This is going o be a long post, I'll try to break the thoughts up into
readable paragraphs.  Some may want to skip it if you're not
interested in the combination of low carb and low-calorie and its
effects.  It's strictly a "FWIW" post with very quantitative
information on what I've been doing for the past couple of months and
what the results have been.  If this helps even one person who has
been "stalled," frustrated or who has health related issues that can
be encouraged by what I've done it will have been worth my taking the
time out of my evening to write all this.

As a bit of a short background for those who don't know me, I had
gained almost 100 pounds following a freak brain stem stroke in 1998
and being hospitalized for nearly four months --  followed by six
months of inactivity.  I started low carbing around 2001 so have been
dipping it for about five years now and am very pleased with the
results.  Here's a link to my website (there's a link to progress pix
there also).

http://members.cox.net/pmarengo/

For the past two-and-a-half years my low-carb eating has been for
health reasons more than weight loss since I was diagnosed as T2
diabetic.  I'm one of the lucky ones who was able to lower my HbA1c
from 9.0 to 6.0 in three months, and keep it there or under with a
low-carb diet alone.  (It's in the low 5's now).

But  I got lazy in the past year because of a job transfer; working 10
hour days with an hour commute each way to work.  Although I never
really left my low carb lifestyle I had fallen into the trap of eating
fast/quick/prepared/frankenfoods albeit "low carb," -- and as a result
I had barely been maintaining for the past year.  I had actually
gradually gained a few of pounds without ever really leaving the
low-carb lifestyle, truth be told.

A doctor visit this Feburary was a wake up call when a routine
physical showed cholesterol up, triglycerides skyrocketed and blood
pressure higher than I wanted.  (The good news was my HbA1c was still
under control).  I walked out of that results meeting with a brand new
motivation and determination.  The doc wanted to put me on statins, I
flatly refused.  We argued; he finally agreed to give me six weeks
(not much time) to improve my numbers the way I said I could.  I
agreed to take a prescription strength niacin vitamin  (Niaspan) in
the meanwhile to help with the LDL and HDL.  

I decided then and there that I was going to prove to that skeptical
doctor that I can control my health destiny with diet and nutrition,
rather than chemicals and drugs.  I determined to go back to my basic
low carb roots with a vengeance, this time watching calories as well.
I had a point to prove.

Once in a while I've seen posts -- by newbies especially -- asking if
it's possible to do low carb and low calorie at the same time; some
old-timers who have never done it question it also. I can
unequivocally and enthusiastically now say, "yes!" -- with the caveat
that it has to be done right.   It will require nutritional
supplements (the same as with many LC diets actually)  and as usual
YMMV applies.   Most of the foods that are both low calorie and low
carb don't provide the right complete balance of vitamins and
nutrients on a consistent basis, but that's easily rectified with
daily supplements.

So I've been on low carb AND counting my calories since about February
28th.  I've been keeping at or under 1500 calories daily, and it
usually comes out to around 1200 per day. This is not extreme; I feel
that it's reasonable for my activity level.  On my ongoing weight loss
plan, I've now found that I lose best at around 40 to 45 carb g/day.
(I was sabotaging my own weight loss by trying to keep the carbs at
'induction' levels, which meant higher calories.  Thanks to Roger Zoul
for suggesting upping my carbs a bit, it's worked like magic).

I'm not advocating this for everyone; trust me, I know first hand that
we all need to find what works best for us.  But I've found my ideal
balance and have lost 30 additional pounds since that doctor visit two
months ago in February; 28 of those pounds have been lost since I
started my current low carb/low cal WOE on February 28th - averaging
slightly over 3 pounds per week.  My biggest problem is that I'm not
getting hungry at all anymore and have to remind myself to eat.   I
now find myself working through lunch and on the way home from work
I'll realize that I haven't eaten anything.  Ketosis keeps my brain
and body fed on those days;  believe me, I have plenty of reserves
left to break down and burn for fuel; that's the great thing about low
carb.  And I make up for it at dinner with a big meal; I wonder
sometimes if I've inadvertently crossed over into Eades territory.
I've found an ideal ratio of fat/protein/carbs for myself, to me that
has been the key feature in my continued weight loss and health
maintenance.

