Okay, made out my veggies into bitesizes and cleaned em good and even made beef veggie soup for tomorrow night. Now, I need to look at everything I eat inthe back of the book and figure out how many carbs it has and keep a running total, right?
I am not used to weighing, measuring, disecting, and adding my food. This part is kindof scaring me. I am currently plowing through the book. Any tips on this new thing called portions? And counting carbs? How do you all do it through out the day, every day.

Mommatbird,

It can be a bit daunting to start measuring and portioning everything, but it does get easier as you go along. I (and many others here) use www.fitday.com to keep track of carbs/fat/protein intake. It's very useful, and I find it a LOT easier than writing everything down and adding myself. It also keeps record of all your entries, so you can look back and figure out trends in eating patterns, things you did wrong, things you did right, etc. You can do it

HTH,

I have the atkins one year journal which i use everyday and love. Each day has a seperate page where you can record food and carbs, supplements, water intake, exercise, and notes. In the back of the journal is a carbcounter that has most of the foods that you eat that aren't packaged. It also has a place each week to record your weight, measurements and notes. And it has a graph you fill in with your weight each week for a whole year.

It has the rules of atkins and how to do induction. A place to post your start and finish pictures for the year and your starting blood levels. It fits in my purse, which is a small backpack type and I take it with me everyplace I go.

Mammatbird,

One thing that I though was very strange about your post was that you were cutting this and measuring that. I was wondering why. I have been on Atkins twice (this being the second time) seriously and I know that I have never measured. I just at what I was allowed to eat. Alot of the "free foods" and salads with water. I didn't have to measure because meats have no carbs and the salad that you eat, when you deduct the fiber, isn't enough to even get you CLOSE to 20 carbs. Don't make it more difficult than it is or you will get tired because it is too much trouble. Eat, at least for the first 3-4 days this way and you will find that your body tells you that you have eaten too much. Strangely, before when you ate carbs, you could eat (at least in my case) 2x more food. Trust me. You will be fine.

Mommatbird,

One thing that I though was very strange about your post was that you were cutting this and measuring that. I was wondering why. I have been on Atkins twice (this being the second time) seriously and I know that I have never measured. I just at what I was allowed to eat. Alot of the "free foods" and salads with water. I didn't have to measure because meats have no carbs and the salad that you eat, when you deduct the fiber, isn't enough to even get you CLOSE to 20 carbs. Don't make it more difficult than it is or you will get tired because it is too much trouble. Eat, at least for the first 3-4 days this way and you will find that your body tells you that you have eaten too much. Strangely, before when you ate carbs, you could eat (at least in my case) 2x more food. Trust me. You will be fine. Eat till you are full, just make sure it is the "right" foods.

it was hard for me at first also. i wanted to do everything exactly right. count every single carb. what i found out is that real life doesn't let me do that. i don't have that many hours in the day to waste counting every leaf of lettuce or every ounce of tuna. what i did learn is that fitday.com is a great help. i usually eyeball, or give my best guess to the amounts. i don't sweat it if i go over or under a bit knowing that as long as the pants are fitting better and/or the scale is dropping, i must be doing something right.

i also didn't wory to much about eating too much "legal foods" i found that when i had the mindset that if i want a second helping of steak or chicken or salad i was going to have it. eat till you are full. i found that i was actually eating less than i thought i would and feeling satisfied.

i have also noticed that as the weeks go by, it is easier and easier. at first i had to plan constently. it was always on my mind what would be my next meal. i was so worried that i wouldn't have any low-carb choices when i got hungary that i had a constant supply of beef jerkey and string cheese in my bag at all times. after learning more and more, i don't worry so much. i have found low-carb choices at every restaruant/store/place i have been to.

just do the best you can. doing anything is better than doing nothing!!!

Oooh Momma, I agree with Smurfy. Don't let this be a chore. I never ever measure anything. I eat a big fat steak, don't care if it is 1lb or 1.5 lbs. I eat until I'm satisfied. The only thing I take into consideration is my salad and that I measure by grabbing a handful and that is what I eat.

Stick to the meat egg and cheese ideas for induction, your safe with consuming lots of those. Good luck!!

Smurfy is SO right!!! Finally you can eat when you are hungry - just do the 2-3ish cups of induction allowed veggies, 3-4 oz of hard cheese daily and all the protein it takes to fill you up.

http://atkinscenter.com/Archive/2001/12/15-464579.html

Don't forget if you want butter or full fat dressing (as long as it is under 2 carbs per serving) or olive oil to cook with... this helps you now.

Learn to enjoy eating again - the foods you can have at least!

What I was cutting up was all my veggies and meats and taking olives out of the can, etc. That way when I have something specific written down for lunch, I can't weasel out and say "I don't feel like cooking" or "it takes too much time". So much is already prepped for me to use.

I'm measuring my salad greens to make sure I don't skimp or go overboard. Now, I know what bowl will hold that amount of salad so, I probably won't have to measure.

I know life does not provide measuring cups and that it is impossible to keep up the measuring but, I just wanted to start out right. As right as possible. I am still going to measure for the next two weeks to get used to portions and to be able to approximate how much of whatever I use.

I just want to stay under my 20 carbs and get over this darned headache that has come on me after dinner!

Just take it easy and keep it simple the first week or two. You want bacon and eggs for breafast, thats fine. You want two eggs...three..thats fine too!
Hard-ccoked eggs, tuna w/real mayo on that salad..yummy.
There's plenty of time to get creative, and try some of the great lo-carb recipes and products out there, but for induction, just be nice to yourself, and keep it simple. You'll do fine!
Lesle