Hi all! Yesterday I posted in the Atkins area of the board and today I am here in the CAD area because I don't think I belong in the Atkins area. I am basically trying to see where I should be...I even bought the CAD book last night and I plan to read it today. The bottom line is that I thought I was doing Induction, even though it was my modified version (25-30 g/day instead of only 20g + occasional alcohol and caffeine), and now I think I might really be doing CAD...but I have not been having a reward meal...though the low carb ice cream I mention below could be considered a reward meal I guess, right? Maybe I am just doing low carbs???? But I need to be on a particular diet psychologically, so please help! Here is what I ate Friday and Saturday:

FRIDAY:
Eggs and ham (0g)
A half a bag of pork rinds (5 g)
Half a large cucumber (?3g)
A Carls Jr. low-carb burger (6g)
A hard-boiled egg (0g)
4 grams of carbs from a Diet Rite (1g), a diet coke (1g) and 2 packets of Splenda (2g)
The chicken salad with Ranch I mentioned above(??maybe 10 g?? with the lettuce and ranch)
Miniature LC ice cream bar with 5 grams of carbs total...2 G fiber, 2 sugar and 1 sugar alcohol (so 1g, right?).
**Does that sound like about 30 grams altogether, guys?

SATURDAY:
Bacon (0G)
Half bag pork rinds (5g)
Ground beef, cheese and olives (1g)
Filet Mignon, Steak, and veggies (maybe 3-5 g from veggies)?
3 cups of Chicken broth (3g?)
Salad w/ginger dressing (I have no idea how much ginger dressing has...hopefully not much!--3g???)
4 grams of carbs from a Diet Rite (1g), a diet coke (1g) and 2 packets of Splenda (2g)
(I think that was less than 30g, what do you guys think?)

Also, I have lost 5 pounds already since Wednesday the 17th. This is mostly water weight, right? Encouraging but it's like, how can this be? Could it be that I normally have 200-300 grams of carbs a day and going to 25-30 is so drastic?

Thanks so much for reading!!!
Lisa (iluvgavman) - Gavin is my 2 year old son

I'm VERY new to CAD/CALP, but from what I see, it doesn't look like you're on any published plan.

For one thing, an average egg has 1 gram of carbs. And ham often has carbs (as does bacon sometimes) because of the sugar it is cured with. Pork rinds typically don't have carbs, so if yours do, they're coating with sugar flavoring or something.

If you were on the CAP/CALP plan, I believe the first two meals of the day are supposed to be virtually carb-free, which yours aren't. And if you were on the Atkins plan, you wouldn't be having the alcohol, that much artificial sweetener in one day, or the LC ice cream bar on Induction.

Please don't think I'm out of line here, but I think you're going about this backwards. The best thing to do is to pick a plan, read everything you can on it, and then adapt your eating to the plan. What you're doing is eating what you like, and then trying to find a plan that fits it.

Tweaking is good, but only after following a plan to the letter for a very long time.

On the other hand, some people have been successful just devising their own plan, though I tend to think they're in the minority.

You have lost some weight, and yes it's ALL water at this point, so you're doing something right.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

I agree. Find a plan first, then follow the plan instead of trying to figure out which one already fits what you are eating. If you want to do CAD, then get rid of the artificial sweetners out side of RM and follow the allowed foods for CM list. If you want to do Atkins, get the book and follow the allowed foods for induction list.

Since you don't have much to lsoe and you've already lost some, check out Atkins for life. It allwoes 60g of carbs a day to start and is much more liberal. Doing that or CALP could be what you need.

For some doign it on thier own does work. My mother has lost quite a bit of weight just by cutting out sugar and flour. She still has regular beer nightly, cheats alot, and has fruit and high carb veggies. I gain weight just by eating moderate carb andnot paying attention to carbs and cals. If you need the structure of a plan though and the support of one, it's important to settle on which one you want to follow.

it looks like you're already close to doing atkins, so why not read all you can about atkins and work with that plan? you're already pretty much doing it!! you look like you just need to tweak a few things, because i don't see a 'reward meal', as CAD calls it. and, with CAD, you're not allowed to have ANY carbs any time during the day other than in your reward meal. it has to do with insulin resistance, i believe.

you might even like protein power, where you divide your carbs(you're allowed 30g during the day) between 6 meals during the day. atkins is almost the same, but a little more strict with 20g of carbs, and most of the carbs should come from salad.

so i'd suggest picking one of those. you're already close to doing them! and the atkins section of this message board (well, all of them, really!) are a great place to come for support.

good luck!!

Thanks so much for your replies. I think I am going to stick with my modified Atkins for now and switch over to CAD as soon as I finish the book ( I just got the CAD book last night). The only thing I want to make sure of is that I can have LOW carb (not no-carb) meals for the 2 CM's and the at the RM have basically whatever I want...right? Also, I am sorry to ask but I am not sure when I will finish the book as I have a 2 year -old...can I eat LC snacks on CAD? Or is it no snacks?

Also, sorry for all the questions, but what exactly is CALP? Is it in the CAD book?

Thanks guys,

Lisa

In CAD you can have carbs at your other meals they are just kept low. You can have one lc snack if you wish on CAD Calp is a plan that is alittle more strict in my opinion...saying that you should not have sweeteners except at the RM. Also don't forget the 60minrule for RM that is key. Good luck. I will be joining the CADers after a 2 week induction...I may be making a mistake but I was hoping that would give me a boost of weight loss...I might be doing it the wrong way. I have read some that didn't lose until they did CAD after Atkins.

hmmm. i thought i read in the book that you were not allowed to have ANY carbs at all at any time other than the reward meal. if you were to eat any carbs at all, you were to spit it out immediatly. it has something to do with insulin levels. have they published a new book? i read the old one several times before i decided atkins was best for me, personally.

There is a list of allowed foods includingg veggies. The veggies, alllowed cottage cheese, sall amount of allowed milk, eggs, cheese and other things have carbs. As for the take a bite and spit it out, no because that in itself can cause an insulin reaction as food starts to break down in the mouth.