Question about Rungs...

[Pumababi]

I have a question. When you left induction and started on the rungs... how much did your weight slow? Or did your weight loss sped up? If so... which rung did you experience it on? What was your favorite thing about the rungs? What did you not like about each rung? Did you experience any cravings or increased hunger? Binges? When you add in new foods- how does it not kick you out of ketosis?

I'm just curious. I'm trying to gather information about it as I get closer to moving to that phase. Thanks!

[not2late]

Re: Question about Rungs...

I have a question. When you left induction and started on the rungs... how much did your weight slow? Or did your weight loss sped up? If so... which rung did you experience it on? What was your favorite thing about the rungs? What did you not like about each rung? Did you experience any cravings or increased hunger? Binges? When you add in new foods- how does it not kick you out of ketosis?

I'm just curious. I'm trying to gather information about it as I get closer to moving to that phase. Thanks!

OWL is purely "your mileage may vary" so you really cannot compare how your body will react to carbohydrate amounts and types of carbohydrate foods to other people. It's too individual.

The weight loss slow down is misleading because some people experience faster weight loss on OWL. From what I've observed, this is particularly true of people who have unnecessarily extended their Induction. What I mean by "unnecessarily" is that Dr. Atkins wrote that the only people who may benefit from extending Induction phase are those people with high metabolic resistance to weight loss per the metabolic resistance charts: staying on Induction longer might correct those imbalances that cause the metabolic resistance (last sentence Chapter 13 DANDR 2002.)

Cravings and other blood sugar instability symptoms on OWL are somewhat common. But one of the rules of OWL is as soon as you recognize the blood sugar instability symptom(s), remove the food from your menu. This trial-and-erro is helpful in the long run because you learn what your body can and cannot eat. Sometimes, we have OWLers who don't pay attention to the OWL rules and they get stuck in an over-eating mode. Once they re-read their DANDR and become more self-aware, they get back on track.

I slowed my weight loss down during my OWL because it didn't take me long to realize I have alot of bad eating habits that I felt needed to be corrected---otherwise, I'd risk re-gaining my weight. And let's face it, this whole process of losing weight is a big pain in the rear-end and it's something I don't ever want to repeat. Others don't have that kind of problem so they proceed at their own speed.

As for ketosis, as long as you are eating a ketogenic diet, you will be producing ketones. Each of us has a carbohydrate losing level. That is, there is a specific number of carbs we can eat daily and still lose weight. My level is 50 net carbs daily. 2Big and some others had levels of over 100 net carbs daily. So, again, it depends on your metabolism, your level of activity (exercise) and your body.

[not2late]

Re: Question about Rungs...

Forgot to add..

About adding foods. Dr. Atkins did us a great favor by giving us an order and amount of food to add. OWL foods are added in 5 net carb amounts. As you have seen from your Induction, every food has a different carb count. So 1 cup of lettuce has a different carb count than 1 cup of pumpkin puree.

This is done for a number of reasons:
1. Portion control. Many of us don't eat correct portions for our activity level and bodies. On OWL, you add only 5 net carbs of a food. If you choose to eat 5 net carbs of lettuce, you'll be eating about 15 cups of it. (Good luck!) While eating 15 cups of lettuce is okay in terms of carbs, it's not okay in terms of normal portion size---unless you are an elephant.

2. By limiting the 'new' carbs to 5, you will be able to pinpoint what your Critical Carbohydrate Level is. Sometimes I read posters who say their CCLL is 25-35 carbs. That tells me they don't know what their CCLL. The CCLL is a stable number in that, if you go one of two carbs over it, you stop losing weight. Now there are special circumstances that can affect the CCLL, like exercise. If you are a regular exerciser your CCLL can be well over 50 net carbs daily. But if you stop exercising regularly, your CCLL might drop. But on the whole, you know what the number is. It's not a range of numbers it's 1 number.

[Adena]

Re: Question about Rungs...

My short answer is that yes, I my losses accelerated after moving to OWL. I had been gaining and losing the same few pounds on Extended Induction for a few weeks, but started to drop one I moved to OWL, almost immediately, in fact. Not to mention the wonderful new variety of foods. I had no idea it would make such a big difference, but it has!

[changing]

Re: Question about Rungs...

You've gotten some good replies to your post!

I just wanted to add a purely personal one. I am a HUGE OWL fan!! The first time I did Atkins back in 2003, I never went through OWL and stayed on induction to lose 70 pounds and never learned how my body handled food. This time, I've been on the diet for 10 months, gone through all the rungs, and I feel like I"ve learned how to eat properly (for my body's metabolism) for the very first time. I have this sense that I will be able to lose and maintain this loss forever because I finally understand how my body deals with different foods and how to feed my "true hunger."

Please dive into rung 1. Add a few more vegetables and see how it goes! Your body will love you! I always say that I didn't get overweight by eating vegetables and it's true.

Now, that said, here is a list of my absolute favorite additions from each rung of OWL:

Rung 1 More Vegetables: canned pumpkin, cabbage, tomatoes
Rung 2 Dairy: plain yogurt, cottage cheese, cream cheese
Rung 3 Seeds and Nuts: almonds, sesame seeds; almond flour to make cookies, cakes, and muffins
Rung 4 Berries/Melons: all berries, especially strawberries and raspberries; watermelon
Rung 5 Wine and Low-Carb Spirits: Rum and Diet Coke, Dry Cooking Sherry and other cooking wines; Corona Light
Rung 6 Legumes: Peanuts
Rung 7 Other Fruits: Peaches, Plums, Tangerines
Rung 8 Starchy Veggies: Sweet Potato, Green Peas
Rung 9 Whole Grains: Popcorn, Corn on the Cob (I consider corn a grain and not a veggie), Low-carb tortillas

This is the best way of eating I have ever followed... I love the taste of fresh, real food! Finally, I have come around to the way of thinking that junk foods and overly processed foods taste, well, JUNKY and not like food at all.

My best advice for anyone following this way of eating, especially going into OWL is to learn to cook and like cooking. A whole world opens up for you if you can get basic cooking techniques under your belt -- plus, it's fun to experiment with recipes.