New to the board, but have some questions...

[MrsDRock]

Hi everyone, I have just started Atkins on Tuesday 8/12/08. 2 days in!

I have been doing a lot of reading, but still had some questions. Could anyone help clarify them for me?
1. I feel like I have constant nasty breath from eating so much meat/cheese. How did you get rid of this? I'm an avid gum chewer- what is Atkins friendly gum?

2. If Cheddar has 0g of carbs, why do I need to only eat 3-4oz/day?

3. Heavy cream also has 0g carbs... do I need to limit my intake on this?

4. Is it necessary to work out or weight train (or both) to lose weight on this diet?

5. I haven't really been eating veggies a lot... I've been getting my net carbs through cheese mostly... is this ok? Do I need to eat veggies?

6. If a food has 0g carbs (Cheddar, Heavy cream, etc.)- can I eat as much as I want?

Thanks everyone!

[missnikki217]

1. Possible you are already in ketosis? It is characterized by bad breath... Gum is discouraged as it has aspartame, which is pretty bad for you. I find drinking A LOT of water and brushing my teeth constantly helps
2. I dont know about you, but I tend to get very blocked by cheese, so limitation is a good thing. Also, cheese doesnt usually have NO carbs, just less than .5 per serving, and the FDA doesnt require a listing for that on packaging. Besides, during induction most of your carbs need to come from veggies.
3. Same thing as #2
4. I, and probably many others, have been able to lose just fine WITHOUT exercise, but the point of this way of life is good habits. For me, having high blood pressure as well as being overweight makes exercise a necessity. Also, without exercise, you can become a smaller version of what you are now, but with exercise, you can tone/shape your body. Just eating low carb certainly wont give you six pack abs
5. VEGGIES VEGGIES VEGGIES!!!! 2 cups salad, 1 cup non-starchy, green vegetable. Or three cup salad.
6. Technically you can, but that would not be "doing Atkins". It would be doing MrsDRock-kins. You need veggies for nutrients.

Have you read the book? This forum goes by the 2002 Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution version. If not, I suggest you do, but also check out all the Sticky posts in the 14-day induction forum for all the rules.

Good luck!!

[liv]

I have been doing a lot of reading, but still had some questions. Could anyone help clarify them for me?
1. I feel like I have constant nasty breath from eating so much meat/cheese. How did you get rid of this? I'm an avid gum chewer- what is Atkins friendly gum?

Drink water, brush your teeth. Eat some parsley. Gum usually contains some artifical sugars and should be kept to a minimum


2. If Cheddar has 0g of carbs, why do I need to only eat 3-4oz/day?
Cheese has carbs. The labeling law allows anything that is less than 0 (even if it is 0.9) to be called zero. Sometimes they make the serving size very small so they can legally say that something has 0 carbs.
Dairy in quantities is a staller and should be watched.

3. Heavy cream also has 0g carbs... do I need to limit my intake on this?
Yes we are limited to a couple of table spoons for the same reason. (And cream has carbs)

4. Is it necessary to work out or weight train (or both) to lose weight on this diet?
No. But if you want to look fabulous, you should. If you are OK with fluffy, then don't. But Atkins said that exercise is required. We get healthier if we exercise and our metabolism may improve.

5. I haven't really been eating veggies a lot... I've been getting my net carbs through cheese mostly... is this ok? Do I need to eat veggies?
I thought you said cheese had 0 carbs.
No this is not OK. Veggies are healthy. They have vitamins, anti-oxydents - Stuff our body needs. We have to eat them.

6. If a food has 0g carbs (Cheddar, Heavy cream, etc.)- can I eat as much as I want?
No for cheese and cream. In induction meat and fish can be eaten liberally. But we are only supposed to eat till we are full not gorge ourselves.

Hope that helps

[MrsDRock]

Thanks to those who have posted!

I do add'l questions then...
1. If I can't eat gum, are there mints that are Atkins friendly? (Will prep toothbrush and Paste for tomorrow!)
2. How many carbs in 1 cup salad?
3. What green vegetables have the lowest in carb content?
4. I had about 1/4 cup heavy cream today... I am a little freaking out... Heavy cream has 0g carbs, so I thought it'd be a "freebie", but now how much do I need to count??
5. Does anyone have any "on-the-go" meal plans out there?

Thanks!

[Elizellen]

Many of us use www.fitday.com to log our food intake, which has a fairly accurate database of carb contents of many foods (taken from the USDA database).

It has heavy cream as being 6.6 carbs per cup, so 1/4 cup would have 1.7 carbs.

Depending on which salad veg from the allowed list you choose, the carbs would vary.
1 cup of iceberg lettuce has 0.3 net carbs
1 cup of red peppers has 6.6 net carbs
1 cup of radishes has 2.3 net carbs
1 cup of sliced cucumbers has 2.2 net carbs
1 cup of jicama has 5.1 net carbs
1 cup of chives has 0.9 carbs

As we are supposed to get 'most' of our 20 net carbs from our vegetables it means we need to choose some of the more carby veg (2 cups from the salad veg list + 1 cup from the other veg list) in order to be able to include other foods like cheese (Dr Atkins told us to count 1 net carb per ounce of cheese no matter what the actual carb count) and cream and sweetener packets (again, count 1 net carb per packet or spoon of these).

If we choose to eat 3 cups of iceberg lettuce (0.9 net carbs)we can only allow ourselves about 0.5 carbs of the non-veg foods in order to keep to Dr Atkins rule #3

3. Eat no more than 20 grams a day of carbohydrate, most of which must come in the form of salad greens and other vegetables. You can eat approximately three cups-loosely packed-of salad, or two cups of salad plus one cup of other vegetables (see the list of acceptable vegetables on pages 125-126).

So it is more a case of finding out which of the allowed veg have a fair number of carbs in order to get close to the 20 net carb maximum rather than finding out which have the least carbs in order to eat the least possible number of carbs on induction!

[DesertRain]

About the exercise....
I hated exercising...hated it, despised it, hated it.
I started Atkins hating it.
As I started losing weight, more and more I had these feelings about getting back into the gym. I ended up getting a personal trainer, read the book Body for Life and got inspired. Now, I cannot function without being at the gym. I look forward to being there and when I'm at home, I wish I was at the gym. I'm a fully transformed gymrat. LOL. The secret is, I started at my own pace, and did things I wanted to do. I'm not sure how you exercise but also having someone like a trainer to teach you the proper way to do things can eliminate stress and confusion and can minimalize the actual time you spend working out. I'm 145 pounds right now and last summer I was 125 pounds. Right now, I fit most of the same clothes I was wearing last summer and my skin is tighter and I have less cellulite. I'm saying I look better at 145 because of working out than I did at 125 (I was a fat and jiggly 125).
Moral: work at your own pace, doing something you enjoy.
Way to go on your success thus far, completing 2 days is a good indication that you can and will succeed! And this is a great place to come to for support and any questions you may have!