Hi, I'm so confused with this carbs diet. Should I count carbs and calories at the same time? I have been on a yo-yo diet for 8 years and am getting depressed. If I am on a low-carb diet--can I eat as much as I want--for instance, I love cheese and this particular cheese has no carbs--can I eat 4 slices and be ok, or should I count the calories too? I want to lose so badly. Thank you

Limit cheese to 4 oz a day.....and it does contain carbs Most processors are allowed to list 0 carbs even though there might be .9. Add a few of those .9s up and pretty soon it has you over 20 carbs a day so careful with those.

While the Atkin's diet is not a quantive diet, you aren't suppose to gorge yourself. Simply eat enough to satisfy you but not so much you feel stuffed and ready to pop. Eating 6 smaller meals as opposed to 3 larger ones helps keep your blood chemistry level.

It does help to keep track of calories. fitday.com is a free board that you can enter what you eat to help keep track of things. Your appetite will drop off and you will find yourself eating less and less which isn't a good thing. You really should keep your calories at least 10 to 12 times your body weight.

Yes and no. You need to make sure that you are getting enough calories to support your basic metabolic functions (roughly 10-12x your body weight), but otherwise, no. You need to count carbs and most cheese has about 1 gram of carb per ounce and is limited to no more than 4 ounces a day on induction. Beware of foods that say "0" carbs. FDA labeling laws allow manufacturers to say zero carbs if the count is less than 1, even if it is 0.99 grams. You should eat until you are satisfied, not stuffed. Low carbing is not to be taken as a license to gorge yourself. Eat sensible meals using foods from the allowed list and eat until you are no longer hungry, but stop before you feel completely full. It takes your stomach 20 minutes to tell your brain that it has had enough, so often people eat fast and wind up stuffed before their brain catches on that they have had too much.