When Should I move on to OWL

[130lbsTOgO]

I like the food for now. Today is the 16th day! WOOHOO I started out at 324lbs and I am down to 308. Guess that isnt bad. The past few days I have stayed at 308 and felt a little under the weather. Some cramping and such... Think I need to get more water! I am trying to figure out how long I should stay on Induction or a Slightly Modified Induction. I would like to get down to 250lbs. as my Mini Goal Be Feburary 07. I ideal weight by BMI is 129-170lbs. I dont remember when I weighed that little! BTW I put on a pount this morning 309 but I did have a Un-Sweet Iced tea Saturday and Sunday.. One glass but it was not caffein free. Some advice would be great!

[not2late]

Re: When Should I move on to OWL

I like the food for now. Today is the 16th day! WOOHOO I started out at 324lbs and I am down to 308. Guess that isnt bad. The past few days I have stayed at 308 and felt a little under the weather. Some cramping and such... Think I need to get more water! I am trying to figure out how long I should stay on Induction or a Slightly Modified Induction. I would like to get down to 250lbs. as my Mini Goal Be Feburary 07. I ideal weight by BMI is 129-170lbs. I dont remember when I weighed that little! BTW I put on a pount this morning 309 but I did have a Un-Sweet Iced tea Saturday and Sunday.. One glass but it was not caffein free. Some advice would be great!

Congrats to you!!!!

You have a 16 pound loss, so you are definitely not metabolically resistant to weight loss.

Your move to OWL is really up to you. However, Dr. Atkins said that the "people with high metabolic resistance can benefit from doing Induction longer than two weeks because it gives them time to correct the metabolic imbalances they may have developed over time."

It's a common myth that the lower you keep your carbs the faster you will lose weight. That's not really true and not really false. After the initial "whoosh" of the first 14 days, your body will readjust and start losing at its own rate. So your weight loss might be "slower" relatively speaking (losing 4 pounds a week instead of 5), but it might be "faster" compared to someone on another kind of weight loss regimen.

The best thing for you to do is to re-read Chapters 12-14 of the book, Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution, 2002 ed. And determine if you want to stay on Induction a bit longer or if you are ready to move onto a wider variety of food during your weight loss. Don't be afraid of OWL---too many people think that OWL means you'll never, ever, ever lose weight again. That's simply not true.

The only caution I will give you is to not make the mistake of staying on Induction until you reach your goal or until you are within 5 to 10 pounds from your goal. By going through the phases of Atkins, you will learn about yourself (your eating and lifestyle habits and how to correct them) and about your body (what kinds of foods are good and bad). These things will help you to maintain your smaller self so you won't have to go through the whole weight loss process again.

[130lbsTOgO]

Re: When Should I move on to OWL

I do plan on taking induction out to 4 weeks... but I wonder if that is enough. How do you know when to move.. I know if I get board with the foods I`ll have to but I would love to keep up the weight loss.. I need to start introducing exercise into my life. Right now the only activity I do is walk 50 Feet back and forth from the truck to my office. Guess that will help hu? I was just at a point that I could not do any physical activity due to my weight. I do have to say that the 16lbs I can feel a diffrence!

[not2late]

Re: When Should I move on to OWL

I do plan on taking induction out to 4 weeks... but I wonder if that is enough. How do you know when to move.. I know if I get board with the foods I`ll have to but I would love to keep up the weight loss.. I need to start introducing exercise into my life. Right now the only activity I do is walk 50 Feet back and forth from the truck to my office. Guess that will help hu? I was just at a point that I could not do any physical activity due to my weight. I do have to say that the 16lbs I can feel a diffrence!

Start moving that bod!!!!

Too many people believe that you can only exercise when you're wearing Spandex while running on a treadmill with the other mills zombies at a gym. Not true!

Every little bit counts. Take the stairs instead of an escalator or elevator. Park your car a little bit further away, instead of right in front of a store or your workplace. Crank up your favorite music and dance for a few minutes every day. March in place during tv commercials.

Don't have free weights? That's okay. Do bicep curls while holding cans of food.

Remember those push-ups, jumping jacks, and wind-mills you did during P.E. class as kid? Those exercises are incredibly effective and the majority of the exercises on those exercise videos are just variations of them.

If you're losing weight to get thinner and to improve your cholesterol, exercise is the only non-chemical way to increase the HDL cholesterol (the good kind of cholesterol).

So move that body!

The one very important thing is if you are a severe couch potato, you'll need to start slow and build up your stamina. Don't think that sore muscles the next day is a good thing---just the opposite: it means you over-used your muscles.

[IrishIrish]

Re: When Should I move on to OWL

Make sure that you refer to DANDR, too. There is a chapter following the Induction section of the book that gives a checklist for helping to make the decision on whether or not it is time to move on from Induction to OWL. Personally, I stayed on Induction for an extended period of time before moving to OWL. It depends on your personal factors and your needs.