I am 5'2" 125 and I can not go over 1200 calories. YMMV

i've gone thru similar experience that you felt you just needed to eat somethin more just becuz yr feel guilty havin too low calorie. but then it had cause me to eat much more! so it didnt work for me.

i guess as long as you're not hungry and you feel fine thru the day (eating 5-6 meals do help) then sticking to low cal should be okay. at least thats what i do these days (1300-1600cals). i wont starve myself tho. felt little hungry sometimes but not starving or shaking. i guess just have to stick with what works for you instead of what others think. if others gave advise that could possibly help optimize results then i'd consider it and try to tweak my diet to suit but if it doesnt work then i'll go back to my usual plan.

i'm not big believer in low cal but that's how i lost my 14lbs long time ago so since then i've always watched my cals (not during free day tho lol). so basically i did take into account of practicing low cal but at same time get balance nutrition (good carb good fats and some protein)

p.s when i logged my food if i ate too little calories (say 900 p.s boy i wasss starvingggg on this 900 cals day) my next day metabolism count will drop BUT if on free day if i overate say 2500 cals above it stated the my metabolism soars the next day when i started back to low cal. so too low cals will do no good for my metabolism (higher metabolism burns more fat right?)

p.s.s stumbled across this website long time ago and still had it on bookmark http://www.tim-richardson.net/BodyForLife/analysis.html (read about how do you lose fat answers on top page)

hey im kinda new here and i would really like to make a friend on here to email and such because im not on this alot. i really want to loose 20lbs within the next 2 and a half months, i know thats a short peroid of time but i hear atkins induction helps you loose alot of weight, can someone please help me=)

Thanks,
Mai. Ontario CA

I think it is great to find so many people actually concerned about eating too few calories to maintain their basal metabolism, as this is covered in depth in the book I am writing. Most people just balk at the idea, as Dr. Atkins didn't tell them to do that. While not everyone needs to bother counting they simply fall into a category of eating just the right amount for their age, weight and gender which makes for smooth transition from good loss during induction, a steady loss during OWL and a reasonable maintenance. For those of us who are/were really big things aren’t that cut and dry. For those who get stuck, lose to little or worse yet gain on Atkins monitoring our calories as well as our carbs is one of the best things we can do. I know the Atkins institute isn't going to like it when I publish that, but I have 10,000 surveys from people who failed on Atkins and most of them didn't eat enough calories to maintain their basal metabolism. Of course it is also my premise with free tools like fitday all low carb dieters could maximize their weight loss efficiency by counting calories as well as carbs. (It is what I have done 63 pounds in less than 60 days).

Out of curiosity, for your personal experience, did you count calories in a effort to keep them UP to a certain level? 63 lbs in 60 days is quite an accomplishment!

As you can see, I need all the advise I can get-- I'm still on the fence about trying to understand the calorie issue, specifically how MY body deals with it!

At first I wasn't really thinking about the calories, fit day kept track of them and I made sure I wasn't over eating as I am a diabetic and had just had knee surgery for the 7th time in 6 years. I was also starting to get lots survey results back for the book I am writing on why atkins fails some people. This was a subject I became interested in when several people told me they failed so I obvioulsy couldn't succeed where they failed. The results I was seeing for people who didn't do well drew me to the conclusion of just how important calories are during atkins especially early on. So I made an effort to make sure I didn't drop below what fit day said my basal metabolism was, even when I wasn't really hungry. There were many days I just didn't feel like eating, but I knew that 1200 calories for the day wasn't good for someone needing 2600 to meet basal metabolic requirements. I had to force myself to eat something and eat it pretty regularly for about 3 weeks before it became habbit.


The more results I got in I was seeing people who did the best were eating about 200 calories more than their BMR for women and 300 for men and a little more if they were active. But now that I eat 300 to 350 calories more than my BMR (with between 30 and 40 carbs a day) I am in much better shape, my knee is heling at a rate that is astonishing everyone, I am losing consistently, I have the energy to exercise everyday and I have not taken an insulin injection in over a month.

I think if more people would really look at their calorie intake they would do even better on atkins. While it might be a pain for some people to think about, for those who use tools like fitday it so easy to do. If they already look at their carbs their is no reason not to look at their calories too.


If you have trouble keeping your calorie count up one of the best additions to your diet is homemade mayo. You can make it with a blender, a food processor, an emersion (stick) blender or an old fashioned whisk. And I guarantee if you use a whisk you will burn lots of calories making it. This is good with meat hot or cold and homemade has a flavor that is better than anything you will have ever had before so having a big high calorie dollop on the side of the plate makes raisng your calorie count prtty easy and enjoyable.

