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Old Mon, Sep-01-03, 16:17
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atlee atlee is offline
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Posts: 1,182
 
Plan: SPII IS/BOAG
Stats: 186/136/140 Female 5' 5"
BF:A lot/18%/20%
Progress: 109%
Location: Jackson, MS
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Quote:
Originally Posted by katiegirl
#2 Eat low fat, "healthy" foods with lots of vegys, fruit, and whole grain


That's exactly what Atkins maintenance is about (well, except for the low-fat part) -- lots of dairy, veggies, fruit, and whole grains! I eat basically unlimited green veggies and 2 servings a day of fruit (apples, berries, melons, or grapes) or starchy veggies (corn, peas, butterbeans), and the only reason I don't eat whole grains is because I don't like them. As for fat, maintenance involves lowering your fat consumption a bit as you raise your carbs -- it's still not a low-fat diet by any stretch of the imagination, but unlike the weight loss phases, you don't need to try to deliberately add fat. It's important to eat enough fat, because of its satiating properties, and you still have to get your calories from somewhere, but the ratios shift more toward the carb end of things (your protein intake should remain constant). I use a reasonable amount of olive oil and butter in cooking, eat full-fat dairy products, and buy dark-meat chicken (which I prefer for taste and cost reasons), but I don't make any heroic efforts to eat lots of fat.

As for meeting your future husband's needs, I sympathize, because my DH doesn't do well with very rich foods with lots of cheese, eggs, or cream, and he refuses to eat visible fat on meat. However, he likes well-trimmed dark meat chicken and food cooked with olive oil, and it might be worth seeing how your FH does with the "lighter" fats (which are the so-called good fats anyway). Also, it's easy enough to cook relatively low-fat and add a pat of butter, a drizzle of flavored olive oil, full-fat salad dressing, or a slice of melted cheese to your plate just before serving. And there's no law saying all your fat intake has to come at meals -- try a higher-fat breakfast or snacks of full-fat dairy or a handful of nuts. You probably only eat dinner with him anyway, so you might want to eat more fat and less carbs for breakfast and lunch, then have a lower-fat, higher-carb dinner together.

One more note -- your maintenance carb level is probably a lot higher than 25g. Dr. Atkins says in Atkins for Life that almost nobody's maintenance level is lower than 45g, and most people's is more like 50-60g. A lot of people think their maintenance level is 25-30g, because they get off Induction, start upping their carbs like the book suggests, and hit the infamous third- or fourth-week stall -- it's entirely unconnected to their carb intake level, but that's what it gets blamed on. It takes a long time to determine what your maintenance level is, like a month or two -- personally, I think it takes two or three weeks to really see the true effects of any adjustment in carb levels, but by the time you ease from premaintenance to maintenance, your rate of loss will have shifted to a pound every couple weeks or month, so you can't really tell where you're at by short-term scale fluctuations. Also keep in mind when determining your maintenance level that 25-30g of veggies affects your body very differently from 25-30g of LC junk food, and that some foods affect people differently. You may be able to maintain eating 50g a day of fruit and veggies (green and starchy), but not with 25g of fruit/veggies and 25g whole grains.
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