Atkins with one eye on the calories!

Hooya

Full Member
Hi all - it's my first day of keeping an eye on my calories as well as sticking (I hope) to the Atkins rules! As posted in other threads, if left to my own devices I would prob consume my bodyweight in eggs and parma ham on this diet, so I am trying to follow induction within a 1500 cal per day limit to see what happens.

Today's eating was:
  • Breakfast: boiled egg, ham and mozarella
  • Lunch: Crayfish, avocado & leaf salad
  • Dinner: Meatballs with cheese, broccoli and tomatoes
  • Snacks: Babybel (morning), pepperami and a bit of smoked cheese (afternoon)
I won't bore you with the sums but by my count it's about 15g of carbs and... 1350 calories!

I'm pretty pleased with that, felt I got lots of 'bang for my buck' and didn't feel hungry much throughout the day!

How does it look to experienced Atkins-ers?
PS I know I might not be allowed tomatoes but couldn't do without them, and I am counting them in to my carbs so hopefully I can get away with it? ;)

Any advice welcome!
 
Sounds like a plan but I have to question what Atkins promotes about his diet; the higher the fat value, the more you lose. If you restrict your calorie intake then that defeats the idea of the diet, he promotes the idea that his diet will improve your metabolism by increasing it as we, some of us, have lived unrealistically restricted diets that we don't need to have. If that makes sense.
 
Looks good to me hun n nice n filling too which is a good thing as stops the cravings more easily. Just a quick one though, tomatoes are mega high in carbs but so long as you've counted em properly you'll be ok. I have em sometimes though have stopped with the tinned ones now after reading the ones i had had citric acid in em n i'm steering clear of it now.
 
Hello! Yes, I know the toms are naughty, I have maybe 4 or 5 cherry tomatoes, counted as part of my carbs. What's funny is that even after a few days not eating refined sugar, cherry tomatoes taste like sweeties :D! Anyone else had this trick of the tastebuds on Atkins?

PennyJane - yes I agree, Atkins on the face of it promotes an eat-more fat, lose-more approach. I buy into a lot of his science (i.e. that ketosis has a metabolic advantage for the dieter, and that reducing carbs has loads of health benefits) but unfortunately, I don't buy the idea that the increased metabolism alone will be enough to mean that I can eat liberally, even the no-carb foods.

What's great now is that I shouldn't have to worry about a strict 1000-cal per day diet (which I need as I have so little to lose), but can hopefully enjoy more but still lose while in ketosis. Plus, protein and fats really are soooo much more filling than those teeny portions of rice I used to have on a calorie controlled diet!

Hope some of this makes sense - so hard to explain sensibly! :eek:
 
Thanks Claire - wish my clothes thought that, they clearly think I should be thinner :rolleyes:!

you've already lost LOADS tho, that must be so satisfying! What an achievement!
 
Seems strange i know but i just don't feel as though i have.. if that makes any sense whatsoever?! I still feel the same although clearly i'm not. I guess you have to get your head in gear as much as your body at times and mine's taking a while to catch up. I still feel huge. I still am huge. But i guess i'm getting there and i'm achieving things, it just takes a while for the head to catch up with the body at times.
 
Funny isn't it? I used to look in shop windows and expect a smaller version but when I saw myself I'd always have a bit of a shock, I was somewhat deluded. Now I've lost 1.5st I still expect to see what used to be there and sometimes I'm sure I still see it but other times I get a pleasant surprise. I know I've lost weight because I have lots of clothes that are too big and can get into pre-children clothes, but the brain still won't accept it.
 
Girls I have agree!

I have lost 30 kilos over the years and now have recently over 2 years gained about 8 back! Those 8 make me feel awful in my clothes and what I see in the mirror.

I tend to wear clothes which fit and not the ones I want to be wearing if that makes sense. I am quite fit though and that helps to hide my weight. The 8 kilos though is 2 dress sizes!!!

I found that it always helps to look at old photo's and see how your face has changed. Also keep an old piece of clothing to remind yourself and put things into perspective. ...... if only we could heed our own advice!

