Hi my name is roch, i jist started atkins 10 days ago and so far lost 10 pounds, this is all new to me and im not sure how much i am meant to eat each day, my carb count is 15 per day and i know it is not water i have lost, as i have been dieting for the past month and allready lost 1.4 stone and the 10 pound on atkins, can someone please help me, also my ketosis strips have been purple for the last 8 days and i am also drinking at least 8 glasses of very diluted sugar free squash., also when they say eat fat do they also mean oil and how does eating fat help you lose more weight.

Roch,

You are suppose to eat 20 carbs a day, actually to little can slow down your progress, as stupid as that sounds. You body with think you are straving yourself and at preventive messuages. The same goes if you do not eat enough fats. By eating enough fats, I think a lot of that will come in the types of food you eat, beef has more fats than chicken for example. And using heavy cream in your coffee, dressing on salad, ect. Funny but when I seem to be slowing down, and I have some diet cocoa with heavy cream in it, this seems to work. Guess its an example of not getting enough fats. The more water you drink the better! What is "diluted sugar free squash" ?

Anyway you sound like you are off to a great start! So I would not worry about it to much. And as far as how much you are to eat each day, carb is the only thing you have to limit. Atkins himself say, eat till you are satisfied. So it you are hungry grab some protein!

Olive oil is a great source of fat. Also cheese, mayonaise, full fat salad dressings, fatty cuts of meat, butter, cream.....

Most people seem to find that they should get 65-70% of their daily calories from fat. You can get a free account at www.fitday.com and that will track your foods and percentages for you.

Fat is harder to digest than carbs, does not cause an insulin surge and will not be stored if you do not ingest a lot of carbs. Atkins talks about the "metabolic advantage" of eating a lot of fat. It should be covered in your book and is also discussed here:
http://atkinscenter.com/

Welcome to the forum! Congratulations on your weight loss. You will find that low carb eating has so many other benefits as well.

Hey marytou, thanks for your reply, in london sugar free squash is a fruit drink you dilute with water, i think im doing ok only time will tell,im trying to eat more fatty meat like lamb and pork, and i dont like veg so my 20 grams of carbs will come from other sources, like hot dog sausage, does that matter and will that slow me down as it is not veg, thanks, roch