looking around at other people's menus, it seems like i'm totally off with my menus. my calorie count is high, averaging, oh, let's say 2000-ish. and my protein count is always way over 100g (yesterday it was about 150 g and it's been as high as 200g). i don't know how people can manage to keep it under 100g

i was wondering if anyone might be able to take a look at my past fitday journals and tell me what i should change. most days are fairly the same, as i'm lazy and keepng things the same is easier. i keep reading that your calories need to be in the 1400-1500 range and protein should be 70-100g? i'm way over that, but i don't know what to change or what i should replace. i've just been going by the atkins book, which basically says to eat "liberally of meats and natural fats". that seems to be the opposite of what some other atkins followers are doing though, leaving me very confused.

i'm on strict induction and won't eat any bars or shakes. and try to eat as unprocessed as possible (so no deli meats, except occasionally pepperoni). and i don't like eggs. can't eat fruit or nuts. veggies are supposed to be limited to 3 cups a day, two of which i use in my salad. i drink tons of water, between 5-9 liters a day and do cardio 4-5 times a week. ergh, i'm just frustrated that i've been doing this all wrong because my weight loss is super slow and i'm thinking it's the food. there just seem to be a lot of mixed messages because the atkins book says to "eat liberally" of induction foods and not count calories and doesn't give a set protein amount, yet here everyone is counting calories and protein.

so, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
thanks!

Just taking a quick look, and I'm by no means an expert, but I would say to cut back on the meat. Though he does say to eat a lot of it I think you might be eating too much.

Just my 20 cals worth,
Mike

You've lost 20 pounds in less than two months, and you're calling that super-slow?!?! That's just about the *fastest* you can safely lose! I think you're doing this exactly right for *your* body if you're losing two pounds a week. Now, if you've not lost any weight OR inches for a couplethree weeks, then you may need to shake things up a bit. But as it is, it sounds like you're doing fine. Adjust your outlook, not your intake .

FWIW, I don't necessarily think 100+g protein is too much at all -- in fact, you don't want to be too much lower than that, with your age, height, and exercise schedule. I've always eaten somewhere in the 100-150g range, and roughly1700-2000 calories, and it worked for me. You'll find lots of different figures for how much you should be eating, ranging from 0.6g per lb of lean body mass to 1g per lb of actual weight at the top end, depending on activity level. If I were you, I'd figure out what both of those numbers are, shoot for somewhere smack in the middle, and tweak from there if you need to.

the foods you're eating look ok, but I *personally* couldn't eat that much. if it's satisfying for you and you're losing weight, I wouldn't worry too much about it. if you start to stall, you might want to decrease the cals/meats. You can look at my journal if you like:

http://www.fitday.com/WebFit/Public...wner=saltnpeppa

OOoh, you're a MEAT eater girl! I bet you just love Atkins, huh?

I say don't change a thing! I average 1600-1800 calories myself, but there's a little less of me. If I were you, I'm positive I'd be eating at least 2000 calories.

So, I'm with you. Don't count calories. Protein is only worth worrying about if you're somehow not getting enough. Watch carbs and limit dairy and you're good to go.

I think you're doing great and not at ALL "super-slow". If you really want to cut calories eat a little less meat. But you don't really want that now do you?

I think you're doing great. Keep it up!

I agree that you are doing just fine. I eat about 140 gm of protein a day. I need to so I don't get hungry. If you're hungry and have already had all your vegies, the only choice is meat. As we lose weight, our appetite naturally decreases so our calories will naturally decrease. As long as you are eating just until satisfied and not until full you will be OK.

Hello, Valkyrie9!

Wow, 20 lbs already! Great work! Did you ever think you'd be able to lose that much while eating so well? And, frankly, just reading about your exercise program makes me exhausted...

You truly are doing well. Like atlee said, the amount of protein seems to be working for you. I do understand your frustration, though, because we all want overnight results. In my own case, though, a protein/fat/carbs ratio that was similar to yours didn't work for me. I found that I needed to increase my veggies a bit, decrease the protein, and increase the olive oil. On the other hand, I am not as tall as you are, lucky girl. So, it really does come down to what works for each and every one of us. After all, we have to be able to live with our food choices if we plan on being successful. I couldn't help by notice, though, that on the days you nibble at the pepperoni, it really does add up. (I'm addicted, too!!!) Maybe you could be a little more aware of the possible impact of this particular food?

Best of luck to you.
whammy

Geez, I wish I was as 'superslow' as you!

The recommended healthy rate for weight loss is 1.5 - 2lb per week. You're doing GREAT! Quit worrying and start enjoying your food again. If you keep on at this rate, you'll be just fine.

If you're on Induction then read the acceptable fods list again and make sure you eat all you're allowed to eat. There's loads in there.

