Thats it im getting really angry when people are saying that u should count calories on the atkins. That just not ture he says in his book that there is no need to count caloires and he has studies to back this up go to atkins.com. Then I said Let me prove ot people that calories dop not count. Since my dad is a little overweight and he is almost done with the atkins I put him on a 4,400 calorie diet wich was based totaly on the atkins of coarse and he still lost weight. I just think that people are stalling because they are not eating enough fat and calories and may be having too much carbs. Trust me I expericed this I was stalling and I too thought it was caloires but what I did Is I decereased my carbs by 5 grams and increased my daily fat by 15 grams and calories but over 500 or more. Then I slighly increased my excerise only about 5 or so mintues. Also People who disagree should read the atkins books and studies even though there is a study that states that calories do count it just simpy not true let me guess another government study. Please many stuff u read out their has censorship and is not true. the government just want u to go back to the food pyramid. Im cerntialy not following it becyase my mom who is a doctor is a neurologist and a diettionist (sry for wrong spelling) Said calories is a BIG FAT LIE. Also if ur still stalling guess what that happens to u on all diets so get used to it. The stalling shouldnt last for more than a couple of weeks or at the most a month. Also if u are still experiencing stalling well then recored everything down in a little journal and make sure ur not having something called hidden carbs. Also some pople do report that having an excess of cream can cause weight loss stall but that's not to all common. If you are still stalling then ask ur self are your jeans fititng u better if u are then ur losing inches first not pounds. And If ur still stalling then ask ur self are u overweight? Atkins always said that his diet will only get u down to ur normal healthy weight.

Deep breath!

Hun, if you don't need to count calories, don't count them! Men seem to get away with it more than women do. I'm very jealous of your metabolisms.

However, it isn't true for me and lots of other people. For whatever reason, we're older, we're female, we were born with pokey metabolisms, we just don't lose on Atkins unless we restrict the calories. I maintain on about 1800 calories and gain eating more than that.

Celebrate the fact you're not one of us and enjoy something calorific for me. I'll try not to be too envious.

OHH ar eu sure my mom is 49 and she lost weight by having over 3,000.00 umm strange are u sure u had litlte carbs?

Yea I just asked my mom she said for Some women not all need to count calories if u have a slow metoblism. I have many tips for u to increase ur metoblism. DO a lot of excersie. I mean like 1 hour a day. Remeber do baby steps like one week u can try to do 10 miutes and every wekk work ur way up to an hour. Also I believe there is some safe metobloism pills that can increase ur metoblism a sfae way do a goolge search cause 1,800 calories is nothing I have that for a meal. Sorry If I upset u. If u need help Im always here

Atkinsboy, there's no need to get angry. Celebrate the fact that you are young, male and fairly active allowing you to be in the position of not having to count calories.
However, don't get mad at the 45 yo menopausal sedentary female with a wrecked metabolism from years of starvation dieting (or yo-yoing) if she finds that she needs to count calories in order to lose.
We are all different in that respect; some never need to count calories and some find they do, especially as they get closer to goal weight.
When it comes down to it, Dr. Atkins never said calories don't count. What he did say was that the majority of people would find that it's not necessary to count calories to lose weight on the Atkins plan and then followed it with the caveat that the metabolic advantage of low carb was not be used as a license to make a pig of yourself and eat everything low carb in sight. "Eat until satisfied, not stuffed." was his motto.
I have read many of the studies that you refer to and you might want to go back and review them again. In most cases, the caloric difference between groups was 600 or less and all groups were below 2,000 calories a day intake in the studies. Granted, being able to lose equal or more weight on 300-600 calories per day more than on a low fat diet is certainly a bonus, but it's a far cry from what you're describing, you lucky boy, you. I don't know of any studies that showed a person can consume 4,000 calories a day as a rule and lose weight on low carb.

Well, doing lots of exercise would be wonderful if I had an hour a day to devote to it and didn't have the assortment of injuries and disabilities that keep me from doing that. But even an hour of very virgorous exercise burns about 200-400 calories. Unfortunately it'd probably stimulate my appetite even more and I might end up consuming more calories than I burned.

Its ok. I truly don't mind having to watch the calories a bit. It isn't like I have to starve myself. I don't get to eat ALL the wonderful low carb goodies I'd like to, but I feel just fine limiting my intake to around 1400 calories a day or so.

And yes, my carb count stays pretty low. Probably 20-25 as a rule.

