Ok guys,

In my continued quest to finalize my plans and stratagies so that I can get started on the Atkins induction phase. I have yet another plm. I am not used to eating more than one meal (dinner) a day. I am a bit confused as to how much I will need to eat. I have come to realize that my lack of eating is probably been one of the reasons that I have continued to put on weight. However it has become mentally comforting to know that I do not over eat. I understand that I will need to get over this, but is there a required amount that one needs to eat to loose? ANd what is it?

Anay

I think most likely you may have difficulty eating a full meal, 3 times a day. Best thing to do, is eat really small meals several times day, or small meals 6 times a day. That should get you used to eating multiple meals, and prepare you to boost your metabolism.

Wa'il

Six smaller meals is a good idea, it will help boost your metabolism and avoid an insulin spike, from waiting too long between meals.

The calorie goal for everyone varies. The general rule for figuring out how much you NEED to eat is 10 to 12 times your body weight. Having eaten only one meal a day for a while your body is probably in starvation mode. This happens when you dont feed yourself enough energy for your body to perform its basic functions. It sense a disaster coming on and holds on to everything it can. You gain weight or at the very least, don't lose it. Eating more may seem wrong to you, but its something you MUST do.

Hang in there and follow the plan, you'll see the results.

Cheers,
Nat

If I eat 6 times a day I feel I am overeating.

Slaybl, that post is 10 years old. Current thinking is that fewer, bigger meals are better.

My best advice to you: cut the carbs and do the rest of it in a way that is natural/comfortable for you. Stick rigorously to the plan for 3-6 months. If your losses stall or stop for more than a month, then evaluate, read, and consider changes.

I appreciate your challenge. I was one who also put on weight from inadvertently slowing my metabolism by not eating (but then, unlike you, I would overeat later).

My suggestion is, first reframe how you think of "overeating."

Old way: not overeating means eating one meal a day.
New way: not overeating means "eating just right" for a healthy metabolism. Not more, not less. (PS a healthy metabolism can burn stored fat instead of having it hang around forever)

Nowadays I would try 2 meals first, then move to 3 meals or whatever. That will give your body time to get used to it and help reframe your feeling about more meals, to go from "overeating" to "eating just right" like Goldilocks.

I would pick a starting plan of ounces of protein, grams of fat, grams of carbs and see how it goes by logging = what did I eat, and how did I feel afterward. I didn't have to log very log before I started to see patterns.