[Linsy]

Hi everyone! I was calorie counting for about a week but then after reading about Atkins and skimming through the book I was sold. I did a low-carb diet a while back but didn't do any kind of induction...I remember just eating a lot of meat and cheese and hardly any veggies. I was only in middle school then (I'm 18 now.) and weight loss that big of a deal to me.

Now that I'm older and MUCH more overweight than I was then, here I am. I wanted to see if my menu seemed decent or if there was any suggestions. Am I eating too much fat? Too much in general? I have a limited amount of veggies right now. I have celery, cauliflower, onions, mushrooms, lettuce, garlic, and broccoli and I'm trying to monitor the carbs in my veggies as best I can.

Today's menu:
Breakfast: 3 eggs (I didn't eat all of the yolks. I have a hard time eating them for some reason.) fried in butter and 3 pieces of bacon

Lunch: 2 cups mixed baby greens (4 carbs) with a stalk of celery (0.8 carbs) 1 cup of uncooked broccoli (3.2 carbs) 1 1/2 tbsp chopped black olives (about 1-1.5 carbs. The serving was 1 1/3 tbsp for 1 carb so I'm guessing.) and an oil&white vinegar dressing

Snack: While I was preparing a cauliflower "potato"-type salad for dinner, I snacked on half a stalk of celery, 1/2 tbsp chopped black olives, and 1 deviled egg. I also had to try the cauliflower and the finished salad a few times. I'll say about 1-1.5 carbs for the snacking. Eating while cooking is a bad habit i need to break!

Dinner: 1 cup mixed baby greens (2 carbs) and 2 barbecued hamburger patties with about 2oz cheese.

I'm full right now but if I get hungry later I have some deviled eggs outside that I can have as a snack.
Total carbs: 12-13

I've also been working slowly but steadily on a one gallon jug of water.

I also have a few questions: I read in other threads to eat quite a bit of butter and mayo. Mayo grosses me out unless it's mixed with something. I had a bit today when i was tasting the mayo/mustard mixture for my salad and there's some in the deviled egg I had but that's about it. Also, I just realized that I fried my eggs in I Can't Believe it's Not Butter...shouldn't I be using real butter instead? I feel like that would be better for me.

Thank you!

[ValRock]

Yes, use real butter.

Fat is not really a concern on Atkins. Actually, the more fat the better, for the most part.

[SilverLife]

Butter has nutrients in it. Yep, real butter.

[hairchick40v]

I would add a protien to your salad at lunch... I save my veggies for my nighttime meal... Sometimes I over eat my veggies then I stall.. And yes!! Real butter, that other prob has a carb or 2 in it!!

[luckie13luv]

Linsy,

I agree about the protein. I think a protein with your lunch would be better.

If you don't like mayo, don't eat it. Using real butter is good.

Good luck!

[Deena52]

Linsey....I could eat almost an unlimited amount of really low-carb veggies (broccoli, salad greens, etc.) and did not even count the calories...and continued to spill ketones and to lose weight. I didn't even bother counting the carbs of these veggies....the one in the first group of the lowest low-carb veggies in the book.
I also put lots of butter on my cooked veggies...to get the fat in. Plus it tasted better and kept me full much longer. And yes, I would absolutely switch to real butter.
You don't have to eat butter AND mayonnaise.....if you don't really like mayo...just make sure you put plenty of butter on items or cook with butter quite often. It can be AND or OR....doesn't have to necessarily be both...but for some reason....I found both butter and mayo to almost be a different type of fat from say, meat (dark meat), etc. While yes, I could eat those items....I seemed to need lots of either butter and/or mayo to maintain consistent loss (no matter how much of the other fatty foods I ate).

It's weird when we do Atkins. Many of us have to over-ride years worth of diet advice....stick to white meat only, avoid real butter, etc. It's a whole different way of eating....where fat is good and carbs are the problem. But as you lose weight....it will gradually make total sense to you....and you will realize that most of our entrenched dietary beliefs are way off the mark.

deena

[Linsy]

Thanks for all of the advice. I still don't feel quite right while frying up my eggs and bacon in the morning but I'm sure I'll get over it. I switched to real butter and have been using more of it by sauteing vegetables and using a good amount when making eggs.

Deena-- I'm not a huge vegetable person but salad is definitely my favorite. The salad I usually eat is mixed greens which is spinach, romaine, I think arugula and maybe something else. It's very good and it's 4 carbs per 2 cups. I got some cucumbers today to slice up into my salad as well. I've been stressing out to make sure that I get exact amounts of carbs from my veggies but I'm sure sometimes my calculations are off and it's good to know that it doesn't have to be 100% perfect. I'm extra careful with the higher carb veggies like onions and olives, though.

Lurking this board has helped a lot with deciding what I can and cannot eat and I appreciate it a lot. Hopefully I'll see the scale start moving soon.