Clarification Please

[Elizellen]

Re: Clarification Please

As you add carbs on each OWL rung your percentages will change, so to keep the protein % to 30% you will gradually need to drop a little fat from your menus.

You can play with some menus in fitday if you use it to see how to change things.

The '50% fat/30% protein/20% carbs' is the final sort of percentages you will probably be at when you have climbed the OWL ladder.

[Elizellen]

Re: Clarification Please

There is a 'power of 5' list in the OWL forum for easy reference.

http://www.atkinsdietbulletinboard.com/forums/ongoing-weight-loss-owl/5519-owl-power-5-5-net-gram-foods.html

[atkinsgal08]

Re: Clarification Please

>>I should keep my fat and protein constant at 50% fat and 30% protein increasing my carbs to 20%?>>

No. Aiming for percentages of anything isn't how Atkins works. You should do as Dr. Atkins suggests in the book, and count your carbs. If you are doing that, and eating enough fat, then the %s tend to fall in line.

30% protein might be too much. 50% fat seems too little.

And following just %s doesn't mean you're getting the right nutrition.

[2big4mysize]

Re: Clarification Please

50% would be close to maintnenace levels with carbs at 20%. for example if ones goal needed to maintain cals were 2000 ( just used this for easy math) then one would be consuming 100 grams of carbs to be at 20% carbs. even allowing for fiber in there that is a high carb intake for an average atkinseer. very few Atkinseers get their carbs that high. According to Dr Atkins the average maintnenace carb level is 45-60 net grams allowing for about 20 grams of fiber that would be 13%- 16% carbs so their maintnance fat would be higher then 50% 57-54%.

the percent will be an individual number for each of us because we each have a different active lifestyle, metabolism and carbohydrate tolerance. That is why OWL is so important for not only testing food groups for cravings and tolerances but also for finding our carb limit as whe lose body fat and work our Atkins.

[2big4mysize]

Re: Clarification Please

While I have all of your attention;

Q. I am having a hard time understanding the percentages on OWL. In induction it was 65% fat, 5% carbs and 30% Protein. Now, if I understand correctly (I actually read the sticky on percentages and came out more confused than before reading it) I should keep my fat and protein constant at 50% fat and 30% protein increasing my carbs to 20%? That seems like a huge leap in carbs (which have been between 3-5%) can anybody help with this?

Thanks

mutantmom

as you slowly add back more carbs you will be satisfying your hunger each time you eat with less of those fats foods you had in induction. for example instead of having 3 cups of lettuce as the only carbs now one can add another 5 net grams of lettuce so one would be around 8 net grams of carbs. if one just added that more carbs to the foods one was eating in induction one would see that even though the total cals for the day could go up the percent of fat in the diet went down

usually the total cals consumed goes down a bit as one has less higher fat foods like a plate of chicken wings or couple of deviled eggs as a snack and more of those allowed carb foods from the rungs like some yogurt from rung 2 with some berries from rung 4. this will cause the total cals eatten to drop some as the amount of fat consumed goes down a bit. BUT it is a slow gradual process like having a higher carb salad with the same amount of dressing.

Once you discover if you have a high carb limit or a low carb limit then your %s will become appearent to you. Before I became the live in care giver for my mother I was hitting the gym 2 hours a day and could maintain on 115 net grams of carbs and eat close to 3000 cals a day which put my carbs right at 20% but once I couldn't go to the gym 2 hours a day my carbs dreopped to 45 net a day and 2500 cals. I could eat more carbs if I lowered my cal intake but then I have to deal with cravings so I stick with it at 45 net which makes it a round 11% for me

[Mutantmom]

Re: Clarification Please

This is where it is so confusing, first, I don't understand how one can only count carbs...when you increase your carbs your fat/protein changes, and there has to be balance (even the good Doc stated that). More carbs = less fat/protein right? I'm at 65% fat and 30% protein right now (with less than 5% carbs).

