Hey guys...I really need your support today!!!

[Brenda80-2lose]

This is the story. My daughter and I went to clean a house. I stopped at hardees and got a low carb breakfast bowl. For lunch I had a couple pieces of string cheese and almonds cause I was still working. When we got through I stopped at the store and got some meat skins and a sugarfree energy drink. Later we went to a birthday party and I had 2 weiners. Thats not so bad, but tonight I went through Mc donalds and got the fruit and walnut salad with a unsweet tea. My fear now is that it might spike my sugar. A couple weeks ago I had a few pieces of cantaloupes and some grapes and it didn't even knock me out of ketosis. But this had some lowfat yogurt and 25 grams of sugar. I am starting to get leg cramps also and I have been on atkins for 3 months! The leg cramps used to hit me about the first 3 weeks I was on the diet, I don't understand why I am getting them now. I'm not sure what rung I'm even suppose to be on because I'm so bad about wanting to stay close to extended induction. I lead a very busy and hectic life, I'm not to lazy to reread the book I just don't ever have time. Please guys all the support and advice you have to give will be appreciated, Thanks

[hubbys_girl]

Hey Brenda (is it ok to call you that?) I don't think you did too much damage with the salad. Just get back on your plan and it will burn off. One thing I have noticed though with your post is that you seem to be eating a lot of drive thru of pre packaged foods. Is this the case? I know you are busy, but maybe just taking a few minutes in the evening to pack a lunch that you are happy with that meets your needs would help significantly!

As far as the leg cramps, talk to your dr or pharmacist about a multi vitamin with potassium in it. It will help with the leg cramps, but try to find a vitamin with out iron. Eating meat gives us plenty of iron!

On occasions that you really feel you can't wait to get home to eat, I'd order a hamburger, no ketchup no bun and a side salad with ranch or ceasar dressing (read the pack to make sure it is less than 2 grams of carbs/tablespoon),{maybe a snack for the drive home in your lunch bag could help with this}

I also see that you are eating nuts. They are on rung 3. Extended induction is fine, but many people *me included* see a dramatic weight loss when they start OWL. You don't have to reread the whole book, just go to the chapter on OWL and take 5 minutes to read it, or get a passenger in your car to read it to you while you drive. OWL is great with so many more food options, just keep tabs on your carbs and only add 5 carbs to your daily intake a week at a time until you know your critical carbohydrate level (CCL) this is the nuber of carbs you can eat and still lose weight.

The closer you are to your CCL the slower your weight loss may be, but it is worth it. It gives you the time to make this way of eating permanent.

Hope this helps, and keep up the good work. The science of Atkins works. Give it time and make sure you are doing Atkins, not your own version and you'll be fine!

[attek]

The only thing to do is to pick up where you left off. We've probably all made a mistake (whether intentional or accidental) that kicked us out of ketosis. Maybe you're out of it, maybe not. Probably the biggest thing that concerns me is the lack of veggies in your diet. Is this typical? Because a salad is a very portable meal to pack anywhere, or cut-up veggies with dip.