Pre-maintenance or Lower Goal Weight?

[BigRunner]

Hello all,

I am on OWL Rung #3, starting Rung #4 this week. I currently eat about 35 carbs per day and have been losing weight very quickly (average 3 pounds per week).

The goal weight I chose was 174. I picked this because it was the weight that would give me a healthy BMI of 25.

This is my second time around on Atkins. The first time I didn't follow the book and basically stayed on Induction for a year and ate tons of frankenfoods. This time I'm sticking as close to the book as I can and moving through the phases and rungs.

I pretty much measure (measuring spoons and cups) or weigh (digital kitchen scales) everything I eat. I enter it into Fitday. My calories range anywhere from 1500 to 2300 a day. I'm not really counting calories, but I do monitor them.

I exercise (run) 5 days a week. Currently, I'm running between 28 and 34 miles per week.

Sorry for the long post.

The question is: According to the book, I should be switching to pre-maintenance with 5-10 pounds to lose (I have 9 left). However, I have not come close to finding my CCLL yet. I'm still going up the rungs.

Should I keep going as I am and progress up the rungs and find my CCLL somewhere along the way?

Should I try to find my CCLL now? How?

I have started to think that maybe my goal weight should be closer to 160. This is uncharted territory for me. I weigh less than I did when I got married and haven't been this weight since about 7th grade.

Thanks in advance for any advice. I realize how fortunate I am to be eating so many carbs/calories and still losing so well. I remember starving on Weight Watchers trying to eat 24 points (about 1200 calories) a day and not losing anything. My mom thinks I'm starving myself to lose weight. This is after eating 9 ounces of roast beef and 2 cups of broccoli with cheese in front of her!

Rich

[2big4mysize]

Re: Pre-maintenance or Lower Goal Weight?

the only difference between OWL and premaintenance eating is you add 10 net carbs at a time instead of 5. Move to premaintnenance for your next rung increase and see what happens. your weight loss should slow down some.

if you did your induction cheat free for the 14 days then based on your pounds lost during those 14 days and your needed to lose weight loss you should be able to use the charts in DANDR to figure out your estimated CCLL. Since you are a regular exercisers you should be able to handle double your current level.

[sunflowergrl]

Re: Pre-maintenance or Lower Goal Weight?

Wow Rich, you look great!!! Keep up the good work. I am really glad you are moving up the rungs and dumping the Frankenfoods!!

[BigRunner]

Re: Pre-maintenance or Lower Goal Weight?

2big,

I looked up the approximate CCLL range in the book and it says 60-90 grams of carbs. I think I'll add 10 carbs per rung, starting now with #4 and see how that goes. This will help to find my CCLL faster. Once I find it, then I can decide if I want to stay below that level and continue to lose or not. I'm so excited. Thank you for responding back so fast.

sunflowergrl,

Thank you for your nice comments. I can't believe how well this works when you make it a way of life and do it right.


Rich

[soliwit]

Re: Pre-maintenance or Lower Goal Weight?

What an amazing difference Rich !!!
Good job !

[Analog6]

Re: Pre-maintenance or Lower Goal Weight?

Rich, Congatulations on the good results. How tall are you? That makes a difference to recommending a goal weight. Why not aim for the middle of the normal BMI rage, 22-23? See what figure that comes out to, and it should be about right. You look pretty fit now, though, so I'd say you don't have a lot more to lose.

[BigRunner]

Re: Pre-maintenance or Lower Goal Weight?

Thank you Soliwit.

Analog,

Good suggestion. I am 5'10". According to the BMI tables, that would put me somewhere between 152 and 160. I think that pretty much confirms the 160 goal. I still think I'm going to increase my carbs by 10 for each rung to find my CCLL sooner than later.

Rich

[ValidRouge]

Re: Pre-maintenance or Lower Goal Weight?

My mom thinks I'm starving myself to lose weight. This is after eating 9 ounces of roast beef and 2 cups of broccoli with cheese in front of her!

Goes to show you how how people think...if you are losing weight, you MUST be starving yourself! Thanks Weight Watchers, SlimFast, USDA, Jenny Craig, and other lowfat diets...NOT!

Thanks to Dr. Atkins...I don't starve at all.

[Heidi3]

Re: Pre-maintenance or Lower Goal Weight?

I agree with Analog and your plan to increase by 10 ...
I found mine after I had been at goal for a few months ..I just kept playing around with eating more carbs and finally settled in where I am ...

and the whole frankenfood thing ..awesome you gave that crap up!!!
nothing is better than eating really good food that is for sure ..your body appreciates it and pays you back by better energy and the way you look ..I really believe that!

you do look absolutely awesome congratulations....

