How did you do OWL? (It got long...)

[Elsie150]

Re: How did you do OWL? (It got long...)

Good thread rybread. I like seeing your menus....keep posting them along with the cal/ratio/carb counts...I think I might be using some...LOL!

I just posted an email asking about skipping rungs and reading yours reminded me that I had been thinking of adding some flax seed to my day to help me get more fiber(needed) in. This is correct? And it should be counted as part of my carbs and is a nut?? Are you supect that the flax might have been making you stall?

Keep posting!!

[rybread]

Re: How did you do OWL? (It got long...)

Hey Elsie! I'm glad to hear my attempts at figuring out OWL is helping you! I'll try and keep up with my menus - tho I must warn you, there will be a lot of repetition. (Well, at least until I get sick of my frittata combination for breakfast. )

I just posted an email asking about skipping rungs and reading yours reminded me that I had been thinking of adding some flax seed to my day to help me get more fiber(needed) in. This is correct? And it should be counted as part of my carbs and is a nut?? Are you supect that the flax might have been making you stall?

Ground flax seed will definitely help you get more fibre in - it really helped a ton to get me, uhm, 'regular'!

Where I was going wrong before was that I wasn't counting my flax carbs towards my 5g of nuts/seeds. I don't know why I didn't put two and two together at the time (flax seed = a seed, which means its part of the nuts/seeds rung - duh, rybread!).

To be honest, I don't know why I was slowing down. It could have been too much nuts/seeds (because I wasn't counting my flax + nuts to a maximum of 5g, I was just counting my nuts).

Last week, I upped my veggie intake, tried to stick to 30g like glue, and was particularly meticulous about staying within all my allowances (cheese, sweetners, cream, etc), and within my 5g net carbs per OWL rung. Doing that, I lost a pound, which was more than I've lost in a while, so I was happy!

I've just started back with the nuts & berries this week, and am still sticking to 30g. I'm still losing! So either I was messing up with my food someway before that I can't figure out, and I'm doing it right now... or my body just liked 155lbs - one of my 'set points' maybe. I'm guessing it was probably the latter. I'll report back later this week and let you know how its going with this week's experiment. Heh.

[Elsie150]

Re: How did you do OWL? (It got long...)

Don't worry rybread..I usually do mine menu close to the same for a bit at a time too. Much less thinking that way..LOL.
I replied to your flax stuff at the other thread http://www.atkinsdietbulletinboard.c...558#post204558
and like I said there...I'm betting that you had a carb/calorie creep with the flax. Will be interesting to see once you add it back in. Now I am going to go see if 16 T do equal a cup and if so why the difference in fit day between flax seeds and Seeds, flax seed.

[Zarabelle]

Re: How did you do OWL? (It got long...)

What a brilliant thread!!
I have learnt alot just reading through and your stuffed pepper dinner sounds delicious - am gonna have to try that one!
I am only on the seeds rung of OWL but am finding it so much more enjoyable having stepped up the rungs this time. Before getting pregnant, I stayed on Induction for five months and pretty much ended up dreading meal times!
It's funny you should mention flax, I have just introduced it and have a feeling that I'm going to have to be careful with it.
Keep posting your menus - it's giving me some great ideas of what to eat.
X

[rybread]

Re: How did you do OWL? (It got long...)

Well, I'm still stuck. Gar!

Here's another menu for you ladies from yesterday.

Breakfast
- Same ol' frittata. (1.2oz mushrooms, 1.2oz tomatoes, 1oz brie, 1.5oz ground beef, 2 large eggs)

Lunch
- Salad (2cups romaine, .5oz red pepper, 2oz broccoli, 1.5tbsp roasted red pepper dressing)
- 4oz Chicken stick from the local greek restaurant.

Dinner
- 7oz grilled salmon topped with 1tbsp salsa
- 1 cup zucchini

Snacks
- 1 hardboiled egg
- 1 cinnamon flax muffin
- 1oz gouda
- 3.2oz cucumber w/ 1tbsp ranch dressing
- 1oz walnuts

That came out to:
1626 Calories
56%/6%/38% - I should note that my protein is very very very rarely this high, just turned out this way because of the size of the salmon today.
26.5 net carbs.

