I'm in induction (on my third week, planning to go for 6) and over the weekend I was out and about quite a bit, so I got two different garden salads for lunch on Saturday and Sunday. Both of them had those tiny little carrot slices, and I couldn't pick them all out. So, I ate them and just added a couple of extra carbs to my daily count. I had a small gain on Sunday morning, and a two pound gain this morning (Monday). Also, both nights I had really bad nightmares where I woke up in a cold sweat. Could the carrots be messing with my insulin/blood sugar? I haven't had any problems until now, and the carrots are the only thing that was different those days.

Oh! I also ate a ton of meat on both days. Forgot about that part. Could that have something to do with it? I mean, I eat meat all the time, but there was quite a bit more than usual on those two days.

Even tho I have no answers, I didn't want you to think you were being ignored. Have you been using ketostix and noticed you went out of ketosis?
other than that, I think you did your best while out and about and not having complete control over what you eat, and things will settle out over time.
As to the gaining, where are you in your cycle? any possibility TOM is coming?

I don't think there's enough information to tell. It could be either the carrots or the extra meat, or it could be both or neither (my guess is neither, but that's just a guess)

Body weight can fluctuatte for so many reasons, any of which could be the reason for the weight gain and the nightmares (I kind of doubt that the carrots and extra meat caused the nightmares, but as I said, that's just my guess).

The only way to know is to experiment (but do it with one or the other, not both) and to do each experiment many times. One and even five or ten times can be a coincidence (even more can be a coincidence if you're unconsciously making other changes, you're not aware of).

I tend to doubt that those eenie little carrots had such a major impact, but who knows. I'm not so sure about the meat, though. When you say "tons," do you think that you had way more calories than usual? Also, do you have all the information about how the meat was prepared? Marinades, etc. can often contain gobs of sugar, which can make you retain water for a few days. Are we talking processed meat here? I bloat up like a balloon when there is a lot of sodium involved.

I've had fluctuations that I cannot pin down a reason for, despite lots of experimentation. I would encourage you to not freak out (not that you sound like you are) and keep up the good work. Fluctuations are normal, and it looks like you are doing an amazing job.

I tend to doubt it was the carrots as well. The first time I did Atkins about 10 years ago, I ate a handful of baby carrots every day on induction. I know it is a no-no food, but back then other than a bit of cheese I wasn't getting much of any carbs otherwise and they seemed to help settle my stomach. I lost 16 pounds back then on induction and over 70 pounds in four months. Now I would not recommend trying it cause I think I was exercising enough to compensate and I probably also got lucky. I just cannot imagine a few shreds of carrots would do much.

How was the meat cooked? Any excess sodium?

I tend to believe those overnight jumps have more to do with some type of water retention and it will probably fall right back off.

It went down again. I think it was just sodium/sugar and stress. I didn't know how the meat was prepared, so that was probably part of it as well. I'm just having to learn to go a bit easier on myself, because it's just a scale.