[not2late]

Re: Pre-maintenance or Lower Goal Weight?

Congrats!

By the way, since you are a regular exerciser, you might want to get your body fat % analyzed rather than going by scale weight. Having 1 pound of musle is better than having 1 pound of fat, but the scale won't discriminate between muscle poundage and fat poundage. So, get your body fat measured.

[BigRunner]

Re: Pre-maintenance or Lower Goal Weight?

Thank you all for your support and advice. I love being able to ask questions (that maybe I should "know" from having the read the book, but somehow missed) without being given attitude. Support, Support, Support. Thanks again.

Rich

[2big4mysize]

Re: Pre-maintenance or Lower Goal Weight?

so how did you do with your first addition?

remember too you don't know if those food rungs will effect your blood sugar stability too so if you have cravings drop it back fast to the previous rung where you know you can handle the foods and add the 20 net carbs there and see. If you are stable then you know it was the new to you foods in that new rung and can just not up your carbs cause you just did 10 at the lower rung and move onto that rung looking for foods that cause you issues until you are happy with that rung and know what it was and can then move up again to 10 more on a new rung.

Also remember to have a fat with your new carbs for blood sugar stability too. that is in DANDR chapter 14 in the tips at the end.

Don't be surprized it you end up having more then 90 net carbs too. many of us were over 100 net working out.

Megs has a great point about the body fat. When I finally realized I was at goal I was actually under weight based on body fat 14.9%, but still overweight according to the BMI and height weight charts.

Happy OWLing.

[Isabeau]

Re: Pre-maintenance or Lower Goal Weight?

Yes, curious minds want to know!

[Checkers]

Re: Pre-maintenance or Lower Goal Weight?

I agree with not2late. The scale may not tell you what you need to know. You may have lots of nice muscle that keeps the scale higher. You look great!

[BigRunner]

Re: Pre-maintenance or Lower Goal Weight?

Well, I decided 3 weeks ago to add 10 net carbs on Rung #5. Added cantaloupe and strawberries (one each week). Over this 3 weeks I've lost 5 more pounds. Pretty much half the rate I was losing at. Not sure if it's due more to eating more carbs or just the fact that I have less to lose. I'm happy either way.

I did have one woops. I got carried away and didn't think I needed to watch my nut portions. I was having ridiculous cravings after not having any for a long, long time. Took me a couple of days to figure it out. At first I was sure it was the fruit. I've found that as long as I keep the servings of nuts to just 1oz. at a time, I'm OK. More than that, lock the refrigerator.

As you can see from my stats, I did officially lower my goal from 174 to 160. As was suggested, that would put me in the 22 to 23 BMI range. I still have a decent belly on me so I don't think this is going too low or that I have muscle that would cause this number to be too low. I will see how my clothes fit as I go and be prepared to call it goal sooner.

On a related note, I went in to buy new pants this past weekend. I have given nearly 3/4 of my clothes to family and Goodwill. Last time around, I kept all my old clothes. This is my last time losing weight, so I don't need the "big" clothes and I'm giving them away. This last cleaning, I gave away all shirts/sweaters that were XXL, XL or the bigger fitting L sizes (I wear medium now, but I have to keep something to wear until I can buy new clothes). Now the real exciting part. I have never in my life worn pants smaller than a 34 waist. So, when I went in to try on some new ones, I grabbed a couple pairs of 34s and being daring, a couple of 33s. Well, both of those fell off!! So, I went back and grabbed some tiny 32s. Still too big! In shock, I grabbed some 30s. Tight, but could definitely button them up. So, I settled on a "stretch waist" type Docker pants in size 30. They fit comfortable and will allow me to wear them for the forseeable future as I continue to loose weight/inches. Me in 30s? Crazy.

In closing this rambling post, I would like to say to people in Extended Induction to not be afraid of adding carbs and having the weight loss slow down. I wound up going off Atkins and putting half of my weight back on the first time around because I had become "carbophobic" and allowed myself to get into eating ruts, bored out of my mind with my food. Now, I look forward to trying new recipes and foods. I even tried jicama a couple weeks back.

Thanks again everyone for your advice and support. I've lost 15 pounds since the last picture. I'll have to get a new one taken soon. I'm even going to start working on my abs. I think I'm getting close to the point where they may make their first ever appearance!

Rich