I have read the book. I understand most of it. I am not a water drinker or big veggie eater. Can anyone help me with simple ideas for eating. I have 2 kids (9,6) work full time. I am 4'11" weigh 206. I grew up weighing 100 to 110 until I was 25. I am 33 now and unhappy. Also how do you read the carbs on labels? Which ones do you count and which ones you don't?

Thanks
Kassy

Kassie I am not expert by any means. The basic plan for the atkins way to my understanding is eliminating the carbs. When eating a burger just eat the meat and vegetables. When eating a sandwich roll the meat around a piece of cheese. They have low-carb tortilla's in most stores and other low carb products. Eliminating to limiting carbs is the basic idea. Which I go through withdrawl each time I try it. Try eating your carbs if any for breakfast and lunch and none after three. In the book you are suppose to go through a 14 day induction which you do not have any carbs or sugars. You are only allowed Meat and green vegetables, no corn, no carrots etc. Plenty of water. It does work.

Welcome, Kassy!

You are taking a great step towards awesome health!

If you are doing Atkins, you'll start with induction, which limits you to 20 carbs per day. These should come from meat, cheese and veggies - no artificial sweetners (it's bumped me off the wagon more than once!!), fruits or grains for now. Do you have the book? It has all the food lists, etc., as well as important info on issues you may encounter.

As for reading labels, you take the total carbs listed minus any fiber (fiber is a carb, but can't be absorbed by the body, so it doesn't count here.) Beware of glycerine and alcohol sugars which are usually not counted on low-carb snacks but act as sugars for some of us! (These should not be eaten during induction, and IMO rarely, if ever, after that.)

Get yourself a carb counter booklet - Atkins has one out - to track the small number of carbs in meat, cheese, eggs, etc. Or, visit Fitday.com for a free site that lets you enter your foods eaten - it computes and tracks your carbs and other nutrients.

Knowledge and patience are your best tools as you start out on this way of eating. I've tripped up so many times and have had to go back and find out what went wrong. Everyone's body is so different, so give yourself time to find what works for you, and don't be too hard on yourself when you goof up or cheat.

The support here is terrific! You can ask (or confess...) anything and there are lots of people to provide the info and support you need.

Congrats to you on taking this first step!

Staci

Hi Kassy and Wellcome!! If you're just starting out, stick to basics,meat,green raw veggies, green cooked veggies, for now I'd stay away from "low carb" products until you get a feel for what you are doing,cheese is OK but not too much, it may constipate you, stay away from "white foods" sugar flour noodles rice, ect ...and make sure you drink a TON of water. Good Luck , and check in often, there's alot of support here.

Jackie