mehhh2015, thanks for saying this. I think I ate too much for a couple of days, then didn't eat enough these last two days. I'm not sure what the right portions are for me yet. Will work on it. Tonight I went on a bit of a binge. Figured out that cream cheese tastes wonderful next to a pickle wrapped in a slice of ham.
Don't worry too much about it Winnie!
At the beginning it takes a while to find the right balance for you and also your body starts learning what feeling hungry truly means, as well as when to finish eating because you are satisfied, pay attention to those sensation as they always impress me...
I can't stop myself eating roast potatoes when I have them in front of me for example when having a roast, but when I only eat protein and vegs I can't eat more than 4oz of meat without losing my interest in my meal.... I just can't eat any more.
Some people will say eat as much fat as you fancy, you will be fine. But if you read the books carefully, particularly Atkins one, he limits the amount of cream you can use during induction, and tells you to be aware of the carb content of cheeses.
Keep in mind that as you increase carbs you have to eat less fat.
Eventually for some people, the amount of fats needs to be adjusted after losing weight to avoid stalling... it doesn't always work but that is more or less the general approach.
Some other people that are slim but do low carb increase the fat intake (increasing their caloric intake) to stop losing more weight. Time will tell you how to regulate your eating habits according to your goals and needs.
I stock up on things like avocado (I eat it almost it everyday when I'm at home), nuts and seeds and good quality olive oil, those are the fats I like my diet to revolve around. Flax also has good fats, as well as chia seeds so I eat those things as well.
I also increased my consumption of salmon, sardines, cod and tuna... do I like them? Nooope... but I am eating them regularly. Same with green salads, never been a fan of them... but I am having a proper one pretty much everyday with lots of apple cider vinegar and olive oil. My fats are there to help me with the process, but I personally don't make them the centre of my diet.
It might work to eat every couple of hours when you feel hungry a little protein and fat snack, that will massively diminish your hunger if you think you didn't eat enough, at the moment I don't have the need for snacks, but I have done it like that before and it worked for me.
I have always found induction style Atkins (or Berstains dietary approach) (20-grms carbs per day) the only way to lose weight relatively fast and I like seeing fast results on my scale, however... I know this can be dangerous as one gets frustrated when the scale doesn't move as fast anymore. But is possible to lose weight at a slower rate while eating a higher amounts of carbs. The choice is personal. I am very happy to see my BG numbers in the normal non diabetic range, so I want to keep myself in that bracket for a while before starting to experiment again with carb intake, also because I know that losing my body fat will increase my insulin sensitivity and therefore it will be very different to eat more carbs then than now when I am still so massively overweight.
However, I noticed that things like boiled sweet potatoes and aubergines (2 things that are seemingly high in carbs) don't affect my blood sugar levels so I can eat them as part of my meal. But I am still thinking about them as treats. I was eating lots of baked aubergines the last month (like almost everyday heheheh) when I wasn't going extremely low carb and my number were still in the 5's to 6's range, now I am eating less of them, but I can still eat them without getting out of the 4 -5's BG. The same has happened with 2 tablespoons of black beans or lentils, no effect on my BGs whatsoever, but for some reason all these things makes lowering my weight a much slower process so at the moment, I am avoiding them.
About cheating with the BG numbers... I have personally found having a meter an enlightening experience, to see that my BG doesn't go high at all after my LC meals is a great encouragement as I feel this is the right thing to do for me.
I love looking at my numbers and seeing the general steady and relatively fast progression to healthy numbers. I also saw what happened in the odd occasion when I tasted a little bit of sugar or wheat... and I didn't like what I saw which made me really aware that those are poisonous things to me... and had inspired me to stay away from them.
The last bit is about moving around, everyone told me (including Bersteins' book) that increasing exercise would help lower the numbers... in my case... it really does so I am walking and keeping active and moving a bit more particularly after meals. That was, again, an enlightening experience as I am not a big fan of exercise, I know I can lose weight without exercising but I saw improvements on my BG numbers and that was very important to me.