I'm super frustrated because I am NOT SEEING ANY PATTERNS! I keep switching things up - eating right at my BMR, or right at my AMR. Eating 30 net carbs, eating 25 net carbs. Getting rid of nuts/seeds and berries, adding them back in. Eating more veggies. I don't eat much dairy in general, so I haven't played with that. I've added strength training into my exercise as of this week.

Nothing, nada, zip. I have officially been stuck within the same 2 lbs for 5 weeks.

And my inches. HAH, lets not talk about those. In some places, they've gone up, in others, down by barely a quarter of an inch. In one month, where I usually lose about 5".

This is about the point in time where I throw my hands up in the air and give up, but I've worked too damn hard the last 5 months to give up everything I've achieved thus far.

Do I just keep doing what I'm doing, and hope at some point the scale will budge? Is this one of those "set point" situations? This is where I got stuck when doing WW, many many years ago. Or am I doing something drastically wrong?

[Elsie150]

Re: How did you do OWL? (It got long...)

Hey rybread...wish I knew enough to help you but I don't. Are you getting enough fat? Are you giving it time enough between each thing to see if it is working?? Is your fat usually that low?? Could be the set point thing. Mine is coming up 3 pounds from now so I am worried about that. I usually ate my BMR and still try to keep the ratios in line with it. Good luck. I hope someone can give you answers. Whatever you do...do not give up!!

[rybread]

Re: How did you do OWL? (It got long...)

Hey rybread...wish I knew enough to help you but I don't. Are you getting enough fat? Are you giving it time enough between each thing to see if it is working?? Is your fat usually that low?? Could be the set point thing. Mine is coming up 3 pounds from now so I am worried about that. I usually ate my BMR and still try to keep the ratios in line with it. Good luck. I hope someone can give you answers. Whatever you do...do not give up!!

Hey Elsie,

My ratios are almost always right on the money - 65%/5%/30%. Its very rare (I think its happened not even a handful of times) that I have a day where my fat intake is that low or my protein intake is that high. If anything, now that I'm mid-way through OWL, its my carb intake that's going up by a percent or two, which brings my fat intake down just a couple percentage points at times. But I think that's what's supposed to happen?

I won't give up, but its hard not to be discouraged, that's for sure!

I guess I will give each 'experiment' a bit more time to see how its working out. And I'm going to put the scale away and only bring it out once a week. That way I can't obsess over what is different from day to day in what I ate vs. my weight (definitely a terrible habit I formed once my weight slowed down) - it'll force me to look at the whole week and hopefully therefore the bigger picture.

Wish me luck.

[Elsie150]

Re: How did you do OWL? (It got long...)

""If anything, now that I'm mid-way through OWL, its my carb intake that's going up by a percent or two, which brings my fat intake down just a couple percentage points at times. But I think that's what's supposed to happen?"

Yes that is right. That is what is happening with me too and I have posted to see if this was correct. I try to eat at my BMR, and like you I try to keep it really close to the proper ratios. Except for this week because DH is home and we are really busy and I can't spend the time planning my meals. But anyway...as my carbs are going up..(27g last week) my fat went down 1-2 percent. The last 3 weeks I have lost 2 pounds each week. But I consistantly ate at my BMR with my ratios pretty much right on for all three of those weeks. I think you need to give it more time inbetween experiments. Also, mine is going to come of a bit faster because I am so far from goal. Let me know how it goes!

[cleochatra]

Re: How did you do OWL? (It got long...)

How many calories do you eat a day?

How many do you expend per day through exercise?

[Kent]

Re: How did you do OWL? (It got long...)

Here's how I did OWL. I did it a lot like Extended Induction with the addition of foods on the rungs I intended to hit with the exception of the first rung, which I did all through OWL. (I added a fourth or a fifth cup of low GI, salad vegetables.) I added carbs to 20g per day, but could never find my CCLL as my weight loss was never logical enough to point to a single variable change with weight loss or gain. My ratios eventually went to 55-60% fat, 30-35% protein, and 10% carbs.

Keep working through OWL -- if you are super-frustrated, get yourself back into ketosis and then repick up where you left off in OWL. Change your exercise -- you may have plateaued there and not realized it. The body can get accustomed to a certain level of activity, and suddenly it doesn't have to work as hard to achieve the same result.

