Stick to the calorie diet but make it a life change not a diet, counting calories will be a permanent situation if you want long term goals. Atkins is impossible for normal people to follow. Trust me I started with Atkins and learned a lot from it but I lost 50 lbs by watching what I eat (calories etc) and working out regularly..

1500 a day is starvation and will have adverse effects on your metabolism, you want to eat agressively, eat every 2 hours but only small portions that way you're never hungry and your body thinks it has all the nutrients it needs so no need to store those extras

Actually here's how my calculation works
I eat really about 1100 calories a day, 1200 is absolute max

according to caloriesperhour.com and my tredmill I only burn about 750-800 calories on the tredmill

I figured with reduced metabolism (starvation effect) I only burn about 1800 calories during the day, if not less. Im small frame.

so I figure a loss of about 1500 calories a day.

To be honest I dont really feel like I NEED anymore. I feel fine, not starved at all. If I drop it to like 700 calories I feel the effects right away. But at about 1100 calories I am not really that pressed for food.

you can have a caloric deficit, lose fat and gain muscle. you just have to be very strict with your diet and very mindful of what your eating, when, how often and maintaining stable blood sugar levels,.. you can't gain muscle though as efficiently as you could by simply eating a lot and constantly, to make sure you your body NEVER goes into catabolic mode and turns to muscle for energy. thats why bodybuilders go in cycles... gaining mass/cutting fat.

there really is no easy answer to this. it depends on the individual, the daily caloric requirements of that individual, their body type, their metabolism, the amount of physical activity, the amount of exercise, the types of food you are eating, how often you are eating etc. thats why when people say "all you have to do is..." - its usually bad and wrong advice for most people.

True true

I know what my problem is. I have the will power of an OX (which most people lack). I know I can either lose 10 pounds in 2 weeks or I can lose it in 5. I have enough will power to do both. Until now really Ive always figured that both diets essentially gave the same result. Only difference is one was harder but faster, the other one was easier but slower. So naturally I took the 2 week plan.

Now im starting to wonder. Im almost done with my diet 12 days left. At that point I should weigh 160. Finito, complete. All I really have to do is figure out a plan to keep the weight off (which is much easier), and regain lost muscle. This is probably where this thread comes in.

Maybe I should talk to a fitness expert.

i would read bodybuilding.com and other bodybuilding forums. the best info about weight loss, good diet and nutrition will always be found in bodybuilding forums because for all of them, it has to be dialed in to a science. there is a solid reason why they are all basically eating the same and doing the same things... only tweaking the same plans to fit their individual needs... because the fundamentals of nutrition and a bodys needs are universal.

otherwise, its just going to be people chiming in about "what works" never stopping to consider that what they think they did that "worked" for them, doesn't take into account 100 other important factors that are affecting people from diet, fat intake (good fats), body type, genetics, daily needs, metabolic rates, daily physical activity (sitting at a desk or delivering mail) etc.

Wow! i thought i'm the only one who's undergoing Atkins Diet here.

Been on Atkins for morethan a week now. The 20g of carb limit is really essential. Their reason is for our body to switch from burning carb to burning fat as body fuel.

As i read their manual i run into their explanation that our body burns carb to fuel our day to day activity because carb consist almost 70% of daily diet of a person

Example of carbs:
Bread
Rice
Potato
Corn
Wheat
Cereals
Sweet potato
Pasta
etc

and so we must refrain from eating those mentioned food and limit the carb to not morethan 20g per day. They also said that after 2-3 days of having low carb diet, your body will automatically switch to burn your stored and uneeded fats and thus you will lose weight.

Here's the good side about atkins... since i started it, my energy is always on the peak. Unlike before that after eating, im feeling lazy and sleepy (coz of carb)

Try it! You'll never regret it! :thumbsup :thumbsup :thumbsup

http://www.atkins.com

PleasurePays I appreciate your posts, You are dead on and its obvious that you have done your research! (and have real life experience with it)

Without getting detailed, I will just say that ketogenic diets absolutely work. I started at 250 and am down to about 180 now. Do it right, read a book, don't starve yourself. Once you are to the level you want to be at, you can bring back some of the better carbs and its so easy to keep off the weight while eating what you want.

Its not as simple as calories out > calories in = weight loss

When you eat less calories your metabolism slows down and you burn less calories and the opposite is also true to a certain point of course. I have done the atkins it works if you are very strict and follow it to the letter. But do not do any type of diet without exercise.

If you diet without exercising you will lose muscle mass and after you are done dieting gain all the weight back plus more because of the loss of muscle.

Weight is not a good measuring stick anyway because muscle weighs more then fat. If you were in good shape when you were 18 years old or so you should try to get your waist to be roughly the same size. Waist size has shown to be a much better indicator of overall health the weight.

Check out The Steaks are High for a pretty good low carb blog, lotsa good info, well written.

All the diets are a scam, just eat a balanced diet, exercise regularly and you will be fine... They are just like those casino "betting systems" they both give some plausible explanation why it works, and people just buy that shit...