Just curious if I'm a freak, I think I am. I seem to stall out if I consume too many calories. For me, 1800 is dangerously high. Probably won't lose on it. 1600 I'll probably lose 1/4 pound a week. I'll be in ketosis, but absolutely stalled and we're talking months at a time.

So I finally got some software to log what I eat and I'm trying to keep the calories around 1500 or less and it seems to be helping a lot.

Nice part about low-carb is reducing calories really isn't hard at all.

I think that is true for everyone
You are not alone!
I think my top out is around 1800 calories and like you say, I don't miss the calories like I used to. I was still hungry when I'd eat a low fat diet with 2500 calories.
My poor pancreas.
I use fitday.com to track all my essentials and I'm usually around 1600-1800 a day (some days I over indulge and have 2000). In time though, I'm sure I will lose my appetite like I did last October and eat less and less. I'm still trying to get myself out of the nibbling habit due to boredom.

I'm trying to break the habit of eating a lot after supper. I don't nibble much in the day. Sometimes I even forget to eat lunch until late in the afternoon. But after dinner, I just get chompy.

But now I'm watching myself. I limit my after dinner nibbles a bit more. Measuring my 1/2 cup serving of ice cream, otherwise I think it tends to get closer to 1 cup! And I'm using fruity herb teas with splenda. They seem very satisifying.

Interesting how you said you expected your appetite to go down, that truly happened to me too. When I first did LC I was eating A LOT! Probably explains why I stalled for months at a time. But then about 6 months into, I noticed my appetite was shrinking a lot. Took quite a while for it to get to where I am now.

I Don't count them - as in not eating when I'm hungry - But, I do watch them. I almost never eat over 2,500 kcal anyways, and unsually stay around 2,000 or less.

Almost forgot, I've become a little Anal Retentive record-keeping wise...I weigh everything I eat at home to the gram. I actually bought a scale that weighs in grams. Plus, I keep track of the temperature (doneness) of meats I cook in the oven as well as the cooking time and oven temperature and when and where I bought it.

One thing I discovered when I started weighing my foods was that I was underestimating my veggies. What I'd [eyeball] estimated as 1-1/2 cups of Greens was actually 4 cups [by weight.] I wonder what that means for the days I estimated myself eating 8-12 cups ??? Was I really eating 21-32 cups or was I doing a better job of eyeballing the larger "4 cup" salad vs. the smaller "1-1/2 cup" ??? Maybe I should buy another one of those bowls [they were cheap and cracked eventually] and weigh it. If I really was underestimating my veggies by that much, that means for most of my diet I was actually eating 20-60 servings of Green Vegetables a day. I always wondered why a [bunch of] Spinach only lasted for 2 or 3 salads, and a large head of lettuce barely made 2.

I do keep track of them but not fanatically. I can lose (very slowly) at up to 1800 calories per day, but I find that I also do better if I stick closer to 1500. Interestingly enough, yesterday I was over 1600 and I had a nice 2 pound whoosh overnight.
Mostly, I have to keep track to make sure I'm eating enough. Like many of you, I can easily forget to eat a meal because I'm busy and just don't get hungry as often.

I kept my cals to 1500 a day and my ratios between 65-70% fat, 25-30% protein, and 5% carbs.

I try and keep myself under 1800 calories a day and over 1200 calories a day.

usually 1300-1500 is my daily goal

I don't watch my calories at all.

Nancy you're not abnormal Not everyone can lose by just counting carbs. I have to be militant with calories or I won't lose. Even with a lot of exercise.

Meg

I've found the same to be true on Atkins and I feel cheated. You're not supposed to have to count calories. I'm also stalled, I suspect, because of too much calorie consumption and the stick is turning purple every day. I'm thinking of bailing out into the Weight Watcher's or the South Beach Diet. Atkin's has not lived up to its billing.

Mark

...that said, nothing can compare to how good my body feels while eating low carb. Doesn't matter how low the calories get - when the ratios are correct, I'm not hungry and have no cravings, am clear headed, energetic and alert.

Ok, good. Glad to know I'm not alone here!

Islandguy, I gotta say in my experience, there are no weightloss miracle diets. They all require the same thing: persistence. And for some of us with bodies that don't like to give up the stored fat, we gotta watch the calories too.

But I will say, this is the most painless diet I've ever been on. Even counting calories -- which is easy because I don't change foods all THAT often -- I'm still feeling quite satisfied with my meals and snacks and not feeling deprived.

Weight Watchers would drive me nuts with the points. I'd rather use a computer program to quickly enter my food. SBD is pretty much like Atkins, but lower fat and a LOT of emphasis on eating fish and lots of veggies. The end result, you probably take in fewer calories than on unrestricted Atkins.

But as someone who has lost a lot of weight in her life, and gained it back, it isn't really the weightloss that is the hard part. You do it, you get it over with. It's what happens afterwards. And I know I can stick with this.

I did watch my kcal intake through Fitday (I was an anal Fitday user throughout my three month Induction - well "induction carb levels with OWL foods gradually introduced" then - also weighing all foodles on a gram scale) but quite happily lost on a kcal intake of anything between 1600-2200 kcals as long as I stuck to 19-23g carbs.

I'm on pre-maintenance now so I don't even count carbs, just try to make the best possible food choises.

I don't count calories and got tired of "obsessing" over FitDay, but that being said, I do "watch" my calories. I do know that to maintain my weight, I can't go crazy with cream and the like. Good luck on your LC journey!!!

Bet you were REALLY regular, though, cc48510.

I have the opposite problem. I was losing very slowly for a month. I started using Fitday and realized my calorie intake was around 1000 a day (too low for anyone). Now that I'm trying to eat about 1700 a day, the weight has started to come back off.