If I lose all my weight in induction?...

[klafree]

If I lose all the weight I wanted to during induction, or in the first or second week after that, can I just skip ahead to the last stage?

Also, how many carbs do you think I'll be able to have? I'm a 19 year old, I excercise almost every day (including walking the sprawling campus of IU every day!) and I'm usually a very healthy eater... salads, fruit, and the occasional pita bread or oatmeal.

I definitely DONT want to return to my last weight, but I would like to eat normally again soon.

[Bettestress]

Re: If I lose all my weight in induction?...

That's a good question. I think what you need to do at that point is determine your optimal carb count to maintain. I have the book but haven't read anything on that topic, so I could be wrong, but I think that means adding five carbs a week until you stop losing. Now whether you need to add those in the "rung" fashion or not, I don't know, but I would think so.

[kate58]

Re: If I lose all my weight in induction?...

It depends. Do you just want to lose the weight, or do you want to keep it off for good?

If you want to keep it off for good, you need to learn a lot about your body and how it reacts to various foods. You won't learn this by skipping OWL and pre-maintenance. Going through OWL teaches what and how much of various foods you can safely eat - induction certainly doesn't teach you that. Therefore by skipping OWL you won't have the knowledge and the tools you need to manage your weight in the long term.

Dr A is very specific about pre-maintenance, and particular insistant that the last few pounds should be lost VERY slowly, as you learn what it will take to maintain. One of the main reasons is that at that point you are no longer in Ketosis, so you need to learn how to manage your carb intake without the benefit of appetite suppression - you won't learn this by going directly from induction to 'normal' eating.

What is 'normal' eating anyway? The way you ate before obviously resulted in your weight increasing - if you go back to that it will happen again. You need to learn about how to stop that happening, and create a new 'normal'. And that is the whole point of the phases of Atkins.

[Evermind]

Re: If I lose all my weight in induction?...

If you are starting that close to your goal weight, you need to move immediately to OWL after the 2 weeks of induction.

You may want to return to "normal" ways of eating, but this is a new way of relating to food and to eating, and you need to gradually incorporate new carbs into your menu. If you don't, you will a) get sick and b) gain the weight back really fast, plus some. That's not a threat. It's a promise.

Once again, if you read the book, you'll find that Atkins is not a weight-loss diet. It's a new way of living. Sans the bad carbs.

[Bettestress]

Re: If I lose all my weight in induction?...

http://www.atkinsdietbulletinboard.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10528