Help I'm confused! Ok so I make this little dinner. I take round steak and brown it in a pan with a tad of olive oil.. then once brown I simmer it for about an hour in tomato sauce and onion. I picked out the lowest carb sauce I could find at 3g per serving.
So its done and its smells yummy.. I take a steak out and I eat it and the only sauce I eat is what is actually on the steak. I'll estimate it as 1/4cup at max. I doubt it's even close to that.
So do I just count the carbs of this 1/4c of sauce I get? or does meat actually absorb it and make the carb count higher.

I doubt meat absorbs it, but cooking the sauce *concentrates* it in volume. I'm guessing that meal and day is already over now...so my question is, does it matter now? Last I heard, tomato sauce was *NOT* an induction-safe item. If you've started atkins on the 21st, aren't you still in induction?

Indeed I am. I guess I just messed up. I thought since a cup of tomatoes is allowed that tomato sauce wouldnt be too far fetched if I just cooked in it and did not eat it to the extreme, such as chili etc.

Just an FYI......I searched everywhere to find the lowest carb tomato sauce. The best and lowest that I found is called Pomi Tomatoes. They are sold in the same isle as the canned tomatoes. They are in a carton instead of a can....kind of like a milk carton. They are the absolute lowest I have seen....4 grams of carb in 1 cup. They are just crushed tomatoes but you can add seasoning etc if you want.

I go back and forth between being a "by the book" atkins **** and thinking, ****, if you eat tomato sauce and are still happy with your rate of weight loss, by all means, it eat! The only thing that sucks about adding in foods earlier is once you start them, you won't want to give them up and go back to induction only foods if you stall. I'm currently eating avocados, some nuts, and flax muffins--all of which I suspect stalls me a little--but am I giving them up? **** no.

Just be careful of what you decide you can't live without...

In my opinion, I'd rather lose 2 pounds a month and eat what I like and be able to stay committed to this WOL in the long run than lose 10-15 a month, though.

Wise words, Khem! I think that as long as you're making healthy eating choices, then you'll be fine. I do believe that following induction strictly is important to break some of those nasty little habits we have, though. But as long as you're not pushing those boundries in the attempt to fake yourself a sugar fix or going off plan, you're fine. If you start getting in the mind set of "well, a regular piece of white bread is only 16 grams of carbs, so I'll eat it and it will be my carbs for the day" then you're screwed.

It's not just the number of carbs, it's the kind of carbs. And it's not even just carbs. If there's no nutritional value in it, why put it in your mouth?

Ok, I got totally off topic. Sorry about that.

Wise words, Khem!

I'm one of those that was trying to substitute one (chocolate whipped cream) thing for another (ANYTHING chocolate) in order to make it a little easier on myself to give them up. I've got to admit I'm WAYY too weak to avoid stuff otherwise. I know if I didn't have something like that I'd be going off-plan and eating whatever chocolate/junk food was in the house. I've been trying to cut down on the amount of it I eat though

not that I should point it out, but you may want to try my peanut butter cup recipe I posted in shimma's thread... *leading you down the path to evil*

Well, at least they are high fat, low carb and meant to be kept in the FREEZER. :P

On the subject of tomato products, I recommend Unketchup by Westbrae. 1 Carb per Tablespoon, and I missed eating ketchup on atkins more than pasta, bread, and cookies combined!

I was never a big fan of ketchup to begin with.. I haven't missed it much at all. But just to be on the safe side ,incase the time should arise, I bought a bottle of the Atkins KetchATomato or whatever its called.
As for the tomato sauce... it's out. I can live without it. I just didn't realize exactly what I was doing Learn something new everyday