4 days & gained 1 lb! Too much mayo or food?

[johnnysmom]

Hi everyone!
Well, it is day 4/5 for me and I have actually gained a pound. I even went to the gym twice for the first time in over 10 years!

Here is what I am doing and am wondering if it is wrong....

First: I eat ALOT of food. All allowed foods, but alot of it (LOL!)
I eat ALOT of tuna salad, egg salad, and chicken salad with LOTS of Mayo.
I drink ALOT of coffee with a good share of Spenda and Cream (Cream is OK, right?) And, I was munching on hefty chunks of 0 carb cheeses.

Other than that, no cheating.

Any guidance one can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Nancy

[kate58]

You can gain if you eat too much. I don't know what you mean by a LOT, but if you could post a couple of day's menus (with amounts) it would really help.

Are you getting any appetite suppression? You should be by now and should not feel very hungry. Are you eating to satisfy your hunger - in other words because you 'need to' rather than because you just 'want to'?

Are you eating all your veg? Is your veg mostly lettuce? You are eating quite a bit of protein from the sound of it. Eating too much protein can also be a problem, since it can be converted to glucose in the body.

Is your coffee decaff? Caffiene can be a staller. What is 0 carb cheese? What does it contain?

[quotidianlight]

I see lots of problems there but my first concern... have you read the book yet? If not, run (don't walk) to the book store or library. Coffee can stall you, you're allowed only 3 packets of splenda and limited amounts of of cream but you have to count them in your carb count.

[Mirya]

Have you read or do you have a copy of Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution book (2002 edition)?????? If you have one you'll know the portions you are supposed to have on the diet. You need to follow the guidelines or it will do no good.

There are some DANDR books here for 1cent. you pay shipping and handling
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listi...2404988&sr=8-2

[Grant]

Hi nancy, great job going to the gym! It can be hard to get going but it just gets easier as you get more comfortable.

I had a couple thoughts on your foods. No one can really say how much food is too much, we are all just too different. The key though is inside you. When you get hungry you should eat, but you should only eat until you are satiated. No longer hungry? Stop eating. You might look at what you ate and think it just wasn't enough. That's your brain talking, not your stomach. You might be tempted to finish off your plate...don't do it. Put it back into the fridge. Just eat until satiated and if you get hungry again in a couple hours then have a snack. As long as you are doing that you won't be eating too much.

On your beverages. Dr. Atkins recommends avoiding caffeine. Many people here have found that coffee stalls their weight loss. If you think it might be the culprit you should try cutting it out and see if that helps.

Splenda - We are to have 3 serving of sweetener per day. I'm not sure what a "good share" is but sounds likely you are going over this amount. Also keep in mind that if you are using powdered splenda then you are ingesting carbs. I believe a packet of splenda has 1 carb so be sure to count it in your totals.

Cream - we are allowed to have 2 to 3 tbs of heavy cream a day. Again, sounds like you might be going over that amount. Also heavy cream has .42 carbs per teaspoon I believe so be sure to incldue that in your counts as well.

Finally, your cheese. We are limited to 3 to 4 ounces of cheese per day. 1 ounce of cheese is about the size of 3 dice stacked on top of each other. I'm not sure why you think it would be zero carb though, I've never seen a cheese that didn't have some carbs. My guess is that the package says 0 carbs on the pack? The problem is that (at least in the US) companies are allowed to put 0 carbs n the nutritional info if the total is under .5 per serving. To be safe I always count each ounce as at least .5 of a carb unelss the package says it has more. SO if I eat 4 ounces of, say, chedder cheese, I count it as 2 carbs for the day.

Hope that helps!

[not2late]

Originally Posted by johnnysmom

Hi everyone!
Well, it is day 4/5 for me and I have actually gained a pound. I even went to the gym twice for the first time in over 10 years!

Here is what I am doing and am wondering if it is wrong....