Bren
X

Hooya, I am also going to keep track of the calories and hopefully aim around the 1300 - 1400 range and see what happens. Will start that as of Thursday.
 
This is really interesting Hooya, I can't believe that your day's menu only comes in at 1350 cals! It just looks like a standard Atkins menu to me. It certainly doesn't look calorie restricted! Hmm, maybe Atkins does partly work by reducing calorie intake after all...

Keep us posted, would love to hear more about this experiment!
 
Body image is a strange thing isn't it. I'm a few pounds over posted weight since my holiday but I feel fat! and I mean fat. But the mirror doesn't show that.
 
This is really interesting Hooya, I can't believe that your day's menu only comes in at 1350 cals! It just looks like a standard Atkins menu to me. It certainly doesn't look calorie restricted! Hmm, maybe Atkins does partly work by reducing calorie intake after all...

Keep us posted, would love to hear more about this experiment!

i've been looking at my atkins intake alongside the weightwatchers points system. on WW i'm allowed 31 points a day and my atkins daily menu is reguarly coming up at between 23 to 28 points.i also read a long time ago a study that was done in USA saying how they took a load of overweight people and got them to write down what they ate for two weeks.then they gave the same people the atkins plan and told them again to write down what they ate for 2 weeks.in every case the calorie intake was much less.i can't remember the exact figure but it was something massive like a 30% reduction every day.
 
I didn't feel much thinner until I tried a jacket on that didn't do up at xmas, it looked like it belonged to my dad! The whole family fell about laughing!
 
I've just posted some Holiday photos under success stories. :D
 
Hello folks

Clearly there's just not enough celebrating of everyone's fantastic weight losses here! Allow yourselves a big pat on the back for all those losses! :happy096:

Yes I've also read some studies (including some which are skeptical of the effects of ketosis) which suggest that Atkins works because Atkins-ers end up eating less cals. Though of course Dr Atkins disagrees and has evidence of his patients eating say 2000 cals per day and still losing... lucky things! :D

Will post today's menu once I have my dinner :)
 
Hello! Here's today's menu:
  • Breakfast: Ham, mozarella and tomatoes
  • Lunch: tuna, cheese, eggs & mayo and salad
  • Dinner: Ham hock with savoy cabbage, salad
  • Snacks: Cheese :), milk in tea (naughty)
Had to guess a bit as dinner was in a restaurant - but I get 16g carbs and about 1400 cals.

Getting bored counting everything again - hopefully after I've learned enough about Atkins I can stop!
 
Getting bored counting everything again - hopefully after I've learned enough about Atkins I can stop!

It will happen, It's ingrained with me now, I know exactly what I can and can't eat. I only check now if it's something new that I haven't tried before. :)
 
Ooh I hope so Jim!

Today's menu:
  • Breakfast: boiled egg, ham and mozzarella
  • Lunch: sirloin steak (YUM), bearnaise sauce and spinach (bless the restaurant for replacing the chips)
  • Snack: Atkins bar (in a rush and couldn't find anything else!)
  • Snack: brie cheese and pastrami, bit of salad
  • Dinner: ANOTHER Atkins bar (on a plane and the only food on offer was sandwiches! I was saving the bar for tomorrow too!)
1300 cals and only 7g carbs due to the lack of proper dinner... will anything bad happen cos I had so few carbs??
 
well if I haven't learned anything in 8 years then I'd be a total idiot wouldn't I love. :D
 
well if I haven't learned anything in 8 years then I'd be a total idiot wouldn't I love. :D

Wow 8 years - you really are such a big success story!! I can't think of too much I've stuck with for 8 years, apart from my OH :)

I had to guess at everything today as I was travelling with work, menu was:
  • Breakfast: bacon, scrambled eggs, bit of ham and cheese
  • Lunch: salmon and avocado salad
  • Snack: small prawn salad
  • Snack / early dinner?: chicken meatballs (bit worried about the carbs in these)
  • Snack: handful of peanuts - not allowed I know, no other food I could eat :mad:
  • No dinner cos again they only had sandwiches on the flight!
No idea of the carbs or cals in that little lot - expect I am ok for cals but out of ketosis, will go pee on a stick to find out!
 
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