What balance of carbohydrates and fats do I want in my daily diet?

My reading leads me to believe that trying to put the exact amount of calories in so I can function but need to burn body fat to get enough is a bad idea. It will tell my body that there is famine, and make it very efficient. When I relax my diet, my re-tuned body will save as much as it can as body fat, in reserve against the next lean period.

I worry also about getting enough fat – essential fats and fats that carry the fat-soluble vitamins.

So, I’m going to try to reduce my carbohydrate intake to the point where my body’s insulin response is not triggered (at least on the days I manage to stick to my diet!). PMS is making me crave carbohydrate, so it will be easier to get going in a few days. I will count my success in days per week and month, because a ‘fail’ day is just a day, I do this diet one day at a time, the good days building up.

I hate the idea of calorie-counting, but I need to do a little bit of carbohydrate counting. I need to remember that a slice of bread is 15 grammes or so, an orange, ten grammes of carbohydrate. I cook the same for everyone, even stew with dumplings, but I cut right back on carbohydrates until I have lost the weight (in theory, I stop losing weight when I get into my ideal range – it will be interesting to see if that is the same as my idea of ideal). Sounds easy?