Just a few questions.

I haven't been following induction down to a letter, but I've managed to loose 10.5 pounds in 6 days. I have been drinking diet mountain dew code red a lot (along with some fresca and diet sprite) and only have drank 40+ ounces of water twice. Is that a bad thing?

Also, I've been eating a lot of cheese, it seems to satisfy my sweet crazing, so I've been eating around 8 ounces a day. Since I'm drastically overweight, my daily caloric intake is 3500+, and that means that I've still been way under my limits, usually under the 2000 mark.

I've been eating a lot of salad, in fact two days ago, that was all I ate. However, we seem to run out of it quickly, so I've essentially stopped eating it. How bad is that?

I have not been counting hidden calories. That probably means I'm way above the 20g mark, but I'm still loosing weight. Should I pay closer attention?

How many grams of carbs does steak have? I have been counting it as nothing, but that is probably wrong.

I do not excercise, but I cashier for a good 35+ hours a week, which means standing for hours at a time, and lifting things from sticks of gum to watermellons. Being of that, I'm counting that as excercise. Of course the answer would be do to more, but is that enough until I quit the job (Aug 5th)

Answers:

Soda: It is recommended that you avoid it because it stalls some people. You seem to be fine, but I would still not drink any during your induction phase.

Water: You need double what you are getting now, if not more. This should be a priority for improvement.

Cheese: This is a good snack food, but should be used sparingly because of its carb content. You want to get as much of your 20 carbs per day from veggies.

Salad: This is a good thing to have, but you need to supplement it with fats and proteins too. If salad is the only thing you are having, you are either ridiculously below calories (which might cause you to go into starvation mode . . . i.e. stop losing fat) or will cause you to go over 20 carbs per day.

Hidden carbs/20+ gr/etc: Keep in mind that anything you do, you are making your own path for what works best for you. I also decided not to follow Atkin's guidelines and chose my own path. I will say, however, sticking to Atkins is a good thing. It is very healthy, it works and the people here can provide better support if you go by the book.

Steak: Has zero carbs provided you cooked it yourself and didn't add carbs while cooking it.

Exercise: This is another thing that is your choice. I personally have focused on it heavily and seen good results. There are numerous advantages that I am sure you already know. Keep in mind that even a slow walk around the block is better than nothing. At the same time, many people who come here opt not to exercise.

Hello and congrats on your success so far.

Vonhinx's advice was right on. I'll just add that you don't have to worry too much about your calories as long as you're comfortably satisfied and you're still losing.

If you have a day where you're not too busy, try entering your daily intake on fitday.com . This will give you a good idea of how much carb, fiber, protein and fat you're really getting. Don't forget to enter everything, even cream or sweeteners in your coffee, if you drink it.

Good luck!

For the record, any muscle meat = 0 carb.
You only have to start researching when it's organ meat, or processed in some way--sausage, meatballs, sauced up.

Some shellfish has carbs, too, but it wasn't any I was likely to eat so I didn't pay attention.

Thanks! Now, out of curiousity, what is the significance of drinking so much water? Does it have to do with ketosis?

Yes. When your body burns fat, ketones are created. You need lots of water to help your kidneys flush them out of your system.

Also, dehydration hinders weight loss and can be harmful to your general health.