CUTTING BACK ON MY FOOD INTAKE (AGAIN)

Ten days ago, I posted that I was going to stop stressing about losing more weight, and enter Atkins Phase 4, Lifetime Maintenance.  So, for the past week and a half, I have been eating to maintain my weight, and have been doing pretty well.  I only weigh and take measurements on Sunday morning, but I am tracking my food most days on Fitday.  My weight and size has stayed pretty steady.

Here's the problem:  I'm not happy with my weight.  I don't seem to be able to let go of the idea of losing a little more weight, and I am wondering if it is in my power to do so.

I've been eating a lot lately, and I spent some time today looking back at my spreadsheets to see if there is any pattern to my weight loss.  There really isn't.  Sometimes I lose on 1800 calories per day, and sometimes I gain on that amount.  Sometimes I lose on 1400 calories per day, and sometimes I gain on that amount.  The amount of exercise I do or don't do has no bearing on my weight or size, either.

At any rate, I have decided to cut back on my food in this coming week to see if I lose some fat.  Here is my plan:

1440 calories
112g fat (70% of total calories)
81g protein
27g total carbs
16g dietary fiber
11g net carbs, of which 8.5g will come from veggies

This is basically what Colette Heimowitz, the Atkins nutritionist, recommended that I do in May 2009 to break my stall.  And it worked then.  I'm hoping it will work again.

After this week, I will weigh and measure, and see if it made any difference.  I'm not sure what I will do then.

The one thing that I don't like about doing this is that it is a very small amount of food, and so much less than what I want to eat.  But I am a small person, and I guess I should not expect to be able to eat a lot.

I hear people say to let your appetite be your guide, but that has never worked for me.  I can eat enough for five hungry men, as my grandmother used to say!