Am I getting enough calories ?

[Sonya Parker]

Am on my 5th day of Atkins. havent lost any weight, nor seen a difference in my clothes. Am I eating enough, and of the right %s ?

I am 5'4" 132 lbs. Work out 4X week (Cardio and weights). Goal is to lose 12 lbs.

Breakfast: 2 scrambled eggs , 1 tbs butter, 1 turkey link sausage
Lunch: Salmon steak, 2 cups lettuce, dressing made of 1 tbsp mayo, 2oz blue cheese
Dinner: Chicken breast, 2 tbsps olive oil, 1 cup spinach cooked in 1 tbsp butter
After workout snack ( was hungry) 3 oz smoked salmon, 1 tbsp mayo, 1/4 celery stalk.

Fitday gave me the following output;

Calories Eaten Today
source grams cals %total
Total: 1712

Fat: 131 1176 70%
Carbs: 10 25 2%
Protein: 122 488 29%

[Moochiecat]

It's just day 5, and you have a small amount of weight to lose.

At this point in the game you don't need to be concerned with calories.
Your main focus is to eat according to the Rules of Induction with proper quantities off of the Acceptable Foods list and be patient.
You can check your BMI so that you get a max/min range of where your calories need to be

http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/bmi/calc-bmi.htm

or

http://www.room42.com/nutrition/basal.shtml

(there are lots of sites to find this) . Keep on using Fitday and keep an eye on those percentages.


Also, it's just day 5, and I think someone already explained to you that on average, a person can expect to lose between 5% to 10% of the desired amount in the first two weeks, so you'll be looking at just over a 1 pound loss, maybe 2. That may sound frustrating when you hear about people losing 8 or 15 pounds in the first two weeks, but it all depends on how much a person needs to lose in the first place.

I strongly urge you to stay away from the scale and only weigh yourself every two weeks or so. You're going to drive yourself crazy watching your weight creep down slowly. I'm 20 pounds from goal, and my weight loss has slowed down, which is the normal course of things, and I gave my bf the battery to my scale because I couldn't stay off of it. I have better things to do than stand there and watch the numbers...lol

Here's some more reading for you about the nature of weight loss:

http://www.atkinsdietbulletinboard.com/viewtopic.php?t=63916

Being so close to goal you'll want to start progressing up the rungs of OWL as Dr. Atkins suggests. You can take your time with the rungs, but it's best to re-learn how to eat so that when you are at goal you have the tools to stay there.

A comment about your menu...make sure you get a variety of veggies in your salads so that you get the nutrients and fiber they all offer. :yes That'll up your carb count. Remember, veggie carbs are not your enemy, you won't gain weight from eating peppers, mushrooms, zucchini, radishes etc etc.

[Sonya Parker]

Re: Am I getting enough calories ?

Moochiecat, thaks for your reply. IT is now Day 9 and still no difference. I am hanging in there though.

I did post my menu under "review my menu" - was wondering if you had any thoughts. I did add more fat and variety of veggies as suggested previously, still not seeing any difference. I guess its because I typically losse weight quite easily.

I think cheese could be making the difference - I do eat the full 4oz each day.....perhaps I could tone it down to 2 oz every alternate day and see how that goes. In any case would appreicate your comments on my menu in teh Review my Menu section

Thnks