How many calories are allowed? Or if calories aren't counted, how can you tell how much you're allowed to have if its a "sero carb" food? Like, obviously you can't eat a stick of butter, even though it wouldn't be any carbs. How can a low carb dieter know when they're going overboard on fat?

As a low-carb dieter , I don't normally count calories. I have checked them a couple times and find I eat about 1500-1600 calories a day. Even though butter wouldn't be considered high in carbs, I think most of us know better than to eat a huge amount of artery clogging fats. I eat lean meats, unprocessed foods, whole grains, fruits and fresh veggies just like the calorie counters and keep a written notebook daily on my carb count. This has worked better for me than any "diet" I have ever been on. Any time that I did have a stall in my progress, the first thing I did was take a keen interest in my fats and cut back in that area. It worked like a charm.

IMHO and experience, calories as well as carbs should be counted. There were many weeks I did not lose weight on atkins because what I didn't realize at the time was my calories were way over 2000... OY!!! When I started to pay attention to calories (1400 - 1600) I started losing again. People who do not count are probably that low if not lower.

Good luck !!

I use fit day to check out what I am going to eat before I eat it. Like if I am going to have an apple I punch it in and check out how it will affect me. Helps alot!

meeting with a nutrionist will definitely help to find out excat amounts of carb,fat and proteins to be consumed per day for your particular body types. I personally belive its dangerous for diabetics to diet on their own as hypoglycemia is more fatal than hyperglycemia. It takes a few weeks to get adjusted and make efforts to find out the portion sizes etc..but later it almost always just comes to you what you and how much to eat.

we carry a pocket book called calorieking (they have a website called calorieking.com) which helps you figure out the calorie counts.

I have an atkins calorie poket guide I keep in my purse

I don't count calories usually but I probably have between 1400 and 1700 cals a day