Taking in too many calories

[Splendagrrl]

I think I have been taking in way too many calories. For example; my daily intake to lose should be 1944.3 - 500 =1444.30. When I calculate on FitDay, I am pushing a good 1,800-2,300 per day.

If I eat less calories, I'd be eating less carbs. as well. It's the cheese...that alone cost me 580 calories for 4oz today.

I need to sit and figure this out...not making sense to me right now.

[ValidRouge]

Re: Taking in too many calories

Splenda...you know...there is a fine line about calories. Doing a ketogenic diet, like Atkins, causes your body to operate at higher metabolic efficiency. This is the metabolic advantage that Dr. A talks about. It means that, generally, we will burn more calories than someone who is on a high carbohydrate diet. It simply takes more energy to use fat as an energy source.

The other part of a ketogenic diet is the appetite suppression. For the most part, ketosis suppresses the appetite significantly and we are able to explore how much food it takes to be satisfied. If we only eat until we are physically satisfied (not mentally--that's a whole other story) Dr. Atkins assumes (I think) that we will eat at a lower calorie level. Now, with that in mind....pay close attention to your portions. Do you really need a full chicken breast, or would 1/2 satisfy you? Stuff you'd have to ask yourself.

Are you still doing induction? If so, maybe it's time to move to OWL rung 1 so that you could replace some of the meat/fat you are using to FILL your tummy with vegetables which are far, far less calorie dense than meats and fats.

[Splendagrrl]

Re: Taking in too many calories

ValidRouge:

Thanks for the reply. Yes, I am still on Induction. I would like to lose a few more (20lbs) pounds before I stepped up to the rungs. I think however you are on to something. I'll move to more veggies since less in the calorie intake, however more in the carbs. This way I'll be able to balance it out a bit more. I did some thinking last night and this as you mentioned as well would be best, move to the next rung and add some more veggies...which I love anyway!

Thanks again for going in to detail and being understanding.

Congrats on your success as well...you look FAB!

[ValidRouge]

Re: Taking in too many calories

You don't really have that much to lose. I know it seems like a lot to YOU, but in the big scheme of things you really don't. It WILL start to come off and before you know it, you'll be close to goal. You need some time to do OWL properly. It takes time because you have to test each food you add on each rung...and it can take a week (or more, sometimes) to do that. So, OWL can take a long time--while the weight continues to come off. I lost about 75 lbs and still hadn't made it through all the rungs!!! So, staying on induction when you've only 30 lbs to lose isn't going to give you enough time to do all the OWL stuff. You definitely DO NOT want to get close to goal and have not taught yourself how to eat for the rest of your life.

Since Atkins is a FOR LIFE plan, OWL and premaintenance and maintenance are necessary. That's where we customize an eating plan for ourselves that includes all food groups except sugar and refined white flour.


I'm happy that you've decided to go ahead and move on to the OWL phase. Remember, OWL means Ongoing Weight Loss. ONGOING LOSS! yay! Go to the OWL forum and read some of the posts in there to get more information.