How FULL do you get?

[Streetcorner Philosopher]

I'm just curious from anyone out there who's been successful long-term on this diet if you would attribute your weight-loss to the limitation of CARBS -- OR -- to an overall decrease in how much you eat. (Or both.)

The sidebar question is how full do you get at each meal? On a scale from 1 (being still hungry) to a 10 (being pleasantly and happily full).

The only reason I ask is because my wife and I both have been on this plan for over 3 months now. We're both down in weight....in fact we're almost to our goal weight. But we've both noticed a pattern in HOW MUCH we eat and what the scale says the next morning. (makes sense.)

But for example, I've noticed that eating a meal of roasted chicken or ham and cheese (no carbs) puts more weight on me -- than say -- two pieces of whole wheat bread w/some peanut butter. (We weigh ourselves every morning.)

When we started this diet we made a pact to stop the "boredom eating". That, along with eliminating sodas and high-carb meals. Along the way we have both had a DRASTIC reduction in our appetites; Hence, we do not eat near as much as we used to.

So the question is....is it the CARBS or is it the quantity for you? How much DO you eat compared to your old life? S-C-P

[spazzyhilo]

I think in the beginning its the carbs. because one isn't enough a high amount of carbs we will eat more meat or veggies or what have you to get full. Then we go into fat burning mode. At that time I think its more the quantity of what you eat.

For example, the other morning my fiancee and I went out to eat breakfast and I ordered this HUGE omelette (or what now seems huge to me... took over the whole plate!) and I could only eat 1/3rd of it and I was stuffed. Before Atkins I could have had the whole thing, plus 3 pancakes, plus hashbrowns, plus 3 glasses of soda or orange juice.

I get full so easily now, it's almost like I have to force myself to eat more so that I lose more weight. A salad will fill me so I make sure its loaded with good stuff like an egg, cheese, crumbled sausage, mushrooms, etc.

fortunately the food is good so I don't have a problem with eating more till I do get full

I also think how fast you eat affects when you get full. When I eat slower I get full faster

[not2late]

Re: How FULL do you get?

I'm just curious from anyone out there who's been successful long-term on this diet if you would attribute your weight-loss to the limitation of CARBS -- OR -- to an overall decrease in how much you eat. (Or both.)

The sidebar question is how full do you get at each meal? On a scale from 1 (being still hungry) to a 10 (being pleasantly and happily full).

The only reason I ask is because my wife and I both have been on this plan for over 3 months now. We're both down in weight....in fact we're almost to our goal weight. But we've both noticed a pattern in HOW MUCH we eat and what the scale says the next morning. (makes sense.)

But for example, I've noticed that eating a meal of roasted chicken or ham and cheese (no carbs) puts more weight on me -- than say -- two pieces of whole wheat bread w/some peanut butter. (We weigh ourselves every morning.)

When we started this diet we made a pact to stop the "boredom eating". That, along with eliminating sodas and high-carb meals. Along the way we have both had a DRASTIC reduction in our appetites; Hence, we do not eat near as much as we used to.

So the question is....is it the CARBS or is it the quantity for you? How much DO you eat compared to your old life? S-C-P

It's a combo of both, in my opinion. Eating low carb stabilizes your blood sugar, which prevents insulin surges. I think in one of the chapters, Dr. Atkins describes insulin as the "fat producing" chemical in your body, because part of insulin's job is to grab the sugar in your blood and take it away for either immediate use as energy or to store it away as glycogen or fat.

As your appetite decreases and eating less, you're also forcing your body to use up itst fat stores for energy.

As for how I eat...I eat only enough to satisfy my hunger. In other words, I eat slowly to give my stomach the 20-30 minutes it needs for the stretch receptors to fire off a message to my brain that "stomach is reaching optimal capacity". I find if I eat too fast, I notice that my hunger isn't satisfied, even if I eat 3 chicken legs, a cup of broccoli and 1/2 strawberries with cream. However, if I eat slowly, giving my stomach receptors time to fire off a message to my brain, 1 chicken leg, the broccoli and half of the strawberries with cream are more than enough.

I never "eat until I feel full" because for me that means when I stand up from the table I can feel my meal sloshing around my stomach and that means I've overeaten.

About the types of food making you gain weight after a meal...well, consider this. All food and drink have weight. So, if you eat a half pound of chicken and drink 16 fluid ounces of water, that means you've ingested a total of 24.6 ounces or 2.6 pounds (8 fluid ounces of water weighs 8.3 ounces). Step on a scale and you'll see those 2.6 pounds, just like if you were carrying 2.6 pound handweights. How much does a slice of whole wheat bread and a tablespoon of peanut butter weigh? No where near 2.6 pounds, I can assure you.

When I used to work at a children's hospital, it was common to see a baby weigh more after drinking 4 fluid ounces of formula. Likewise it was common to see the same baby 'lose' weight after a bowel movement or after a urination.

[2big4mysize]

We eat our total cals in balanced more with our total cals out because the control of the carbs controls our blood sugar allowing us to not have drops that will trigger our minds to think we need more food and the knowledge we have gained from practicing our controlled carb and portion control eating doing Atkins for all those months lets us be in touch with our hunger and only respond to it when deciding how much to eat.

Dr Atkins never claimed his plan was magic gorge ourselves and lose weight. Many times in DANDR he tells us to only eat when we are hungry (unless that 6 hr rule kicks in) and stop when we have satisfied our hunger.
As Megs pointed out the slower we eat the less we eat as the chemicals from our stomache recieving foods to our brains take time to be created, released, transported and acted upon. If you have ever been interupted in the beginning of a meal that you were planning to eat it all cause you were "starving" you know when you return you are no longer starvign nor hungry.

how much I eat depends on how active I am. now that the appetite control of deep ketosis we all enjoyed during induction and OWL abated in premaintingance like Dr Atkins said it would I find that I'm hungrier the day after I do a larger load of activities then normal.

As Megs pointed out the scales only tell you what tthe effect of the force of gravity is upon your total mass not what that mass is actualy made up of. Our body weight fluctualted during the day in responce to foods and liquids in vs fluids and fecal mass out.