Now that you've reached your weight goal, how many carbs do you take in a day, and what are your sources? What about your fat? Thanks.

I'd guess that I have about 50-60 carbs/day on average.

Sources: Veggies. I'm not a fruit eater and I do not eat many grains.

I don't 'watch' my fat, but I don't look for ways to add fat to my diet either. So for example, I may use spray butter on my fish instead of regular butter. Or I may use ground turkey instead of ground beef. I don't really track it - it's just something I do without thinking very much about it.

It depends how you define "liberal". Whatever your personal tolerance level is, I define "liberal" as "any time you choose to go above your personal limit." My limit happens to be in the neighborhood of 40 g/day.

I'm only liberal on special occasions if I choose to eat a high carb food as a treat, or in summer, when there's good, fresh local produce and the heat makes me prefer lighter-textured food. Even then, I keep the portions small and prefer to save sweet fruit as "cycling fuel." I ride my bike a lot in summer.

Like Lesley, I don't exactly "watch" the fat, either. I listen to my appetite. There is absolutely no reason, ever, to be hungry (notwithstanding an unusual metabolic health problem, etc). I eat fat and protein ad lib.

I don't put too much thought into it at this point. I reckon I'm averaging somewhere around 50 carbs/day, but I have a "high" day on occasion -- when I've planned for something particularly special and yummy.

I don't actually count the carbs anymore; I've gone to more of a SB style, I guess. I focus on having 1-2 whole grain servings daily, 2 fruit servings daily, 1-2 dairy servings and then as many veggies and meats as I want. Don't think much about fats, but I don't go around pouring butter or lard on everything.

I've done SB my entire time and have really never counted carbs....but I did finally put an average day into Fitday just to see what my numbers are:

approx 2000 cals a day
100 grams of carbs.

My carbs are from mostly whole sources of veggies, 2-3 fruits a day, minimal grains in the form of a Wasa crsipbread.....I eat very little processed carbs and eat bread as a treat once in a while. I still eat according the meal plan charts for SB as they gave me a good model of how to eat that works for me. I'm a grazer and eating 5-6 mini meals a day works well for me.

I've been easily maintaining my weight for 2 years now.

I have not maintained nearly as long as the other posters but I thought I would throw my answer in here.
I'm not "liberal" with carbs at all. I have been pretty much at induction levels the whole time. Some days I eat more carbs and some days less. I have even had some off plan meals.
I am trying to add more and see what my actual limit is. I don't really count carbs anymore. I just pay attention to them and know what I can have and what I can't.
Maintenance isn't all that easy. I want to do it right and have maintained for only 5months. So I'm playing with adding 10 -20gms on a daily basis to see what happens.
I didn't move up the ladder like the book said. So I guess I'm kinda trying to do it my own way now, incorporating some of the higher carb foods into my daily intake and see what happens.
I am happy with very little carbs but I think Dr A set the OWL for a reason as well as maintenance. I think we do need some of the higher carb foods but I think the portion control is the key.
I'm just trying to do the best I can with it and not gain any weight back.

Although this was not part of the question, I feel it's essential (to me, anyway) to weigh daily. It can be a fine line between weighing daily and becoming "obsessed", to be sure. But studies have shown that those who weigh daily are more likely to maintain a weightloss over time.

If one weighs daily, it's easy to adjust when you've had those little endulgences that make life worthwhile....cake and a glass of wine to celebrate your child's graduation, a couple of those cookies your family has made for generations at Christmas time, a piece of warm-from-the-oven real bread at a restaurant. You weigh daily and if you've put on a pound or two, go immediately back to next-to-no carbs for a day or two until it's gone.

I think that's a very good point Corrine.
It's something I do too.
I do have a weight that I don't want to go over and when I do, I'm cutting back on what I eat.

My plan allows for carbs once a day, and I eat all kinds of stuff. But in small portions, always with protein and veggies and salad. I find that sugary carbs and alcohol bump my weight up.
Carby veggies, fruits, grains, dairy seem to be fine.
I also weigh every morning, and adjust (like no alcohol or sweets, or just eating a bit less carbs).

Good luck and let us know what you are doing, too!

Damn, girl, you must be loving life eating that many calories AND that many carbs! How much fat did your Fitday show, out of curiosity?

That many? as long as my weight is stable, I don't think its that many. At my height, I can eat this level of food and maintain.

Its interesting to me that sometimes when I eat a red juicy grapefruit or a handful of deep red and firm grapes or a ripe and tart pear, that I have a pang of guilt over it and this is from being amongst all of you guys.

I truly do enjoy the good carbs that I eat and I feel that I should enjoy my food.

As for my cal from fat %.....its more than the guidelines for SB at about 50%...but not nearly as high as Atkins.

Hmmm.

