Hi!

I'm fairly new to Atkins, been doing it for about one full week. I've done a lot of reading and research, and had extensive conversations with friends who it has worked for. I've struggled with being overweight since I was about 10 years old. When I was about 13, I went to a dietition and he put me on a diet similar to atkins. Amazingly, I had lost 15 pounds in about a week. For some reason, and I really don't remember what, I stopped doing it. Anyway, I'm certain this has been my problem all along, and now 13 years later, I'm determined to make this work for me and change my life.

First off, I am seriously overweight. It's really to the point that I have a lot of trouble exercising because I get tired so quickly, howerver I do try to walk for about 15 minutes every day... and plan to gradually increase that as the weight comes off.

I just have a couple concerns. First, I've read a lot of posts in this forum and elsewhere saying I should be eating 10 to 12x my body weight in calories. The problem with that is that since I've started, I have almost no appetite. Even thinking about food makes me cringe lately, and I can't imagine forcing myself to eat that much. I'm concerned that the lack of calories I'm eating now will cause me to stop losing weight, which I of course don't want.

I've been drinking Atkins shakes for breakfast because I have no time in the morning to cook, usually have some sort of meat (turkey, chicken, beef) for lunch, usually with cheese and a small salad. I'm having to force food in for dinner, which I hate. The last few days I've only been able to eat a couple slices of cheese and maybe some tuna fish. I'm usually only getting 10 - 15g of carbs per day, and maybe 1200 - 1500 calories.

I thought at first maybe I just didn't have an appetite because I wasn't wanting to eat the foods that were ok, but even when I think about eating those high carb foods I used to stuff myself with, NOTHING sounds good.

Is this something I can expect to pass? Should I be forcing myself to eat more even though I feel like it'll make me sick?

I really appreciate any feedback anyone can offer. I apologize in advance if this has already been covered in another post, but there are a lot of them to search through

Hi MDF:

Congratulations on getting started. A reduced appetite at first is pretty common. It will probably return within a week or so.

The "10x-12x" body weight rule generally applies when you're a bit closer to your target weight. You'll probably feel great and lose relatively quickly if you can hit 1500-1800 calories per day on Atkins.

Don't force yourself to eat, but maybe try eating samller meals more frequently. Try really hard to get your carbs to 15-20 grams by eating the allowed vegetables.

And try to keep up the exercise, too. You might feel really tired or weak for a few days, but that will pass, too.

Good Luck!

I believe the 10-12X your body weight applies more if you aren't losing following the plan.

The purpose of Atkins is to eat until satisified and to learn to trust your body. Eating healthy.

Don't worry about restricting anything but carbs to start. Do the plan as described and modify ONLY IF NEEDED later.

You are going to do great!

My understanding after reading the posts regarding this topic is that you should be eating 10 to 12x your GOAL weight, not your current weight.
Of course, this may not apply to everyone. This is just the general guideline according to people who have lost the most weight by following it.

That is incorrect. It is 10-12X your weight today is the standard. It gets lower as you get lower in weight.

http://atkins.com/helpatkins/faqs/I...nInduction.html

WOW! Thanks for clarifying. That's really interesting. And I thought I had been eating too many calories...this is good news.

Hi there! As pretty much everyone has said, your appetite will get bigger as you go along. And sometimes this is a really good thing!

Mine varies from day to day. Yesterday I got barely over 1300 calories then ended up having a little bit of a late-night snack to boost it a hair. Today I've eaten somewhere around 2000, but just because I was hungry.

I think one of the best things people can do is as advised, try eating smaller amounts at a given time. I know my body gets pretty used to having food at set times each day, and having three meals and a couple of snacks really works well for me. For example, I usually have a little bit of a snack at 5 p.m. because we don't eat supper generally until around 7 or 8. I'm getting to the point where I can nearly set the clock by what time I'm getting hungry.

Anyway, I want to say welcome! It looks like you're off to a fantastic start! And I'm gonig to stop rambling and go to bed pretty quick!

Your appetite should increase.

As for the cooking bit...I am right there with you. I try to spend part of my Saturday cooking up thing for the week. This allows me to graze instead of having strict meals (eating a full meal doesn't work for me). I also make sure that I have plenty of cold water available. It keeps me from not meeting my water intake requirements.

I have been on Atkins since October and I look and feel better than I ever have. Hang in there...it will be worth it.

BTW, congrats on starting. Can't wait to see your progress.

You may want to explore www.fitday.com

You can also fill out a journal and a gym log on this site. I am so glad I found this site and I am sure that you will be also.

wait...I weigh about 132 right now...does that mean I'm only supposed to eat 1320-1594 cals a day? Because I usually eat 1500-2000 every day...is that why I haven't been able to lose weight for a week? >.<

>>"does that mean I'm only supposed to eat 1320-1594 cals a day?"

No... that's a minimum to avoid lowering your metabolism. How much you'd go above that depends on your lifestyle.

BTW, the 10-12 x rule is just an estimate of your basal metabolism. As for the current weight vs goal weight argument... I think it really depends on your lifestyle. If you're as busy and active as you would be a goal weight, then you can probably go closer to current weight. But if your excess weight limits your lifestyle, there's no way your metabolism will be what it would be at goal weight. Fat requires very little energy to maintain. It's your lean body mass that hogs up the calories. Mdf, since it's just a sketchy rule of thumb, I'd agree with the others and as long as you're not drastically undereating, like 700 calories a day, trust your appetite.

ok thanks. ^_^ that was worrying me for a bit, because most of the time I eat more than that...o_O