If anyone questions whether it's healthy to eat low carb AND low
calorie, I can't speak for you, just for myself.  When I went to the
Doctor again just 10 days ago for blood tests,  the results were
impressive.  Cholesterol down to near normal, triglycerides absolutely
plummeted, HbA1c normal and blood pressure perfectly normal.  Kidney
function was normal, and my heart sounded healthy.  I have more energy
than I've had in a long time, am sleeping well and feel great! Nothing
unhealthy about that!

In order to do this,

(#1)  I've had to force myself into preparing everything that I eat --
absolutely no frankenfoods!  I MAKE the time even if I don't have it.
There are days when I eat dinner at 9 p.m.   If i work til 7 then
drive the hour home, I still cook a meal.  (Hannah Guren's Italian
Sausage soup has become a staple for me; I can make a big batch on the
weekends and eat it for dinner on a "lazy" night when I work late).

The only prepared food I allow myself at all are low-carb tortilla
shells.  I have the nutritional breakdown of those entered into Fitday
and include the calorie/carb count in my daily totals.  At lunchtime I
eat salads from restaurants where I know I can get the nutritional
counts; McDonald's Bacon Ranch is my favorite.  The nutritional values
are also in my FitDay custom food chart.

When I eat meals out on social occasions, I'm lucky that I live at the
coast - there are always broiled fresh fish choices.  Tilapia with
steamed spinach and broccoli sprinkled with parmesan cheese  is a
perfect meal for me for instance.  My new rule of thumb for eating
out:  I allow myself only salads, fish and vegetables, oil, butter and
hard cheeses.

(2) I record everything that I eat. I track EVERYTHING in Fitday.  I'm
very visually motivated by nature, I know not everyone is like this.
But when I see on a chart what I've ingested broken down into fat,
protein,carbs  and nutritional content on a daily basis, I know where
I have to tweak the next day.  For the same reason, I:

(3) Weigh myself every morning at the same time before eating or
drinking anything.  It's the only way to get a consistent weight
reading.  And I understand perfectly well that there are many who only
weigh once a week, or once a month -- and that's great if that's what
works for you, I have no argument with it.  But again, I'm visually
motivated.  When I see that Fitday weight graph go down I know I'm on
the right track; if it stays the same or goes up I examine what I've
done so I can tweak my eating.

(4) Maybe most important of all to me is having snack foods on hand
that keep me from going off plan if I should get bored <I don't get
hungry>.  My snow cone maker and Splenda-sweetened DaVinci and Torani
syrups have been a lifesaver in this area.  A snow cone or slushy is a
tasty, frozen snack  that feels like I'm really eating a treat, and
has virtually zero calories and less than 1 carb.  I have a dozen
flavors on hand for variation.  Other snacks I have are a few olives
(at 10 calories/negligible carbs each), and splenda-sweetened baby
sweet gherkins >   <1 calorie and virtually no carbs each.  Maybe 1 or
2g carbs for 10>
Ocassionally I eat popcorn. Gasp!  It's only moderate glycemic.  My
secret for working it into my plan is I have a microwave corn popper
and buy the corn in a jar, not the microwave crap  that's full of salt
and transfats.  I can control the portions by popping maybe one or two
tablespoons at a time and drizzle with a tablespoon of butter. This
yields four to eight cups.  I do this when the carbs fit in with my
daily totals; popcorn is a low calorie food for the quantity and not
as bad as people think for carbs -- in moderation.   30 calories per
cup and 3 net g carbs per cup.  Not for Atkins induction.  But it
doesn't spike my blood sugar nor stall my weight loss when I eat
reasonable, measured portions.  

(5)  I completely have stopped adding salt to any foods.  This means
no 'lite salt' either.  I can look at my weight loss graph and see the
weight spikes as well as blood pressure increases every time I add
salt to food.  Automatic water retention for me, has to do with
heredity.  I get more than enough sodium in the natural foods I eat.
I've switched to buying fresh herbs and adding them to my foods.  It's
like quitting smoking or quitting drinking or caffeine.  I don't miss
salt any more, though it was tough at first.

