I am back on the diet after a short hiatus and am definetly employing a lower calorie routine. I've been taking out my egg yolks, cutting out some cheeses, and trying to be a little more active. The last time I was on my diet I struggled to get below 180 pounds regardless of what I ate.

After being on-and-off low-carb for almost two years now (!) I am convinced that calories absolutely matter.

There are many benefits to low-carb eating besides weight loss. Maybe people will testify to acid-reflux cures, better sleeping, control over blood sugar, ec. I can!

But JUST low-carbing alone doesn't seem to work beyond a certain point.

I think what happens is that low-carbing helps get your hunger under control so you are naturally eating less calories than before. However, for most very overweight people this isn't enough to actually bring you all the way to goal - just down to a lowever stable level than you were at before.

That in itself is a good thing, of course. I'm not knocking it.

But I think a certain amount of calorie consciousness is needed also to really achieve goal.

For example, I had to stop eating macadamia nuts. There are just way way too many calories in them, and I suspect more carbs than we are led to believe. A single 50 gm bag of macadamias every day can, by itself, make the difference between losing 30 lb over the course of year or not!

Similarly, I try to subsitute chicken, fish or even lean pork roast for fatty red meats. They are better calorie bargains. And I try to put a break on oils, butters and mayo - they all have 100 calories per tablespoon, which can't be ignored. So I used them conservatively.

Low-carbing helps - but you can't violate conservation of energy!

doug

I'm at about 1,200 calories a day with 20 carbs.

I believe in conservation of energy. To me, the weight loss benefit of low-carb is that it helps control your appetite. But if I eat too many calories (nuts, too much meat vs chicken or fish) I just don't lose weight.

I'm at 20 carbs/day or less.

I also lost about 40 lb by JUST counting carbs and ignorning calories. That still leaves me in the 250s though! It seems I need calorie consciousness and/or exercise to take me beyond what just low-carbing can do. Unfortunately.

doug

calories absolutely DO matter in my case, which i found out recently when i got a cold. i lost my apetite and was eating about 1,000 a day or less. i started dropping weight like crazy. i've upped my cals some, to about 1,000 to 1,200, and am still losing. before, i was eating about 2,000 per day, and eating all day. now i only eat if my blood sugar is low, or if my tummy is growling like a lion.

also, i do not literally count my calories or my carbs. to keep track of myself, i put in on fitday's journal what i ate every few days. the reason i don't count carbs and cals is because i know what messes up my insulin and my blood sugar, i know how much food is too much, and when i do count i get obsessive. i mentally have a "bad" category, a "good" category, and a "sometimes" category for all foods. for example, white bread is in the bad category, deviled eggs and celery are good, and chicken nuggets (dipped in tons of mayo) from chik-fil-a are in the sometimes category. i don't follow any plan by the book, but i have read each plan's book. i get scarily obsessive and anal retentive when i try to follow a plan, and i get tunnel vision. i lose track of what else is going on in my life, to a degree. so i just eat according to my "category" plan, and it's working.

After reading this entire thread I stared fitday journal. What a great tool. I was amazed at how quickly one could accumulate carbs and how hard it is to increase calories. Well did a little restructuring and vola!! I had a huge swoosh after a frustrating stall. Great thread!

I love fitday! Ive got 2 years of history on it...

Hmm, I see I am in the majority (so far) with 1400-1600 calories a day. I eat 5-6 mini-meals a day and it just works out to about that many calories. I don't really count calories, but when I put what I eat on FITDAY, that is just what it comes up to.

hiya...what exactly is a basal?

Basal metabolism is the term used for the calories you burn with just ordinary bodily functions such as breathing, digestion and your heart pumping. Everyone is always burning calories even if they are just sitting still or sleeping.

I am finding calories matter for me too. I can easily eat around 2800 calories a day (I am a big girl). But I only seem to maintain at that level.
If I limit myself to 2000-2200 I lose. That is still plenty of food. Instead of 2 pieces of cheese with my eggs, I eat one piece. Choices like that help me cut back on my calories and I still feel like I get lots to eat.

Hey, all!

I'm relatively new at this whole thing, but from all the information I've read about Atkins and low carbing, I firmly believe that each person's metabolism is different. Some people can lose eating 2800 cals a day, where a different person with the same weighloss goals can only eat 1200.

Some people are eating bacon like, pardon the pun, "pigs" and still losing weight.

Personally, I'm doing the induction phase right now just to see how it works out. If I don't lose at least a couple of pounds a week, I'll take more drastic measures begin to count calories. The only way I can possibly get the 2300 or so calories that I need to eat each day is to REALLY up my red meat or my pork intake, which I'm not really keen on... So, trial and error, folks!!!!

Just my two cents


Jennifer

I usually don't like counting calories because it makes me paranoid but recently I did that through fitday and found I'm eating around 1900 calories a day. That's way higher than what my stats require (1400-1500) but I seem to be losing fine with that .

Tam

I've been using the My P.L.A.N. option and inserting the foods I eat each day. For approximatley the past 4-5 days and that's how I came up with a calorie average. Otherwise I'd have absolutely no idea...not counting every again. I am no longer crazy about the calories.

If you are too low on calories your metabolism will slow way down