Reducing fat and calories at maintenance

[LindaSue]

I keep hearing about how fat and calories should be reduced in the later stages of Atkins, but I find that I maintain just fine by keeping fat and calories rather high. And, if I've put on a couple pounds from a high carb indulgence, I can lose it again rather quickly while still eating high fat/high calorie foods. I don't know my percentages of fat/protein/carbs, but my MasterCook program does give the percentage of fat and it's typically in the 75% range per day.

Although my net carbs look low for maintenance, I eat plenty of food and never let myself go hungry. I also enjoy fruit and yogurt quite frequently, but have no desire for bread, pasta or potatoes at all so I don't eat them.

So, is there a problem with eating this way if it works for me? I've been maintaining for over a year now and my weight has never gone more than 3-4 pounds over my goal weight. Below I've posted a couple of sample menus so you can see what kind of foods I'm eating as well as the nutrient counts.

MENU #1:
1/2 nectarine
1/2 carton piña colada yogurt with Coconutty Crunch
Smoked Salmon Quiche with Dill
Crispy Cheese Crackers
Beef Patties with Mushroom Gravy
Mock Mashed Potatoes
Bacon Green Beans

1474 Calories; 121g Fat; 65g Protein; 37g Carbohydrate; 10g Dietary Fiber; 27g Net Carbs


MENU #2:
Tuna "Rice" Casserole
1 ounce smoked almonds
Iced Caramel Mocha
Minced Ham
Egg Salad II
1/2 carton blackberry pie yogurt with Coconutty Crunch
Barbecued Beef Short Ribs
Country "Potato" Salad

1976 Calories; 166g Fat; 93g Protein; 36g Carbohydrate; 11g Dietary Fiber; 25g Net Carbs

As an example of how well this way of eating works for me, I had a pretty dramatic weight loss back in June. I'd gotten up to 120 (TOM and indulgences), and within five days, I'd gone from that 120 down to an all-time low of 116 pounds by eating what I thought was extremely high fat and calories for someone of my age and build. Note that the net carbs were rather higher than usual on those last 3 days as well. Here are the nutrient counts from those 5 days:

2034 Calories; 176g Fat; 86g Protein; 30g Carbohydrate; 9g Dietary Fiber; 21g Net Carbs (120 pounds)

2083 Calories; 159g Fat; 128g Protein; 38g Carbohydrate; 14g Dietary Fiber; 24g Net Carbs (118 pounds)

2262 Calories; 171g Fat; 126g Protein; 59g Carbohydrate; 8g Dietary Fiber; 51g Net Carbs (117 pounds)

1809 Calories; 143g Fat; 93g Protein; 39g Carbohydrate; 7g Dietary Fiber; 32g Net Carbs (117 pounds)

1580 Calories; 136g Fat; 66g Protein; 53g Carbohydrate; 10g Dietary Fiber; 43g Net Carbs (116 pounds)

[Atkins_Nutritionist]

I see your point why change things if it works for you! As far as weight goes, you have done a fantastic job. You have done a terrific job.

From a health standpoint, I wonder if you are getting enough fiber. If not, you may want to consider reducing some of the fat and adding more fiber, from green leafy and salad vegetables.

Recommendations for fiber are 15-25 grams/1000cals or 25-50 grams/day. Eating adequate amounts of fiber has been associated with reduced risk of many medical conditions.

I noticed that you are not consuming the recommended 3-4 cups of veggies/day. Are you taking a fiber supplement? I'm also curious about how much fluid you are consuming?

[LindaSue]

For one thing, I don't plan my menus to contain a set amount of any particular nutrients, including carbs. It just seems to come out about the same most days. I do eat a lot of veggies, I just didn't happen to have salad those two sample days. You may not be able to tell from the names of the dishes, but some of them are made up of cauliflower and other veggies. On those two days, I had:

Mock Mashed Potatoes (cauliflower)
Bacon Green Beans
1/2 nectarine
Tuna "Rice" Casserole (cauliflower "rice")
Country "Potato" Salad (cauliflower again - can you tell that I use a LOT of cauliflower?)

On most days I have a large green salad (leaf lettuce or spinach) and I also eat a lot of spinach, cooked or raw, as well as broccoli, peppers, or zucchini, etc. The 3-4 per day includes fruit as well as veggies, right? I frequently have fruit. I certainly don't skimp on veggies, but I do have a small capacity for food (I always have, even when I was heavy) so I don't eat large servings, but I try to eat as much as I can handle without feeling stuffed. I also have yogurt with my "Coconutty Crunch" mixture nearly every day. It's made up of several kinds of nuts, sunflower kernels and flax meal, so I am getting fiber from that as well as veggies. I rarely have problems with constipation.

As far as fluids, I drink nearly a gallon of water per day and that's my only beverage. No coffee or tea and I rarely have diet soda.

