Hi,
This is my 4th attempt at Atkins. I really want to make it work this time. My question: How much fat should I eat? Dr. Atkins says in his book that we should eat liberal amounts of fat, but how much is it. He also says that is is fat to proteing ratio, not protein to carb ratio that counts. I think that I was eating too much fat and thus too much calories that is why I couldn't loose. When I stoped eating added fat, just what is in meat or eggs naturally I started loosing weight. My keto stix was purple but that is probably because I was eating so much fat. I do agree the stix are useless!!! Here is how much fat I was eating:

Breakfast- 2 scrumbled eggs, 2 tbsp butter, 3 strips bacon
Lunch/dinner - salad, meat (sometimes fried in olive oil), 3-4
servings of no carb ranch dressing
Snacks - sliced deli meat or egg with couple of tbsp mayo.

Was I eating too much fat thus tooo much calories. Since I stopped eating all that fat (added fat) I can see daily progress in inches. But I also stopped eating my salads. So it is either too much fat, too much calories, or I was very sensitive to carbs and had to eliminate them alltogether. How to figure out what went wrong? I can't just eat meat, fish and eggs!!! Please help!!!

The percentage of calories from fat is usually between 60 and 75% of your daily calories and the whole picture would look something like this in your daily calorie breakdown. Keep in mind that 1 gram of fat has more than twice the calories of 1 gram of carb or protein (9 calories for each gram of fat, 4 calories for each gram of protein or carb):

Fat: 70%
Protein: 25%
Carbs: 5%

or

Fat: 65%
Protein: 30%
Carbs: 5%

It strikes me that you first of all only have 20 lbs to lose so that means the weight is much more likely to come off more slowly than someone who has, say, 100 lbs or more to lose. The more you have to lose, the faster if comes off at first and conversely the less you have to lose, the slower it will come off. Average weight loss on induction is about 10% of what you need to lose which in your case would be about 2 lbs.
It also looks like you're eating quite a bit of processed meats (deli meats, bacon) which are very high in sodium. Salt will make you hang on to water. From what you posted, it doesn't seem like you are getting too many calories, but have you tried www.fitday.com to see how everything adds up each day? It's a great tool and it's also free. All you have to do is register.
Don't stop eating your veggies. You need those for at the very minimum the fiber that they contain and also the vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals that they provide.
Keep at it. The weight isn't likely to come off fast, but it will come off if you stick with it.

Thanks for your help. Could you give me a sample of a daily menu (breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack) in exact portion sizes of protein and fat and carbs per meal (in ounces etc). It would help me a lot. By the way I know on Atkins we do not need to count calories, but how many would you say is too little and too much?

Julianna...

Sample menus are difficult to give because what works great for me may not work so well for you. As far as calories go, one member posted recently that the folks at Atkins support told her that 1,800 would be about the max but many people here eat more than that and do just fine. Many people suggest that you eat between 10 and 12 times your current weight in calories daily and this works for a great many people, but not everyone. A lot depends on you; your daily activity level and how active or slow your metabolism is. My daily intake ranges from 1,500 to about 2,000 depending on how hungry I am that day (or not). To be honest, I really don't measure much of anything anymore. I eat my meat and veggies in quantities that satisfy me and stop eating when I'm no longer hungry (not stuffed). After 18 months, I've also developed a pretty good eye for what a cup of veggies or salad looks like on my plate. I'll try to give you an average example of what I eat daily, but as I said what works for you could look completely different.

Breakfast: 2 eggs, fried or scrambled in butter, 1 slice Atkins white bread, toasted, with butter or some leftover meat and veggies leftover from dinner or some homemade flax cereal with cream, butter and Splenda with my eggs.
Lunch: Leftover meat and veggies from dinner (if I didn't eat them for breakfast) anywhere from 4-6 ounces of meat and about a cup or so of veggies OR I get a salad from the local grocery's deli with whatever protein they have to put on it (chicken, pepperoni, cheese, chopped eggs, etc...) and bleu cheese or ranch dressing.
Dinner: Beef, pork or chicken (again, between 4 and 6 ounces) with salad and/or a cooked veggie with butter. I often make gravy from the pan juices with a little heavy cream or some Guar gum to thicken.
Snacks: I don't snack much, but if I do it's things like a few berries with heavy cream and Splenda (I grow raspberries in my backyard) or a handful of macadamia nuts or a few ounces of cheese. Occasionally, I will make Atkins muffins or have a low carb chocolate bar but not often as the low carb chocolate really slows down my weight loss.

If you're interested in determining how much protein you need as a minimum, I'd suggest checking out Protein Power; they give very good directions on how to go about calculating that but it's basically 0.6 grams of protein for each pound of lean body mass. In my case, I have 130 lbs of lean body mass, so I need a minimum of 78 grams of protein daily. I don't worry too much about percentages of fats; I just use some when I cook and put butter on my veggies and that usually gives me about the right amount.

Bottom line is that you're really going to have to determine how much YOU personally need to fill you up. Low carbing really isn't about measuring portions (except for carbs) or counting calories. If you're hungry, eat. Just eat something that's part of the plan.
Don't skip meals if you can avoid it. Even if you're not hungry, eat a little something to keep that metabolism chugging along.
Hope this helps!

Yes it does help. I guess I just like to eat and want to make sure that this is not a licence to overeat. I really would have to eat a lot of food in order to feel stuffed. Do you think that if I put 3-4 servings of salad dressing to my salad it is too much? How much butter do you use for your scrumbled eggs? And finally how do you measure half a cup. I find it very difficult! I would apreciate your help!

Julianna...

No, this is not a licence to overeat and Atkins does say that in his book (I beleive the words that he uses is "gorge yourself"). I can eat a lot of food before I feel stuffed too, but instead I listen to my body and stop when I'm no longer hungry. This is very different from waiting until you feel full or stuffed. How many times have we walked away from a big holiday meal saying "I can't believe I ate that much" and feeling uncomfortably full? It takes about 20 minutes for your stomach to tell your brain that it's had enough. If I'm still hungry after finishing a meal that would normally satisfy me, I wait a while to see if my brain just hasn't gotten the signal from my stomach that it's had enough yet. If I'm still hungry after about 20 minutes, I eat a bit more but usually I'm not.
I appreciate your concern about not overeating, but honestly many people find it difficult to eat enough on low carb because ketosis has a tendency to suppress your appetite.
Is 3-4 servings of salad dressing on your salad too much? I guess that would depend on the size of the salad.
When frying eggs (or most anything else, for that matter), I usually add a Tablespoon or two of butter to the pan. If I'm cooking meat, I'll often use a combination of butter and olive oil (a Tablespoon or so of each)...enough to coat the bottom of the pan. Keep in mind that not all of that winds up on your portion of the meal unless you are the only one eating it and even then, some of it stays in the pan.
As for measuring, again it depends on what it is that you're measuring. Salad is usually measured loosely packed, but since it's difficult to measure exactly (and that goes for a lot of veggies), you probably won't ever get a completely accurate measurement and that's not really necessary anyway. It takes an awful lot of most low carb veggies to go over your 20 grams of carb per day. The amounts that Atkins lists in his book are a guideline; how much of each veggie you can actually eat depends on what veggie you are eating.
It's difficult to get out of the mindset of measuring and weighing everything, but unless you've gone more than 6 weeks without losing pounds or inches, I'd suggest just eating enough to satisfy you and see how it goes.

Thank you!. That really helped!