I like the idea of having set percentages in Induction, it suits me and is easy to do...all of this up and down with the carb/fat/protein is confusing. I need to finsih the book, maybe it will explain it further, the last two books I read did not do a good job of explaining this at all, maybe the '02 book will be clear.

Thanks,
mutantmom

[2big4mysize]

Re: Clarification Please

DR atkins will talk about the ratio of carbs to fat as the controlling factor in your eating but he doesn't give exact % in DANDR neither.

Your fats will go down a bite here and a bite there. During induction all snacking is high fat moderate protein and low carb things like cheese deviled eggs etc

in OWL snacks will alter to something like an ounce of nuts or seeds, berries with a fat, more veggies with a small amount of fat, and some of the rest of the rungs foods which will lower your fat grams totals.

say you have 4 ounces of cheese and 2 chickenbreasts with 1 cup of veggies as dinner during induction ( I know 4 is too many for most folk just using as an example) to satisfy your hunger.

On rung one of OWL you would add 5 more net grams of carbs which could be 3 cups of leafy greens as your dinner fraction of that 5 giving your 3 more grams there.

those 3 cups plus your one cup from induction would now satisfy your hunger sooner and youd' consum only say 2 ounces of cheese with the chickenbreasts . see how it works? carbs go up and fats go down a little.
on rung 2 you would be adding 5 more net grams of fresh dairy so you could have a small serving of yogurt instead of some of that cheese with your dinner and your fats would go down again while your carbs go up.

it is a slow trade off a bite here a bite there as you gradually over time increase your carbs from your induction levels to find your CCLL.

[Mutantmom]

Re: Clarification Please

DR atkins will talk about the ratio of carbs to fat as the controlling factor in your eating but he doesn't give exact % in DANDR neither.

Your fats will go down a bite here and a bite there. During induction all snacking is high fat moderate protein and low carb things like cheese deviled eggs etc

in OWL snacks will alter to something like an ounce of nuts or seeds, berries with a fat, more veggies with a small amount of fat, and some of the rest of the rungs foods which will lower your fat grams totals.

say you have 4 ounces of cheese and 2 chickenbreasts with 1 cup of veggies as dinner during induction ( I know 4 is too many for most folk just using as an example) to satisfy your hunger.

On rung one of OWL you would add 5 more net grams of carbs which could be 3 cups of leafy greens as your dinner fraction of that 5 giving your 3 more grams there.

those 3 cups plus your one cup from induction would now satisfy your hunger sooner and youd' consum only say 2 ounces of cheese with the chickenbreasts . see how it works? carbs go up and fats go down a little.
on rung 2 you would be adding 5 more net grams of fresh dairy so you could have a small serving of yogurt instead of some of that cheese with your dinner and your fats would go down again while your carbs go up.

it is a slow trade off a bite here a bite there as you gradually over time increase your carbs from your induction levels to find your CCLL.

So you are not only counting your carbs, you have to count your protein and fat as well right? But there should be a range of what works at each rung...it only makes sense, just like induction percentages...is there a ballpark number we should be shooting for?

mutantmom

[2big4mysize]

Re: Clarification Please

as one proresses through OWl the fats will slowly lower to around 60% as the carbs slowly climb. Nobody can tell you what exactly you will be shooting for because you have a metabolism and active life style nobody else has. You may be blessed and be able to eat higher amounts of carbs with no issues or you might be one of the folk who only get to 30 before weight loss stops.


you will be mostly listening to your body telling you if it is hungry or not to know if you are eatting too little protein and fats as you do the lower rungs of OWL.

[forbey]

Re: Clarification Please

I haven't counted a fat gram, protein gram or calorie since I started.

As indicated by many here, one natural result of eating Atkins is a reduction in appetite. That I am seeing now. I ended up taking half of what my wife fixed for me for dinner a couple of nights back and put it in the fridge for a snack later. It wasn't that I couldn't have eaten it, I just didn't have the desire to push it in!

That, and the gradual increase in healthy carbs, your percentages will change. But, since I'm not counting, it's hard to determine percentages.