why do calories not count on low carb?
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KnitOrMiss wrote: »KenSmith108 wrote: »JessicaLCHF wrote: »KenSmith108 wrote: »JessicaLCHF wrote: »I do think I am starting to care too much. I never used to but since logging daily that banner at the top (cals eaten, cals left) is seeping into my brain. As does the note when I finish my day. I think I'm going to set my cal to 3000 just so it doesn't matter as much!!
If it were me I wouldn't, I'd continue losing the weight.
If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Yeah. I have been having good success but I hate fixating on cals. Reminds me too much of my past and doctors screaming at me I was a liar cause I wasn't loosing on their low fat diets.
We watched an interesting youtube video about diets, the doc called them "Will power diets" He said a person has a finite amount of will power. When its gone, the diet will fail.
I downloaded an audio book from my library yesterday (I think anything using the app/site OverDrive should be able to access it somewhere). I think the title is "Change Anything." It talked about the Willpower Trap and how we blame it all on not having the willpower, when that can be something some are born with, but being taught coping strategies and workarounds can actually increase a non-strong-"willed" person to have incredible "willpower." I printed some worksheets to work through this weekend, because there are some definite areas I want to change and improve in my personal and professional life!
You are so on top of life knit, really awesome that you're taking the initiative to do the hated worksheets of doom. I've known some of each kind of person, and the ones who didn't naturally have this massive amount of "willpower" were able to become more strong willed with practice and general self confidence. I'm blessed(or cursed, depends on the day) with a stubborn, willful/willpower streak about 10 miles wide.0 -
giftbouquets wrote: »Quite a newbie here but from my experience of losing weight on a lower (not keto) diet is that I do much better when not counting calories. Counting calories just makes me obsess about food, feel deprived and ultimately overeat. I do best when I just know what not to eat (bead, rice, potatoes, processed food, sugar) and then just listen to my body. I tried my first BPC the other day, it was horrible. After drinking I asked myself why I had done it? I would have preferred my usual 3 egg salami omelette cooked in coconut oil for breakfast, so why make myself feel deprived by just drinking coffee? As I say, I am a newbie to MFP and don't want to disagree with what works for other people, but for me keeping what I eat as 'normal' as possible and not thinking of it as a 'diet' works.
I am the same. I kept trying things I would read about and in the end it was not something I would normally eat and wasn't helping with weight loss. So I went back to keeping it simple.0 -
sweetteadrinker2 wrote: »KnitOrMiss wrote: »KenSmith108 wrote: »JessicaLCHF wrote: »KenSmith108 wrote: »JessicaLCHF wrote: »I do think I am starting to care too much. I never used to but since logging daily that banner at the top (cals eaten, cals left) is seeping into my brain. As does the note when I finish my day. I think I'm going to set my cal to 3000 just so it doesn't matter as much!!
If it were me I wouldn't, I'd continue losing the weight.
If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Yeah. I have been having good success but I hate fixating on cals. Reminds me too much of my past and doctors screaming at me I was a liar cause I wasn't loosing on their low fat diets.
We watched an interesting youtube video about diets, the doc called them "Will power diets" He said a person has a finite amount of will power. When its gone, the diet will fail.
I downloaded an audio book from my library yesterday (I think anything using the app/site OverDrive should be able to access it somewhere). I think the title is "Change Anything." It talked about the Willpower Trap and how we blame it all on not having the willpower, when that can be something some are born with, but being taught coping strategies and workarounds can actually increase a non-strong-"willed" person to have incredible "willpower." I printed some worksheets to work through this weekend, because there are some definite areas I want to change and improve in my personal and professional life!
You are so on top of life knit, really awesome that you're taking the initiative to do the hated worksheets of doom. I've known some of each kind of person, and the ones who didn't naturally have this massive amount of "willpower" were able to become more strong willed with practice and general self confidence. I'm blessed(or cursed, depends on the day) with a stubborn, willful/willpower streak about 10 miles wide.
