Hey guys! I finsihed my first day here.. but I did not eat alot.. I had 4 eggs, cheese.. hude salad with cheese and chicken.. should I increase the amount of food I eat? will it make a difference??

Hi there Tarah and welcome to the forum.

Many of use use a website called fitday.com to track the food we it. It totals everything for you and is really handy. You should be eating 10-12 calories per pound of your present weight. For you, that means at least 2100 calories a day.

According to fitday, you actually ate today, approximately:

Calories Eaten Today
Total: ~ 1175~ ~
Fat: 69~ 625~ 55%
Carbs: 14~ 39~ 3%
Protein: 120~ 478~ 42%

And that's pretty low for both the calories and grams of carbohydrates. On Atkins Induction (first two weeks) You should have 20 g carbs a day. I probably figured it high too.

So the answer is YES you should be eating more. It will make a difference. Eating too little will tell your body that there is a famine and it will resist losing weight. You'll lose better by eating more. Hard to believe but true on this WOE.

Marlaine

Welcome back, Tarah. I've found a few of your old posts with some great information and ideas for you. Lots of good suggestions.

http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthre...&threadid=21417

http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthre...&threadid=20927

Also, your old Journal is in the Archived and Inactive folder should you wish to retreive it. Simply post to it where it is and it will be reactivated in the appropriate place.



Nat

Hi,

I've been lc'ing for a few days now. So far, I've lost 3lbs, which feels really great. However, I'm really concerned about the amount of fat that I'm consuming. I keep track of everything throught fitday.com, and since 4 December, 48-55% of my diet has been in fat calories. Is that really NO cause for concern?

Yes, it is cause for concern, Ororo. But not the concern you're thinking. It's not enough fat . Generally your percentages should look like this: 5% carbs, 25-30% protein (ensuring you're eating your minimum protein requirement for the day; .6g x Lean Body Mass) and 70-75% FAT. Fat is your friend. Fat will make you feel satiated and full. Fat is metabolically inert; it will not cause any change in insulin levels; you want that fat in your diet.

Take a look at what others are eating by visiting the Journal / Bootcamp section of the forum. It will give you some menu ideas.

Nat

Hmmm. One of the big problems here is that I don't really like to eat red meat that often, and I'm mildly lactose intolerant. Also, I don't eat chicken or pork. That is, I'm vegetarian-leaning, so I tend to eat low fat animals, i.e., fish. As I don't (or, rarely) consume milk products, I don't generally have creams and what not. I'm losing weight, so I assume that not eating a lot of fat doesn't prevent me from participating in the program. Correct? Isn't this better for weightloss anyway? That is, my body will use already stored fat (once the carbs are consumed) rather than storing fat anew and consuming the new fat?

A bit perplexed here.

Being a near vegan most certainly does not preclude you from LCing, Ororo. It just takes more planning. And no, it really isnt better for your loss if you consume less fat. You may lose weight initially with low fat, low carb but you will not be able to sustain it; and chances are you're going to lose more lean muscle mass than stored body fat. When you remove carbs from the equation a few things happen.

1) Your calorie count goes down. This must be fixed; low cal and low carb do not work for fat loss. It is possible to eat only so much protein; and with carbs out of the picture the calories must come from fat. You need to be eating enough to fuel your metabolic proccesses or your body will shut down. It will not burn fat, it will hold on to water and fat and it will start sacrificing lean muscle mass. 10 - 12 times your body weight in calories is the minumum you need to eat every day.

2) In the absence of carbs dietary fat cannot be stored. I should say in the absence of insulin. Fat is metabolically inert; it causes no change in either glucagon or insulin in your body. Without carbs dietary fat will be burned, not stored, but it must be present for fuel.

There are other things you can add to your menus to increase fat; sardines, olives, olive oil, avocados, flax oil, mayonnaise (use 2 or 3 times the regular amount).

If you're interested in learning more about how LCing works and why fat is something you need get yourself a copy of "Protein Power " by the Eades. It explains in easy to read detail why LC works the way it does. It really is a must have for any LC library.