As far as what Atkins said about calories, I seem to recall he acknowledged there were people who were metabolically resistant and he designed the fat fast (1200 calories) for them. He also said things about not over-eating, but for the most part he said counting calories isn't necessary for most people.

I'm having trouble understanding you a little, maybe a language barrier of sorts, but there are many people who can only lose if they keep an eye on calories. I'd be interested to know how you went about putting your father on a set number of calories? How wonderful that your parents are willing to be your guinea pigs, but I'm afraid I'd need a lot more proof than that before I agreed that calories don't matter.

wow sry man it must be tough. hang in their and im sory about ur disablilty,

DO u want to see pictures or something. I mean my dad did do the atkins but i just get fed up when people say calories count. I mean yes they do count for a small people doing lc but for most at least 95 percent dont have too. Just like people with high ldl on the atkins zI bet u if they fraconate it it would come back perfect. The reason why my english may seem bad is becuase i broke two of my fingures while playing basketball. I also broke me ankle but i still try to find a way to do excerise.

I believe you that he lost on what you say he did. I mean it's simply not proof that it would hold true for a larger number of people. If you're basing your claim that 95% of people don't have to worry about calories just on your own experience and not a scientific sampling of a cross-section of the population, it has no validity. You are certainly entitled to your own opinion, but I'm afraid it's simply not true, no matter how badly you want it to be... for whatever reason.

Hope you heal quickly, and best of luck.

I mean ur right but lets face it atkins said him self many people on

the atkins dont have to count calories i have meet at least 50 frieds in my life who gobble down butter everyday and lose weight. Re-read the atkins book and u will find out that most people dont have to count calories but u are right that there are some poeple who have to count calories in order to lose weight.

See look at what my good old frined lisa said "What he did say was that the majority of people would find that it's not necessary to count calories to lose weight on the Atkins plan and then followed it with the caveat that the metabolic advantage of low carb was not be used as a license to make a pig of yourself and eat everything low carb in sight. "Eat until satisfied, not stuffed." was his motto."

Atkinsboy, you might find some of these links to the Atkins website on the subject interesting reading:

http://atkins.com/helpatkins/newfaq...AmIAllowed.html
http://atkins.com/Archive/2004/6/29-387644.html (specifically item #8)
http://atkins.com/helpatkins/newfaq...useItSALow.html
http://atkins.com/helpatkins/newfaq...ngMyWeight.html

I think your 95% figure is likely high and a realistic figure might be more in the range of 50% at most depending on the age group and gender you are speaking of. Generally, those who are under 30, male or both are less likely to need to watch calories to lose on low carb (and I base this on observations of hundreds of "help, I'm stalled!" posts). Same thing goes for those who have never dieted prior to going on low carb. Those who are female, older, less active, have hormone issues (hypothyroid, menopause/perimenopause, etc...), have a history of starvation or yo-yo dieting or are for some reason unable to excercise much seem to need to count both carbs and calories to successfully reach goal.
In the case of you and your dad, you are both male and because of that have considerably higher muscle mass than the average female. Higher muscle mass = higher metabolism. Personally, anything over 1,800 calories (keeping my carb intake constant at 30 grams per day) and I either don't lose or start to gain, but I'm female, 43 (perimenopausal) and not terribly active with a lifetime history of low calorie and yo-yo dieting. OTOH, on a low fat/high carb diet, I would start to gain if I got much over 1,400 calories (the higher the carbs, the less calories I would start to gain on), so this is definitely better for me when it comes to calories.
As I said before, Dr. Atkins himself never said calories don't matter at all; only that they matter less on low carb than they do on most high carb plans and while Dr. Atkins didn't encourage counting calories, he didn't say it was a low carb crime to do so, either.

Don't worry, I'm not in a wheel chair or anything but my knees are very ouchy and I've got bursitis in both hips. Dang ellipctical trainer!

From my own experience I am convinced that I need to watch calories if I want to lose that last 15 or so pounds. I have been stuck at the same weight for over 2 years now, but I'm not complaining, I like eating this way, and I am able to at least maintain my weight at about 35 pounds less than my pre-low-carb days.

It's interesting to me as well that Dr. A. himself was my height and my weight most of the time (about 195)...

It seems that with low carb, you have a choice:

eat all you want, and be happy with wherever your weight settles,

or,

if you really want to get that slim hard body, you gotta watch the calories (or be very young or very active....)