I think Brad is really on to something here...something's been telling my body the same thing. I'm starting a test on it today and will (once the block is removed from my computer) make my fitday info available to everyone to monitor my progress which has been quite slow this time around regardless of my dedication.

BradTheDog - I think you speak very wisely - it all makes sense. I hope to read your book when it comes out.

To summerise (is this right?):

To lose weight on ANY diet you must consume less calories then you are expending - so less then your AMR (Active Metabolic Rate).

BUT if you start to go below your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate); then your body thinks you're starving - so it drops your BMR by upto 20% Thus you are "chasing" a constanly lowering BMR as you reduce carbs.

Thus the optimum is around 300 cals over your BMR for guys. Plus exercise to push your AMR up - and thus your calorie deficit.

The advantage of a LC diet is NOT that you can ignore calories; but that the LC means that you stop craving carbs - indeed your appitite is suppressed (which can then be a problem if you don't eat enough!). The fat and protien you eat makes you sated - but also means you don't lose lean body mass (which could lower your BMR)!

So as long as you eat the right amount it's a great diet.

The kitosticks just show that you are burning fat and not carbs - they don't actually show if you are losing weight. Fat can come from your body stores or fat you have eaten.

All this shows why your weight loss rate slows as your target weight is reached; and why often it's only possible to lose 1 pound or so per week. Plus why it's harder to lose weight the more you reduce your body fat. Here's why:

If I calculate my BMR & AMR using the "lean body mass" method I come to:

BMR: 1,410
AMR: 1,975
Difference: 565

Note that I am only about 11 pounds overweight.

But if I was to assume that I weighed 310 pounds with 38% body fat then my readings would be:

BMR: 1,851
AMR: 2,592
Difference: 741

No the "difference" in both these case is the most I can use as a calorie deficiet and NOT drop below my BMR. So as 3,500 calories = 1 pound of weight loss; it's clear why most folks lose between 1 and 1.5 pounds on ANY DIET per week without running into trouble. If I am more overweight I have a greater "difference" and thus I can lose weight quicker.

It's also clear why exercise helps - as it pushes your AMR up without lowering your BMR.

You can also see why you must REDUCE your calorie intake as you lose weight - as your AMR drops with your reducing body fat percentage BUT faster than your reducing BMR. So you have to adjust your calories down as your weight reduces!

Induction is just to get you moved over to burning fat and protien rather than carbs. Once that's achivied you can up your carbs to a reasonable level - as long as you stay in Ketosis.

OK?!

ok - how the heck do you eat lc and keep calories down??? Seems like double whammy! Here I thought I could actually do this! You know the salads with ranch and a nice steak - how many calories does THAT have??? I am getting disgruntled .....blah.

Try running your food intake through FitDay. I was surprised at how low my calories were before I started paying attention. Part of it is because you're not so hungry anymore, so you eat less food - high-fat or not. And not all of us eat salads with tons of dressing and steak every day. I eat a lot of broccoli, for example - and there's just so much butter you can put on it, so it still winds up being very low-cal. Add some fish or chicken, even with the skin, and it still doesn't add up to much.

I really think the emphasis on don't do low calories is to try and get us to lose the 'dieting' mentality that many of us had before we came to low-carb - to 're-programme' our minds about food after years of low-cal diets.
However, calories do matter. They don't have to be anywhere near as low as they do on low-cal diets, but even low-carbing, you can't eat all the calories you want and still lose weight. You can eat more than on a low-cal diet and still lose weight. But you can't just eat loads.
I maintain on 2000 - 2500 when I'm exercising. I gain on 3000+ (hardly surprising, but it wasn't hard to eat that many. what with cream in my coffee, on strawberries etc etc!). To lose, I need to be around 1300 - 1500, depending on my exercise levels I think 'starvation' mode for me would be under 1000 calories. I'm not going to do that because I don't want to slow my metabolism down. But I certainly don't consider 1300 - 1500 to be 'starvation'. I'm going to go and look at Fitday now though and see if this fits in with the 200 calories above your basal metabolism advice.

Hmmm - my basal metabolism is 1390. So - I should be around 1600. Well at least if I'm over my basal I shouldn't be pushing it down.

I think one of the other problems is so many of us have been on so many other diets, we're become used to eating low-cal. So eating a "natural" amount for us isn't really natural at all.