Hi friends,

I was wondering if anyone on this list counts calories? How about fat? I mean to say to you modify your intake at all? I have a friend who has lost 220lbs on Atkins and for the first 6 months ate what she wanted. But then started to stall really bad. So she started eating around 1500 calories, moderate fat and 20 grams of carbs...and bam the weight started to come off steadily. What are your thoughts on this subject.

Hugs,
Linda

What do you mean, "ate what she wanted"? - ate chocolate and donuts and pasta?

Many people start out tracking their calories and protein and fat and carbs so that they can get a handle on what they are eating and what the range is that they can work within. But after that, you develop a set of pretty simple rules and as long as you stay within those rules you generally do fine. If you stop doing fine, then you get more explicit with what you are doing and adjust as needed.

Read some of the journals and you will get a pretty good idea of what people track and don't track.

Thanks for responding. I should have been more explicit. She ate anything she wanted on the Atkins Induction Program. For the first six months she ate Atkins WOL but in unlimited quantities. Then she stalled really bad. No weight loss for like a few months. At the 6 month point she had already lost like 150lbs. So after many months of no weight loss or very little, like maybe 3 or 4lbs per month, she started counting calories on the Atkins program. She ate the same foods, but portion controlled what she ate. So instead of eat 10oz steak she might eat 5oz. Instead of eating maybe 2500 calories of lowcarb and 20 grams of carbs, she began eating like 1500-1800 and 20 grams of carbs and began to lose normally again. She started at 362lbs. and presently weighs in at 127lbs. Presently, I am on my own low carb program. I guess if I had to liken it to any of the programs, it would be more like PP because I do eat fruit. I am just curious if others count calories on their low carb programs and if so, do they limit their fat intake due to the high calories from fat. Thanks for sharing about the journals. I will take a peek

A lot of people do count calories, but that's to make sure that they are getting adequate calories.

There is an appetite suppressing affect with LC and many people because of a past dieting history believe that no hunger = good. Well, it's not. Your metabolism will eventually slow down, making fat loss even more difficult. The key is to keep your body well fed with the calories is needs so it won't get to the point where it's survival mechanism kicks in if it thinks you are starving.

The general rule of thumb is 10 - 12 times your body weight in calories. As you lose fat, your body weight goes down, so the calorie intake requirements become lower as you lose. And the breakdown that seems to work best for most people is:

60-70% of calories from fat
30-40% from protein
5-10% from carbohydrates

That said, everyone eventually finds there own level based on their needs and activities.

There is a discussion on the subject in this thread: Calculating Calories and water intake for very heavy people

Your friend is one smart LC cookie. Congratulate her for me!

Karen

In general, these plans don't require you to count anything. But when you hit a stall point, sometimes you need to do something to shock your body into losing again, and I think a short duration reduced calorie plan might work pretty good