hello all, I started the atkins diet induction this past monday, and after reading a bunch of posts here im starting to get confused about what the atkins diet is.. here is my situation, and i hope an atkins guru can guide me. am i eating to much protein and not enough fat? am i right on? to many/to little calories?

I am a 23 year old "fallen" bodybuilder that was once 225 lbs and built like a brick house at age 20 with the help of steriods

i stay away from steroids now but now i am 185 lbs and REALLY chubby for my 5' 7" frame ... that being said.. what i am worried about is my fat verses protein intake here is a sample menu

8:30 am breakfast= 1 sausage patty and an omlete (4 eggs +a slice of cheese

12:00- lunch= one chicken breast with one cup of romaine lettuce.. 4 slices of chedder cheese and maybe 6 tablespoons of ranch dressing (im a ranch lover)

5:00 one atkins bar BEFORE my workout

optional EDIT---- if im real hungry i have a can of tuna with a teaspoon of kraft merical whip after my workout....

8:00 dinner two BIG beef patties (pan fried in their own juices)
along with another handful of romaine lettuce.. 4 chunks of chedder and again lots of ranch dressing..

along with this i drink 6 one liter's of water a day..

is there a dietition or (smarter then i am) person that can tell me if im doing this correctly? i am the type of person that needs a STRICT menu.. and have the will power of a machine so i can basicly stay on the same menu/(induction) untill i am looking how i want too.... i just cant make sense of all the information out there at this point such as do i NEED 20 carbs.. do i HAVE to come off of induction after two weeks etc... i have read the atkins book cover to cover.. but im still confused:-(

also forgot to mention as this may play a big role.. at the same time i started atkins i started back to the gym on my old routine...... i HEAVILY lift 4 times a week for about an hour and do cardio after each workout for around 30 minutes.

anyones help is GREATLY apprieciated

Hi.... You really are only allowed 3-4 oz of cheese a day so I would cut out half of the cheese but add another small meal or two to your day. How about that tuna you like and REAL MAYO (miracle whip has sugar) and some celery. I would add more veggies too maybe something at dinner w/ butter melted on it....

Also the lc bars make some people stall weightloss but if you enjoy and you keep losing that is fine.

FYI Induction Allowed Foods

Hi Gatorbytes,

I hope my tips would be of help to you:

1. Use FitDay.com to track your calories, fats, carbs and protein.

2. Its advisable for your daily caloric intake to be 10-12x your current weight.

3. I think you should reduce your daily cheese intake.

4. You're doing great with your water intake.

5. I wish you the very best .

Here's what I noticed...

Like what ageekott said, lower your cheese intake to no more than 4 oz. per day. Also, if you use American Cheese in your omelette, I'd watch that also- quite a bit of carbs.

You're taking in an excellent amount of water! Keep it up!

Lastly, I'd ditch the Miracle Whip and use real mayonnaise instead. Miracle Whip has carbs (sugar) in it whereas real mayo does not.

HTH!!

Happy LCing!
Nikki

Atkins doesn't really mention protein except not to eat it in "excess." Your menu doesn't seem excessive at all in terms of that. Some plans, such as Protein Power, suggest an equation to figure out protein requirements. Either way... looks good to me.

How many carbs is in the ranch dressing you're using? I know if I used 10 tablespoons a day that would be an extra 5-10 carbs depending on the brand.

Keeping the fat levels up is definitely good and you could be eating more veggies!

I did a quick tally in fitday.com of what you're eating and while your carbs are around 20, most of that is coming from cheese and the ranch dressing, which means you're probably not eating enough veggies. I agree that you should cut back on the cheese but also up the veggies... otherwise you'll be missing out on all the nutrients they give you (which you can't get from lettuce alone!).

If you want a strict menu, what about altering it to look something like this?

B: eggs & sausage (perhaps skip the cheesse here and just have your eggs scrambled or fried)

L: Chicken breast with salad (toss in a few cherry tomatoes or celery or mushrooms or brocolli flowerets... or whatever veggies you like but no carrots)... ranch dressing is fine. Make sure it's not low fat. (Note that 6 tbsp is 4 grams of carb according to fitday)

S: Atkins bar may be OK, but they do stall some people & are rumoured to have hidden carbs. If you run into trouble, try cutting them out. Tuna is fine too. Other snack options are celery with cream cheese, pepperoni, pork rinds, olives, a piece of cheese.

D: Beef patties with a side of veggies. What about steamed brocoli and cauliflower with cheese sauce? Or sauted green beans? Or mushrooms fried in butter?


Lastly, I second the idea that you should sign up to fitday and start tracking your food. Once you do that for a few days you start to get a good "eye" for food content. Your ratio should be somewhere around 70% fat, 5% carb and 25% protein.

Also, you said you want a strict menu that you can stick to until you reach your goal weight. Just keep in mind that you can't expect to stop eating this way once you reach your goal and maintain. So unless you want to have the exact same menu for the rest of your life (!!)... then I'd suggest forcing yourself to mix things up a little and try different meal combinations... especially after you're done induction. Otherwise you'll never get used to eating low-carb as a way of life & you may have trouble keeping the weight off once you lose it.

Thems my two bits!
Good luck to you!

lkonzelman is right...

Cheese during induction is limited to no more than 3-4 oz. per day. It looks like you need more veggies (2 small servings of lettuce really isn't enough) and you need to ditch that Miracle Whip (loaded with sugar!). Use real mayonnaise instead. It looks like you're gettng plenty of protein, but you may want to add a bit more fat (not sure how much salad dressing you are using, but the typical ranch dressing has 1 gram of carb for 2 tablespoons, so be sure to count it). Have some cooked veggies with butter on them. Cook your meat and eggs in butter.
Keep your carbs as close to 20 as you can get them. Lower is not better in this case and won't help you lose any faster; get the majority of your carbs from veggies from the allowed list.
You don't have to come off induction after 2 weeks, but since you don't have a huge amount of weight to lose, I'd encourage you to move on to the ongoing weight loss phase at least within a month, especially since you are also exercising strenuously.
Since you're been into body building in the past, you may want to have a look through our exercise forum. Maybe once you are done with induction, CKD or Body For Life might suit you better?

The bars do stall some people, if you're not losing, substitute something like a boiled egg or two for the bar. Nyah Levi

I agree, I'd lose the cheese. Stick with no more than 4 ounces.

I would make the effort to have the tuna but mix it with mayo. That will bring your fat intake up in lieu of the extra cheese.

Let us know!!

thanks for all the help guys!!! i just got back from the gym and am feeling GREAT!!! im down to 180LBS!!!! and my bench press went up 4 lbs i signed up at fitday too what an AWESOME FREEBIE!!! its just what i have been loking for!! oh and a thing about my cheese intake i think i may have written the wrong scenario, by slices of cheese i ment just the little cracker barrel chedder cheese slices about 1 inch in diameter by 1 millimeter thick (basically a sliver that i trim off the brick) :-) it dawned on me later that a SLICE would be more like a BIG slice!! like the prewrapped slices i will DEFFINATLY steer clear of the "MEGA slices" i will also take the advice on the veggies i would love a few slivers of onion in my omletes and thank you VERY much for the "strict menu" im one of those kind of people that seems to take things to extreams such as if 20 carbs lose weight then 0!! carbs means BIG RESULTS.. and i'm seeing that this is not always a good attitude when it comes to "long term" goals, again thank you all! i will keep you updated