I don't track macros, except for carbs. I try to keep them under 30, and they usually end up under about 25. I've been a wellness coach for years, and have a pretty good guess how much protein I'm getting from pretty much anything, but the fat was harder to figure out.

My baseline for calories, pre-LCHF, was about 1400-1500/day, and I weighed 189 at my highest. Now I eat about 1800-2100/day, and have, since April, lost 12 pounds I'd regained by chowing on dried fruit this past winter. A combo of stress related to concussion rehab and lower thyroid function probably led to that. Exhaustion is not a good state to make good choices!

I have had Herbalife shakes for breakfast (and lunch, usually) for well over a decade, and didn't want to stop that. So I modified it to drop the carbs by 3, and started adding a big bloop of heavy cream to it. I make sure that I get extra fat with everything I eat, and it's probably about 200 cal/meal, or 22 grams/meal more.

So long as it keeps working, I'll keep doing it.

If you can deal with the language (my background is nursing, so I'm used to reading nutrition jargon) read, or reread Gary Taubes GCBC. Especially, read the chapters where he goes into detail about how our bodies' need for homeostasis creates a vastly different profile in burning calories, and the source of the calories burned, when in ketosis VS insulin use.

We all were fed a lot of garbage, when the real meat was out there. But it was not being published, because a handful of dominant, charismatic men were able to push their specious science to the forefront.

OH! I get so angry sometimes. I'm a smart person, and I understand the science. And I still, for decades, ate the way that the prevailing "wisdom" told me to. What's worse, I taught my kid to eat that way, too.

Love your posts, MickiSue. I stopped tracking and weighing a while ago, but just started again so I could make sure I am at 75 to 80% fat. Got a bit startled by the calorie numbers, but that was an OLD gut reaction. Now, I keep my carbs to VLC, like you or even lower and I know the fat is not stored. I, too, taught my children the wrong way to eat but they are learning. I keep sending them information and one is now a nutritional therapist. I'm afraid I see what is going to happen, tho. I see fat is now good for us so MANY are going to start eating it again, along with too many carbs. That is the problem. Until we can get rid of the "good grain" thinking, we will still have an obese world.

Thanks, Micki Sue. I've read Taubes a couple of times (I don't have a strong science background, but with a couple of readings I think I have a good understanding of what he says) and totally agree with what he states, at least in principle. I too am post-menopausal and have been eating LC since late 2003 (starting with South Beach, progressing to Atkins, and a little over a year ago adding limited IF).

I certainly agree that replacing carbs with fat allows one to eat more calories on a daily basis with less propensity to store some of those calories as fat. However, whether one has to limit calories or not I think has to do with appetite, amount of activity, and some genetic or epigenetic variants such as initial carb tolerance. Like you, I lost quickly when I switched my diet to Low Carb, and maintained effortlessly for a couple of years.

However, eventually my appetite rebounded, and without increasing carbs, I began to gain weight. Over the 10+ years I have been low carb, I have periodically needed to tweak things to maintain and/or lose additional pounds.

You may never have to do this - I hope that will be the case. Most LC experts agree that even though Low Carb is your best bet to control weight, one cannot totally ignore calories. Jeff Volek states that it is in fact possible to gain weight while eating ketogenically if you exceed your daily need for calories. What I've learned on these boards after many many years is that everyone is a little different in what they have to do to lose and/or maintain.

I definitely encourage you to keeping doing what you are doing as long as it is working for you. I would also encourage you to look at what others are doing if your weight begins to creep up. Good luck!

Thanks, Aradasky and Liz. I realize that things change. People lose eating cheese, then stall, lose the cheese, and start losing again.

I've kept my goal weight high enough (I'm 5'5") that I THINK I should be able to maintain on what I'm doing. But, as you noted, there are a lot of people with experience to draw from, if I can't!

Hello all, this is my first post on this forum. I've been on Atkins Induction for almost 7 weeks now and stopped losing weight almost three weeks ago. I tried different suggestions that I read about online and in some of the Atkins books. Then I found this thread. I bought virgin coconut oil yesterday and added lot of extra butter and olive oil to my food. Holy moly. It worked! This morning a pound was gone and this afternoon, another half pound gone. I've been drinking a lot of water (as usual), so I'm not concerned that I'm dehydrated. How exciting to know that the extra fats in my diet broke my stall. Just thought I'd share!

I lost another 1.8 lbs in the last three days. The coconut oil is still working its magic!