[chickadee315]

hey all - well i feeling sick today - was vomiting most of the evening (hopefully not tmi) and am having really bad leg spasms so i ate a banana and have a gatorade becasue i am really dehydrated. i likely wont be eating much for the rest of the day.
and if i do eat i may have a piece of toast since its pretty easy on my stomach. all this means i will be over my 20g of carbs.
i decided that i am going to try and add in 1 piece of fruit or 1/2 a piece of bread daily - hopefully i will still lose by avoiding garbage carbs and sugars but i am getting bored by not being able to even eat an apple or some strawberries once in a while.
i still a going to try and eat as lc as possible though. and by wokring out daily hopefully it wont make too much of a difference and i will continue to lose.
just thought i would share....
how many carbs do you stick to to remain in ketosis?

[Bouncing]

Chickadee, for me it all depends on how much exercise I'm getting. If I'm going to the gym at least half the days, I can get away with 30 and stay in moderate ketosis. If I'm not getting that much exercise, I have to stay at 20. If you up your carbs and don't lose, drop them again. If you find your cravings come back and/or you can't stay OP, you may have added something that's a trigger food for you. I find for me, it's best if I experiment cautiously with ONE new food at a time. Not a food group, like fruit, but just one food, like strawberries. That way I find out if it's OK, or it makes me want more carbs, and I don't have to spend a lot of tiime figuring out which one(s) of 4 or 5 foods it might be. Good luck, and remember this is all about learning what works for each of us and what doesn't by experimenting with it, it's not about diet dogma.

[azraelya]

I'm not sure if you guys count the total carbs or the net carbs (minus the fiber), but strawberries are definitely a must on my low-carb dieting! The amount of carbs they have isn't bad at all, in fact most berries aren't too bad:

http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/low.../a/berries.htm

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art583.asp

Hope that helps! Enjoy some berries! So long as you can control how many you eat (as is the problem for me with all foods, and why I'm overweight in the first place ) then they're really great as a little dessert to curb that sweet tooth.

Some strawberries dipped in cool whip... mmmmm!

[JerseyGyrl]

Originally Posted by azraelya

Some strawberries dipped in cool whip... mmmmm!

Cool Whip is a no-no on Atkins...its loaded with high frutose corn syrup, as well as hydrogenated vegetable oil! Heavy whipping cream with a bit of Splenda works well.

[slimdownmomof2]

I use the whipping cream that is in the bottle just like the other whipped cream spray bottles ya know. It has it says zero or less than one carb for 2 T and i'm just carefull about how much i use. For a treat I put sugar free zero carb jello with one fairly large strawberry cut up with just a tad of the whipping cream on top. It is so good and filling!
As for adding in different food I also agree that one at a time but be best that way you can really tell what is working.

[JerseyGyrl]

As for adding carbs...this would be the OWL (Ongoing Weight Loss) phase of Atkins and should be done according to the carb ladder, each being added gradually in 5 carb increments as follows:

Vegetables
More salad and other vegetables on the acceptable foods list

Dairy
Fresh cheeses:
Cottage cheese
Farmer's cheese
Ricotta cheese
Pot cheese

Keep portions small for
Hard aged cheese
Cream, heavy and light
Half and half
Sour cream
Low-carb ice cream, yogurt, and milk

Seeds and Nuts
Macadamias
Almonds
Peanuts/Natural Peanut Butter
Coconut
Sunflower seeds
Sesame seeds
Walnuts
Pistachios

Berries
Eat frequently from:
Strawberries
Blueberries
Blackberries
Raspberries

Eat moderately from higher AGR (Atkins Glycemic Ranking)melons:
Watermelon
Honeydew
Cantaloupe

Wine and other spirits low in carbs
Spirits
White Wine
Red Wine
Low-carbohydrate Beer

Legumes
Lentils
Kidney Beans
Pinto Beans
Black Beans
Hummus
Chickpeas
Tofu
Soybeans
Soy milk, unsweetened

Fruits other than Berries and Melons
Plums
Kiwis
Peaches
Apples
Grapefruit
Tangerines

Starchy Vegetables
Keep all portions small
Carrots
Green Peas
Acorn squash
Butternut squash

Eat rarely:
Corn
Potatoes
Sweet potatoes

Whole Grains
Keep all portions small and focus on whole, unprocessed grains:
Old fashioned Oatmeal (Steel cut oats
Oat Bran
Wheat Bran
Low-carb (soy) bread and muffins
All-bran
Barley, cooked

[aud]

I had a bug a couple of weeks ago - had to go the tea and toast rte myself---felt really weak afterwards. Hope you're over it by now!

I don't think LC is a "diet" for me this time . . . I'm thinking its just a total way of life that I feel great on and know that it is healthy in this processed food/junk carb society. Fruit/berries may be the answer for ya and it may not. I just keep exploring all the great recipes for lc substitutes at this point - I made enough LC Egg Bread last nite to get me thru the vacay - (I hope) - wasn't that hard to make and was delish with real butter & some parmesan sprinkled. I'm taking roast beef "sandwiches" with me to the Polls - lettuce - thin tomatoes - mayo & a dill pickle. My point is - mix it up & you won't be bored, ya know?

Good Luck with the tweaking, chick!