Protein % too high - act now??

[bugout429]

We had a catered lunch in my office today. I ended up eating a spinach salad with dressing made out of mayo and mustard, and the insides of a grilled chicken & bacon sandwich. I estimated it as about 6 oz grilled chicken.

Then when I came back to my desk to enter it all into FitDay, I saw that eating all that lean protein made my fat levels too low. Would you advise me to go eat like a pat of butter or some plain mayo right now to balance it out, or is it not a big deal for now as long as I get my ratios back in the right proportions at dinner? I'm not sure whether those ratios represent an average for the day, or if they need to be balanced at 65/5/30 throughout the day?

Thanks!
-Sabrina

grams cals%total
Total: 780
Fat: 48 433 58%
Sat: 14 122 16%
Poly: 14 127 17%
Mono: 13 115 15%
Carbs: 14 29 4%
Fiber: 6 0 0%
Protein: 71 285 38%
Alcohol: 0 0 0%

[america57]

I think that at the end of the day, you want to see that 65/5/30 ratio. I notice that mine aren't there until I have put in everything I ate for the day.

[Elizellen]

Why not enter what you intend to eat tonight in your fitday account now so you can add fat to the meal if your ratios will be still out of line.

I always try to do this after lunch if I am online to avoid having a big deficit of anything at the end of the day.

[bugout429]

Thanks. I know my dinner will put me back in balance, but I was really more interested in understanding whether we're striving to maintain these levels consistently throughout the day, versus making sure everything is proportional by day's end. Any advice?

On a normal day, I am pretty much within a percent or two of the ideal ratio consistently throughout the day without much effort. Today I didn't get to choose my lunch, which is why I'm suddenly off-balance. It doesn't happen too often, but I'd just like to know for future reference whether there's any risk of my proteins being metabolized as sugars when my fat levels fall this low. There's usually a 5-hour window between my lunch and dinner. Hopefully it's not too big of a deal. I COULD have gone and just eaten a pat of butter, but if it's not necessary, I'd rather not consume the extra calories, since I have a sedentary job and won't burn it off until much later in the day.

Ugh, I think I have NADS - Neurotic Atkins Dieter Syndrome.

-Sabrina

[Finelly]

No, the ratio applies to your overall day, not meal by meal. You're doing fine!

[2big4mysize]

in an ideal world we would eat every bite in our perfect Atkins ratio but we don't. Just think your car runs best on the correct octane number and so do you. You can't realy correct for too much protein eatten by adding more fat to your later foods since that protein has already been converted to sugar if it was more then your body needed at that time for cellular repairs,and your protein stores were full.

Try to learn your foods so you can know what you are eating is correct at the time you eat it.

By now any blood sugar issues you were going to have have occurred.

Happy low carbing.

[bugout429]

Cravings.

Not particularly a craving for sweets, but the compelling sensation that I was still hungry.

That's what hit me last night, and even after a nice caesar salad, a 1/4 chicken leg piece and 2/3 cup of sauteed green beans, I still wasn't satisfied, so I went on to eat an entire chicken breast with some more caesar dressing.

Follow that with some sugar-free jello, and I still had the intense desire to keep eatings, but I had to call it quits. I think at some point, an Atkins Morning Start strawberry bar (which isn't even tasty) found its way into my mouth too. When my appetite starts talking to me, it's the hardest thing in the world not to heed the call.

Why do I do that to myself? Sometimes I just want to eat until I'm stuffed, even legal foods, and I KNOW I hate that feeling, and I KNOW I'm miserable the next day with a belly that hangs over my pants and none of my tops fit me right, but I do this anyway. It makes me hate myself even more than if I cheated. I know this is the reason why I'm plump and I can't stand it, but sometimes I just hit a night where I want to eat everything in sight! Then the next day I feel helpless, sad, fat, and out of control.

Last night, when the urge to eat came over me, I should have just left my house and gone for a walk. Instead I hung out on my couch, watching Six Feet Under. Eating.

Just pathetic.

[not2late]

Cravings aren't the only sign of blood sugar instability. Look in the book for the Blood Sugar Symptom questionnaire for the other signs.