to work properly.

[pluorvee]

start by getting the book and cut out the "carb controled" food items. The book will be a very big help to you. You dont have to eat 20 carbs a day, you cant go over 20 carbs. just read the book....you will understand much more and will be able to do the diet the way it should be done.

good luck

[jcbanik]

Atkins for life is the only Atkins book I can find and I have read it from cover to cover. I know the carb controlled foods arent allowed, and I plan on cutting them out for the next two weeks, but the lettuce I eat and the vegetable I have at dinner equals only 5 net carbs a day.

[not2late]

Welcome.

You don't need to eat 20 net carbs daily. You just can't go over 20 net carbs daily. Dr. Atkins picked 20 because that was the number of carbs where the vast majority of people can get into ketosis, but many of us get into ketosis if we drop our carbs to 100 grams daily.

As for the shakes, bars, etc.....

We don't advocate their use because they are notorious for stalling or slowing people's weight loss. The first 14 days of Induction are VERY important because the amount of weight you lose during this time will give you an idea of your metabolic resistance to weight loss (which will give you an idea how easily weight loss will be for you and your carb tolerance level, also known as the Critical Carbohydrate Losing Level). So, we recommend that you optimize your weight loss by not eating or drinking anything that can potentially slow or stop it. If you want to experiment with these products after the 14 days, it's up to you.

You don't mention if you are eating fat with your lunch salad. If not, you need to add it. Atkins is a high fat, low carb diet. The fat does a number of things, including blunting the insulin response by slowing down the digestion of the carbs in your salad veggies and the fat will help you feel "full" between meals. By the way, if you are using those "low carb dressings", be aware that they are relatively low fat. Most of those brands have about 5 grams of fat per 2 tablespoon serving...So you aren't getting enough fat from those "low carb" dressings.

As for your veggies carbs, you need to have the majority of your daily carbs coming from the veggies. Mix up your veggies. You have more than lettuce or spinach to choose from on the "salad" veggie list.

Also, eggs have carbs. 1 large USDA grade A egg has 0.6 net carbs. Due to the virtually non-existent carbohydrate labelling laws in the US, manufacturers can round up or round down carb numbers. And if your pepperoni contains sugar (dextrose, corn syrup solids, etc.) it has carbs too.

By the way, while Atkins for Life is a good book, it's not the book geared towards weight loss. In fact, Dr. Atkins wrote in the introductory chapter that Atkins for Life was meant for normal weight people or people with a few pounds to lose who want to have a low carb lifestyle. He referred those readers who wanted to lose weight to DANDR 2002.

[Isabeau]

Just to add, during induction we strive for 65% fat, 30% protein and 5% carbs (the majority of which come from our three cups of acceptable veggies). There is an awesome free tool available www.fitday.com that helps you keep track of such things easily.

Welcome to the ha