stay or move on?

[Ke15i]

here it is, one of the most asked questions about atkins....should i stay in induction..or move on to owl??? one reason i'm afraid to move on is i'm really not sure HOW. i know the basics...adding in little by little from each rung until i find out how many carbs i can have. but how long should i stay on each rung? do i HAVE to follow the exact order? how often to eat each item during the time i'm staying on each rung? it seems like sooooo much preparing and thinking, i'm nervous that i wont be able to keep track of it all! tips would be wonderful, i know i'll get plenty. thank you!!

[Brook]

Re: stay or move on?

I think one of the best analogies I've seen given that direction addresses your question is this:

"When playing ball, we don't go from batting the ball to 2nd base, to home to 3rd base to 1st base and then call it baseball."

The rungs are in the order they're in for a reason. Follow them. If you don't want to add in say.... rung 3 (seeds and nuts) because you don't like or eat seeds and nuts, then skip straight to rung 4 - go for it. You can't go rung 1, 4, 6, 2, 3, 5.

It's easy to make this much more difficult than it needs to be!! I remember allllllll too well and I worked myself right up into a state of panic. LOL

First step: Add in 5 net grams of carb in VEGGIES per day and start experimenting with different ones. Now you can add in carrots or zuchinni or more broccoli or or or or or.

Personally, I gave each run at least 2-3 weeks as I progressed through. It gave me more time to start to identify which foods were trigger foods for me, which ones stalled me, etc.

Take it slow and easy and take it as an opportunity to learn how you react to different things.

[Ke15i]

Re: stay or move on?

ok...now i'm dyyyying for some fruit. could i possibly jump to berries? is that too big of a jump? i'm not looking forward to the nuts rung...but dairy would be nice. oh boy...i'm so afraid that i wont notice which foods cause me to stall. i know i'm gonna become paranoid about everything! all i need to do it do some more reading, teach myself about this...and hopefully i'll get the hang of it!

[Brook]

Re: stay or move on?

Kelly...

Eat yer veggies first!!!

Then add in your fresh cheeses and whatnot - cottage cheese, ricotta (hello, zuchinni lasagna!), etc.

THEN seeds and nuts: Sunflower seeds? Macadamia nuts? Almonds? Cashews? These are all fantastic snacks and great additions to things like salads.

Umm, and you do know that you can use ground almonds to make things like pie crusts for pumpkin pie (pumpkin is a veggie! ) or mock cinnamon apple pie?

And then there's berries - and with your dairy rung soundly under your belt, fruited yogurts are now an option, as are berries and cream, or cantalope or honeydew or or or.

I know you're feeling impatient, but I promise you..it pays to do this right!!!

So.. GO EAT YER VEGGIES!!!

[kylie]

Re: stay or move on?

I think OWL is a little nerve-wracking because there are multiple variables at work at any given time once you move beyond veggies - I'm not so much nervous about this first step because the main variable will be the net carb increase since we've been eating veggies all along during induction. It sometimes can take a while to figure out which thing is causing a problem - if you even have any - as you move up...The easiest one to pinpoint, I think, is if you add a new food and all of a sudden you want to eat everything in the cupboards. I won't really get nervous until I try to add in the dairy. I have a sneaking suspicion that some dairy products may be a trigger for me just from things I noticed when not following Atkins. It will be a learning experience - but then I guess that's the point! Good luck to you!

[Ke15i]

Re: stay or move on?

ok, more veggies...deal! and that lasagna sounds wonderful! i'll have to check that out. now....if something is a trigger...am i going to gain like....5 pounds overnight??? thats what i'm scared of! i'll be able to tell if something making me crave other things...but i dont know how thrilled i'd be finding out its bad by watching the scale go back up! i DO love salad....and...carrots....does that mean i can have baby carrots dipped in some boursin cheese? oooooooo!!!

[Brook]

Re: stay or move on?

Kelly-

1. *If* you were to gain 5lbs over night, it's impossible for it to be FAT, it can *only* be water weight. You have to stay rational, not reactionary, as you go through this or you're going to drive yourself nuts.

2. It's been my experience, and the collective experience of most atkineers I know, that you don't gain with a 'trigger food', you stall.


As Kylie pointed out, a food that causes cravings is easy enough to pinpoint, so long as you're adding foods in slowly and methodically. This is a time when journaling is extra important.

It's also time for you to read this article: http://www.primusweb.com/fitnesspart...ight/scale.htm


I dunno what boursin cheese is though...LOL I'm guessing it's not an aged or hard cheese and that being the case, you should hold off on that until you're on the dairy rung

[Ke15i]

Re: stay or move on?

thank goodness about the not gaining weight part! nice....but yeah...boursin is a soft yummy french cheese. oops then cause i've already made the boursin chicken...and i've been eating american cheese...and mozzarella....every day. i've been doing great...does that mean that those foods arent triggers for me?