I did a modified version of Atkins (eating salads and chicken for two meals a day) several years ago when I was a nursing home resident. Over the four years I lived in the institution, I lost 137lbs. This past February, I started doing Atkins properly, by the book. In my first two weeks, I lost a total of 20lbs, mostly water weight. My total lost since I started is - well, you can see it in my signature.

But don't take this as typical of what you might lose on the plan. Everyone is different, which you'll discover as you read through the posts here, and we all lose at a different pace. The other thing to understand is sometimes your scale won't register any weight loss but you'll find that your clothes start to fit better or looser - you might be losing inches even though the scale doesn't move much or at all. So don't be discouraged if things seem to move slow or not at all.

I didn't have much trouble during induction - you will read that some people experienced the "induction flu" (this will be explained in your book) as their bodies started to de-tox from the carb-y things they used to eat and adapt to the new way of eating. I never experienced any of the flu symptoms. What I did experience was a decrease in my cravings for things like bread and pasta and sugary stuff.

I don't find it hard to do the diet, but then I have control of my kitchen and you probably are not in that position. Trying to get your mother on board with this and maybe cooking some of the meals for the family, as suggested above, might work for you. Also, you will find a lot of support from the people here.