See, now that's a difference. I'm stubborn as all get out, but I have the willpower of a facial tissue. It (my willpower) has gotten stronger/more determined since going LC (seems to be another "muscle" that grows stronger the more you use it! LOL), but the worst thing I can to is tell myself I CANNOT have something. Then it becomes and obsession and compulsion to prove it wrong.
And despite what you see here, I'm definitely not on top of everything, but I finally feel like there is a point in trying to fight back, because things are possible now. My professional life is a mess because I find zero satisfaction in my job. I am a master procrastinator of the less enjoyable tasks, to the point of being 6 months or more behind on things that really should already be over and done. My house is a mess because I don't have/make the time to clean/declutter, etc. I have reasons (excuses) for just about anything, and I can justify anything a mile wide and a mile long... I'm working on cutting down on all of this because I know that more than anything, it is all just holding me back from what i have the potential to be.
My OH believes that EVERYTHING in the universe is hinged on willpower, because he can do just about anything, or more so, NOT do just about anything, just because his willpower is strong (except smoking/vaping and sugar, which he currently considers to be the joys he has in life - and there's a long story there I won't bother you with here, but I can follow his reasoning without agreeing with it - and as he's an adult and I'm an adult, I leave him to his rationalizations and focus on ME for a change! LOL)...
He believes that the reason I got fat (at 319 and 5'4", fat is a massive understatement) is because I had no willpower. We've had many debates on the subject, but he's finally realizing that it isn't as simple in my world as his - because of verifiable medical issues and other differences. He still argues that willpower is everything... I'm excited to continue this book and I'm really looking forward to digging into the worksheets (yes, I'm one of the annoying kids in HS who didn't hate homework - I just hated the requirement of stupid BS that was pointless except as busiwork...lol)...
This WOE and WOL (added to surviving a very unwanted divorce and flourishing in putting myself first sometimes) has shown me that there really is hope and possibility in the world. I'm waiting with bated breath and much anticipation to the day I can dream and fantasize and map out and plan a future again without just trying to survive the NOW...
But thank you for the compliment. I'm getting my ducks in a row, now, finally at 39 (this process started for me around 33-35) because I decided I didn't want to be old and miserable... I strongly encourage folks, especially those that are younger like you, to really take a hard look at life and see what matters and realize that things that seem WORLD ENDING or did to me when I was in my early 20's are things I barely remember now. I'm looking forward to being one of those old ladies like my grandmother who did not give a hootenany about what anyone else thought about her actions and behavior...
One my favorite readings lately was the "F" Off Fairy. Worth a google (using the actual cuss word, if you can tolerate it), because the writing and related writings are priceless.!!! Now to quit procrastinating doing an unwanted task that is on a definite timeline just because you tumbled into a topic on which I've very passionately involved. 1 -
I think I may have just found out why I am not losing on keto! I thought cals didnt matter. I know sounds a little dumb when I actually say it but seriously I didnt know. I am going to try being more mindfull of the calories so ai can see what will now work for my body. For the past 4 weeks I have been doing keto but cheating at least 1 time a week. But on all keto days i was eating as much "keto food" as i wanted . I thiught more the merrier. So dumb. Now I know.0
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I just started this group a few days ago. I know Atkins says not to count calories but carbs. The first day they had me at 1500 calories. I lost two pounds ( I'm know it's just water) and the next day they dropped me to a little over 1300 calories a day. I have about 70 pounds to lose. I lost a lot of weight before on Atkins before. I am wondering if anyone else is having this done on their calorie chart, or if you just ignore that. I know they used to have or maybe still do a 1200 calorie fat fast. I am just wondering if too low of calories on a Low Carb diet is bad or not.2
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I just started this group a few days ago. I know Atkins says not to count calories but carbs. The first day they had me at 1500 calories. I lost two pounds ( I'm know it's just water) and the next day they dropped me to a little over 1300 calories a day. I have about 70 pounds to lose. I lost a lot of weight before on Atkins before. I am wondering if anyone else is having this done on their calorie chart, or if you just ignore that. I know they used to have or maybe still do a 1200 calorie fat fast. I am just wondering if too low of calories on a Low Carb diet is bad or not.