First: I eat ALOT of food. All allowed foods, but alot of it (LOL!)
I eat ALOT of tuna salad, egg salad, and chicken salad with LOTS of Mayo.
I drink ALOT of coffee with a good share of Spenda and Cream (Cream is OK, right?) And, I was munching on hefty chunks of 0 carb cheeses.

Other than that, no cheating.

Any guidance one can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Nancy

On Atkins you only eat the amount that satisfies your hunger. So if the amount you are eating stuffs you like Thanksgiving turkey, then you are over-eating. Atkins doesn't give you the license to gorge yourself.

In regards to the tuna, chicken and egg salad, did you make them yourself or did you purchase them ready-made? Ready-made salads tend to contain added sugars. Ditto for mayonnaise: the label is pretty accurate for the serving size listed on the bottle, but if you exceed that amount, start counting each addition serving as 1 net carbs. Most mayonnaises, except for Duke's, are made with added sugars.

Cheese is limited to 3-4 ounces. So if those chunks of cheese were over that amount, then you were eating too much. Dr. Atkins also said to count each ounce of cheese as 1 net carb.

Heavy cream is limited to 2-3 tablespoons daily. It is also allowed in larger amounts--3 fluid ounces which is roughly 5 tablespoons--with the warning that amount might cause weight loss problems for some people. By the way, it is heavy cream we use. Some people think those non-dairy creamers are an allowable cream on Atkins and they aren't.

Coffee, the decaffeinated kind, is allowed during Atkins. Dr. Atkins said that caffeine can stall or slow weight loss in some folks. Also, your primary source of fluids is water---tap, filtered, bottled or spring---and you are to drink at least 64 fluid ounces of it daily.

Splenda and other sweetners are limited to 3 servings daily. If you use the Splenda packets, count each one as 1 net carb.

[Debi2007]

Originally Posted by Grant

I've never seen a cheese that didn't have some carbs. My guess is that the package says 0 carbs on the pack? The problem is that (at least in the US) companies are allowed to put 0 carbs n the nutritional info if the total is under .5 per serving. To be safe I always count each ounce as at least .5 of a carb unelss the package says it has more. SO if I eat 4 ounces of, say, chedder cheese, I count it as 2 carbs for the day.

Hope that helps!

That helped me for sure. I did find some 0 carb cheeses. Often they say <1 for the amount of carbs so I always count 1 carb, but I have three different cheeses in my fridge that are zero carbs and was wondering about them. I think they are all Havarti. I will start counting them as .5 per ounce. Thanks!

[Designbabe]

Read this thread....

Ketosis- need some clarity

I found it really helpful. For instance, I did not know to keep my protein intake at 25%.
I stepped on the scales today, and I too gained a pound. But i won't freak out because i feel smaller.

[not2late]

Originally Posted by Debi2007

That helped me for sure. I did find some 0 carb cheeses. Often they say <1 for the amount of carbs so I always count 1 carb, but I have three different cheeses in my fridge that are zero carbs and was wondering about them. I think they are all Havarti. I will start counting them as .5 per ounce. Thanks!

The cheese footnote in the Induction Acceptable Foods lists says:

The rule of thumb is to count one ounce of cheese as the equivalent of one gram carbohydrate.

So count that one ounce as 1 gram, rather than as 0.5 grams or 0.2 grams or whatever.

[Debi2007]

Originally Posted by not2late

The cheese footnote in the Induction Acceptable Foods lists says:



So count that one ounce as 1 gram, rather than as 0.5 grams or 0.2 grams or whatever.

I was going by what Grant said above. Most cheeses are 1 gram of carb and I am sure when Dr. Atkins wrote his book that is what he noted. Now there are several choices that are carb free so I am not counting the carbs if they are not in the product. That seems like a waste of my carbs. But I am making sure that with cheese - if it says zero - I am counting .5 because there is the "possibility" that there are hidden carbs.

Plus...I am losing steady so it isn't a problem at all.