Sandy701's Journal, 02 June 2012

3.1 miles walked this morning via the lake route. Gorgeous, cooler morning (for us) at about 71 degrees. Doggies went out earlier with DH.

Yesterday's journal entry brought out this question "...but did you have to eat such low calories to lose weight?" I began to respond but indicated I'd journal it today.

Fair question, as I'm currently targeting about 1300 calories. I suppose it's all a matter of perspective as to whether that's "low" or not. Certainly, the Atkins book talks about a 1500-1800 range for women, higher for men, as an AVERAGE for where one's calories tend to settle in quite naturally following the plan. And, in general, no calorie-counting is needed on Atkins. Calories only come into play when one gets stalled and exhausts the other troubleshooting possibilities for whatever phase you're in.

BTW...Unless I'm citing a particular book, please realize that a lot of this is only my own opinion.

In broad, general terms, men need more calories than women, heavier people need more than lighter ones, taller need more than shorter, younger need more than older.

I was not on FS for Induction, but I believe my calories would have been over 1500...and I was 235 pounds or thereabouts. I'm a woman (post-menopausal, to boot), was heavier, somewhat taller, and older....so I would expect my calorie needs to be relatively LESS than any average.

Looking back into 2010, when I came on FS, my daily caloric average for June - December was 1402. For the first 6 months of 2011, I averaged 1419 and for the last 6 months of 2011, the average was 1412. What surprised me is that my caloric intake remained about the same, while I continued to lose consistently. I remember wondering if I'd have to eat fewer calories as I got smaller, but the surprise was that I really didn't! Although my exercise did increase from beginning OWL to the end of 2011, my primary exercise was walking, not hours of doing some workout-from-hell at the gym.

Now, in looking at 2012, well, it's no surprise to me that I leveled out and stopped losing consistently, in fact, even gaining. January's caloric average was 1621 and February's was 1545. I had NEVER had monthly averages so high....even when I was over 200 pounds!! Sure, my carbs were in line, for the most part, but I was simply eating too much for my lighter body.

I recovered a bit in both March and April of this year, at 1452 and 1445 calories, respectively, but the real push for me to get a handle on my portions came the last week of April. My May caloric average was 1336. The 1336 may look low to some, but I've actually had about 3-4 non-consecutive months around that amount in 2010 and 2011.

I take calories seriously. No, I don't believe in calories in/calories out, but I don't think one can eat calories with abandon - on ANY WOE! I had been hesitant to reduce calories because, frankly, I've seen too many folks trying to do Atkins as a crash diet at 500-800 calories, losing weight like gangbusters, only to gain it all back, PLUS MORE, because you just can't go on the rest of your life eating 500 calories per day. When they try to eat more normally, either their bodies grab onto all the "extra" calories, or they fail because they never learned how to eat "normally" while losing.

The 2011 Volek & Phinney book, "The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living," has a graph on p.212 that certainly seems to show a calorie level of less than 1500 for both Induction and OWL for a hypothetical 5'6" woman losing from 180 to 140. That gave me the courage to go just a wee bit lower in calories.

Truth be known, I may have been just fine lowering my calories into the low 1400's because that's where the majority of my weight loss has occurred. But even if the 1300's are where I need to be right now, that's actually pretty amazing that my overall caloric intake only needed to drop by 100 or fewer calories, even when my weight dropped by 86 pounds! Not a bad trade-off!!

FYI...Volek & Phinney are also co-authors (with Westerman)of the 2010 Atkins book.

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1299 kcal

Fat: 89.04g | Prot: 94.49g | Carb: 43.02g.   Breakfast: Sorrento Colby Jack Sticksters, Jones cherrywood smoked bacon. Lunch: Original Lean Breakfast Turkey Sausage (links), Maple Grove Farms Sugar Free Pancake Mix, Mrs. Butterworth's Sugar Free Syrup, Truvia packets, butter, egg. Dinner: chia seeds (bulk), romaine, Hidden Valley Ranch Bacon dressing. Snacks/Other: GreenWise Chicken Sausage, tomato, garden fresh, chicken. more...

1821 kcal

Activities & Exercise: Walking (exercise) - 3.5/mph - 53 minutes, Resting - 15 hours and 7 minutes, Sleeping - 8 hours. more...