trying to keep my calories at about 1,200 calories a day since high fat things are higher in calories it like how and even though the book says calories don't count. in my book they do if you eating more then you burn then your not going to lose. i started monday and i'm down 4 pounds but i'm know with all the calories i'm eating my weightloss will come to a stop i exercise 4 x a week but still. any imput about this will be helpful!

You may be surprised at how many calories you can eat, with low-carb eating. On 1800 calories of high carb foods, I have a very hard time losing weight. It comes off slow, and I'm crazy, hungry all of the time.

If all calories were equal, I should have just as much trouble losing weight on 1800 calories of low-carb - but that's not what happens. The weight comes off considerably faster, and I'm much less hungry. I seem to be able to eat at least 500 calories more (maybe even more) when I eat low-carb, vs. high-carb.

That may or may not be true for you, but instead of assuming the weight loss will stop, why not keep doing what you're doing (it's working) and change it when it stops working. If the weight loss slows or stops, THEN start thinking about changing what you're doing (but don't panic if you have one or even two not-so-hot weeks).

Have you read Dr. Atkins NEW Diet Revolution, 2002 ed.? Dr. Atkins does a superb job of explaining how with a low carb/high fat diet you can consume more calories than with the traditional low fat/high carb diet.

When I started Atkins I kept my calories around 1200 during Induction but found that hard to do when I moved to OWL after two weeks. I think it was my old mindset from past low fat/low calorie/low taste diets where you had to really watch your calories. The old calories in;calories out theory doesn't apply with low carb/high fat eating.

He also states that calories do count meaning that one cannot just eat tons of food because it's low in carbs. By tons of food he's talking waaay over 2000 cal/day. I would keep track of your carbs, fats and protein for now. Using one of those free trackers like Fitday or Fatsecret is great for that.

As far as calories, I would think that you could comfortably bump things up to 1500-1800. That's the range that I found works well for me. Some days I'm lower like when I have a lot of fish/seafood and other days I go higher (more beef and red meats).

thanks ladies.

I find that if I portion control my food while on Atkins (I do Atkins 72 and calorie counting) then I can keep my calories just under or close to 1600.

Atkins stated that calorie do not count in his original book, he was relying on ketosis to halt the appetite and naturally reduce the amount of food eaten. I did this for a long time (not counting) and found that I could not lose weight. I never gained weight, but I would eat enough meat and veggies, cream and cheese to maintain.

I do think calories count no matter what diet a person chooses. I have plugged the food into my diet software from the menu's from all kinds of diets that claim there's no need to count calories, and they are all low calorie. All they do is figure the calories out for you, so that you don't have to do the work and hopefully stick to their plan.

I agree, stick with what is working until it doesn't then tweak what you are doing a bit to get it going again. Often it isn't anything drastic that needs to be done, just a tweak.

I would also say that calories from protein and fat are completely different than from carbs. I counted calories forever and stayed between 1600 and 1800 when eating carbs and could barely drop weight, now I eat around 1800-2000 and the weight comes off but I don't eat many carbs(under 50g). And my exercise has stayed the same, so you will be surprised in the amount you can eat when doing a low carb plan.

Howdy,
I have been following a low carb plan while still having a low calorie goals. In fact I have found low carbs quite helpful in maintaining low cal counts. YMMV.

I found the following discussion helpful on Living La Vida Gary Taubes is being interviewed by Jimmy the host:

Jimmy asked me to forward some questions. I did, and here they are. Feel free to chime in with your own thoughts....

(1) Once you are on a low carb diet, do calories (and dietary fat consumption) matter?

In my experience, they do. It appears that the higher one's intake of dietary fat, the lower the level of body fat burned off. This becomes more obvious the lower one's level of obesity (i.e., the obese can consume more fat and still lose weight, but as they lose weight there is a point below which this is no longer true). In my view, this explains some of the plateau issues that some people run into on low carb diets, and also suggests that to achieve optimal weight, at some point you need to add calorie and fat restriction on top of the low carb diet. What is his read?

(2) While Gary points out that exercise is largely ineffective as a weight control strategy in a "balanced" diet, does that change when you are on a low-carb diet?

In my experience, shifting to a low carb diet transforms exercise from an ineffective strategy to an effective one, particularly weight training. What does he think?


I don’t think reducing calories and reducing carbs are competing ideologies. The appetite suppression on low carb is incredible.

Dr. Eades explicitly states that the reason low carb diets work is that we end up creating a calorie deficit through the reduction of calories we will eat on a low carb diet, and he suggests in the event of a stall lowering fat intake by avoiding really high fat items like cheese and peanut butter.

Atkins also felt that at the end of the day, it was the calorie deficit (via reduction in appetite and metabolic advantage) that resulted in weight loss but by trying to count calories we are focusing on the wrong thing. Hence "Calories count, but most people don't have to count them." DANDR pg. 18).

If these guys believe(d) their diets worked within the energy equation (albeit Atkins believed his diet created a metabolic advantage WITHIN the equation), I'm not sure how it became so controversial for the average low carber to think like-wise.

I agree w the majority here - I think calories DO count but that you can get away with a higher calorie count on low carb & still lose than you can on low fat

I find that I can keep my calories around 1500 without much effort eating low carb when I'm home (although when I travel it's more challenging)