I've sat here for several minutes now, reading and re-reading my post.

When someone says "you must be loving life," it generally means that person is wishing they could have what you have.

When a person lives on the ocean, one who lives in the mountains, equally beautiful, but wished they lived on the ocean could say, "you must be loving life." When a person vacations in Rome, while another goes to Disney World, but wishes they could afford to go to Rome, one could say, "you must be loving life."

Try as I might, I'm unable to imagine a negative meaning to "you must be loving life."

I can't tolerate that many carbs while eating 2000 calories. I wish I could. The only way I can eat the number of calories (~2000) I need to stay satiated *and* not gain weight is very low carb.

And while a grapefruit isn't my carb of choice, I know a lot of people that love them, and the thoughts of a juicy grapefruit is like pure candy to them. But there are things I do miss, that won't ever be part of my diet again, simply because, whether a plan allows them or not, I can't tolerate them.

So...I eat more fat, which apparently I can tolerate. And I do Atkins and I try to build my life around it. And it's hard. But that's the body and the metabolism I have been given.

I was curious about your fat intake, b/c I have a theory that when a person eats more carbs, they generally need to eat less fat, and also vice versa, b/c of the way the body handles those 2 macronutrients in the presence of each other. That's all. I'm always curious about what other people are doing, especially when it has worked so well for them, as SB has for you. I didn't realize that SB recommends 50% of calories from fat, and I'm glad to know that, b/c I've always wondered.

I'm not sure who "you guys" are, but I'm sad to find out that I'm apparently of them. I have never viewed it as Atkins vs South Beach. I always assumed a person chose their plan b/c it contained foods they like and can tolerate. I have steered people toward SB when they said there were carbs they were missing and they didn't like "all the fat."

So anyway, I am sorry to have said something that produced guilt. I know how hard this journey is, and guilt is something that makes it harder. And good support is hard to come by.

I felt the need to come and explain myself, just in case in other readers may have felt that my post was inappropriate, b/c I never mean for that to happen. Never.

Again, I apologize from the bottom of my heart. I had no idea that that would make you feel that way.

Just for edification....I don't think that SB has a number of % for fat that it recommends but I do recall it being around 35%?....I've definitely modified my plan to suit me so that 50% is based on what I eat daily now in maintenance....not what I ate as I lost my weight.

I felt judged by the words "that many".....like I was being a pig. Like I should be punishing myself for eating like that.....I'm sure its my own stuff, Elle.

I struggle daily with my own demons.....I have many tapes that go on in my head about my food, my body, my fat.....the weight I am today.... I was tortured over by my mom....so any comment will send me into a bad place.....I hope to someday be rid of the voices in my head.

I hope that you understand.

And you know...the whole deal of maintaining a weightloss -- by anyone, anywhere, anytime -- is to figure out what works for you and then balance what you know works vs. those things you may prefer to eat on a daily basis. There is no "cookie cutter" plan that will work 100% of the time for 100% of the people.

Although I may prefer to eat pizza made with fresh dough every day of my life...I realize there is no way I can do that and maintain the weightloss I've worked so hard to achieve. So, I don't eat it often. There are times (and one particular pizza joint) when I make a decision to eat great pizza...but I can't do it all the time.

The human body is an amazingly complex organism -- and no two are exactly alike. What works for me may not work for my sister, even though we are as closely related genetically as is possible without actually being twins. What works for me doesn't work for my husband, although we eat many of our meals together every week and we are partners at the gym. Therefore, there is no (or should be no) judgement in weight maintenance -- from internal or external sources!

The only "judgement" in weightloss maintenance comes in when people choose a plan, follow it, lose the weight they need to increase their health and reduce their risk of disease...and then return to their former way of eating and can't figure out why they gain all the weight back -- PLUS MORE! That doesn't make sense to anyone.

Hey, I've gotten more and more liberal with the amount of fruit I've eaten, which means my carbs have gone up. Last 28 days looks like this, according to my Fitday average:

1989 calories
149g fat (67%)
54g carb (8%)
97g protein (20%)
11g alcohol (4%) ......I like my wine!

Some days I've gotten up to ~90g carbs, but I find the next day my levels are MUCH lower, perhaps to naturally compensate? Dunno. I'm just really happy that my cravings haven't come back, and that I'm maintaining within a pound or two in either direction. I WAS lighter before Xmas (at 143), but I've really started to appreciate being able to have yogurt and berries for breakfast AND an apple for post-dinner dessert, so if that keeps me up at around 145, I'm okay with it!


PS Judy, I think your way of eating sounds very interesting... I think in the summer, when all the fruit is in season, I might experiment with deliberately lowering my fat intake and upping my carbs to around 100g, and see if it works for me. It seems like it could be sensible, to have seasonal ways of eating!