Nat

I'm not vegan. I'm vegetarian-leaning, but not even that really.

At any rate, I took your advice. I ate 1993 calories yesterday, including a ton of pork. Before eating the pork, I wasn't feeling particularly hungry, but felt perhaps I should try to push that fat level up. I got to 63% after eating the pork.

(1) I felt overstuffed. It's 12hours later, I still feel stuffed.
(2) Although I had been losing 1/2 - 1 lb a day prior. I'm a pound heavier today.

I think that I would like to go back to my 1500-1600 calories a day with 40-60% fat. I felt comfortable, and I was losing weight.

Just checked out fitday.com.
Brilliant site.
Wow, have I had a shock though.

Not enough of certain nutrients and not enough calories?!?!?!?
Im a bit troubled and confused. Todays calories were 1390 which looks high to me (yes, I know, Im warped - before Dr A I was on 400-700 didnt lose any faster either) BUT according to Marlane (thanks for the info) after multiplying my body weight by 11 I got 1991 calories so I 'should' have eaten an extra 601 calories?

I read what Natrushka wrote about suggested percentages.
5% carbs - me= 4%
25-30%protein - me=30%
70-75% fat - me=66%
What should I do? Any (very welcome) suggestions?

I just read a post about fitday.com, should I go to that sight on a daily basis to check how I am eating for the day??? I never been on that sight before, but I am going to check it out!

Weight fluctuates daily by 4 - 5 lbs. Weight fluctuates weekly by just as many lbs. If you've been eating too little for too long your body will think more food is a sudden temporary change and it's going to hold on to what it can because it thinks it's not going to last; when it sees this is not the case it will adapt and beging burning fat.

10 - 12 times your body weight is what your body needs to function. 10 - 12 times your body weight is enough food that you do not deprive yourself. 10 - 12 times your body weight is something that you can sustain over time. Go ahead and eat less and in the end lose muscle mass; I am simply quoting the facts, I cannot make you eat.

Nat

Okay....check this out for the convoluted logic of a food lover:

I figure if I can lose weight on 10-12 times my body weight...that is, 2070+ calories a day, just imagine how many I'm going to be able to eat when I get to the stage where I'm wanting to maintain. If I were to teach my body to lose weight on 1200 calories instead I'd have a lot less coming to me when I got to maintenance. I want to lose weight while eating the maximum that I can so that I'll maintain while eating a higher number of calories.

Am I the only one that this makes sense to?

Marlaine

P.S. I should add that you, Nat are the one that got me to up my calories and carbs and that's when I started to really lose (as recorded in my journal)! Thanks!

Yup!! You could be eating more. (see my last post above)

I am amazed at how that works. I used to have to get down below 1000 calories a day to lose weight. Since I've been learning to do LC properly, I'm losing better and faster than I have in years. I'm all for being able to eat "heartily" cuz truly I love food! I'm grateful I finally know which ones to eat.

Keep at it Harley! You're doing great! You might consider keeping a journal, or at least a food log so that you have a place here that folks can visit you and help you out.

Marlaine

Who would have thought that eating more would be so scary. Weird
I stated a journal here a few days ago but it is rather self pitying at the beginning, gets better near the end though (doesnt everything? )
Thanks Marlaine

But do you ever get days that you just can't LOOK at calories? Today was a perfect example:

Breakfast I looked at all the options: I could have had an omelette, or anything with cheese, some bacon, there was left over roast chicken with skin - I went for the tub of low-carb tabouli instead.

Lunch: Only thing that caught my eye was tuna. Couldn't face a piece of cheese even. Nor macadamias or almonds.

Dinner: Lean beef skewers because that is the way I buy it, that and I can't stomach the taste of beef fat (pork fat is fine, chicken fat too, just not beef.) - and sauteed spinach.

There is no way I came near the calorie level I need but I have a few days like this a week - where my body seems to be saying no to calories and fat.

Had a glass of red wine with dinner - at least THAT has a few!