Ok, so I frequent Wendy's, Subway, McDonald's, and Arby's for salad these days & am totally shocked to find how high the carbs are in these salads. What's more amazing, I know I am in ketosis (doctor's office urine dipstick test) and have been living off these salads for the past week. I have lost six pounds since *religiously* following this diet, or at least I thought it was religious but now I don't know. The Chicken BLT from Wendy's w/o the dressing has 310 calories, 150 calories from fat, 16 grams total fat, 8 gram saturated fat, 60 mg cholesterol, 1100 mg sodium, 10 gram total carbs, and 33 grams protein. So I'm supposed to be less than 20 carbs a day but there are 10 carbs in my salad before I add dressing! I also eat eggs, cheese, deli meat, olives, and macadamia nuts. Actually, I feel like I probably eat more than I should every day but the weight is still coming off! I drink lots of water & decaf tea sweetened with Splena. How did I make it to ketosis if these salads are this bad? I just read a thread that was somewhat similar to this one I am starting but I need somebody to explain to me how carbs are balanced with fiber & sugar alcohols. This is getting more and more confusing! I just know I will get discouraged if I am doing this wrong & my six pounds are a farse! Anybody care to elaborate?

well for veggies (like your salad) there is fiber in lettuce i bllieve.. You subtract the grams of fiber from the carbs.. so say your lettuce had 6 carbs and fiber was 3 grams then you only count 3 carbs because of the 3 grams of fiber..
eggs, have like .5carbs per large egg.
cheese, well the kind I eat, has 1 carb per serving (it all veries though, and there is some zero carb out there)
nuts are higher in carbs.. not sure how much offhand.
meats.. (MOST) have NO carbs in them.. or for some deli meats 1 carb per serving (it can be more depending on the meat)

Well, I just pretty much figured out that with all I consume in a day, I am above 20 carbs without a doubt! I have a pretty big appetite so I eat quite a bit. I guess I am really wondering how it was possible for me to be in ketosis eating more than 20 carbs a day. Could it be that my metabolism is phenomenal? I know I stayed right around 140 - 145 with all the junk I was consuming and have lost weight even though my carb count is higher than it is supposed to be during induction. I just ditched a lot of the sugar in my diet & the weight is falling off. Is this normal?

Some people can eat a higher number of carbs and still lose. Maybe you are one of those people.

Just a thought...

ljm

Please don't worry so much about it...you are losing right..you are taking probably more than 20 carbs a day but they aren't carb like potatoes, rice, flour , sugar right...

They are vegies, cheese, bacon, dressing, lettuce right...and those are good for you things.

And you probably are able to eat more thna 20 carbs per day and still lose as long as you aren't consuming the things above like potatoes..etc. SHout hurray!!!!!

And keep up the good work cause it working right...I consume more than 20 carbs most days now and still lose..a bit more slowly but I am almost to my goal

There are other low carb plans that people lose weight on that start at 30 and even 40+ grams of carb per day, so yes it's quite possible to be losing weight and in ketosis at 25, 30 or even more carbs in a day. With so little to lose, I wouldn't sweat it if I went over 20 grams a day slightly, especially if those carbs are coming from good sources like veggies.

They may be including the croutons in the carb count.

It's also possible that the bacon bits aren't real or the cheese is low fat.

It is a big salad though so even if it's right I wouldn't worry about it, it doesn't seem to be causing a problem for you!

The one to watch out for is the McDonald's salad (in Canada), their dressings are all low fat - high carb.

from the way I understand it. . .keep in mind someone now has my Atkins book (opassing on good health) so I could be talking out of my hat. . .but the 20g is for induction. . .the first 2 weeks. . .after that you are supposed to be upping the carb intake. . .by 10's. . .I make sure mine is in the ball park of 30-60. . .seems like a honkin big ball park. . .I am sure somedays I bearly get past 20, other days. . .redawn

Carb intake is increased in increments of 5 grams until you get to pre-maintainance or maintainance.

Let me start by saying THANKS for so many great replies. Luckily, I am a salad lover so I am eating plenty of it! I have the Atkins book & have read it but it sounded to me like I had to be completely strict with food consumption the first two weeks during induction or I would fail the diet. I was just shocked to see that I am not under 20 carbs a day and still made it to ketosis with weight loss. My husband had convinced me that I was the *perfect* size as it was & it would be hard for me to lose weight with so little to lose. Well, he was wrong, thank god! I was a little more attentive to what I ate today & definately stayed under 20 carbs. The main rule to this diet seems to be live & learn. I had just seen some other threads & got really confused about why it was working for me but others weren't having the same luck! Good luck everybody!

Ahhh...consider yourself blessed with a good metabolism! Many can't get things moving even way under 20 carbs...

And you're eating lots of fiber too...good for you. It's pretty hard to over-do lettuce and veggies... keep up the good work, you're almost there!