Thinking about when I get to maintence..

[mb99]

I realise a lot of you are maintaining quite low... I followed the plan as written more or less and did OWL and found my CCL to be about 80, I eat 60-80 carbs but becuase I stil have 10 pounds to go (and they seem to be going! yeah!) I don't know my ACE. Hopefully my ACE could be about 100. Anyway, for ppl also working within such a carb threshold at maintence calories I have some questions/discussion starters:

1. Is anybody at all eating pulses/legumes? Experiences? How do you cook these as part of an otherwise low carb meal? There is a recpie for barley soup in Atkins for Life but that seems about it. For health reasons I really look forward to adding them. I have had some navy beans while in OWL and that was OK but that's all.

2. How are you meeting your calcium requirements? I want to eat a healthy varied diet, and the good Dr seems so obsessed with weight not health, other then to say 'eat organic, take supplementation, control blood sugar' - only calcium I struggle with 100% of RDI without letting calories go upset (thus the pulses question above)

3. Calories? This is really just curiosity as we are all different etc. I have become more concerned with calories as it more easily adds up now- but I notice I am at about 1300 consistently. PPl maintaing at my goal weightish, what are you eating?

4. Saturated Fat. Anybody maintaing at around 100 carbs or so, are you worried now about saturated fat? I mean sure, Atkins followers say ad nauseum that there is no study linking sat fat IN THE ABSENCE OF REFINED CARBS to health problems. But at a moderate carb intake should I be concerned? The Atkins website FAQ seems to say YES - decrease saturated fat as a proportion of fat as you advance through OWL.

Sorry, I can be a bit longwinded. :-). I have found the arcives of this forum very useful and I wish mantainence was more active! Just wanted to start some discussion!

[adkpam]

One problem I have with declaring myself Maintaining is that I have lost three pounds over the last free months. Since I don't KNOW what my goal is, I'm still working to find my Maintenance Levels.

1. I do have a bean burrito from my favorite mexican restaurant, or have steak baked in beans and cheese from the same place. But very rarely, and I seem to be okay with it. But I make sure I have low carb days after that, just so I don't pile on the carbs.

2. Fitday says I'm 100% on my calcium. At or near 100% in most things, except vitamin D, so I am eating more whole milk, unsweetened yoghurt.

3. I'm around 2000 with the calories, but that's an average. A couple of times I've gone to bed and realized I hadn't eaten dinner, but that meant I'm not hungry.

4. My carbs are still in the lower range, like 60-70 these days, so I don't worry about saturated fat. If I were to get up to 100 if I get on an exercise program, I still won't worry. Adding weight is a symptom that I'm eating too many carbs, so as long as I'm losing or standing still, I figure I'm okay.

I actually looked forward to eating more carbs, BEFORE I started low carbing. Now, I just don't want them.

For someone who does want them, they would have to lower the fat to balance the carbs more, I suppose.

[mb99]

Thankyou very much for your thoughtful response Adkam!

Just to clarify two - how much yogurt to you have? I have been eating yougurt for some time but still can't hit that 100%.. I think I am keeping my portions too small becuase of old-fashioned portion-control carb fear. I am very impressed you get 100% in everything.. calcium, for me, is the final frontier!

My mind logic is completely off.. I will eat a 12g slice of bread no worries (low GI) but I can't seem to face the idea of 12 carb of yougurt... and the extra calories don't help! Learning curves...

[Kathy54]

Go ahead enjoy that yogurt, just keep it plain and add your own fruit and n/s sweeteners if needed.
there is a good thread somewhere here on the effects of yogurt, bottom line for most people the 11 carbs a cup are eaten up in your tummy not stored. It's a great source of calcium.
Kathy

[mb99]

Hey Hey, this thread is happening. Hey Kathy, are you refering to the Go-Diet bacteria eat the carbs theory?? Wasn't that debunked rather dramatically on a rather long thread that was kicking around for, like, months? In any case, I think doubling my yogurt consumption would be a good maintence move..

(I want to be maintaing and lov'n it NOW!!!)

[Kathy54]

Yep it may be the same one, and several posted they had been fine with it all during OWL, like myself. I ate it everyday with blueberries and a dab of N/S jam.
Now I make my own from 2 % milk, I have'nt ever really figure out the carbs on it, cause it does'nt effect me either.

Quote (I want to be maintaing and lov'n it NOW!!!) UnQuote

You'll get there :>)

Kathy

[Kristine]

Hi. :wave:

1. Legumes: I eat them, but usually only as part of a recipe. Chili, hummus, or bean salad (a few beans plus a lot of green beans.) I guess peanut butter falls into this category, too. :)

2. CHEESE. :D I'm a big cheesehead. I get a fair bit in the cream in my two-to-four cups of decaf, too. ;) I also try for at least one serving of greens, and I take a daily cal/mag supplement.

Just for curiosity's sake, since I just bought that fitday software... yesterday: 969 mg calcium. Monday: 1400 mg calcium. That's not including the supplement.

3. Oh... it varies too much. Anywhere from 1200-2000 or more.

4. I don't worry. I don't think I'm eating enough carbs to have the insulin spike that refined carbs would cause. I do, however, make an effort to get the other fats in for variety.

HTH - you're right, this forum is fairly quiet.

[Kathy54]

I try to have cottage cheese at least 4-5 times a week, that helps too.
That was my breakfast this morning, cottage cheese, 1/3 of a banana, 1/3 cup of blueberries. Yep this low carb stuff is bad for you, LOL!

I eat some beans as well, my guys love taco salad so I eat kidney beans about every 10 days, but I try to watch how many get onmy plate.
I did buy a canned bean mixture, that was kind of lower in carbs, think it was by Unico. I used it in soup, and something else but be darned if I can remember!

Kathy