I posted this originally in a thread in the Media section about the Food Network Show "Low Carb and Lovin' It" and it was suggested that I post this as it's own topic, so I thought it might be helpful to folks looking for tips in this category. The discussion that had come up was the role of fat in low carbing and what the point of decreasing fat was for.

The fat decrease actually makes some sense to me, having lost, gained back some, then losing again.

First of all with Atkins, there are multiple stages of low-carbing--induction to kick off the metabolism and rapid weight loss, followed by ongoing weight loss when carbs are gradually added in but weight loss slows a little, followed by premaintenace where weight loss crawls but good habits get ingrained, and finally followed by maintenance itself.

Now what happens is that in the beginning the change in metabolism kicks things off very well and weight loss charges ahead... there are three problems, however, that I have experienced myself....

1) Staying on Induction Levels or close to those levels too long. I think that our bodies become accustomed to this and become very stubborn to progress gradually to other stages--it can be stalling. We also become a little paranoid about adding in carbs, and what happens is a combination of getting back into bad habits either by straying to binge levels, and/or not cutting fat down proportionately to the increase in carbohydrates, or starting to increase portions as a psychological way to avoid adding carbs in.

2) Not proportionately lowering total intake as our weight goes down. Your new body has new nutrition needs and lower maintenance calories, period. Although low carbing definitely has a metabolic advantage, it's only an advantage, not an absoloute.... what I mean is that for me it allowed me to eat about 200 calories per day more than what a standard metabolic profile would recommend and still lose weight... however, it's not limitless, and it is very easy to keep calories too high which will stall weight loss, and the only way to fix that is to charge up the metabolism and that is either by adding exercise, or cutting calories, or a combination. It's time for a NEW portion size to maintain your smaller body.

Now cutting calories is difficult. Where do you cut them from when you are accustomed to eating a particular way? Carbs are already low. Cutting protein is not good.

Soooo... as Dr. Atkins explains with Maintenance, you ultimately have to cut down on fat. When you cut down on fat, it may also cut down on your volume of food and make a person hungry--or trigger cravings.... so what do you do? You *gradually* add in good carbs that are low calorie in proportion to the fat that you have taken away--hopefully some with some bulk to them for satiation . More veggies, legumes, fruit, whole grains can enter here. You have to make sure that you are eating sufficient protein to maintain your muscle mass and general health.

However you MUST cut back the fat before you add in the carbs, or you are doing a double-whammy to your metabolism. Fat + carbs = heart disease. The only way very high fat works safely and constructively for health, is if carbs are extremely low.

So... long and short... it is a trade off. And in order to succeed long term... you have to watch carbs, not get paranoid about eating carbs, and watch fat and protein, and calories.

3) IF YOU EXERCISE TO LOSE WEIGHT AND GET TO GOAL, IF YOU DO NOT CONTINUE THAT SAME EXERCISE LEVEL OR DO NOT PROPORTIONATELY DECREASE CALORIES TO MATCH WHAT YOU BURN DURING EXERCISE, YOU WILL GAIN WEIGHT BACK, LOW-CARB OR NOT. THIS IS NOT A FAILURE OF LOW-CARB, IT IS A FAILURE FOR ANY DIET THAT RELIES ON THAT MISSING DAILY EXERCISE TO MAINTAIN WEIGHT. YOUR CHOICES ARE DO THE EXERCISE, OR CUT CALORIES, OR BOTH.

This is the former athletes curse. I know a lot of people who were very athletic in high school or even in a semi or professional level who stopped the intense exercise and subsequently gained a ton of weight. It wasn't only an issue of carbs, but an issue of portion size and satiation.

My struggle has been that I got to a point of 90 to 120 minutes a day of daily exercise, then stuff came up in the summer and I stopped... I gained weight back at roughly the rate of the calories that I had burned on a daily basis (that was 500-700 calories a day that I was not burning).

So, for long term success... you must find the realistic level of exercise that you can keep doing for a lifetime and balance it with intake, otherwise you will drastically have to cut back calories which may interfere with satiation and lead to overeating once again.

Thank you for posting this, it's very informative. I am in the process of adding more salad and veggies, and less fat and hoping it works! --Gail