I am pretty new at doing Atkins the right way. I did my own version last year with success, and then slipped off the diet. Now my way is not working, so I am reading and trying to do it officially.

I had an old version of the book...and just got the new version to start reading. Could someone help me with how much is ok with calories and fat? I am doing ok with the carbs at 20 grams, but am confused as to how much fat, or protien or calories I should be taking in???

Help????


Oh, and thanks for any help...I have been reading here alot and you guys are awesome!

Atkins says quite explicitly in his book that you do not need to count calories. Eat until you are full and then stop, but make sure you eat at least every six hours when you are awake, even if you are not hungry. If you limit your carbohydrates to 20 grams a day and don't try purposefully to make your food lowfat, you should get enough fat in your diet. Learn to cook with butter and olive oil -- it will make your food taste better and ensure that you get enough fat in your diet!

erm, well i'm new 2 actually, but i'm going by 65-70% fat, 5% carbs and the rest protein. these are the ratios that seem 2 get best weight loss from what i've read. i work it all out on fitday.
hope that helps.

I really wish Atkins would find another way to discuss the calorie issue. Telling people to eat "until full" sure does seem to imply that calories matter , but he does not appear to recognize (or chooses not to address ) the fact that some folks have trouble with that concept of satiety. Feeling full is so subjective.

As stated there are no rules about calories or fat ... just suggestions that have worked for people on the forum.

approx daily calories - 10-12X your weight
approx daily percentages - Fat/Protein/Carbs - 65%/30%/5%

These numbers have been effective if you must follow some guideline but unless you have tried induction as stated in the allowed foods I don't think that tweeking should be necessary at first.

I am a little confused is it 10-12x your goal weight or the weight that you are now?

Your weight now so you eat less as you weigh less..

But I think that's the point. People who overeat can be very out of touch with what their body actually needs. By getting people to eat until they are satisifed, I think, Atkins is trying to get people to listen to their bodies in a way they haven't for a long time.

Calories do matter to a point, but if you can learn your body's setpoints for being full, and you feed yourself the right foods (ie. restrict refined carbs and sugar) you never have to worry about counting calories again because you will just know when you are done eating, and you will know when you are hungry, and you will be able to trust your body because you are not confusing it with foods that induce cravings and blood sugar level spikes.

Feeling full is subjective, but any feeling you have is subjective to you. You are not the same as anyone else so why bunch yourself in with them under a calorie limit umbrella? Not only that, but unless you eat the exact same thing every day, and do the exact same things every day, it's likely that your body will be satisfied at different levels of calorie intake from day to day. Your body knows when it's had enough, and when it needs more, most likely you have just been confusing it and not listening for so long that you don't recognize the signals.

One of the things I noticed after doing Atkins for a couple of weeks is that I realized that what was a "normal" portion seemed too be more than I needed and that I was getting satisfied before I finished the entire meal I had planned out for myself. At fist this didn't deter me from eating the rest, I still find myself dealing with the "if it's there on my plate I will eat it" mentality, but now that's starting to lessen too, in part because I plan the meals smaller and pay attention to when I am satisified but more because I pay attention to my body and how it feels. If I finish and am still hungry, I wait about 10-15 minutes and see if I am still hungry. Most often I am not. So if you are worried that you are still overeating on the diet, you may be, but the fact that you are worried about it may indicate that your starting to recognize your body's signals again, now that you have restricted your carbs.

Don't count calories, count grams of carbs and listen to your body. It's tough, I'm still learning to do this myself, but feeling like I can trust what my body is telling me is something i haven't been able to do for quite a while. Its a good feeling.

noshing is another way to overdue it on the calories !

I nosh all day long... the hungriest low carber on the forum.

If you listen to your body you it really does work...

I use fitday to count my carbs.

Noshing has been the biggest problem for me...I am a "borderline" compulsive eater. I eat out of boredom, and even though I have been snacking on completely leagal foods, and in small portions, I think it adds up.
I am trying to keep my "snacking" to sf jello.

Kim:

You may be more successful going with pork rinds and a full fat dip for your noshing.

It will fill you up much more easily, and your system should become satiated after a few days of constant feeding of pure fat and protein.

If it is really bad, just eat pure butter until you don't want anymore.

SF jello is a nice treat, but not much for satiation, IMO.

I find my biggest problem as probably with many is stopping when you are full. Decades of eating "what's on the plate" is a difficult habit to break and I find that even now I probably eat too much at once.

Aside from this, I nosh at work too and I try to bring "small" satisfying "noshing treats" like celery with cream cheese, a few cubes of cheese, 2 oz of pepperoni slices...etc.

At home I nosh less I noticed.

WHat is noshing?

Just "munching" on stuff...

I'm a boredom eater too... just picking at stuff and eating because I'm bored or not even thinking about it.
I keep pork skins for that