I started the celebrity slim diet three days ago and I have a bunch of products (shakes and soups) that I want to finish before I switch to Atkis 100% but I have a couple of questions in the meanwhile!

-How do I use the shakes and the atkins bars and cookies in phase 1 induction? are they meal substitutes? In CS we do one "real" meal (veggs and protein like in atkins) usually at lunch time but it can be dinner time too, then substitute two meals with products and do 2 - 3 snacks a day (which can be for example, an apple, 30 grams of cheese or one of their snack bars). Is it the same in atkins? I don't seem to find the info in the packaging! I have read about the induction phase and I understand it I just don't understand where the official atkins products fit??

-With CS I am eating an average of 1200 calories a day 80 grames of carbohidrates as measured by myfitnesspal (I know those are not net carbs). I am going to get into ketosis?? I read different opinions. In the CS official forums they say that as long as you stay under 100 total carbs a day you are into ketosis, but in atkins you need 20?? can someone shed some light on this please? You can get technical, I am a nurse, I will understand the geeky biological stuff

-When I change to 100% atkins, do I need to count calories or only net carbs? any recommended application for the phone or mac to count net carbs?

Thank you!!!

Welcome, you have found a great forum for 15 years + of information about the Atkins Diet, recipes, etc. Much of the information goes back to before the New DIet Revolution book in 1992 where Dr Atkins introduced the subtraction of real food Fibre carbs like vegetables. See Induction food sticky above.^ Some of us have found that counting net carbs slows or stops weight loss, especially when processed fibers and sugar alcohols are what is being netted out. If you read back through threads in this Atkins sub-forum you will find other members warning about use of the Atkins products. I personally use no processed foods, especially not diet foods like Atkins, some of the reasons in these articles. https://www.dietdoctor.com/atkins-fairy-tale-candy The only place Atkins products "fit" is on the company's sales and profits charts.

Being "in ketosis" or fat-adapted which is what you likely mean varies by person. If you were insulin sensitive, athletic and in metabolic good health you might be "in ketosis" at 50-100 g, most everyone slips into ketosis while sleeping. But for the typical overweight person posting here 100g total carbs is too high, under 50 g total carbs is a more common level suggested for ketosis, and eating under 20 g total carbs is necessary for many with a lot of weight to lose. Search "ketosis" in the link above, DietDoctor has good explanations of basics about and myths of ketosis.

Many doctors starting with Dr Atkins suggest to be certain you start burning body fat during induction and until goal weight, feel the benefits of reduced hunger, and eventually become fat-adapted etc. to at least begin at 20 g total carbs. Here is a good introduction to LC that includes all the basics about a Low Carb diet and offers three levels of carbs in the diet to choose by your health and goals. With PCOS and being overweight, you are likely insulin resistant, so the two week challenge diet at 20g total carbs would be a good place to start for you. Just. Eat. Real. Food.
https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb

You can continue to use MFP, customize the goals as described here. http://eatfatlosefatblog.com/how-to...ketogenic-diet/ Move the Fibre column next to total carbs column. So if you want to know the net, subtract in your head and add the number in the notes. The calories are always there in MFP, but you do not need to count them on LC or Atkins to start.

EDIT to add. I looked at a CS bar...it had 38g carbs and 20 of those were sugar. 20g of sugar is like adding 5 Teaspoons to your tea. Since you are a nurse, take your blood sugar before you eat one, then again 30-60 minutes afterward to test how these products react in your body. Why guess at a number of carbs you should eat when a glucose meter can help you shape the right diet for you. Remember that normal blood sugar in your entire body is only 1 teaspoon. https://lowcarbrn.wordpress.com/dia...b-for-diabetes/

Thank you SO MUCH for all the information!!! for starters I have sold my CS and atkins bars and supplements and went to a shopping spree and got all the basics: raw spinachs, avocados, asparagus, mushrooms, butter, double cream, bacon, mince beed, chicken, salmon, cheese, eggs (LOADS of eggs and LOTS of cheese, my fav food ever)...

I have ordered the atkins book. This one (I hope is an OK edition) and will read it asap.

I have the grasp of the basics, I have also started a food journal on a notebook and gotten some ketostix (I know they are not ideal but I want to have an idea of how I am doing in the beggining).

For weight loss I am thinking on sticking to between 1200-1500 calories, do you think its too little?? And I will eat my carbs from the veggies at lunch time

Again thanks a LOT for all the info, I am going to surf the forums now!

Try to think total carbs, not total calories.

Dr Atkins really didn't talk much about calories. He said that we should eat when hungry, stop when not.

And he said that if you have been eating to your hunger, on plan, and have experienced a prolonged plateau of two months or more, only then, should you think about calories.

I worked as an RN for years, and a wellness coach after that, so the number of calories in foods is pretty much hard wired in my brain at this point. But I don't count them. I count my carbs. And that is it.

Even so, if I look back at the totals for the past few days, it's probably around 1500. When I first started this WOE, though, it was much closer to 2000, and I got down to about 160 on that many calories. The reason it's lower today is that I no longer eat lunch, and only the occasional small snack in the afternoon, as I'm paying attention to hunger. And I stopped being hungry in the middle of the day, so stopped eating then.

Let yourself eat, on plan, very low carb at first. There is a thread here about "hard core Atkins' '72", named for Dr. Atkins' first book. The first page of the thread contains the rules for induction foods.

The only thing I'd add to that is that drinking salty broth can help to alleviate the symptoms of carb flu, as your body switches from a sugar based metabolism to a fat based one. The flushing of water and fat from the fat cells also flushes salt, and we can, even taking in "normal" amounts of sodium, become sodium depleted.

Welcome, and good luck to you!

MickiSue explained about calories...just eat when hungry. Keep it simple. For the purpose of customizing MFP 1500 calories usually works, but you can ignore that column for now. Good that you shopped for foods that are "nutrient dense", especially if you are planning to conceive. Hard boiled eggs are a perfect little snack, can make a whole chicken from it Watch the cheese...it's one of the allowed foods that has a limt, it's only 3-4 ounces many other people also love cheese, and also over eat it, one reason for the limit. You are off to a good start, all prepared, follow the tips on the DietDoctor beginner guide, and hang around here for help with any questions and let us know how you are doing.

Thank you! I will look at that thread!

I configured MFP to 5% carbs, 70% fats and 25% protein. I seem to be lacking fats in my past days so I am trying to add double cream and butter to my food now and lower a bit the intake of veggies.

I "peed on a stick" yesterday and it said ketones ++

This forum and the diet doctor website are SO helpful! thank you!

Could you please link me to the hardcore thread? I can't find it, the search engine ignores the words "hardcore atkins 72" because they are too common LOL

You can find the thread here:

http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=474032

Jean

Maybe you need to add fat...or maybe not. This is the biggest misconception with using a MFP tracker. Especially in the Induction phase, when you are trying to convert your body to using your body fat as fuel, a significant but unknown % of the fat should be provided by "your on board pantry". This article, Don't Force the Fat, explains it well. https://lowcarbrn.wordpress.com/201...-force-the-fat/

It includes Sample Graphs to show how this might work. The Adapt pie charts indicate that 50% of that 70% could be from your body...you do not need to eat 70% dietary fat. Instead, just add enough fat so you are not hungry between meals and satisfied with the taste of your foods.
Check MFP that you keep your carbs to 20g, your protein in grams is adequate (around 80g for a woman is a good starting point) and don't worry about the fat. But just as an example, the pie chart in this article shows only 700 calories as dietary fat, or 50% of total calories eaten, 25% of total calories expended. And just in case I didn't confuse you enough with all that about dietary and body fat, you do not need to count calories