[cleochatra]

Re: How did you do OWL? (It got long...)

I'm Kent's twin sister. Only the fat, short and ugly twin.

I eat no more than 20 net carbs per day but am slowwwwwly climbing the OWL rungs, whiule restricting my calories and exercising 5-07 days out of the week.

Because OWL is such a blessing, I've used it as a rotating diet of sorts. Atkins advises the first time a new food is introduced to try it only three times that first week. In this way, with only one new item being introduced, it is easy to see whether or not the food affects you in a negative way.

As with Meg's cantaloupe experience, I've found that as much as I love v-8, whether I drank it with fat or without, I was ravenous afterwards. And I'm never hungry!

I like the safety of keeping to the 20 carbs because I need to experiment with what I can and cannot have. Were I eating more carbs, I would be too hungry and focussed on carbs to note whether the new item I tried made me more hungry or not.

Other foods I've found affect me badly include foods which are fungi, nuts, and broccoli (which is like eating sugar for me!)

For me, Modified OWL allows me to experiment, while feeling full, feeling GOOD, and eating for satisfaction rather than fearing mny old eating habits will revisit me. Maybe I'm a coward. I've got good reason to be. And with over 100 pounds left to lose, I will relish every new food I introduce into this way of eating, and enjoy every new discovery I make about myself along the way.

I really credit and thank ADBB, and people like Kent, who've been able to educate me about Modified OWL/extended induction. For me, it has made all the difference.

{{{everyone}}}

[rybread]

Re: How did you do OWL? (It got long...)

How many calories do you eat a day?

How many do you expend per day through exercise?

I typically eat anywhere from 1400 - 1900 calories a day. My BMR is as of this morning, 1499. (Heh!)

As for what I expend through exercise... that also varies greatly. There are days where I just go for a 30 minute walk, others that I'll do my 2 mile WATP (for abs) video indoors. Some days I'll add in 15 minutes worth of strength training on top of the cardio. And then on other days I'll bike ride for an hour. I am that person who cannot do the same exercise everyday or else I end up bored to tears!

So I'd say it fluctuates between 250 - 600 calories, approximately 4-5 times a week.

[rybread]

Re: How did you do OWL? (It got long...)

Here's how I did OWL. I did it a lot like Extended Induction with the addition of foods on the rungs I intended to hit with the exception of the first rung, which I did all through OWL. (I added a fourth or a fifth cup of low GI, salad vegetables.) I added carbs to 20g per day, but could never find my CCLL as my weight loss was never logical enough to point to a single variable change with weight loss or gain. My ratios eventually went to 55-60% fat, 30-35% protein, and 10% carbs.

Keep working through OWL -- if you are super-frustrated, get yourself back into ketosis and then repick up where you left off in OWL. Change your exercise -- you may have plateaued there and not realized it. The body can get accustomed to a certain level of activity, and suddenly it doesn't have to work as hard to achieve the same result.

I have considered doing the same - sticking to the same level of carbs, climbing the rungs, and then figuring out my CCLL later. At least then it would be a heck of a lot easier to differentiate what the problem is if my weight loss stops - if my carb level is the only thing changing, it will be obvious.

Thanks for the food for thought - if things don't pick up soon, this may be the route I take.

[Elsie150]

Re: How did you do OWL? (It got long...)

Hey rybread...posted this in another thread to you but you might miss it in all of them so thought I would post it again here for you....

"Rybread...just a thought...I know you have been thinking you have been in a stall the past couple of weeks...but you also started the stregh training around then too..is it possible that you are in fact still losing fat but building muscle?? Muscle weighs more than fat so it might take a couple of weeks for it all to work out...just a thought???"

What do you think??

[rybread]

Re: How did you do OWL? (It got long...)

That's definitely possible, Elsie!

I *think* (and I'm hesitant to say this because I don't want to jinx myself!) that I may have finally broken through this 'pause' because since Friday, the scale has started finally moving down again. (!!!) And because I'm not doing anything drastically different at this point (eating up to OWL Berries and 30g), I'm going to chalk being stuck for almost 6 weeks to either a 'set point' for my body, or just normal fluctuation.

That said, the new plan is to move up the rungs, and stick to 30g carbs, at which point I'll then try to find my CCLL. Modified OWL for me, it seems.