When you have that much to lose, it's only a problem if it results in inadequate protein intake, or micronutrient deficiencies.4 -
Thank you.1
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I am new here and read through Atkins book 1980's. What is TDEE and is there a ratio needed between protein and fat daily? And is that per body weight?
Thank you.1 -
I am new here and read through Atkins book 1980's. What is TDEE and is there a ratio needed between protein and fat daily? And is that per body weight?
Thank you.
TDEE is Total Daily Energy Expenditure. The calories your body uses for all your activity including simply staying alive each day.
How much protein you need is going to be total grams needed to maintain or build muscle if that's something you're working on. You don't want to lose muscle by not eating enough protein. So it is important to view protein in grams not percentage of calories or ratio to fat.
You can calculate everything here
https://ketogains.com/ketogains-calculator/
There are other macro calculators but I've really come to like this one because it tends to be more mindful of keeping protein high enough for the benefit of lean mass.
Set it to sedentary even if you're not if weight loss is your goal. And select the Ketogains recommends box2 -
My short response to the title of "Why do calories not count on low carb" would be... they do count.
My long response would be: if anyone thinks they don't, just try eating well over your calorie limit for an extended period of time and see what happens with your weight.
Old thread. But good thread.
@kilroy02 I have no answer to your question regarding why the Atkins tracker dropped you to 1300. I might guess that at your original weight, it suggested 1500 but you were right on the cusp of 1500 so when you dropped 2 pounds it moved you into a lower calorie bracket for continued loss. MFP does the same or at least it did 3 years ago as I was losing. It is the punishment of weight loss. As you lose you need to eat even less to continue the same rate of loss. Either that or increase your activity.
In regards to too low of calories being bad...I say yes. Many disagree with that. My opinion is that too low on ANY diet for a sustained period of time is detrimental to one's overall health and is also detrimental to future weight maintenance. When you severely reduce calories for a sustained period of time your body responds by reducing metabolism. Read the articles regarding what occurred with some of the people on The Biggest Loser. Certainly their extreme measures resulted extreme losses...and then they tried to maintain on what should be reasonable amounts.3 -
Sunny_Bunny,
this puts me at 1612 kcal per day, workout or not to lose fat. 129 pro, 25 net carbs and 111fat. Today I was 1532 kcal, 11 carbs, 132 fat and 95 protein. I have to wait until tomorrow to see if I'm up or down on the scale. It's not that far off of Atkins. That would be week 3, in induction where you bump up 5 carbs . I stayed on induction when I first did Atkins for 3-4 months. I no longer was starving all the time, and slept well. It was nice.
kpk,
I know from a friend who is very knowledgeable in thyroid function told me, like you are saying, when the body is starved the thyroid slows down and tries to keep your weight on. She had a hard time on Atkins because she had low thyroid, even with the medication.
I was watching one of those fathead I think it is videos talking about a high fat/ low carb diet, paleo-keto type. I am wondering since I am older if that would be something to try if the Atkins type diet doesn't work, as well as it did.
