Questions about Owl, Rung 1 menu

[PinkBikini]

I have kept a food journal from day 1. I monitor foods, amounts, and carbs. Now I'm trying to use fitday. I keep track of percentages of fat/carb/protein in my meals and calories as well now.

I see I've been eating 80%fat/15-20 protein/2-5carbs and nearly 2500 calories/day in induction. I'm only 120 lbs now. I think thats a bit much for me and I can't possibly be burning it all off in my 45 min of brisk walking per day?? It must be slowing my weight loss right?

I'm trying to up my protein and of course increasing vegetables by a cup/day which should help with the numbers a little...but I'm finding getting down to the recommended 65/30/5 even a bit difficult. I'm also worried I might be eating too many calories as it says that today's menu totals 2700 calories.

Here's a sample of the past few days:
Saturday September 1

2 slices roast beef (0.5)

½ red pepper, sliced (3)

2 cups spinach (1)

1 hardboiled egg, crumbled (0.5)

1 oz goat cheese, crumbled (1)

Balsamic vinegar on the side= 1 tbl (2)

Flax seed (1)

Hamburger (0)

Slice cheese (1)

2 slices bacon (0.5)

1 tbl sour cream (0.5)

4 oz chicken (0)

1 tbl tarragon (2)

½ red bell pepper (3)

1 pat butter (0)

2 scrambled eggs (1.5), pinch of parsley (1) and 2 slices cheese (2)

Net Carbs: 20.5



September 2

Taco Salad with 3 cups veggies, 1 sour cream, and 1 oz cheese (9)

Coffee (0)

Flax Seed (1)

3 large eggs (2)

A few leafs spinach (0.5)

4 bacon slices (0.5)

2 oz feta cheese (2)
8 oz chicken (added to increase protein even though I'm not really hungry) (0)
1 pinch sage (1)
planned for dinner: 4 oz tilapia (0) and 1 cup jicama (2.5)
Net carbs: 18.5

[not2late]

Originally Posted by PinkBikini

I have kept a food journal from day 1. I monitor foods, amounts, and carbs. Now I'm trying to use fitday. I keep track of percentages of fat/carb/protein in my meals and calories as well now.

I see I've been eating 80%fat/15-20 protein/2-5carbs and nearly 2500 calories/day in induction. I'm only 120 lbs now. I think thats a bit much for me and I can't possibly be burning it all off in my 45 min of brisk walking per day?? It must be slowing my weight loss right?

I'm trying to up my protein and of course increasing vegetables by a cup/day which should help with the numbers a little...but I'm finding getting down to the recommended 65/30/5 even a bit difficult. I'm also worried I might be eating too many calories as it says that today's menu totals 2700 calories.

Here's a sample of the past few days:
Saturday September 1

2 slices roast beef (0.5)

½ red pepper, sliced (3)

2 cups spinach (1)

1 hardboiled egg, crumbled (0.5)

1 oz goat cheese, crumbled (1)

Balsamic vinegar on the side= 1 tbl (2)

Flax seed (1)

Hamburger (0)

Slice cheese (1)

2 slices bacon (0.5)

1 tbl sour cream (0.5)

4 oz chicken (0)

1 tbl tarragon (2)

½ red bell pepper (3)

1 pat butter (0)

2 scrambled eggs (1.5), pinch of parsley (1) and 2 slices cheese (2)

Net Carbs: 20.5



September 2

Taco Salad with 3 cups veggies, 1 sour cream, and 1 oz cheese (9)

Coffee (0)

Flax Seed (1)

3 large eggs (2)

A few leafs spinach (0.5)

4 bacon slices (0.5)

2 oz feta cheese (2)
8 oz chicken (added to increase protein even though I'm not really hungry) (0)
1 pinch sage (1)
planned for dinner: 4 oz tilapia (0) and 1 cup jicama (2.5)
Net carbs: 18.5

1. Why are you trying to increase your protein?

2. Does it really take that much food to satisfy your hunger? You only eat the amount of food to satisfy your hunger for that particular meal or snack. So if your hunger is satisfied after eating 1 hard boiled egg, 1/2 ounce cheese and 3 celery sticks, that's all you eat for that meal/snack. You never force yourself to eat "more" in order to avoid getting hungry between meals or in order to "make" a calorie count or percentages.

By the way, could you please indicate which vegetables are the 5 net carbs you added for the day? It will make it easier to review the menu.

[PinkBikini]

I have been eating only when I'm hungry and learning how much needs to be made to make me feel "satisfied" so that I can just prepare that much food in a serving. This week I added 5 net carbs veggies/day (on the 1st I added a second half red bell pepper and on the 2nd (the 1/2 cup jicama and extra spinach which ended up only totaling 3.5 carbs).

I read that my percentages needed to come down from Induction levels (fats 65/protein 30/carbs 5) as my carbs went up in OWL levels (aiming now for a 60-65%fat/30% protein/5-10% carb split). However, my protein, tracking with fitday, has only been at about 20%, surprisingly, since starting atkins, and I've been closer to 75-80% fat and 2-5% carbs. So I figured I could afford to bump my protein to the recommended level of 30 while increasing my carbs 5 grams/day to try to get those fats down from 75-80% to closer to 70%.

[PinkBikini]

Here's how the rest of the week has gone so far by comparison:
Mon September 3

Taco salad (3 cups veggies and 1/6 lb ground beef) without sour cream (8.5)

Coffee (0)

Flaxseed (1)

1 cup spinach (0.5)

4 oz chicken (0)

1 oz feta (1)

1 tbl balsamic vinegar (2)

2 large eggs and 2 slices cheese (4)

Net carbs: 18



Tues September 4

Taco Salad with sour cream (9)

Coffee (0)

Flax seed (1)

3 hardboiled eggs and mayo and tsp mustard (2+0+0.5)

¾ cup jicama and 1 tbl balsamic (3+2)

½ cup spinach and 1 oz feta (0.5+1)

Tilapia (0)

Net carbs: 18



Wed September 5

Taco salad with sour cream (9)

Coffee (0)

Flax Seed (1)

¼ pound taco meat (4.5)

2 slices cheese (2)

3 eggs, mayo, and mustard (2.5)

Net carbs: 18.5


I feel bad that I'm not meeting my 20 carbs/day. I added balsamic vinegar because even though DANDR says no balsamic, because it does have some sugar, mine has 2 carbs/tblspoon, and in the recipe book Dr. Atkins and his wife wrote they said that balsamic is fine to use after induction. I love it and quite honestly my other "dressing choices" (ceasar, bleu cheese, ranch, etc) are creamy and I've never liked those and have to force myself to eat them occasionally with chicken. Balsamic makes everything taste so wonderful. If I do stall I will remove it and see what happens though.

Should I be concerned with lowering my fats?

And should I be concerned with hitting my 5 grams extra carbs/day? Some days I'm not hungry enough for them...

[not2late]

Please edit your menu and bold your OWL net carbs.

If you lower your fat, your protein and carb % will change. It's mathematic tomfoolery. So if you have a fitday account, fool around with the foods. If you lower your added fats, you'll see the percentages change.

[PinkBikini]

Ok, will post ahead on a new thread with this week's menu and see if I'm getting the hang of it. I preplanned it and calculated with fitday to try and get the percentages right... purposely lowered my fat intake in order to increase my protein to the "30ish" area...