I've read that most people need to consume about 10-12x their body weight in calores per day. Now is it "bad" if the calories go over that?

My personal example is lately I've noticed that I lose more fat if I keep my calories around 2000/day. My calculator says 10-12x my body weight should be 1480 to 1776/day. Now, I know there's no way that I'll be able to live on 1480 calories/day on Atkins.

Most of my calories come from fat on the days that I get over 2000 for the day. Some days, I've actually been close to 3000 (thank you breve lattes from Starbucks) and other days I'm more around 1800.

I've also noticed that I can kick myself out of ketosis if I do more than 60 grams of carbs per day. But I can get myself back into ketosis within 24 hours if I go back to 30 grams/carbs or less per day. So, I've found that I can SLOWLY lose fat on 40-50 carbs/day and quickly lose fat on less than 40 carbs/day. (I'm in OWL right now).

Is there a recommended percent of fat vs protein calorie intake? I don't have my Atkins book with me here at work today so I'm kind of searching for the answer. Otherwise, I'll check when I get home...

But what are other people's personal experiences with fat vs protein calories?

Thanks,

Annie G.

Agonycat wrote on 3/6:

"Biology 101.

10 to 12 times your body weight in calories supports the BMR (Basal Metobolic Rate) aka breathing, cell repair/growth, heart beating. Supporting the BMR will ensure your body does not think it is starving to death and go into hold on to every fat cell and water drop it has.

70 to 80 percent of your calories should come from fat. Excess protein can be converted by the body to glucose. Fat is inert and does not effect the insulin levels in your system."

And yesterday, these were my totals from Fitday.com:

Total calories: 2840
Fat: 231 2082 75%
Carbs: 56 213 8%
Fiber: 3 0 0%
Protein: 123 491 18%

So I'm at a 75% fat, 18% protein, and 8% carb ratio...

Which seems right on... except I had 53 final carb grams (which for me can be ok, some days)

Right?

Annie G.

then it's "right."

That's the beauty of this WOL, I'm finding. There aren't really "rules," but there are plenty of guidelines--and once you work with those guidelines to find what's right for you, you're set.

What's "right" may change as you progress in your weight loss/muscle-building, but then you just tweak with the plan until you find out what works again. IIRC, someone (Nat? I don't remember who) suggested waiting a week or two for the "real" results of a tweak. Making a change and then giving it two days to "work" isn't the best plan. Just a heads up.

I do pretty well at around 2200 kcals/day, with about a 70-75% fats/5-6% carbs/balance of protein ratio. Currently I've gone back to induction after a rather nasty "fall from the wagon"; I'm nearly done with the first week of my two-week plan. Then I'll return to OWL and be *very* cautious about adding carbs back in. (I wasn't too careful last time, but I got lucky and it all worked anyway. )

There's my two pfennigs' worth. YMMV, and good luck to you!

can someone PLLLEEEEAAAAAASSSSSSEEEEEEE take a look at my food journal and tell me what i am doing wrong!!!!!!!!!!