Are Calories/Fat/Protien to be Counted?

[Fat2Skinny T]

I am soooo confused. I was just on a thread and they were talking about eating within a certain percentage. If you are using a percentage does this mean you have to count calories, counting calories, means portion size and control.

On Atkins I thought the ease being on this WOL is to eat until satisfied, not count calories, and only count your Carbs. If you are in Phase 1 you make sure you are not over 20 carbs for the first 2 weeks or longer.

With eating fat and protein you get full faster and stay full longer so, you automatically start eating less. I know Atkins has portion sizes in the back of his book...is this what we should follow?

I was on a diet that counted everything and got back to Atkins because of the freedom as well as the carbs I consumed on other diets were too much for me to handle. Also, cause Atkins works.

If someone can shed the light on things I would really appreciate it.

[Chasin2Kids]

You were probably reading a post having to do with a fitday account, where you can enter in your food and it will show you what percentages of protein, fat, carbs, etc you are eating. On induction you can eat 20 grams of carb. If you follow Dr. Atkin's rules and plan for induction, your "percentages" should be right on. As you move up the rungs in OWL, people often find it useful to have a Fitday account just to make sure their percentages are keeping on track. I think when you get to maintenance, your percentages are supposed to be 50% fat, 20 % carbs, and 30 % protein. ( I know, a lot of math.) Bascially, you have to keep to keep tabs on things. Its not just carbs, obviously. Because if we kept our carbs at 20 grams, but the other 70% of the diet was protein or it was 95% fat, we obviously wouldn't be getting the benefit we're supposed to. From the outside, it looks like a lot of numbers...and it is...but following the plan the way Atkins wrote it makes it pretty easy to stay within range. Some people just feel better checking in with a Fitday account and making sure things are in check. Did this help at all? If not, it could be that I'm up way past bedtime...and in that case, my deepest apologies!

[Fat2Skinny T]

Yeah, I am up way to late as well...I tend to freak and over think things. Maybe, I freak cause I have never made it past induction. I will re-read Induction tomorrow morning over breakfast.

I just want to be able to do this WOE right and get off the dieting rollercoaster.

Thanks for you response.

[Tracie515]

I saw your percentages you logged and i think your doing great! Keep it up!

[Elizellen]

Originally Posted by Fat2Skinny T

Maybe, I freak cause I have never made it past induction.

I have just posted a response to another member who felt the need to 'restart' induction more than once after making a mistake in food choices, and wondered if you are having similar thoughts, meaning you never get past 14 days induction!!

If this is the case, here is a copy of what I wrote in case it helps you

Though I understand the feeling that you 'ought' to start again, you really need to be comparing the before and after 14 days results as suggested in DANDR to see how metabolically resistant you are to losing weight, so to do that you need to count your 14 days from your 'real' start rather than your restart dates as you havent spent days binging on carbs between restarts.

Although your 14-day results wont be 100 percent accurate due to your two small errors they will be much more accurate than taking your 'latest ' start point and a 14 days later result, as you will already have lost weight over the two induction periods before/between slips and this will give a false idea of your weightloss metabolism.

So unless you choose to stay on induction for longer than the 14 days just start on OWL after your 'real' 14th day.

If we had to restart each time we made a mistake some of us would never finish our 14 days induction period and so would never be able to move through the four stages of Atkins!!!