okie, I've read rather conflicting things about what calorie target to set for continued weight loss.

I've read to target 10x your goal (which for me would be 1600 cal), I've read 12x your present weight (which for me would be 312 x 12 = 3744 !!!! holy jumping bacon rinds Batman, I couldn't eat that in a day if me life depended on it, I don't think ! )

so, there is an awful big disparity between these two - which is it?

I was nattering to myself about this in my journal today. When I first did Atkins I never bothered about any calorie counts, just focused on keeping the carbs controlled, and lost 70 lbs pretty smoothly. Then I plateaued at 240 for long time, and tried a variety of things such as upping and lowering carbs, cutting out things like too much cheese and so forth. Didn't seem to make much impact.

I will carefully listen to all wisdom offered on this

If I were you I would not worry about the calorie issue. This is for people who have been around for a while and are now at the point where they feel they need to watch the calories more to get the scale moving. Just count the carbs and you will do great!

I have figured out an addapiton to the 10 to 12 times rule. I think you should not go below you goal weight in calories. That way you won't go into starvation mode. And do no go above the goal range. You can play around anywhere in that range to find what works for you.

I still really don't count calories. I look at my carb intake and my ratios. Those ranges are basically to keep people from eating too little-some of us are still in the low fat/low calorie mindset and that can be hard to break out of. If you are losing weight, then I wouldn't worry too much about it. I do try to get a minimum number of calories in, if I have noticed I have eaten too little that day. Oddly enough, mine normally run 10-12x my goal weight naturally.

Keeping my calories between 1500 and 1800 works for me. My goal is 150 so that is my 10 to 12X range. Occasionally I have a 'hungry day' and go up to 2300 but still lose.

As long as you are losing what you are doing is working. Keep it up!

Hi....Where do I find the info about how many calories to intake...because I just started yesterday and I only had 906 calories...19 carbs and 75 protein. I didn't know I needed a certain amount of cal intake.

I"ve thought a lot about this and I wonder if maybe we truly should not watch calories until we get somewhat close to our goal weight. I mean, don't eat a zillion calories, but don't worry about being at 1500 calories either, unless you aren't losing. The way I figure it, the closer you get to your goal weight, the slower the loss. If you have been at 1300-1500 calories the whole time, you won't be able to cut calories to get things moving again, if that makes sense. I think our bodies do adjust to what we are doing and by alternating different things such as calories and the amount/type of exercises, we keep things fired up.

I've kind of run the gamut on this. For a long time I was trying to stay around 1500-1800 calories. I rarely count now, although I would guess I'm still in that range simply because that's what I eat. When I get closer to goal, I can cut to 1300-1400 if I need to, although based on a lot of posts, the weight will still come off...it just takes longer to lose those last few pounds.

You have done terrific, btw!

L


Oh and Kyrstal, you aren't getting nearly enough calories and where is the fat? You need at least 1200 calories at a bare minimum and you should try to get your fat up to 65-70% for the best results. Dr. Atkins says in DANDR that you cannot do Atkins and low fat at the same time. Your body burns fat for energy so you need to give it plenty of the good kinds of fat.

Thanks Whispers
I was trying to stay within my 20 carb...maybe I'm too focused on that.....I'll up my Cal intake to 1200 and my fat up to 65..and still make sure i'm at 20 carbs .thanks again...

Keeping in mind that carbs are the most important, I think there are 2 reasons for watching calories.

First, to make sure you are getting enough to keep the metabolism going.

Second, to make sure you are not getting too many. It is a fact that if you eat more calories than you burn you will not lose and maybe gain. Your metabolism just burn what you eat and never gets to burning fat for energy. My basal metabolism and lifestyle without extra exercise burns about 2300 calories. If I went over that consistently (which I could do if I ate a lot of high calorie meats like bacon and sausage) I would not lose.

This is my thought, anyway.

Thanks to everyone for the responses, those are quite helpful.

After considering all these, it seems I ought to consider the calorie thingy as a kind of flag system - make sure I don't eat below the 10x maintenance, just so as my body doesn't get any funny ideas about starvation setting in, and just ensure that I keep my carbs tightly focused while eating somewhere above that calorie mark. Like many, I've done the other dieting thingy where I've reduced calories so much, that weight loss actually stops, and not only that, then if you eat above it (and you have to eventually cuz you're starving basically and hungry all the time!) and you start piling on weight, sometimes at ridiculously low levels of 1000 or 1100 calories or something. Truly frightening when that happens!

I choose a calorie range that made me full. It was 10x 150. I figure once reaching 150 I can either maintain that range, or if I have less appitite lower it. I more let my daily intake decide my calorie range. I also look at how much I burn just existing at this weight, which is about 2,000, so I try hard not to go over that. Some days I do though so as long as carb count is down, great