I've read that many people start watching their calories as well as carbs.

When does this need to start?

Do you start when you stall for a long time, right after induction?

Hi luv,
This will be the third time I have used Atkins to lose weight. The first two times I didn't watch calories at all. Eventually with those time though I reverted to my previous bad habits (and other reasons) and the weight crept back on.
I struggled with Atkins for about six months, from Feb to July of this year but just couldn't manage to stay away from high carb foods. I would come home after work (and being LC all day) and be absolutely starved. I would eat standing in front of the fridge and eat anything. Finally I got tired of not being able to stay on track for more than a few days at a time.
Aug 23 I decided was the day of no return. I began using this board and Fitday to track my food intake. I had been way too low on cals for those six months when I was struggling to stay LC. Now I have had very few "off" days, usually when the only options were not low carb. I keep myself between 1700 and 1900 cals a day. This number is above basal so my body doesn't go into starvation mode but well below my total cal expenditure for the day. I am losing about 2 pounds a week.
I hope this helps!

I would say you might want to start counting calories after an extended "stall" or period of very slow weight loss. After Induction, however, it's very common for a lot of people to stall for up to 6 weeks, so I wouldn't change anything until that time has passed and you see if you start losing again on your own.

Anedoctal evidence: I personally lost 15 pounds in two weeks on Induction. Without changing a thing, I stopped losing weight for 6 weeks. Then, again without changing a thing, it started coming off again. After about 40 pounds down five months into Atkins, I had to start counting calories in order to lose weight consistently, because my portions were just out of control. Keeping carbs at about 30-35 net and calories at about 1700 a day, I was able to lose about 3-4 pounds a month if I was lucky.

Hilary's advice is excellent.

We all have our eating habits, and portion size and how fast we eat are important components. When we switch to low carb, we generally wind up eating less or less often, because we are satisfied longer between meals. This results in a decrease in our daily caloric intake. Once we reach a long-term plateau, it may just be that we are now ingesting a caloric intake that is maintaining our current body weight.

At this point, since there is less of us to feed, we can work on lowering intake somewhat to get things going in the right direction again. Slowing down our eating habits helps, as does starting to use portion control in addition to the feeling of satiation, as our signal to end a meal. This is not as difficult as if we were just doing calorie restriction from the beginning, because we are smaller now and need less food, and we are more conscious of what we eat. We've also had success, and that is great motivation to keep the ball rolling.

This is my theory at least. I'm working on portion control now. I still eat like a buzz saw, finish before anyone unless its ice cream. My lovely wife beats me on that stuff every time, and I can't explain it.

and I'm monitoring (through fitday) my total calories (which i have set midway between basal and active) and my carb intake. So...do I blow off completely where fat falls, as long as I'm being strict strict on what induction says I can eat? I don't do too much cheese and no nuts. Induction says I can have three Tbsp of heavy cream, so I am. Is this okay?

Also, next question: what if I'm doing what it says for veggies (2 c salad; 1 c veg off list) and still not getting 20g carb? Is this bad? Do I up the veg?

Help?

GirlThang, most people find they lose best at fat/protein/carb ratios of about 65/30/5 or 70/25/5. Mine tend to naturally fall in that range. You're OK with your 3 T of heavy cream, and if you're not getting the full 20 carbs from veggies, don't sweat it. Although I personally would advise you that it's totally OK to add more veggies if you want more. No one ever got fat from eating too much lettuce. I'm a salad-hater though, so if the 3 cups is already pushing it for you, don't worry about adding more. Only if you want to.

You might not need to worry about calories right now, unless you really feel like you should be. It took me a while to just get used to watching carbs before I started watching calories, too.

It says you can have up to 20 g carb per day... It doesn't say you have to have EXACTLY 20 g of carb per day. If you fall at 16+ you're doing just fine, you don't have to carb up or anything. Some days you'll be less because different vegi's have different carb counts. Lettuce is very low, as is broccoli, etc. It's when you throw in things like brussel sprouts or green beans that you hit that 20. Also, don't forget to count the small carb counts in things like Splenda, cream, seasonings, etc. that you may be overlooking. Portion sizes is another thing. Never estimate. Weigh and measure, always. Why don't you post your fitday link and we'll check it out and see if what your eating is good as gold. (c:

I'd be happy to post a link to the fitday thing, but I'm darned if I know *how*.

Let me escape the loving fingers of work (ha! I really DO love my job) and I'll research the how/where/when of that.

The only reason I do keep up with calories is I have abused my sense of appetite for so many years, I don't know what it actually feels like any more. Hence, if I watch, I feel better off. So I'm aiming for mas o menos 1900 kcal/day.

Let me work on that in an hour or so and I'd LOVE a critique.

I started counting calories after the initial two week induction period.