What a wonderful site! An internet friend (known here as PaulB) directed me here and I am shocked at how much info and positive vibes this place exudes.

Never dieted before and I'm now in the 4th day of the Atkins Induction Period. I'm a 48 year old husband with a 3.5 year old daughter that takes up all my spare time (which I give her with glee). But, the last 3 years of inactivity (running around after her doesn’t seem to work) has added 25 pounds. Sadly, it's "spread" to my wife too (only not to the same extent). So, we're both going at this together.

So far things seem to be going well. Lost 3 pounds (although I can't tell from where) and our appetites have strangely diminished. The food is boring (although there is an immense amount of remarkably creative recipes listed here) but I'm past the headaches and food, in general, is just not as interesting. Boy, were our lives revolving around food!

Anyway, a few questions if I may:

-Are chopped onions in salads OK while in induction?
-If you keep a strict diet, what is the typical weight loss after 2 weeks?
-What determines the typical length of the induction period?

Thanks in advance. And thanks for the support.

Hi there. Welcome!

To answer your questions...

A few onion slices are fine, as long as you count the carbs.

There's no such thing as typical weight loss. Some people lose very rapidly, some not at all, even after induction. It depends on your age, dieting history, degree of metabolic resistance, how bad your diet was previously, medications you might be on, genetics... a very loose rule of thumb is that you'll lose 10% of the weight you need to lose on induction, and 5% per month after that.

Induction is a minimum of two weeks, but may be extended if you're happy with it and you're eating a good variety of foods.

Keep browsing the recipes - most of the time, my meals are "induction friendly" just because they're easy to cook and good - and I'm in maintenance. It doesn't need to be boring.

Best of luck!

Hi! Kristine already answered your questions but I just wanted to welcome you to the forum. It's a great place!

Hi, and welcome! Oh my--chasing a 3-year-old! I have a 5-year-old and thankfully he doesn't require as much chasing as previously, LOL.

I'm sure you'll find lots of scrumptious recipes, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if you find that after Induction all of your food tastes a whole lot better. I'm thinking nothing dulls the pallette like carb-loaded junk!

Today at dinner I had a taco made with a low-carb tortilla shell. Well, the darned thing was super low in fat so I decided to fry it up in a little butter. I could actually TASTE the butter when I ate it, and it was loaded with meat and cheese!

Anyhow, best of luck to you AND your wife!

Thanks for the answers and the good wishes. This morning was the beginning of my 5th day...and the sacle actually said I lost 5.1 pounds. WOW!!! No that's encouraging.

Another question. Funny what I miss....diet soda! Other than water (I hate water, but I'm drinking away) and club soda/seltzer, what do you all drink that's enjoyable?