Calorie questions

[Malapert]

I've not been purposely cutting calories...I eat when I'm hungry. I'm really not hungry or craving anything. I'm still on 20gms carbs but weight loss has been this:
week #1, -5.6
#2, -3.8
#3, -1.4
#4, -1.4
#5, -1.8
I feel like I should be losing more. I certainly did last time I did Atkins, about 10 years ago! I'm being careful to watch hidden carbs and exercising.

When watching Biggest Looser the other night, they were talking about how the girls weren't eating enough. So I looked at my average calorie intake in FitDay and it's 1100. Some days it's like 800+, some are more like 1200. What *should* I be taking in??

I'm 36yrs, female, 65", 195lbs.

I know Atkins doesn't count calories per se but I think I'm too low...I just don't know how much too low.

Typical day for me:
bfast is an Atkins shake or a couple eggs and bacon.
Usually not hungry for snack.
lunch is a chef salad or dinner leftovers.
not hungry for snack.
Dinner is veggie, main meat course like chicken or beef, maybe another salad.
Sometimes I'll have a snack before bed like cheese or SF jello or pork rinds, etc.

Thanks!

[luv_bug]

I think I read something that Fawn wrote saying that it should be 10x your body weight for proper organ function? So that would be 1950 calories. You could also find a Basal Metabolic Rate Calculator online - it will give you a general idea, but be cautious as it doesn't consider fat-to-lean body tissue factors. I agree that you may want to up your calories ... 1,000 is too low - I'm right at the VERY end of my loss journey and ready to maintain and eating around 1,400 ... Eat up!

[peanutte]

14 pounds in five weeks is nothing to sneeze at. Fourteen pounds, man! Woo hoo!

One to two pounds per week of fat is about as much as anyone can reasonably expect to lose in a healthy manner (not including that initial week of Induction). More than that is likely water loss--and possibly lean muscle tissue loss. I honestly think one of the best things you can do as someone in the early stages of Atkins is adjust your expectations and resolve to not be in a hurry. That way, the weeks where you lose a little more will feel like a bonus!

The more patiently you take it off, you will:

*Probably feel less like you are "on a diet"

*Probably be learning habits that can be sustained for the long term

*Have less flab and loose skin as you're losing

*Have tie to climb the carb ladder, try new foods, and experiment with your Critical Carb Losing Level

And, just to show you I am willing to put my money where my mouth is (no pun intended), I started at 188 in January thinking I could get down to maybe 140 by June. 48 pounds in six months? That's only 8 pounds a month, right? Totally do-able! Ahem.

On paper it was do-able. In real life it might not be that rapid, despite doing everything "right" and being really committed, and we have to accept that. Note that you are close to my size, and have almost the exact same starting weight/goal weight as I have. I just really do not like to see people get discouraged when they're doing GREAT with their weight loss!

When I was at your weight I was eating around 1500-1900 calories a day. Some days would dip into the 2000s and others would dip down to the 1300s. As I lost weight I did adjust my calorie intake. There will be plenty of time for that later, for you.

I average one pound a week and have only ever had one three-week period where the scale didn't move, followed by a three pound loss the following week, over a period of six months.

In certain impatient moments I have been tempted to try to speed it up, but I remind myself that I want to be able to do this for life and I can't afford to let my body get so hungry that it would rebel. I ask myself: am I eating right now, today, in a way I can see myself eating next year and the year after that? If the answer feels like "No" then I am probably not eating enough variety and/or enough calories--eating like a "dieter" and not a person just living her life.


Of course that's a decision for each person to make. Really, I just want you to be happy with the way you're eating and see results! I wish you the best.

[Malapert]

I hear what you're saying, I really do! But my problem is that I'm really not hungry. Before LCing, I would mostly skip breakfast, eat a small lunch (sandwich or left-overs) and then a low-fat dinner...and then snack until bedtime. I probably wasn't eating a huge number of calories then either.

I'm just wondering where I could put extra calories in? I don't want my body thinking that I'm on a starvation diet and stop shedding fat. I also don't want to stuff myself and have to re-teach myself to curb calories down the road either, ya know??

So I feel confused as to what I should do. I realize that 800 is way too low. But is 1200? 1300? Does it really matter when I'm truly not hungry? My carbs are right where they should be and for me to add no-carb calories, I think I would feel like a meat-o-saurus...which is one thing that turned me off of the diet 10 years ago ('course so did my first pregnancy a few weeks after induction...lol). I'm not a big cheese lover so that's difficult too. I'm just wondering if *enough* calories are as big a deal as I'm suspecting or if maybe I'm doing fine the way I'm going now.

Is 1-2 lbs a week normal for someone past induction? I know there are exceptions to every rule...but I had the impression that on Atkins, people typically lost a little faster than that.

[peanutte]

People lose faster during Induction than they might on the first two weeks of Weight Watchers or other higher-carb diets. We get rid of that extra stored water weight and it gives us an immediate sense of progress and motivation.

I think it's very common for things to slow down after that. But keep in mind, a lot of people on ANY diet struggle to lose, say, two pounds a month. Others lose four or six or ten pounds a month. There are all different rates of weight loss but my main point is, don't expect it to be great every week.

I personally don't think it's terrible to eat 1200-1300 on most days if that is where your true satisfaction level lies--"satisfaction" meaning you're not hungry, though you're not full either. I certainly don't think you need to force yourself to eat another helping of cheese or a bigger portion of meat than you want.

[2big4mysize]

the number of pounds one loses depends on their metabolism and the number of pounds they need to lose. for somebody with 20 pounds to lose 1 pound is the same as 10 pounds for somebody who has 200 pounds to lose. it is the same percent loss of their weight to lose.


Also eating atkins we will add lean body tissue so check your inches lost each week too.