Calories Question

[cerild]

Hi everyone,
I'm new to the site but have been doing Atkins for just over 2months and have recently progressed into OWL - woop

Just a quick question regarding calories, I'm eating three meals a day and two snacks and feeling full and yet I'm struggling to get my calories to over 1100, somedays its below 1000. Also, I love going to the gym most days aswell and am concerned my weight loss is merely due to simple maths ie, I'm burning more than I eat!

Do you think I need to increase my calories? If so, how? And also will this affect the rate at which I lose weight, because I'm happy with the rate I'm losing at now. On the other hand, as I start adding in more foods, I don't want to gain simply because my body isn't used to the additional calories?

Any advice would be great.

[Georgiana]

Originally Posted by cerild

Hi everyone,
I'm new to the site but have been doing Atkins for just over 2months and have recently progressed into OWL - woop

Good for you for moving to OWL!

Also, I love going to the gym most days aswell and am concerned my weight loss is merely due to simple maths ie, I'm burning more than I eat!

You may have a metabolic advantage of a few hundred calories, a decreased appetite and a more stable blood sugar, but at the end of the day if you burn (from all sources, not only exercise) less than get in, the net result will be weight gain. So Atkins does not defy math or physics or any other science.

Do you think I need to increase my calories? If so, how? And also will this affect the rate at which I lose weight, because I'm happy with the rate I'm losing at now. On the other hand, as I start adding in more foods, I don't want to gain simply because my body isn't used to the additional calories?

Can you post your current menu, including quantities for everything?

[cerild]

Yep - today I've eaten:-

Breakfast - Atkins Apple Crisp (4g)

Lunch - 50g chicken, 50g salad, 7 cherry tomatoes, 100g red peppers, 25g goats cheese and a LC Granola Bar

Dinner - 120g fillet steak, 50g salad, 6 cherry toms, 50g asparagus with 200g Sugar-Free Jelly with 1floz cream

Total - 21.4g carbs, 803cals

[Georgiana]

Atkins is a high fat, moderate protein, low carbohydrate diet. What you are eating now looks high protein, low fat, low carbohydrate. This is why your calories are low, because fat has more calories per gram than protein or carbs.

During Induction, one should aim for 65% fat, 5% carbs and 30% protein. As one progresses through the next phases of Atkins, the protein percentage stays the same, but the fat decreases slightly leaving space for more carbs. The diet remains high fat though (the fat percentage will typically be in the 50-65% range). If you add some fat to your menu, your calories will increase. Skin on the chicken, butter on veggies or butter/oil used in cooking, oil on salads are just a few examples of how you can increase your calories by adding a little more fat. And here's a sticky thread for you: http://www.atkinsdietbulletinboard.c...-need-eat.html (How much fat do I need to eat?)

Is the goat cheese aged cheese? Otherwise it's only allowed in OWL Rung 2.

Check the ingredients in those bars and make sure they are all "legal" for your current Atkins rung.

[cerild]

Yes it is an aged cheese,
Thanks very much for the advice

[chinadoll]

You are starving yourself. You definitely need more fat. Don't be afraid of it. The added fat will actually help the weight loss because your body won't be hoarding every calorie like it is now. Use butter, olive oil, mayo, avocado--all of these will help.

[neutronnorman]

I agrre with chinadoll, I usually eat 3-4 steaks per day, 4-6 eggs, salmon, mayo, olive oil, tuna sausage etc. I keep my calories about 2,500 to 3000 per day, but I'm a relatvely big guy.

[liv]

Originally Posted by neutronnorman

I agrre with chinadoll, I usually eat 3-4 steaks per day, 4-6 eggs, salmon, mayo, olive oil, tuna sausage etc. I keep my calories about 2,500 to 3000 per day, but I'm a relatvely big guy.

I would be big too if I ate like that. WAIT we had this discussion before. You do 250 bench presses or something like that.

To be serious though I think the point is (and what we can learn from norman) that we should not be afraid of food. It fuels us and we can get thinner, leaner and more muscular by eating. We need to understand it and work with it.
I am in the 'eats more than most ladies my hight' group but it is no problem as long as I eat the right items.

[JulieB]

Adding a little bit of fat bumps the calories up really fast. More dressing, more butter, etc. You'll be amazed at how much of a difference a little can make

[neutronnorman]

"...250 bench presses..." 275 lb bench presses! Cheez...Liv must be a math major...doesn't even use units...Hey liv, were you sleeping thought dimensional analysis?... ~

Seriously, do not be afraid of eating correct foods and keep your caloric deficit under your BMR plus actives. Do not ever go under your BMR. If not, you will seriously mess up your metabolism, end up eating much less, feeling hungry all the time and not losing body fat.

You can use Fit Day to estimate your BMR + activities both weekly and during the weekend. I make my estimates by factoring in all activities except whatever I'm doing for exercise. I subtract my caloric expenditure via exercise to the estimated BMR + activities figure. You'll be very pleasantly supply how fast it will total to 3000 (+/- 250) calories in no time.

And, above all, don't stress out over the scale. Fat loss is something you will be tackling for the rest of your life. When you reach your goal, the task will not be over. You will have to be under guard to ensure you never gain it back. It took quite a while to gain the fat weight, and it will not come off over night. Your body weight will fluctuate all over the place on a daily basis. I believe it's best to weigh yourself once weekly, at most, to gauge how your fat loss is progressing. Hey, if you gain a couple of pounds one week, instead of jumping off of the nearest, tallest building, read over your food diary and analyze it. Analyze your activity level, maybe your sodium intake, etc. What foods you might try to eliminate or add to your diet. Learn how to tweak your diet to produce the maximum results in a healthy way. Experiment within the Atkins dietary plan.

The good news is that Atkins, for all the research I've been doing on it, in general low carbs diets, are the way to go. It produces the best fat loss and spares your protein catabolism. After all, the important part of exercise is to maintain, if not build, lean muscle mass to hype up your metabolism and avoid looking like a deflated balloon when reaching your ideal weight goal. You need energy and the right nutrients to repair all the micro tears you produced in your body after working out.

But the first two weeks on induction, as severe it can be, are essential. From there you can consider going up the rungs depending how your body responded to the severe carbohydrate depletion it has endured.

Experiment and use your instinctive voice (or intelligent design...I don't want to step on philosophical toes...). You'll quickly learn was is right and wrong with what you are doing. Read as much as you can in this forum. Do not read my posts, I'm a heretic...

I won't write "good luck" here in my closing. Luck has nothing to do with reaching your goals. You will become what you truly believe. I think some One very important in my life said that with this tool, I'll be able to move mountains. Well, at least, I can move a 275 lb bar bell with a little more effort that a couple cans of peaches...

Get crackin'! And try your hand at an exercise challenge in this forum. They're the best thing since sliced bread or cans of peaches.

Norman