[rostpribru]

Atkins with calorie counting... it's a relatively new twist. And it's really not necessary IF you can control your portions without it, IF you can limit the things that can push you from where you will lose over the edge to not losing. In the last edition of the book Atkins put a very small reference to calories... he gave a range for women and a range for men. It seems to have taken on a life of it's own... and now, if you go to the atkins site, you will see MANY messages of "eat at least this many calories...", "don't eat too much cheese because it's calorie dense...". LOTS of references to calories.

There's a small (very small) metabolic advantage to eating low carb. Which means that (theoretically) you can eat more calories on a low carb diet than you can on a higher carb diet. I read once that the advantage is around 100 calories a day. That's a TBS of EVOO. OR an ounce of cheddar. Very easy to lose any advantage.

So... the answer is, NO, you don't have to count calories. But you should consider and remember that overeating is still overeating. You can eat 0 carbs a day and still overeat. You can eat your 20g a day and still overeat. The key is to eat to your appetite/hunger. It's all through the book... eat until you're no longer hungry, satisfy your physical hunger... and stop eating. I think it's Toni who says, "Just because you can eat a cow doesn't mean you should." Or something like that!

As you get closer and closer to your goal wt it becomes harder and harder to lose. There's simply a much smaller deficit between what you eat and what your body requires. So there's less need for your body to draw on body fat for energy needs. At that point, it might be helpful to keep an eye on calories as well as carbs. Of course, you'll also be quite a ways up the carb ladder... having reintroduced many of the higher carb foods AND you'll have reduced your fat intake (assuming you follow Atkins as written). Calorie counting at that time might be a tool you'll consider... but you don't HAVE to.