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I'm learning the hard way to cut down on the fat. It's still a "high fat diet" compared to standard diet that most of the western world consumes, but I need to ensure I'm burning my own body fat, and I've seen times where I don't, so I'm monitoring my fat intake now. I used to think calories didn't matter. They SO do. If I keep my calories too low, I think cortisol kicks into overdrive and messes with me, and I don't lose, or I stall. If I go too high, I just plain start to gain weight.5
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In my experience, counting calories adds way too much stress. I focus mainly on carb count and making sure my protein grams are on the lower end. Like others have said, I guess I focus more on my macro's than counting calories. To me, counting calories makes keto more of a diet than a way of life. I dieted for years yo-yo up and down probably losing 300 lbs throughout my lifetime. The same 10-15 lbs over and over again. Count this, limit that, no, no, no... until I gave up and gained not only the 10-15 I had lost but more with it. Like @newmeadow I measure everything and have a scale for weighing. Not so I can count calories, but to make sure I am keeping my carbs to a minimum. The biggest thing is don't stress too much about any one aspect of keto. Make it your way of life not a diet. Listen to your body. If you are hungry, eat. If you are thirsty, drink.1
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Trish55011, That is great to stay within that small amount of weight gain. I wish I only swung 10-15 pounds. At my highest I was about 300 lbs, at my lowest I was 135 pounds. I got down to staying around 170/180, I think that was my lowest on Atkins. I'd like to get to 160 this time.
I have lost 3.6 pounds in 5 days so far. Yesterday was Easter and I put in what I ate, mainly worrying about excess carbs, but eating until I was satisfied and it came to a little over 1500 calories. It was mainly high protein, high fat and only 11 carbs. I need to get some strips and check and see if I'm in ketosis or not. I hope so.
I have read that too much protein can turn into carbs in the body:
Too much protein in the diet will create excess in the body, which will feed disease-causing bacteria. Limit Sugar: Eating too much protein on a low carb diet plan will cause the liver to convert the amino acids found in protein into sugar, which can feed systemic infections in the body.
When I first did Atkins I had 2 cups of LC salad vegetables and all the meat I wanted and fats. The old style. I can tell already that the New Atkins is for people who either loose weight easily or have little to no insulin problems. I was getting worried since when I did the new Atkins last time for 2 weeks I gained 3 pounds. So they are putting extra sugars or something in the prepackaged foods.
I'm a lot more relaxed now, that at least I am seeing progress. It's nice that the food you enter, also lets you know the carbs, proteins and fats to keep an eye on what is working, what is not.
I'm glad you found your sweet spot in how to make the diet work. I had it once, I hope to have it again.1 -
When I first did Atkins I had 2 cups of LC salad vegetables and all the meat I wanted and fats. The old style. I can tell already that the New Atkins is for people who either loose weight easily or have little to no insulin problems. I was getting worried since when I did the new Atkins last time for 2 weeks I gained 3 pounds. So they are putting extra sugars or something in the prepackaged foods.
That's not an accurate description of New Atkins for a New You, which is heavy on LC vegetables, pure keto, and not reliant on prepackaged anything.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/14391902751 -
I just started this group a few days ago. I know Atkins says not to count calories but carbs. The first day they had me at 1500 calories. I lost two pounds ( I'm know it's just water) and the next day they dropped me to a little over 1300 calories a day. I have about 70 pounds to lose. I lost a lot of weight before on Atkins before. I am wondering if anyone else is having this done on their calorie chart, or if you just ignore that. I know they used to have or maybe still do a 1200 calorie fat fast. I am just wondering if too low of calories on a Low Carb diet is bad or not.
@kilroy02 welcome to MFP forums. It sounds like you are off to a good start.
In my case at the age of 63 after 40 years of health decline it was not until I found a macro that stopped my cravings and permitted me to never get truly hungry that the calories did not count in a functional way to manage my net weight.
I could starve the old way and lose weight only to rebound. That was my 40 years of living in yo yo land.
Personally I find serious under eating not the best way to go at the age of 66. In time you will find the WOE that works the best for you. Read what others are doing but remember you live in a different body.
All cards are off the weight loss table for some of us with serious underlying health issues. I now doubt that a person can become obese before developing a leaking gut syndrome. I now think most autoimmune diseases get started due to gut issues.
