You're doing fine!! Remember Karen's motto ... progress, not perfection.

25 carbs from green veggies .. that's total carbs, not carbs-minus-fiber. Try to get as close as you can, 24 or 26g is fine.

Although it wasn't spelled out in the instructions this time around ... for the project back in August, we decided amongst the group that it would be permissible to have up to 5 carbs lee-way, for such incidentals as coffee (since we all drank it, and weren't prepared to quit), eggs or other proteins that might have a wee bit o' carb, such as crab or shrimp. The carbs in eggs are evenly divided between yolk and white, ie .. there's 0.3g in each part. Of course, the fewer of these "extra" carbs, the better. (On my two days last week ... I had 24g each time from green veggies, and 3g from coffee & eggs)

As for butter, I guess you didn't see where I answered the other day in my study journal (no probs!) .. well, also during the first project, we decided that a small amt of butter could be considered fat, not dairy. To remove all traces of dairy protein and carb ... I've personally chosen to clarify unsalted butter, so all that's left is pure fat.

Yes, the program is "hard" but it makes it a little easier to think of it as a learning process. Especially the no-cheese and cream days. And the green veggie days ... force us to look beyond a plain lettuce salad (with few carbs and no fiber and little else).

I think it's a bit of a "grounding" experience ... as you said, makes a person really aware of what they're eating.

Take care, and remember to have some fun with it too

Doreen