[Matt]

Linda why dont you try adding some low carb tortillas or bread into your menu, you can get tons of fiber from them. I usually get around 40g of fiber per day by eating them.

[LindaSue]

I really have no interest in eating bread or tortillas. I'd rather eat more veggies than starchy foods. If I ate bread, I'd have to cut back on something else that I like better or I'd start gaining weight. I also find that bread leaves me feeling hungry sooner than other foods. I'm not worried about getting enough fiber. I think I eat quite well and probably get more than the average non low carb person. If I was having trouble with constipation, I'd be more concerned.

Awhile back, I came up with an example of a typical American diet. It's a little extreme calorie-wise and is probably more like what would be eaten at the holidays. As you can see, it took eating 5769 calories to get up to 36 grams of fiber. Frankly, I'm not sure where all the fiber is coming from. There are very few good veggies in that menu, so it must be coming from the Cheerios, salad and green beans. I'm surprised that there would be that much fiber in those few foods. I eat all but the Cheerios and don't get nearly that much fiber. Hmmm, it's not the Cheerios. I just checked with MasterCook and there are only 3 grams of fiber in the 1 cup serving. I did save that menu in MasterCook so I'll have to look closer at it and see where all that fiber is coming from.

It turns out that the green beans have the most fiber of anything in that menu. They have 7 grams. Nothing else has more than 4 grams (french fries and the mashed potatoes). Everything else has 3 grams or less. Anyway, I'm not going to start eating junk just to increase my fiber intake.

TYPICAL AMERICAN MENU

BREAKFAST:

4 ounces orange juice
1 cup Cheerios®
1/2 cup milk, 2% lowfat
1 banana
1 Danish pastry
1 cup coffee
1 tablespoon milk, 2% lowfat -- in the coffee

LUNCH:

1 Whopper® Sandwich
1 order french fries (medium order)
12 ounces cola

DINNER:

2 pieces fried chicken
1 cup mashed potatoes
1/2 cup stuffing
1/2 cup gravy, chicken, canned
1/2 cup corn kernels
1 cup green beans
1 salad
1 roll
1 tablespoon butter (on the roll and in the veggies)
8 ounces milk, 2% lowfat

SNACK:

1 Snickers candy bar
20 potato chips

DESSERT:

1 cup chocolate chip mint ice cream

Per Serving: 5769 Calories; 264g Fat; 399g Protein; 447g Carbohydrate; 36g Dietary Fiber; 411g Net Carbs

[Ed in Indy]

Linda:

Your typical american diet (TAD) certainly demostrates how bad one might have to eat to get all the recommended fiber, although it seems one could get close and eat a little better...but I get your point.

My wife's diet is not greatly different then the TAD and she has a lot more constipation than I do...althrough there may be other factors.

I'm just now ready for maintenance and I do have some concerns about fiber...I have no constipation problems and like you I have to wonder about the high amounts that they say we need. A question that sticks in my mind: We have all been misled about nutrition...could the advice on fiber be wrong as well?

It is hard for me to get over 10 gms of fiber per day. I do try to get 2 tbs of flax and or wheat germ and as Matt suggested I occasionally eat low carb tortillas ( never bread through I don't miss it so why mess with it)

Anyway I'm going to try to get as much fiber as I can but like you I'm not willing to jepordize my weight loss with messing around too much with what has worked so far.

Good luck with your eating and please keep us up to date.

ed

[Matt]

Originally posted by LindaSue
Anyway, I'm not going to start eating junk just to increase my fiber intake.

i would hardly call it junk, whole grains and soy. But to each his own.

[LindaSue]

Sorry, Matt. I wasn't really calling those things junk. I was referring to the typical American menu I'd posted. I'm certainly not going to start eating potatoes just to eat a certain number of fiber grams. I'll stick with all the good foods I'm eating now and not add in foods I don't really want just to get more fiber. I never ate so well in my whole life before low carb.

[Mona]

LindaSue, you really only need to lower your fat ratio if you are raising your carb ratio. Those are the two variables in the Atkins diet. The protein ratio should theoretically stay the same.

Have you ever discovered your critical carbohydrate level for maintenance? I think in the new book they are calling it ACE (dunno what that stands for). It's the carb level where you are no longer in ketosis but not gaining weight either.

If someone's CCLL (critical carbohydrate level for loss) was 30 grams for instance, their ACE might be 50 grams. So when you move to maintenance and start eating more carbs, you need to reduce the fat.

However, your menus looks pretty low in carbs on most days. This is probably why you can keep the fat ratio so high and still maintain your weight. If you ever get to the point where you want to start eating starchier veggies or something, you will have to go lower fat.

But like others said, if it's not broke why fix it? If you are happy with your food right now and your weight is holding then it sounds like you are doing something right.