Been on the Atkins since Friday, and I'm already stumped as to what kinds of meals to plan.

My boyfriend is not yet on the plan, but will be as soon as he finishes up all of his caffeine soda LOL

I'm looking for stuff that is not so blah, but also does not take forever to prepare but still tastes great!

Any suggestions? There's not much out there that I dont eat, but I would also like to keep it Semi-inexpensive if it's possible.

Tell me what you make!

Hi Spelly-
Good luck. I would suggest checking the menu section here on the site. It has some great tasty recipes that are easy.

I would recommend the crustless pizza. It is the best.

I think the initial Induction period is the hardest part for planning. Part of that is "learning curve", and part of it is that you are still trying to gain confidence that the "sacrifices" you are making are going to be worthwhile.

For me, the main thing is that you never need to be hungry with this diet. You may find your choices limiting, but you can always find something acceptable to quench your hunger...even when you are away from home. (I had two egg-sausage McMuffins...minus the muffins, of course...for breakfast at McD's yesterday!)

Hamburgers can be tasty...especially when you can find new ways to fix them. Try this link:

http://www.beeftips.com/recipes_html/burgers.html

not all of these are suitable for Induction, but you'll find enough acceptable choices to make it through your 1st couple of weeks for sure.

Eggs, bacon, sausage...these are great breakfast options...but you can have them for any meal of the day. I cook up a pound of bacon on the weekend, and throw it into a ziploc in the fridge. A strip or two makes an instant (1/4 carb) snack when I just need something to crunch between my teeth. You can do the same thing with bulk roll sausage...cook them into little patties and stash them in a ziploc in the fridge (be sure you get the kind w/o filler...I buy the "Jimmy Dean" brand).

These are just a few ideas to get you started...you'll find oodles of terrific dishes in the recipe section, and several of them are suited to the Induction phase.

One more suggestion: avoid the temptation to climb on your scale 8 times a day. At most, check your weight weekly...and if you don't like what it says, throw your scale in the closet and keep going with the diet. You'll see soon enough that your clothes will fit better, your step will have more spring in it, and you're going to know that you feel better than you have in a long time.

Have a great time getting buff with your BF. (See if you can find him some Diet Rite Cola...great taste, and it's on the Atkin's "approved" list...as long as you keep drinking tons of water, too!)

Thanks for the replies guys. One more question tho.

How would a taco salad be? The taco seasoning has 2 g of carbs per TBSP. I think there are 4 or 6 tbsp per packet and I use one of those packets for 1.5 to 2 lbs of burger. Would that be ok to have the taco meat, lettuce, sour cream and carbless taco sauce? I cant come up with many carbs in the whole thing less their hidden somewhere.

Spelly, you're off to a great start, and almost a third of the way through your 2-week Induction period. The taco idea sounds like a winner...but only after you are into your 3rd week. Until then, you are much safer to stick with only the food items listed in the book under "Induction."

You have only a few more days to go...then you can experiment within a much more liberal set of guidelines.