Hey - can anyone offer my any advice?

[Martin25UK]

Hey, been reading through this site and it seems that there are a lot of people in the know who have had great success on the Atkins. I am trying to lose about 21lbs or 1.5 stone. I have been on induction for about 3 days and starting to reach a bit of a stalemate when it comes to food. If I tell you a typical days food can anyone confirm I am doing Atkins correctly?

Breakfast - 2 boiled eggs and 2 rashes of bacon

Lunch - 2 pieces of salmon or river cobbler with EITHER a handful of spinach/lettuce & 2 cherry tomatoes and cheese OR 1 whole pepper sliced and cheese

Dinner - 2 large homemade beefburgers with cheese & a handful of spinach/lettuce and 2 cherry tomatoes.

Snacks are pieces of fried chicken, bacon, boiled eggs or pieces of cheese.

Does this seem OK? I have to admit I am a bit hungry on this and find myself thinking I could probably eat 4 pieces of salmon for dinner but think this might be just me being greedy and not having restraint!

Also in the book it said not to focus too much on exercise during induction but some people state its necessary - what are other peoples experience?

As of yet I have not lost any weight but I'm assuming my body is just getting into ketosis around now? Or should I be losing weight from day one?

Sorry if this has rambled on a bit - i just want to make sure I'm doing this right. I have Dr Atkins book but the section on induction is quit small AND i have no idea what a 'cup' means in terms of measurements! How big is this cup!

So if you have any tips about how to lose the weight quicker or if you think i could improve my diet to ensure a more rapid loss then I'm all ears!

Thanks for reading this, all my friends are out drinking at the moment but I'm in hiding to avoid temptation, so any company would be appreciated!)

Love from London - Martin x

[Chicklady]

Re: Hey - can anyone offer my any advice?

Welcome! First, when you start losing depends on how much glucogen you had stored in your muscles. usually by day 4 you are well into ketosis.
As for your meals, it looks a little sad in the vegetable department. while it's hard for me to calculate what portion your "handful" of lettuce/spinach are, I can pretty much assume you aren't meeting your 3 cups of salad veggies or 2 cups salad veggies plus 1 cup other veggie per day. A measuring cup is 8 fluid ounces. Your best bet is to get a food scale and measure out what you're eating....you can then enter it into fitday.com and find out exactly what you are getting.
finally, are you drinking plenty of water?

[Chicklady]

Re: Hey - can anyone offer my any advice?

BTW, are you eating enough fat? Full fat dressing on your salad, etc? You should be getting about 65% of your calories from fat.

[Martin25UK]

Re: Hey - can anyone offer my any advice?

Hey ChickLady, thanks for your response! Yeah I have to admit that I was unsure about how much Veg I should be eating and was afraid to stall progress by overeating - I have leeks, cabbages and the rest all in the fridge staring back at me BUT I keep thinking no - I will defo ensure I get some scales and start measuring properly! As for salad dressings, this is something I don't normally eat so to be honest I'm not too sure how to make one! Any tips on a good one, i have olive oil, vinegar, mustard and honey in the house but I'm assuming i cant eat the mustard or honey?!

I'm trying to drink a cup of water every hour so i think i;m drinking enough, I am thirsty alot and find myself having a bit of dull headache alot of the time. Is this normal?

Frying some pork chops in butter and oil as we speak, to help get some of that fat in!!!

Can I ask how much you lost during induction?

[Chicklady]

Re: Hey - can anyone offer my any advice?

you can eat mustard, as long as it's sugar free. no honey. oil and vingar is one option for a dressing, but any commercially prepared that has less than 2 gm carbs per serving is fine. Blue cheese ones are usually a safe choice, and quite a few of the italian ones....just read labels!!
You can also make your own with sour cream, mayo, heavy cream and herbs and spices.
If you prefer your salad without dressing, you can always "fatten" up your meals with butter, oil, mayo, avocado and such.
Do you have the book?

[Sunny_0ne]

Re: Hey - can anyone offer my any advice?

Welcome, Martin!

One of our members has done a cup/ounces conversions. Let me see if I can find it for you....

I'm sorry... I just did a search and can't find it. Maybe someone else can locate it for you.

You also said that you are hungry. In that case, Dr. Atkins says to EAT. You should never let yourself get hungry. Eat until you feel satisfied, but not stuffed.

I have to eat fairly often to keep from getting hungry... I eat at least two snacks, sometimes more. If you get hungry, you WILL go off plan.

So eat as much as you need to feel comfortably satisfied. And do add fats and more veggies. It is the ratio of fats to carbs that makes the diet work.

Also, do use Fitday, as Chicklady suggested. It's a pain to get used to, but once you figure how to enter foods in the search, it goes really fast.

It does not figure net carbs. At the bottom, it gives you total carbs and dietary fiber carbs. You subtract the fiber from the total carbs to get your net carbs.

A food scale is indispensable!