(6)  I maintain a new ratio of about 70% fat, 20 % protein and 10%
carbs.  I don't measure it any more, it just turns out this way from
my food choices.  If I eat too little fat I get hungry. If I lower the
protein I'm afraid that my body will start eating muscle tissue eating
relatively low-calorie. If I lower the carbs any more, it means
raising fat and calories increase.  I  control the calories/carbs
strategically with food combinations and portion control; I just know
what ingredients I can eat and get creative.

                       ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Here's a typical day's food for me, this is what I ate today in fact.
You'll see that I'm not starving by any means, in fact today I could
hardly believe that what I was eating was "diet" food it was so tasty
and filling!  Nutritional counts are based on FitDay entries and
aren't exact; they're rounded for each ingredient.

Breakfast:
Two big mugs of very strong Luzianne decaf coffee with chicory (a
Southern delight!), 4 tbs creamer, 2 packets of Sweet n Low.
(I've never been a breakfast eater, I don't get hungry in the morning.
The adage "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day" adage is
meaningless on a ketogenic diet.   YMMV)

6g carbs, 2g fat,  1g protein   44 calories

Lunch:
Nice size salad with baby spinach, snow peas, green and sweet red
pepper, onion slice, green olives, celery, cucumber slices, fresh
mushrooms, radish slices,  shredded colby cheese, blue cheese dressing
sparingly

6 net g carbs,  10g fat,  4g protein      126 calories,

Dinner:
Ok let me describe today's "creation."  I sautéed green pepper and
onion slices in butter on the Foreman grill then set it aside.  Then I
grilled two quarter-pound high fat hamburgers (I trick myself into
fewer calories because some of the fat drains off on the Foreman
grill!).  I toasted two low carb tortilla shells in the toaster oven
until warm but not crisp.  WHile the burgers were cooking I chopped
1/4 cup baby spinach leaves.  Cut 4 cherry tomatoes into quarters.
Spread the grilled onions and peppers on the warm tortilla shells,
then topped with the shredded spinach and chopped tomatoes.  Added 1
tbs of Dukes Mayo (it has no sugar and comes in a squirt bottle now)
to each.  Sprinkled each with oregano and fresh ground black
peppercorns.  Just before the burgers were done I put a slice of deli
provolone cheese on each to melt.  Cut the burgers in half and
arranged them on the tortillas, had two awesome, delicious, filling
burger wraps!
                                  calories/carbs
Tortilla shells, low carb  162/10
Onion, 2 slices  29/5
Peppers, green, 1/4  medium   15/2
Spinach, raw, .25 cup chopped  2/0
Cherry tomatoes (4)     6/1.5
Ground beef,high-fat  .5 pound  626/0
Provolone cheese, 2 slices  299/2
Butter, 1 tbs  102/0
Mayonnaise, Dukes (no sugar), 1 tbs  99/0

20.5 net g carbs,  1340 calories
(I'm too lazy to add up all the individual fat and protein counts for
this meal, I'm going by FitDay for the day's totals)

For the day:  
48g carbs minus 16 fiber = 32 net g carbohydrates (10%)
                                      112 g fat (69%)
                                    77g protein (21%)

Total Calories today:   1503

Calories burned today (per fitday)  2906

Today's Calorie deficit:  1403

This means I can expect that I lost another 1/2 pound today.

I really feel that I'm getting the best of both worlds with my plan.
Low carb to control my diabetes and keep my metabolism healthy,
proportionately high fat to keep me from getting hungry, enough
protein to feed my heart and muscles, and yet low enough calories to
steadily lose weight at about 1/2 pound per day.  YMMV.

Hey, I have no life.  This is fun for me!  I just hope I don't get
tired of tracking all this stuff soon!  The good thing though, is that
I don't HAVE to track it.  I only did these calculations to post here.
I know what I can and can't eat and enter it in fitday after the fact
to motivate myself when I see the results.

Did I lose everybody yet?  Put you to sleep?

I only hope that this diatribe actually is able to get someone
thinking about what you can do for yourself, with a low carb program
that's tweaked to fit your needs and lifestyle --  as I and so many
others here are doing.
<g>