Newbie looking for help

[countryhippie]

Hi there! I want to start by saying thank you for all the information on this site! My husband and I have been following induction and it is going but slowly. After getting on fitDay and plugging in all the foods we eat daily it seems that our fat intake is too low and our carb intake is too low. How can I up the carbs if you can only eat 2 cups of salad and 1 cup of vegetable? And how do I up the fat?

Breakfast : 4 turkey slices or roast beef rolled up with cream cheese or
3fried eggs with 2 turkey sausage links, or Atkins crustless
quieche
Lunch : grilled chicken breast with tblsp mayo ( or the previous
nights leftovers)
1 cup romaine/spinach salad with 1 to 2 tblsp Kens Casaer drsg
(0carbs, 0 sugar) or Maries blue cheese
Dinner : 6 oz grilled steak, salmon, chicken, or pork chop
1cup broccoli, port. mushroom, zucchini, squash, or green beans
1 cup salad same as above.

I actually lost 5 lbs my first week (in the 3rd week now). I havent dropped a pound since but the keto sticks say Im burning. I also know that this is great since I only had 20 pounds to loose. My husband has about 60 to loose. He is being secretive about his numbers but has expressed that he hasnt lost anything.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

[Elizellen]

Re: Newbie looking for help

Hi Lori
It looks as if you are off to a good start

Are you still on induction? with 15 pounds left to lose you really need to move to OWL and add 5 net carbs more vegetables to what you have been eating up to now.

As to your quesion about how to add more fat - you can use butter/oil to cook in and melt butter over cooked meat/veg too.

Avocados are high in fat and you are allowed one half of a small one on induciton under the 'special foods' category.

With meats you can choose fattier cuts or leave (and eat) the skin on chicken instead of eating skinless cuts. Oily fish is high in fat too.

As to how to get your carbs higher from your vegetables, you need to choose different ones from the lists which have more carbs. Onions, tomatoes and peppers are higher in carb than lettuce. also pumpkin and rhubarb.

I see you are using fitday (I still do after 4 years) and I found it useful when on induction to punch in all I planned to eat the evening before so if needed I could 'tweak' the menu to get my ratios more in line with the 65% fat/30% protein/5% carbs percentages.

[countryhippie]

Re: Newbie looking for help

Thank you Elizellen.
I think I need to retire the grill for now and start using the oven and a skillet to cook our meats. Im so used to cooking on the grill and avoiding "fat" that I forgot all about the yummy joys of frying up a porkchop in butter or anything else for that matter!!!

I pretty much figured that I needed to move on to the OWL phase; do you think I should keep my husband on the induction? As I said he wont give me numbers. I havent noticed any major difference in him except like me, his face does seem a bit thinner... not as puffy.

[FatBottomGirl]

Re: Newbie looking for help

Hi and welcome. Tell hubby not to worry about the "numbers" alot of us don't see poundage loss as much as the body shrinkage ((which I love)). We all lose at different levels - has he checked to see if he is in ketosis? It's nice that you both are doing this together -- helps with the motivation.

Good luck

[countryhippie]

Re: Newbie looking for help

He hasnt checked for ketosis in over a week because his color went from very dark to a trace...once. He also told me he was getting addicted to checking it and it was driving him nuts. He tells me his pee still smells funny, based on what I have read...thats a good sign! Whenever I check the Keto sticks Im burning and I cant imagine that I would and he wouldnt be if we are doing the same thing, eating the same food.
He is still very motivated and equally dedicated. He is the one who wanted to do this so I will do whatever it takes to help him.

[Elizellen]

Re: Newbie looking for help

I pretty much figured that I needed to move on to the OWL phase; do you think I should keep my husband on the induction? As I said he wont give me numbers. I havent noticed any major difference in him except like me, his face does seem a bit thinner... not as puffy.

I would ask him if he feels he wants to move onto OWL or stay on induction a while longer.

It will be a bit complicated if you move up the ladder faster than he does but not impossible. You could eat different veggies portions if you move to the first OWL rung now quite easily by either having extra amounts or by adding your 5 net carbs as a snack when he isnt around. I am assuming you dont eat all meals/snacks together?

And when you move to different rungs you will have to get inventive on how to add your dairy/nuts/berries without upsetting him or making him feel deprived - but he is an adult and can be responsible for his own eating regimen.

And as he is wanting to be in control of his weightloss efforts (by not wanting to discuss his numbers) he needs to take control of the 'management' of his Atkins journey by letting you know what timetable he wants to follow according to his own progress and discussing how he wants to climb the OWL ladder when ready.

[countryhippie]

Re: Newbie looking for help

Thanks. I am at home all day so its really easy for me to alter my diet when he is not around. You are correct in that I dont want to eat things n front of him that he cant have....thats torture! Well maybe if I was angry with him...NO Im only kidding I wouldnt do that no matter what!
I talked with him about everything last night and he is really leaving it up to me but I got the feeling that he wants to give induction another week or two. I dont think its gonna hurt me to just continue with him and move on to OWL with him. I dont want him to get discuraged...
In the mean time Im gonna look at frying up food in the skillet with butter and also some higher carb veggies like recommended and to help me along, keep going into Fitday to check on the numbers. Thanks again!

[MrsBrittney]

Re: Newbie looking for help

Sometimes folks just don't hit ketosis the same way.

The first time I was on Atkins, I handled the cooking and my boyfriend at the time did not. Yet I was losing and in ketosis, and he wasn't losing or in ketosis. His is a bad example because I later found out he was having cheat foods at work.

This time around, I'm doing it with my hubbie as well. He tends to eat more carbs than me in the wrong portions (more from bacon or SF Kool-aid than he should) but he does get his veggies in and sticks to roughly the right carbs. However, as he's skinnier and doesn't really have anything to lose (hes doing it more for support/health) he doesn't seem to hit ketosis as deeply as me. Then again, perhaps he drinks more water than I do!