There has to be medical reasons while most all that lose weight by going hungry have 100%+ regains in the coming years. I have maintained for 2 years living a sea of food that is mainly carbs at my house. I no longer count carbs unless my breath acetone levels do not register when I blow most days.0 -
This was the meal plan I did for two weeks and gained 3 pounds:
http://kits.atkins.com/easy-peasy-meal-kit/
The book I started Atkins the first time was Dr. Atkins, New Diet Revolution. In there it says," Your diet must contain no more than 20 gms carb per day. This allows for approximately 3 cups of salad (sorry I was thinking it was 2) vegetables (loosely packed), or 2 cups of salad vegetables plus 2/3 cup of cooked vegetables in the below 10% carbohydrate category.
Also back then they didn't use fiber to subtract carbs. There are many Atkin's dieters that say not to do that, use the actual carb count. Which is what I did when I first lost weight on Atkins.
This is the online diet the Atkins website is promoting and the one I gained 3 pounds on sticking to it completely for two weeks: http://kits.atkins.com/easy-peasy-meal-kit/
On page 8 of the New Atkins for you, it states: Over the years, the number and amount of vegetables permissible in phase 1 has increased significantly, in large part because of a better understanding of the benign roll of fibers in carbs.
It wasn't long before or maybe the start of, when Atkins started rolling out his pre-made products you could buy. He had some sort of mixture to make bread out of, and went on from there if I recollect correctly. In the New Atkins for you he had in there Atkins waffles and the Atkins pancakes. I'm looking through the book and don't see the recipes for those, so I don't know if those were from his products also.
After he died, it seemed like the Atkin's program took on more of a goodies are fine plan.
I remember, and have it on VHS tape it's that old, when Atkins was fighting with Ornish and another diet doctor about how it's sugar and carbs causing heart disease, not fats. In that, he said he only ate a desert once a week. I can't lay my hands on the 1970's version book, I packed it away, but it was more stringent. And it seems to have weakened as time goes by.
In the 2013, The New Atkins made easy, he was still using whole food, but the fiber count reduced the amount of actual carbs even in the induction. By phase 2 in that book he started adding the candy and the shakes.
The other thing I thought odd, was in the Atkins Made Easy 2013 book, when I ran the first phase 1 diet plan through my old mastercook, I came up with 2280.5calories, 191.1 gm fat, 43gm carb, 14.3gm fiber, and 128gm protein. I just ran the same daily diet plan through my new Mastercook program and came up with 1896 calories, 156gm fat, 43gm carb, 18gm fiber, 82gm protein.
I would be interested if anyone else came up with this.
This is the menu listed on the page:
Breakfast: 2 eggs, 1/2 cup chopped bell pepper, 1 oz mozzarella cheese, 4 oz bacon or sausage.
Snack: 1/2 avocado, 2 tablespoons ranch dressing.
Lunch: 4-6 oz of chicken, 1 small tomato, 1 cup mixed greens, 2 tablespoons blue cheese dressing.
Snack: 1 medium tomato, 2 oz pepperjack cheese.
Dinner: 4-6 oz steak or hamburger, 1 cup cauliflower florets, 1 tablespoon butter, 1 cup mixed greens, 1 stalk celery, 2 tablespoons vinaigrette.
Total net carbs: 20.7 Total net carbs from foundation vegetables: 16.1 according to the book.
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I found the 1971 Atkins, in there it says to have: 2 small green salads a day (each less than one cupful loosely packed), made only of leafy greens, celery, or cucumbers and radishes. Dressings with vinegar, oil, salt, dry spices, herbs, grated cheese (cheese allotment 4 oz per day), or anchovies. Or else a sour pickle in place of a salad, plus green olives.
Other than that it's the same as the newer Atkins in all the meat you want, as long as it's no carb, and 4 teaspoons of cream a day.
He did allow a dessert daily for the first week. A carbohydrate free gelatin dessert. The second week he had recipes in the book for cheesecake ( I use the knox gelatine recipe it's really good), and even strawberries on week 2. Which is different than now, where you usually need to go to phase 2 before low carb fruits.
He was big into soy, which I stay away from. They still are. So the diet has evolved somewhat.
In this book he talks about celebrities that went on the diet and lost weight.1