It's obviously working for you so keep up the great work!! It's better to lose at a nice steady pace feeling comfortable and satisfied with your food than trying to cut back to a level where you're hungry and will be tempted by high carb munchies.

phew! thanks guys, for all the advice and loads of support! i feel tons better. i guess i was a bit worried because most of the weight i've lost so far, in fact probably about 14 pounds of it, was all during my first two weeks. then the loss stopped for a week or two, then picked up at 1-2 lbs per week. going from losing a bunch of weight in just two weeks to slowing down that much probably just scared me.

i've been eating a lot of meat mostly because that's basically the bulk of the acceptable foods list for induction. other than meat it's basially three cups of veggies, and who can live on that???? (note: in one of atkins' sample induction menus he gave lunch as being 8 oz steak and mixed salad, and dinner as 9 oz salmon and kale...so i modelled after that). and it said something about having your carbs with fat/protein so i throw chicken on my lunch salad. i'm going to reduce the amount of chicken to 3-4oz though, as lately i've been finding myself throwing away some of it. i need a little though, because two cups of romaine just don't really fill you up. oh, and i will actually start weighing my meat portions. er, i've been estimating the portions so far so i'm not even sure how accurate they are. (note to self: buy food scale).

i was only worried about the protein because i know an excess of protein can be converted to glucose, which is bad. i just wasn't sure of the cutoff level, if there is one. so i'll continue to watch the correlation between protein/weight loss and tweak it from there.

i'll stop rambling now (going to go reread atkins yet again), but again, THANKS!

If you really want to cut some calories I would exchange some of that meat you are eating for more veggies. I know it says in the book only 2 to 3 cups of veggies a day, however many(myself included) ate more veggies than that while on induction and still lost weight rather well. On induction I usually ate a 3 cup salad for lunch with chicken, and then 2 cups of brocolli with dinner every night.

Sorry, I didn't realize that you were still loosing weight with the amount you were eating according to fitday. If that's the case stay with what is working.

lately ihave been starting to eat more veggies. i always wondered why atkins limited it to 3 cups. they really aren't that high carb. i've been doing two cups, densely packed for lunch, and starting to do 2 cups for dinner. or somewhere around there. i have no clue how i'm supposed to measure two cups of long green beens so i grab a handful and call it a cup. and it's not that i want to cut calories, it's that i'm wondering if i need to. atkins says not to even count them, but everyone else seems to be calorie-obsessed. i think i'm just going to continue going by the book as i have so far. it's gone well for me so far and i haven't been counting calories or protein. but i'm increasing veggies sounds like something i will do. i'm used to eating a lot of veggies and fruit, so being able to have only 3 cups a day is difficult. i'm probably going over that anyway, due to the measuring thing i mentioned. thanks for your input.

Hello, again, valkyrie9,

For whatever it's worth and, as mrschmelz mentioned, a LOT of us are eating more veggies than indicated in Atkins' first book. In my case, and after an extended induction period, I was on what seemed to be a permanent plateau. I felt great, was eating extremely well, and exercising--- but the darned scale just wouldn't budge more than 1/2 pound or so.

To make a long story short, I started following others' examples and increased the GREEN veggies considerably; at the same time, I also increased my use of olive oil substantially (olive oil is my own pet food, like your pepperoni!). At lunch, I typically have a salad with 4 cups of baby spinach/lettuce/greens, sliced tomato, with 3 ounces of either roast beef or ham or chicken, maybe some grated cheese, and 3 Tbs of olive oil. For dinner, my latest kick has been starters of 4 cups or so of broccoli and/or cauliflower flowerettes (on many evenings, when I haven't had time for my lunch salad, I up it to maybe 6 cups); I usually season this with salt and 3 Tbs of olive oil. Sometimes I use some grated cheddar. What I'm getting to is that I find the green veggies and olive oil so satisfying, that I often unable to continue with a second course (right away, that is!).

Regarding your "fist full = a cup", I do the same. Moreover, I have actually measured a fist full of baby spinach leaves, and it does come to about a cup. So I guess two great minds really do move in the same direction!

Anyway, that's is my two cents' worth. Still, you really are doing a great job, as you can see by the replies you have received. I'll look forward to seeing your progress.

Whammy

After the first couple weeks, I never really bothered counting green leafy vegetables at all -- just kept the non-veggie stuff at 10g/day and ate as many veggies as I wanted (without gorging myself). The reason for the restriction on veggies is that when you first start LC, you often forget to count all kinds of little hidden carbs -- eggs, splenda, cream, coffee, processed meats, etc. Limiting your veggies gives you a bit of a safety net to keep you under 20g without having to use a food diary or count obsessively.

However, if you're using Fitday and being very strict about counting all your carbs, there is absolutely zero problem with eating, say, 15g worth of veggies per day. And trust me, that's a *lot* of veggies -- about 5 packages of spinach, or half of a 16-oz bag of frozen green beans, or a full broccoli crown, or half a cabbage.... And that's keeping it to induction levels -- you can eat the whole cabbage on OWL! (Lest you think I'm joking, I actually did eat half a cabbage yesterday.)

Of all the carbs to stress out about measuring and counting, veggies are the very lowest on the list . Eat more than 3c if you want, and if you get fat eating broccoli, let me know! And don't worry about the calorie thing just because everyone yaps about the silly 10-12x rule around here. You'll find that there's a lot of superstition, myth, and fad that floats around here -- some real wisdom too, but also a lot of nonsense about stalls, cheat days/refeeds, calories, fat fasts, and so on. People pick up on memes and run with them; one person posts about the fat fast, or about refeeds, and next thing you know, it's everywhere you look. You will drive yourself bonkers if you pay too much attention to all of it, and it won't help you lose weight any faster. The best thing to do is eat fresh, natural food, avoid LC junk and frankenfood, try not to overdo stuff like nuts and dairy, get some exercise, have some patience, and try not to obsess. Simple enough, right ?