Atkins Calories

DeannaSofia886

Hi Guys, My husband and I have been following atkins (original plan) - Currently still in induction. We have been successful in a decent amount of weight loss - ( he has lost more than I). For those who do atkins do you try to stay below your recommended calories by MFP? I have been following a successful low carbers blog and she does not count calories. I am def torn - because when I see myself in the red on MFP calorie counter I get panicky. I have stopped losing the past couple days but I think thats because of my female cycle. Any advice on calories for LC would be greatly appreciated!

fzermer

Years ago, when I followed the original Atkins plan, I lost plenty of weight counting only carbs and never ever considered calories. Now that I am on MFP and logging my food, I restrict myself to a calorie level even though I am again on a Keto diet. I do this as a matter of discipline because I feel better when I eat smaller meals. I can walk away from the table and still be active. When I eat until I'm full, I just want to sit and digest.

All I can advise is to experiment and find what works for you.

jumanajane

Hi Deanna, its a real bummer that men lose more quickly than women isnt it,lol. I have done Atkins off and on since 2003 and never counted cals. I lost well considering I had to contend with the menopause in that time. Slipped away from it a couple of years ago and have recently started again. I discovered MFP 40 days ago(so it tells me! Yaay) and also learnt about doing my macros. This included choosing a calorie level. It drove me mad counting them again, I was aware of becoming obsessive about counting again. Then I discovered you can actually turn them off in MFP (only on laptop/ipad/tablet not mobile) and now I cant see them and feel less stressed by seeing them. This works for me! But there are loads of people who like to see where they are! There is a very good thread done about the pro's and cons if you search for it! Lolol. I guess it comes down to...whatever makes you more comfortable and works for you! If its stressing you....turn them off! Good luck with it all. You will get loads of love and support here.

greenautumn17

Then, of course, there is the option to not log your food at all. I personally found that in order to log I had to measure and that had me thinking too much about food (trying to calculate the ingredients in a mixed meal, etc). So, I just don't bother logging. I did not want food to be my focus all day.

jumanajane

Good point! I loved the freedom of not counting cals on Atkins when I started that as I didnt want to obsess about food again.....just took a while of noting carbs to make sure I understood but after that I didnt bother any longer. Only logging now to work out how the macros work. Will probably stop at the end of this month! But whatever works counting or not...each to his own.

mpantsari

The medical studies that compared low carb dieting to low fat dieting used ONLY calorie restriction in the low fat group. Meaning, the low carb group ate to satiety, limiting themselves to 20g of carbs daily while the low fat group had ceilings of 1200-1400 kcal in addition to limiting fat intake by grams. My experience is that we are often miserable, and not able to sustain the diet, if you restrict carbs and restrict fat (by limiting calories). It is both unpleasant and stressful to the metabolic engine that is you.

This is a theory of mine, but I think that is where many of us go wrong, stress our bodies through legitimate starvation, and stall.

I don't ascribe to "a calorie is a calorie" if one is overweight, diabetic (or especially overweight and diabetic). I think the hormonal effects from food, and starvation, limit us getting back to a healthy weight.

Eat to satiety, restrict carbs, open up your fat consumption, and be patient.

greenautumn17

Well, I figure if I am only eating low carb veggies (and not very many at that, mostly a salad here or there), meat and fats, I don't have to count them.

AngInCanada

Atkins I believe recommends 1500-1800 for women. I have mine set at 1800 but I do go over because of my love of fats I don't worry about it much. Just make sure I hit below my 20 net carbs and my 70% fat

wabmester

I have done both calorie-logging and no-logging. My feeling is that if you start by logging, that trains you to be mindful of what you eat, and it gives you a good sense of the caloric and carb content of the food you're eating. Sure, stay under the calorie goal if you can -- calories do matter.

Eventually, you'll feel the reduced-hunger effect of low-carb eating, and your behavior will be trained by your logging, and THEN you can safely take off the logging training wheels.

DissLocated

I started off on Atkins and always count calories as well as carbs. I did this because when I started my eating was disordered and I couldn't rely on feeling full to make me stop eating. I needed to re-educate myself about portion size and calorie counting did that for me. I'm also rubbish at guessing portion size by eye so needed to weigh food to get an idea of what 100g of meat looks like.

Just how little food I could eat and be satisfied on with my keto reduced appetite was a huge surprise. I would never have served myself such tiny portions left to my own devices and yet the food I have totally sustains me and I'm never hungry.

FIT_Goat

I don't count calories. I have tracked them before, but the end number is unimportant to my goals. I can be over 3000 and not worry about it. With your appetite properly controlled with carb restriction, the calories typically take care of themselves.