Again, a good day, I am eating, and eating well, but should I really be eating all these calories???? at 160 lbs, I ate about 1600 cals today, I am full as a tick, and can't see how I could POSSIBLY lose any weight like this. Still, under 20 g's of carbs. maybe I should start a journal. thanks! Doodle.

Believe it, Doods, it's true. Take a look at the Journals of some of the members who've been doing this for a while for some reassurances. And btw, 1600 is the MINIMUM you should be eating

Nat

thanks Nat, i am already at the stage of shouting from the rooftops about this WOL, and I don't even know if I've lost any weight yet! I just can't get over that I am not standing over the breadboard all day long, and none of what I call "the weak shakies" (low blood sugar, I understand from my Dr) So, unless I start GAINING, I can see myself staying on this plan just for the other benefits. Doods

Hi, I feel the same doodle...I love it..However, I have been wanting something sweet lately. It's killing me...

Nat, I have a question....What happens if you do not eat that many calories or fat. Would your body not burn the stored fat???
Would you not still lose weight??? Lately, I have not been real hungry, so I have not been getting in the calories. This seems like most of the time. Can you still lose if you do not consume the right amount of calories and fat???

Just inquiring.
Chelle

You run the risk of stalling. You certainly will lose weight much slower than you would if you were feeding your body what it needed. 1200 calories isnt enough, unless of course you weigh 100 pounds and do no exercise. 10 x your body weight is one of the forumals for determining your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate). BMR doesnt take into account if you're active or training for a triathalon. In Doods case 1600 calories is just to keep her cells dividing and multiplying etc. There was a great discussion about BMR last month, you can find it here .



Lack of hunger is a side effect of ketosis, which is why planning your meals and making sure you're getting adequate calories is so important. It's not that hard; I know, i've had to do it... I found out the past few weeks that if i make the effort to get the calories up there with more fat I lose more weight than when I don't. Sure you'll still lose if you dont; slowly and then not at all. Too little food stresses your body, a stressed body holds onto water and fat. Pretty soon to lose weight you have to take in less and less calories and by then you're in full starvation mode. I did a search on undereating and found many threads, heres one.

HTH
Nat

thanks Nat, that thread was helpful. I guess the proof will be in the (no) pudding. When I lose some pounds other then water weight (like I said, i have one of those blasted body fat monitors, so I know my fat hasn't gone down yet) I know i will have more faith, allthough i have quite a bit of faith already, from all the reading of the forum I have been doing. Doods

There's another pitfall of starvation mode that goes beyond just slowing the metabolism.

Your metabolic rate works on a set-point mechanism, and it's amazingly adaptive. It's built into our survival "genes". Anyway, during prolonged periods of insufficient energy intake (too few calories) the body adapts by slowing down the metabolism. It thinks, "hey, we're not getting enough fuel to run at full speed, we're only getting enough to run at 3/4 speed". So, it slows down, and adapts to the reduced fuel supply. Of course, the frustrated dieter hits a plateau at this point, and decides to drop the calories even further ... the metabolism responds eventually by slowing again ... and so on. But that's not all --- the bigger problem is that once the metabolism slows, the body "forgets" that it was ever running at a higher rate. Basically, you're stuck at this reduced level, and will gain weight when you try to eat more.

How you can eat so much fat with low-carbing and not gain fat weight because of it is .... fat requires INSULIN in order to be stored in the fat cells. As long you keep blood sugar and insulin levels low and stable with a low-carb diet, and are consuming adequate calories in the form of protein and fat ... then any excess will either be used as fuel (ketones) or will be converted to waste material and eliminated from the body ..

Doreen

hi
I remember reading in Atkins that the diet is a qualitative diet, not a quantitative one. (I believe that is a quote altho the book is not in front of me.) And as such we should eat when hungry, and only have a small protein snack to accompany vitamins when NOT hungry.

So what is all this about we MUST get a certain amount of calories? I find it hard to keep eating when I am not hungry (maybe too many times NOT eating WHEN hungry has messed up my psyche). What is the deal with this seeming contradiction between the book and the ideas expressed here?

looking for answers.....

-hockeychick

Hi Doreen, So maybe this is also why I have lost my energy, because I'm not eating enough to give me the fuel to burn???


Chelle