Hi,

I have been hearing 2 conflicting stories about how many calories to eat in a day.

I'm 5'6 and want to get to 135 -130 lbs.....

Some say eat roughly 1800 to 2000 calories a day...for my height.

Some say eat 1300 a day (130 lbs X 10)...apparently that is because you need to start eating what your body will eventually be eating.

I've been between 1700 and 2000 a day...have lost 4 lbs (I think I peed it out !!!!)

Also.....my fitday circle graph is about 60 % fat (OMG)...should the protein and fat be equal or the fat be greater than the protein by a touch....

Sorry to be so lengthy..but want to get this right.

Any words of advice???? thanks....Nicole

At the beginning of this diet your fat needs to be at about 70%. Forget everything you ever thought you knew about dieting...this is different but it works! Really!

As far as the calories, a general rule of thumb is to eat 10 to 12 times your weight which would put you at almost 1600 (for the 10 times.) I personally eat around 2000 and am still losing but it depends on the person and your lifestyle.

Welcome to the forum! It's good to have you here.

By the way...this is really not a high protein diet but high fat. At least in the beginning. As you progress in the diet, your fat ratio will come down some.

IT is very confusing, and a lot of different answers depending on who you ask. The two golden rules are:

10 to 12 times your goal weight. (This is what you do not want to go under so your body stays out of starvation mode.)

OR 10 to 12 times your current weight. ( I personally think that if you are going to count calories, as long as you stay anywhere between those to numbers you will be fine.)

So you would want to stay any where between 1300 to 1600 calories. NOW more important! Listen to Lori! The fat ratio, try to stick around 70%! This is indeed more important than anything else. Atleast for the losing part of the program.

Oh, yeah! It's a little weird to see 70% fat in the pie charts, but it works!

Hi ladies,

Thanks so much for clearing that up.

Lori H...I know what you mean about forgetting everything you knew about diets....when I put butter in the pan ...I just cringe. I LOVE it..but I cringe!! LOL

I've been trying to stay around 1600 and eat about 60 to 70% fat..

Thanks again! Nicole

I suggest that you read the book--that explains everything to you. Atkins doesn't worry about calorie counting initially. Don't worry about that at the start. Later on you may want to get more into the calorie counting. Alice