Hi Josie,

I am fairly new at this too, I am about 7 weeks into the diet and have now lost 25lb's. I found the best way to lose weight and track what I was eating was to create a 7 day menu plan for myself. So I wrote down and estimated (using the Atkins book - and since then labels on food) the amount of carbs I was eating in total for a day - split down by bfast, lunch and dinner. I try to ensure that with every evening meal I have 1 - 2 portions of veg, either swede and asparagus or brocolli and cauliflower (all low in carbs).
I don't think it would be very healthy for you to eat just the 'free foods' I avoided all alcohol for the first month - as their is sugar in wine, now I only drink Voka & Tonic. I also suggest you have multi-vitamins every day as I started to get a bit anemic in the first few weeks. I have invented some pretty weird recipes since starting, I can always let you in on some of them if you need more help? Well done for getting through the first week, don't give up just yet, starting is always the hardest bit.....