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Old Tue, Dec-18-01, 17:20
Chrissy's Avatar
Chrissy Chrissy is offline
Senior Member
Posts: 449
 
Plan: Atkins
Stats: 000/000/000 Female 5'5"
BF:
Progress: 56%
Location: Canada
Cool Hi Marlaine

This is just my long 2 cents, but the beauty of low carb diets is that you shouldn’t (for most of us anyways) have to reduce or even count calories. The only things you should be watching real, real, close is your CARBS. Remember if you follow this plan to a “T”, that means "NO" cheating, and your only consuming the required amount of carbs that your body can handle to continue to lose weigh, your CCL (critical carb level) your insulin will remain fairly level, and the extra fat will not be created or stored. Conversely, the body must burn fat reserves for energy, your glucagon (your other hormone) will use those extra calories from protein and fat towards your energy. In other words it can’t be stored as body fat, glucagon shifts your metabolism into a burning mode, (a fat burning machine) which converts fats to ketones and send them to your tissues(muscle) for energy, also glucagon will release fat from all those fat cells that were being stored for so long for energy, get my drift???? lol
However if you are consuming too many carbs, (watch those hidden carbs), sneaking a little of that and a little of this, thinking its just a small amount and it can't hurt, well, it does, you can not have it both ways on this WOE, your body will be storing those extra calories for back up storage as fat, basically the sugars in high carbohydrate foods prompt the body to elevate insulin levels unnecessarily, which result is the creation and storing of unneeded fat (PEROID!).
....... Eating the required amount of calories for your size (body weight) is used up very fast on a daily basis, I don’t worry, if you are an active person you can easily burn off those calories. I am heavy to begin with, so I need more calories to function, I work at a job that I’m basically running on my feet all day for 8 hours x 5 days a week, so I need more, I also have a casual job working from 2-4 shifts a week for 4 hours, so I need more, and I also workout strength training with free weights, or do aerobics or cardio every evening for 40-60 minutes a day, so I will need more calories. By all means this doesn’t give anyone a licence to eat a dozen eggs and a lb of bacon and a couple of steaks everyday. Besides not once have I ever heard of a person binging out on protein here at this club. LOL ....
I eat 3 square healthy LC meals, breakfast, lunch and dinner, and 2 snacks which adds up to 30-35 gms for the day, with that I am satisfied, not full, and losing weight or inches at the same time. If my body tells me that I am hungry, I will eat more protein. If Im craving something sugary, which is verrrrry seldom now a days......and I've already ate my desserts for the week, I will eat protien. It's not what I really want or what my brain wants, but it does stops the cravings. And cravings usually lead to binging for me and protein controls the cravings.
You really have to listen to your body on this new way of eating, learn to tell the difference between real cravings and hunger. But what ever you do, do not let yourself go hungry, otherwise your body will go into a starvation mode, and you’ll stop losing weight. I know when I am hungry, I get a headache, I can hear my stomach growling and I feel weak with no energy. Cravings to me, is just a trigger of some kind of temptation, sight, smell, enviroment, etc. but usually passes. It could mean that something I ate beforehand has risen my insulin too.
On the other hand some folks consider or have to individualized the program to their needs, now or down the road, you just have to monitor carefully each week, and adjust it according to your body needs. Accommodating to lower carbs, maybe low calorie, or low-fat, or taking this and that food out, not eating LC bars, shakes, cheese, nuts, or maybe not drinking diet pop or coffee due to individual stalls, everyone is different I guess and each one of us had our own Yin and Yang metabolism.

Take care everyone
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