Portion size- rude awakening

[50by60]

I picked up several boxes of Atkins' frozen meals, which are delicious and easy to prepare. I was shocked when I saw the amount of food offered in the Beef Merlot. If that is what a normal-sized meal of broccoli and beef is considered to be, no wonder the pounds are taking forever to leave my body. I now realize that I have been way too generous when serving my plate. I have been overeating like I did during the early part of this journey. I think we may all experience more success (after those first few weeks in the induction phase) if we consider the portion size, measure and weigh our selections. That is my goal this week, to weigh and measure everything-even the HWC I callously dump into my coffee mug each morning. I will let you know if the extra effort is worth my time.

[Tina7234]

Thanks for doing this and reporting back. What I understand the bottom line is - it's the calories. However, with LC it's much easier to have less calories and not feel deprived due to the fat.

But then what the heck is ketosis about? Burning fat more efficiently.. ? Which is counter intuitive to the calories. Confusing...

You have had much success already and I look forward to see what you have to report back on.

[princessmommy]

I tried the italian sausage premivera and while it tasted ok it was Tiny portion! I was still hungry after eatting it. Dr A said to eat to Saity or however that's spelled Lol. I was Not satisfied

[jacquirsw]

Don't forget that Dr Atkins and the now Atkins brand are very different things with different ideologies. There are lots of subtle changes since Dr A has gone which may or not be for the better. Although I will use the odd bar or shake when really busy I do struggle with the consumerism that is becoming more part of the programme. Dr A always promoted eating as cleanly as possible and making time to prepare foods in advance etc rather than resorting to ready made options. Although these may be LC they are bound to have more of the preservatives and things in them that all other ready meals have.

[jeaniem]

Originally Posted by princessmommy

I tried the italian sausage premivera and while it tasted ok it was Tiny portion! I was still hungry after eatting it. Dr A said to eat to Saity or however that's spelled Lol. I was Not satisfied

I agree! The only meal that I have tried so far that half way filled me up is the farmhouse scramble. I bought several of the meals at once and am adding meat/veggies to them to make them stretch. Defeats the purpose of a convenience meal, but at least they won't go to waste.

[Just Beachy]

Originally Posted by Tina7234

Thanks for doing this and reporting back. What I understand the bottom line is - it's the calories. However, with LC it's much easier to have less calories and not feel deprived due to the fat.

But then what the heck is ketosis about? Burning fat more efficiently.. ? Which is counter intuitive to the calories. Confusing...

You have had much success already and I look forward to see what you have to report back on.

May I ask what is it that you find confusing?

Beachy

[Yennie]

Originally Posted by Tina7234

Thanks for doing this and reporting back. What I understand the bottom line is - it's the calories. However, with LC it's much easier to have less calories and not feel deprived due to the fat.

But then what the heck is ketosis about? Burning fat more efficiently.. ? Which is counter intuitive to the calories. Confusing...

You have had much success already and I look forward to see what you have to report back on.

I think the confusion may be that, in induction, the goal is to put your body into ketosis, which is where you're metabolizing fat for energy instead of burning glucose. Glucose = insulin spikes = fat storage (*IF* the glucose in your blood stream is not used up immediately for activity and energy). By limiting/eliminating carbs, you're encouraging your body to convert stored fat to energy, and ketones are a byproduct of that process.

HOWEVER, it is possible to overdo it. Other places on the boards, people have discussed too much protein limiting ketosis. And, there was a gentleman who was discussing his stall - he was eating approximately 1600 calories a day in butter alone, with an estimated over 4000 calories per day. At some point, even when not eating carbs, the body has no way to expend this extra "fuel" and therefore you may still gain or not lose pounds, even when technically low-carbing it.

Therefore, I think the take home message is that, past induction and especially when you start adding back in carbs, you do need to pay attention to portions and even calories to some extent. And to pay careful attention to where your calories come from, trying to get the biggest bang for your calorie and carb buck.

Having said all of that, I could be way off. So if one of our more experienced members would like to chime in, we're all here to learn! I really get the metabolism & physiology of this on paper - in practice, I am a newbie.

[princessmommy]

Totally agree jaq. There have been a lot of changes in Atkins LC since Dr Atkins has been gone. I like the convience of having a Bar around in my purse in case I can't eat a LC meal right away

[ravenrose]

yes, we have bad habits in terms of eating too much food, for sure. good luck!

