Thread: not sure I am doing this right...

Ok, first day on atkins / low carb.

Not been bad at all, only I am very tired this evening. could be food, could be heavy day at work...

What I have noticed though, is that my carb / protein / fat ratios are waaaaay out! According to myfitnesspal I have had 1746 calories (gulp!!) 15g carbs, 113g fat, 111g protein. Today was this:

B: 3 x egg with spring onion and cheddar
L: salmon and cheesy coleslaw with salad leaves
D: chicken breast with mushrooms in butter and creme fraiche and mustard sauce, brocolli, green beans.

Also, I have had a couple of pieces of sugarfree chewing gum and a glass of low calorie tonic water.

How does this look to you more experienced people? I'm not starting on induction as have less than a stone to lose, so whilst I guess coleslaw and mustard aren't on induction list, are they ok from this point onwards so long as I keep to my carb counts?

Had it not been for the coleslaw and extra added butter this evening, my protein would have been loads higher than fat! does anyone else struggle with the ratios? x

Those aren't your ratios, those are just the grams of each you've had. To find out your ratios, go to 'daily' and choose the pie chart display. Ideally you're aiming at 65 percent fat, 30 percent protein, 5 percent carbs.

However you've just started, you don't need to be too hung up on hitting it perfectly right now (though I don't think your stats will be too far off actually but I'm not good enough at maths to know for sure).

Once you're in ketosis you'll find your appetite decreases and you'll naturally eat less. Right now you don't need to worry about calories. You only need to worry about eating too much protein if you stall in future.

1 g of protein is 4 calories
1g of fat is 9 calories

So if you ate 100g protein and 100g fat, the ratio of how many of your calories came from fat would still be more than double the percentage that came from protein, do you see?

But save yourself the trouble and use mfps pie chart

Watch the coleslaw if it's made with sugar - making your own can be preferable. Otherwise, menu looks good!

Thanks for taking the time to explain that, moonlights - that makes perfect sense now... although try as I might I can't find where to change to pie chart view, but I was knackered last night, will have another go tonight.

One thing I have noticed - running to the loo every two minutes! Up twice in the night needing a wee!!

Thanks for the headsup on the coleslaw, tbh, not sure I will buy it again, I'm not a fan of mayo really, so having it coat my salad leaves wasn't too great...

x

Pie chart is here, if you're using the iPhone app, at the top right hand corner of the list of your daily intake:

Thanks...

for some reason it wouldn't work on my pc, but downloaded the app onto hubby's ipad and works on that, thanks!

yep, 66% fat on both days so going good!
x

Please can you help me - I seem to be having a similar problem, and I'm not sure if I'm doing it right either - for some reason, I am only on lunch and I've already eaten 20g carbs according to MFP?

Breakfast was 5 rashers of grilled bacon

Then I had an atkins choc bar (2g carbs)

Then for lunch I had grilled salmon, about half a cup of grilled green beans, 4 cherry tomatoes, 50g cucumber and about a heaped tablespoon of grilled peppers and courgettes - I cannot believe I'm already up to 20g carbs?

I don't know how accurate MFP is with some of their foods, but its a bit disheartening to see I've eaten 20g already (and it's technically 9% of my diet for the day if I look at the chart)

Does this mean I'm doomed to eat only protein and fat for dinner?

Green beans probably aren't an induction food - beans are on a higher rung. However green beans are about 3.2g per 100g.

Peppers also are a little high carb for induction. 100g of red pepper is about 6.5g carbs.

However as long as you count these you're ok to have them now and then.

When you search for generic ingredients like veggies always search including a supermarket name. Tesco is usually a good one. Otherwise you may be inputting the American values - they add the fibre to their carb count and do low carbers there have to deduct it. We don't.

Do stay away from the Atkins bars though, in general but especially in induction. Have a read of the thread called 'sugar alcohols and why Atkins bars are evil'.

Aaand finally, it isn't hard to have a carb free meal for dinner - a big steak and scrambled eggs or a ham and cheese omelette would do it. As I'm not sure how many grams are in half a cup or a heaped tbs I can't tell you if you're over 20g but you have eaten 3 of the carbier veggies - peppers, tomatoes, beans - so I suppose it's possible. Try and add more green veggies if possible - spinach, asparagus, etc - they're extra healthy and lower in carbs. And do pick up a copy of the book.

Originally Posted by GigglyGirl84

Please can you help me - I seem to be having a similar problem, and I'm not sure if I'm doing it right either - for some reason, I am only on lunch and I've already eaten 20g carbs according to MFP?

Breakfast was 5 rashers of grilled bacon

Then I had an atkins choc bar (2g carbs)

Then for lunch I had grilled salmon, about half a cup of grilled green beans, 4 cherry tomatoes, 50g cucumber and about a heaped tablespoon of grilled peppers and courgettes - I cannot believe I'm already up to 20g carbs?

I don't know how accurate MFP is with some of their foods, but its a bit disheartening to see I've eaten 20g already (and it's technically 9% of my diet for the day if I look at the chart)

Does this mean I'm doomed to eat only protein and fat for dinner?

Hmmmmm I'm fairly new to this too but I'll give it a go at giving some advice, but moonlights and the others on here are far better I'm sure. I've found mfp to be accurate when I double check labels. I've found that when I have cherry tomatoes my carb count goes up and the same with peppers and any bean would do that. i had a little stab at entering what you've had into mine and only came up with 16g carbs, so maybe double check your quantities that you've put in. Also be careful of the bars, I read that they can stall you.

Hope that helps xxx

thanks so much guys!

I think the amounts possibly vary according to the option you select (like if I log someone's home made version of a grilled veg, it might be different).

Would mushrooms be okay to add to this evenings meals? Also I've downloaded the carb counter off the atkins website to help steer me in the right direction

Originally Posted by GigglyGirl84

thanks so much guys!

I think the amounts possibly vary according to the option you select (like if I log someone's home made version of a grilled veg, it might be different).

Would mushrooms be okay to add to this evenings meals? Also I've downloaded the carb counter off the atkins website to help steer me in the right direction

Mushrooms Are very low carb from what I remember x

Mushrooms are practically carb free, I more or less treat then as a free food so I'm sure that would be fine.

Your problem might be that you searched for cooked veg - which might have stuff added to it. It's much easier to find the true values of uncooked food.

One of the big Atkins success stories on here, Katie, who has lost about 5 stone I think and kept it off for a year, once told me (when I was fretting about eating too much cauliflower) that people very rarely stall through eating too much veg. It's true, you really don't need to worry about going over a tiny bit veg wise.

Also, if you find yourself missing fruit and happen to like rhubarb - rhubarb counts as a vegetable, is pretty low carb and yummy stewed down with a little sweetener.