Hi everyone!

I'm a bit concerned, firstly, with my carb intake. On day 1 it was only 7% carb and I've been feeling weak and dizzy and slightly off the planet. Has anyone any tips for how I can boost them to 20%?

It's now day 3. I ate an avacado today to see if that would help....but I can't find it in fitday to find out!!! which is my second problem! Do people from the USA call avacados and brocoli anything different cos I can't find them and I wanted to check if my carbs were ok today?

Sorry I'm a bit of a worrier and I'm scared my carb intake is too low at 7% and I'm going to collapse infront of everyone at work who has been going on and on about how crap Atkins is, etc!!! I don't want them all feeling I've proved them right!!

HELP!

I figured out what I was doing wrong in fit day...I need to learn to spell!!!

But I still need help on the carb intake. Can anyone help and let me know if it is far too low at 7%?

Today it looks as though I've got it up to 13% with the avocado and a tin of tomatoes, but I'm scared I'm doing things wrong...

Hi HumminBird--

!. Avocado is the correct spelling in the U.S.
2. Broccoli is the correct spelling in the U.S.
3. It's hard to believe that you couldn't manage to hit more than 7% carb after eating 2 lettuce salads with dressings and a vegetable from the list...are you sure you didn't have a math error? Did you have any shredded cheese on your salad?

Hi geo, thanks for the quick reply!

I hadn't eaten any cheese cos I have a yeast infection so I've cut it out.

Even today, after I've just added my final thing to fit day (walnut oil) I only had 12% carb! What am I doing wrong.
I'm typing in everything that I eat, right down to the last herb!!

Hi Kelly

Aren't you suppose to be looking at the # of grams you are eating as opposed to the %.

For example, today my carbs came to 5% of my daily diet. But I ate 22 grams of carbs and that is the amount (actually 2 over) that I am suppose to be eating this week.

Hi Kelly & Wendy--

I have a confession to make...I've only been on the Fitday.com site once, and didn't spend a lot of time looking around. I'm taking part in a study that requires me to log all of my meal, meds, exercise, etc. data in a spreadsheet, and I use a huge paper book to look up my food values. I do know, however, that typical carbs from fats on the Atkins diet should fall between 60%-70%, but that during Induction the bulk of your carbs are supposed to come from veggies. (This is to distinguish Atkins from an early predescessor - Stillman - that basically consisted of ALL protein!)

The original Atkins formula called for NO calorie counting and, except for special circumstances (like figuring out a "stall" or tracking down a physical problem), calories really play no part in the Atkins formula. Fitday supplies the info, but you can safely ignore it most of the time.

As long as you get your salad ingredients and veggies from the list in DANDR, you should be off the hook in terms of exact weights and measures...you should be close to your 20 carb/day Induction limit, and have a reasonable amount of protein when you use fats to satisfy your hunger. The only other important limitation is on the amount of cheese in your diet (and I suspect that has more to do with keeping you regular than actual weight gain.) By deducting fiber carbs from Total Carbs, you are being encouraged to keep a reasonable quantity of fiber in your system.

I'd be the first to admit that my approach lacks the precise balance of the Fitday.com ratios, but I'm not sure that Atkins cares about exact ratios, as long as you are staying healthy and losing weight.

Hi HummingBird,

I too am a little confused as for induction you should be staying below 20g of carbs (which for my calorie intake equates to 3%-6%)

Could you post the link to you fitday then we can have a look OR just look at the top middle of the page and read of the carbs in grams,

This is what a summary of my barbs overa period of 10 days looks like (just to show the difference between % and g) ignore the high days (no one is perfect!) - but when I have under 20g of carbs that equates to about 3-6% as it totally depends on your calories and other stuff.



Either way I found that it does take a few days to get things right.

Sarah

Thank you everyone. From what you are all saying, I've been doing this totally wrong!! I really thought it was the % we were supposed to look at, not the grams! So in my atempt to boost the % I've ate way too many carbs on day 3 esp!
I didn't fill in fit day on day two cos of lack of time but here are day 1 and 3 for you to see:


Calories Eaten Today
source grams cals %total
Total: 1074
Fat: 82 741 70%
Sat: 25 222 21%
Poly: 25 225 21%
Mono: 27 241 23%
Carbs: 32 86 8%
Fiber: 11 0 0%
Protein: 57 228 22%
Alcohol: 0 0 0%

Calories Eaten Today
source grams cals %total
Total: 2047
Fat: 161 1447 72%
Sat: 58 520 26%
Poly: 20 181 9%
Mono: 70 631 31%
Carbs: 68 181 9%
Fiber: 23 0 0%
Protein: 97 388 19%
Alcohol: 0 0 0%

So what about the light-headedness I've been getting? Is that just part of the switch over to Ketones? Or is it a combination of that with the heat? Would I not be feeling this dizzy if it was cooler? I am eating 3 meals a day and, although they are smaller than what I would normally eat, I'm still stuffed once I'm finished...sometimes I can't even finish!

This is a bit scary! I don't want to make myself ill while I try to ajust into things.

well yes you have been trying to bump up the wrong thing, keep the crab g to under 20. The total cals and the % for fat etc look fine

I would probably ensure you eat more than 1000 cals like on your first day too.

I haven't had a dizzyness etc but then I do drink heaps of water anyway...

I would keep at it do you used tod rinklots of coffee or sweet stuff? it might be worth having a small cup or coffee or something to help - if you really are feeling ill BUT some people do seem to react this badly.

On Atkins... the most common-effective-healthy ratio of eating is 70% fat - 30% protein - 5% carbs and 10-12X your weight in calories (much under that will cause your metabolism to think you are starving and weightloss will cease).

It takes a while until you feel right but then it really works quite well and you will feel better then you ever did (at least a large percentage of people here do after the first week).

Well I see you just about have it figured out. Fit day is great once you figure out how it works and you may need a dictionary (SP?) lol. I am not great at spelling no more myself.
Keep up the good work.
Tina

So what about the light-headedness I've been getting? Is that just part of the switch over to Ketones? Or is it a combination of that with the heat? Would I not be feeling this dizzy if it was cooler? I am eating 3 meals a day and, although they are smaller than what I would normally eat, I'm still stuffed once I'm finished...sometimes I can't even finish!


Kelly,

I did not feel well during my first 3 days of induction. Today I woke up feeling great! (thank God)
Hang in there, it will get better! If you are still concerned, talk it over with your Doctor.

Thanks so much to you all!!! You've helped so much!

I do feel better today (day 4) as long as I don't stand up too fast. I've been working a lot over the past few days and it's been very hot in the shops I've been in since they've all had no air conditioning, (not used to this heat in UK you see so they don't normally need it). I think, that and the fact that I'm in the early stages of induction, have contributed to me feeling dizzy.

I haven't had any coffe and the only swett thing I've had is double cream so maybe I should try that, thanks.

It was also great advice about what the best % are on Atkins, Thanks!!

Unfortunately, if I feel completely ill on this diet, I'll have to just stop because my doctor dissagrees with me going on it so there's no point going to see her, cos she'll just tell me to stop!

But thanks again for all the advice!!!

You've all been great!

Hummingbird - I know what you mean about the doctor, I have an appointment with my dietician ( who told me this was for me last time) I stopped and was really depressed doing the low fat way - and then came to my senses but I am dreaded going back hopefully the weight will start to come off and that way it'll be proof in the pudding

Try to do a week. Most carb withdrawal symptoms are gone in a week.