Grams or percent?

[Emre Yigit]

I know that we on Atkins have a carb-focus, and rightly so, I think.

Now, if you think back to DANDR, there are tables there for rough carb consumption to maintain weight based on metabolism (and a few comments on exercise).

But I wonder... The effect of 50 grams of carbs is likely to be quite different on a 5" woman with 100lbs of lean mass versus a 6" man with 150lbs. Are we just simplifying the difference by stating that the man has a faster metabolism than the woman, and thereby getting the wrong impression about our metabolisms too?

Shouldn't we be looking at the percentage of carbs in our diet rather than the grams?

[Elizellen]

I see what you mean, but I think Dr Atkins started with a low carb maximum so that most people would be able to lose weight initially while getting used to the idea of dropping the high carb foods and eating high fat/medium protein/low carbs.

After the intial induction period (min 2 weeks) we are supposed to increase our carbs (in the controlled order of OWL phase) till we reach the carb level at which we stop losing weight, which will be different for us all.

So a man of 6 foot or more will most likely end up at a higher carb level than a 5 foot woman would for their individual critical carb level for losing (CCLL). The only way to work out our own CCLL is to follow the rules of OWL as far as I know.

[Emre Yigit]

True.

But wouldn't a better way of figuring the CCLL be if the woman in the example I gave rose up the rungs in 4-gram increments and the man in 6? That way, they would have a more uniform progression up the rungs? Because otherwise, the woman's probably going to be stuck at too low a rung and the man at too high a one.

[liv]

I think what you are saying is interesting. It could well be that our size and our ccll are related.
However, even with a low CCLL you do not get stuck on a lower rung. You can add new foods and rung after you found your CCLL - you just keep your carb level down and rotate the carbs. So I may eat 5 carbs of fruit but the day I decide to eat wheat I just do not eat the fruit to keep the levels low.