Mike,

Your profile sounds a lot like mine, regarding hight/weigh and starting/goal weights. You can get a lot of different opinions, not just here, regarding losing weight, so ultimately you just have to do what makes sense for you and can stick. Here is my take on your questions.

A lot of people say to not use the scale when first starting out. The tape measure is actually a better method of tracking your progress. That being said, before retiring, I spent a lot of time at my job correlating, charting and analyzing data, so it comes natural to me to want to track what I eat and weight loss. While not diabetic, I even watch my blood sugar and compare it to what I have eaten. My point being, I don't think you need to put your scale out of reach unless normal fluctuation in your weight is going to cause distress.

I believe weather a carb is a carb depends on the person. The original version of Atkins 1972 started with basically zero carbs, adding back carbs slowly until you drop out of ketosis, after which you go back to indiction, quickly move back up to the level before the last addition. I have taken that approach, but rather than just adding a number of carbs, I am adding 1 food at a time for a week and looking at my reaction. I am not saying this plan is better than any other, but it has worked for me. I had a lot of success following an informal low carb plan, but after reading Dr. Atkins 1972 book, I feel like I understand the process better, and really kick started the last phase of weight loss.

I can't help you with feeling yucky. Along the way, I assume I was in and out of ketosis, based on carb level, but never experienced the keto flu or achy leg.