[Avy]

I would eat all day, out of habit and desire to stuff my face, low carb and ketosis or not. I have to make an effort to eat lots of fat, weigh and measure my food, and listen to my body and only eat when I'm actually, physically hungry. When I do all that, I lose, I don't starve, and my meal portions look like what's in those boxes, and like all the "normal" people I see. I have over eaten all my life, and enjoy eating, doesn't matter what it is, it's psychological, not physical. I don't crave anything, I could just eat all the time. :P

[50by60]

Amazing discovery, after putting what I normally think was a significant portion of Oscar Meyer Natural Turkey deli slices on the scale, it measured 2 ounces...and yes, I know it is probably not the best protein vehicle (cold cuts are frowned upon in Atkins' books)but it packs well for lunch in the classroom. I lost 2 pounds since Sunday and I am sure it is because I am no longer estimating my portions. It is kind of a hassle to clean-up the scale bowl and the measuring devices, but I will keep it up. Yesterday we had a two hour delay at my school because of weather conditions (flooding) and when it was normally lunch time (11:00) I was not the least bit interested in eating so I saved my meal until 12:30 when the kiddos went to P.E. and was not hungry then. Since I was able to delay breakfast until 8 A.M., I was not hungry at 11:00. This may be something I need to consider on a normal day-delaying breakfast-instead of skipping it or eating at school at 6 A.M. I should bring HB eggs and bacon and reheat in the micro. We are delayed two hours again today-due to sleet and frozen rain yesterday afternoon. Easy peasy day in our school system.

[mcelromi1]

Originally Posted by Avy

I would eat all day, out of habit and desire to stuff my face, low carb and ketosis or not. I have to make an effort to eat lots of fat, weigh and measure my food, and listen to my body and only eat when I'm actually, physically hungry. When I do all that, I lose, I don't starve, and my meal portions look like what's in those boxes, and like all the "normal" people I see. I have over eaten all my life, and enjoy eating, doesn't matter what it is, it's psychological, not physical. I don't crave anything, I could just eat all the time. :P

You took the words right out of my mouth. It's as if you were talking about me.

[metqa]

Originally Posted by princessmommy

I tried the italian sausage premivera and while it tasted ok it was Tiny portion! I was still hungry after eatting it. Dr A said to eat to Saity or however that's spelled Lol. I was Not satisfied

Also consider that this is basically a lunch meal to be eaten probably at an office where you might only have 15 min to eat. Plus the "norm" is to have small meals for lunch meals, and so to not scare people off, they are keeping around the same number of calories as other "healthy frozen" meal packs.

I'd smile if I saw a petite office lady heating up a Hungry Man Frozen meal! Those meals have a lot more calories, but they are also not considered "diet" and are larger portioned for MEN.

I made my own beef and broccoli meal from home cooked chuck roast and blanched broccoli and I put 3.5 oz of meat, 50g of broccoli ( about 3 spears) 2 mushrooms, and 3T of thickened meat sauce and it was very filling. I have no idea how many calories it is compared to the Atkins meals but the size of the portions were visually the same.


It's a good portion of fatty meat and some veggies but I felt like I had a nice meal.
If I were home, I'd probably eat the fattier pieces of meat and some more broccoli and it would still be low in carbs.
Compared to the meals portions

[Patsxm]

Thanks Metga, those pictures were very helpful. Interesting to see what things really look like compared to their advertising photos and what a realistic portion size should be.

[leeloo]

Originally Posted by 50by60

It is kind of a hassle to clean-up the scale bowl and the measuring devices, but I will keep it up.

If you decide to keep weighing your foods over the long term, you might want to invest in a flat-bed model. That way you just use your own dishes and you don't have anything extra to wash. It's also great for recipes - you can do a whole recipe using one bowl if you want.

I got this one Alimento: Escali Digital Scales | Kitchen Scales | Bathroom Scales | Professional Scales because I could get a plug-in adapter for it and I was tired of replacing batteries, but the Escali Primo is pretty inexpensive and works very well.

[Filly]

I started using a food scale a couple months ago and it has definitely enlightened me. I realized that some large chicken breasts (weighing 6-8oz) can be 2 meals for me once I add in other foods with it. Before the scale I was just stuffing in the whole breast.