I have been eating at Induction levels since the first of the year and have lost 48 lbs and still have over 50 more to lose. I have a couple probably stupid questions.

1. How important is it to climb the carb ladder?
2. Do I need to find some ketosticks?
3. Other then being stricter (which I do anyways) is there much difference in the books. The one I have is DANDR. Is it worth it to find an old version?

3. The 72 rules are in the first post of this thread. Yes, no net carbs, watch your veggies, as close to zero for ONE week of induction.
2. I use them to add new foods and to raise carbs to get CCL.
1. Yes, it is critical to move up the ladder. You might only get to 20 carbs like I did (not net btw), but you need to have a diet you can live with and you need lovely nutrients afforded by the low carb veggies.

Would you folks who have been following the '72 Atkins plan share some of your menus, especially getting through that first level. For lunch today, I had some leftover rotisserie chicken, 1 oz of hard cheese, a few black olives, and had a little bit of full fat blue cheese dressing for dipping. Is oil/vinegar the only allowed dressing? I wasn't clear on that.

Kittenan:

Personally, I have only been able to get to no more than 35 (not net) carbs a day and still lose weight. So understand why you have been doing the Induction for more than a year.

I am going from 7-10 carbs a day to 15 carbs a day now. It's not easy. It's that carb phobia.

I would get a '72 or '81 version off Amazon so you can read it front to cover to know what you're in for. I just got my '81 version in the mail today. It smells old and the print is odd (not like modern print) BUT who cares......

I am reading it because I am SOOOOOO....carb phobic that I may not be able to move myself into CCL.

Get those sticks! They are around $10USD at a cheap pharmacy. That's going to be imperative when you adding carbs. Even if it registers a "trace" you are okay.

Congrats on you weight loss so far! Are you still losing weight on the Induction even though you've been doing it for so long?

Yes. I have pauses in the scale every once in a while, but it has been fairly steady averaging 6-7 lbs a month, after the first month.
I too, am pretty carb-phobic. I just don't want to trigger a binge and have it take another 3 years to get back on the LC wagon. On the other hand I would really like to know what my CCL number is. I was pretty happy with what I had been eating until my freezer ran out of venison and deer season doesn't start for another 3 or 4 months. So now I have switched to beef hamburg and I am just not as happy. I don't like the taste with my mayo, I like catsup with beef and that adds carbs instead of fat.

May I join also? I have had past success with DANDR also a few years ago, but I think I have been allowing too many carbs in, thinking I am still under 20. I've been on the wagon and then off since end of March. Weekend drinking seems to have made all my good choices during the week worthless.

Hopefully being accountable to this checkin may help me stay strictly on plan.

It's a pleasure to meet you all.

Welcome Jolly!!!!

How's everyone doing? I had a nice big ribeye for dinner and it was yummy! I didn't even want any of my hubby's yucky old carbs.

Doing well here! No noticeable loss yet, but hanging in there. I feel better, that's for sure, although I've been visiting the porcelain throne a lot. Lots and lots of water in me apparently!

I had roast chicken thighs for dinner. Later, I plan to have my salad, because I need something to eat when I take my evening meds.

I am a '72 fan, too. I bought it after I started with DANDR and was much happier with the tone of the book - none of the low-carb fake foods and no bowing down to the whole grain false gods. I just read an interview with two women who wrote a book about their low-carb diet, modifed Atkins. Anyway, one woman described eating sea bass, spinach and a vodka tonic just earlier for lunch. Now, if I want to waste carbs, let me do it with a vodka tonic and not brown rice! I just love that era for eating and we have other cookbooks from that time. That is what Atkins '72 is to me. Life before jogging and vegetarianism when everybody was skinny in their cocktail dresses, drinking martinis - and way healthier than we are today in many ways. And even healthier if they were doing Atkins!

Janine

Hi Everyone! I'd like to join you all and see if doing it old school Atkins equates to doing it better!! Can't wait to see how we all make out

Kisal- I bet you will have a woosh in no time. How do you cook your chicken? I'm always looking for tricks.

Janine- I love the vodka tonic story I'm with you on having the drink and not the brown rice.

Jello- Hi and welcome. I'm sure we will all be thinner and healthier in no time.

i found some really good, sugar free already cooked bacon that all i have to do is microwave until warm. but i'm gagging because of the other stuff - eating meat without bread is really a hard habit to break even though i don't want the bread.

i can't wait to get a rottiserie chicken! i've been craving one.

oh, yeah! no more headache and i am drinking loads of water...basha's grocery store has the little drink mixes for $1.99...no carbs, no sugar, good flavors.

Hey, I'd love to join too! I don't have the '72 book, are the 'directions' at the beginning of the thread enough to go on? Do I need to buy that version, if I can find it? (I have read the DANDR 2002 version).

This looks like what I need to do. I lose slowly (52 and going thru menopause) and have already found I need to cut way back on cheese, cream and nuts, if I expect to lose an ounce. For me calories do count. Sigh.

Recipes... do share!

Yep, the basic stuff is at the beg. of the thread.

Welcome!