I've recently decided to give the whole low carb thing a try and am just starting induction today. For the 20g carbs I'm allowed, should I count total carbs or just net carbs? I chew a lot of sugarfree gum, in which the carbs seem to come from sugar alcohols, so I'm wondering if I need to give that up. Also, I see a lot of tempting low carb chocolates at the store that have a lot of carbs in general but have very few "net carbs". Are those okay to eat during induction?

Thanks in advance!
(And I'm really happy I found this forum. I found answers to a lot of questions I had ^_^)

You are supposed to be counting net carbs. No, they are not. I would reccomend avoiding them period. They stall people, people start craving sweets, the calories start to add up fast from them as well. They are nothing but trouble. Take at easy on the gum the sugar alcohols add up fast and most people count them like carbs.

Hi xiguo-

Am I reading correctly that you are currently 97 lbs and are trying to get to 85 lbs at 5"4'??? That seems awfully low.

I'm not sure you need to be "dieting" at that already low weight. If you are on Atkins strictly for health reasons and are not trying to lose weight, then there is no reason for you to be doing Induction. You could move right to maintenence if health is the only factor.