Question regarding counting carbs
 

Hi All. So today I made chicken salad out of a boiled chicken breast and 2T of Hellmanns over a bed of iceberg lettuce with a few radishes on the side.
Now looking in my Atkins book, I come up with this being o carbs! Could that be right? Also it said that eggs have "trace carbohydrates" so should I just go ahead and count each as one carb or no carbs? :dizzy:
I am trying to become more diligent in my carb counting. Now I see how quickly they add up when you don't think your really having all that many! I just got a little nervous because my weigh in day is on Thursdays and for some reason I got on that scale this morning and it went up a pound. I know it shouldn't be a big deal and tomorrow ift might show 2 down but when I got on the scale thursday and it was 179 I thought it was the greatest thing to be done with the 180"s and I would never see them again and here we go this morning back to 180!:( So anyway I know it's probably nothing BUT I thought I' should just start being a bit more careful.
Thanks

Some foods actually do have 0 carbs, but the foods that have trace carbohydrates usually list on nutrition info as having "<1" carb. If you only eat one egg, I would not worry about counting it. If you are eating 2 or three, I would count it as 1 carb. Lettuce does have carbohydrates, although not many. I think it's about 3 carbs per 1 1/2 cups. You may be one of the unlucky who is just resistant and being more diligent in carb counting may be helpful. If you eat a few things throughout the day that have trace carbs, just guesstimate and count them in the best you can-that's really all you can do. Be patient with the scale. It can be your worst enemy. I have also incorporated a measuring tape to help gauge my success. My weight hasn't budged in about a week, and I was struggling with the "screw it" mentality and fighting the extreme urge for some cheese fries, when I realized it's probably due to my cycle. Hang in there, and keep up the good work!!!!

I always count eggs as 0.5 carbs each. Mayonaise I count as 2 carbs per 2 tablespoons. Lettuce I count as 1 carb per cup. I still write my carb count down on a daily basis and it helps me keep track of exactly what I eat. I know how you feel about getting to the next 10 lb increment and then being back up a lb. the next time to you weigh in. This has happened to me several times and makes me so mad. Good luck and you are doing great.

I am vigilant about keeping a food diary. I write down every single bite of food that I eat, and I use www.Fitday.com, a free on-line carb\calorie\nutrient counter, to do it. It's been the most helpful tool I've ever had in my weightloss journey.

By law, if it's between 0 and .5, it can be listed as no carb, if it's between .5 & .9, it can be listed as <1. There are some 0 carb foods, but check the portion size on the label to be sure that they are not listing a rediculously small portion as a serving to keep the carb count on the label low. Also, beware of sugar alcohols. They say on the package .5 net carb or .5 net impact carb, but they are subtracting the sugar alcohols. Sugar alcohols count! Your body processes the carbs, it just absorbs them more slowly so your blood sugar doesn't spike. If you're a diabetic, that's what you're looking for, but for LCers, that's not the point. That said DO subtract fiber. The human body doesn't have the ability to extract nutrients, calories, carbs etc. from fiber, it's just bulk.

I think that's TMI, but I'm on a roll LOL

Tenn

wow! I didn't know this...very interesting!! No such thing as too much info, we need all the knowledge we can get :D

According to my Hellmanns regular mayo it says zero carbs. In the atkins book it says eggs, lettuce and mayo are "free foods" Now I haven't been pigging out on them but nonetheless, I don't count them in my daily total!
So if I was going to have eggsalad over some lettuce, I'm thinking thats basicaly zero carbs! ahhh! I don't get it.