What is your CCLL? And some questions...

[Alexa]

I've been wondering a few things about the stickies and DANDR. Is it the case that you have to have an official four week, no weight change, no measurement change stall, before you move down by 5g to find your CCLL?

Also though my weight is fluctuating it hasn't got down properly for 2 weeks now. I'm at 30g of carbs, so is my CCLL 25g? Or is it too soon to say?

Also it seems to me that there are too many variables. Because by eating more carbs and by eating new rung foods at the same time you don't know which is making you not lose weight. In one of the stickies it says finding your CCLL first may be better to combat this problem. Did anyone do this? If so, did you do it just with food from the veg rung? I'm thinking of trying this - as I can't tell what's having what effect.

Any thoughts gratefully recieved

[not2late]

Re: What is your CCLL? And some questions...

I see your dilemna. That's why I think it's better to hang around on a Rung and find your CCLL. For example, you've moved through Rungs 1-3. You have no problems with the foods you've added. So you start increasing your net carbs with your 'known foods' and see if the carb level affects you.

I hung around rung 1, adding more veggies and found my CCLL. Initially it was 35.

I say initially because I was on OWL a long time, so as I lost weight and became more physically fit, my CCLL changed. It is currently 50.

[Alexa]

Re: What is your CCLL? And some questions...

Hi Megs,

Thanks that's really useful. I think I will try to find my CCLL at the veg level and then add other things - I've been gettting quite confused.

Also, it's good to hear that your CCLL changed - I wasn't so keen on only eating 25g forever

Thanks,

Baarb

[changing]

Re: What is your CCLL? And some questions...

My CCLL used to be 45, but I as got into exercising and lost weight (I hear through the grapevine that extra fat makes us more insulin-resistant), my CCLL is now 80. My carb counts go up and down depending on what's going on in my life, but I know that as long as it's below 80, I'll continue losing either weight or inches (mostly inches these days for some reason).

I'm a 25-year-old woman who works out regularly (lots of weight-bearing aerobics with a little yoga, no weights just yet) and is about halfway to goal. Type 2 diabetes runs in my family.

Hope that helps.

[Alexa]

Re: What is your CCLL? And some questions...

Hey Changing,

Thanks for that. A question for you and Megs - how did you know that your CCLL had changed? Did you start losing more rapidly?

Thanks,

Baarb

[changing]

Re: What is your CCLL? And some questions...

I went by how I felt... I can really tell when I've overloaded my body with carbs and had been feeling gradually like I could handle a few more carbs at a time. The month that I first started eating 80 on a regular basis, I lost 11 pounds. This was also the month I first started paying close attention to my true hunger...

I guess it was more of an instinctive thing -- something in my body said "hey, give us a few more carbs; we can handle it." Now that it's winter (or practically winter) though, I'm thinking I may cut back for a little just to shake things up. I try to change it up. I tend to be a slow loser, but at least I don't get bored.

[Chasin2Kids]

Re: What is your CCLL? And some questions...

Thanks for posting this, Baarb. I'm going into my second month of Atkins, I'm in the dairy rung, and I was wondering the exact same thing as you regarding all the different variables. So thanks for asking this question!

[julirama723]

Re: What is your CCLL? And some questions...

not2late--I've been doing sort of the opposite.

I've moved through the rungs, but kept my carbs around 20 for rungs 1 and 2, around 25 for rung 3/4, and now I'm up at 30 and rung 5 (don't worry, I'm not having alcohol everyday to get those extra carbs LOL.) I plan on staying around 30 carbs for a couple more weeks, then upping it to 35 AFTER I've tried out new foods on rung 6 for a while.

You don't think this will cause problems or anything, do you?

[not2late]

Re: What is your CCLL? And some questions...

Hey Changing,

Thanks for that. A question for you and Megs - how did you know that your CCLL had changed? Did you start losing more rapidly?

Thanks,

Baarb

I stopped losing weight (pounds and inches) and I was fatigued. My appetite suppression was lost too: I was hungry all the time..

I tried decreasing calories, increasing calories, decreasing fat, increasing fat, exercising more, exercising less, removed foods from my diet, etc. Then I re-read the parts in the book where Dr. Atkins said 'regular' exercisers might have higher CCLLs. So I tried increasing my carbs.

After increasing it by 5 nets, I felt less fatigued, I got my appetite suppression back and I began losing weight (inches and pounds) again. So I added the carbs until I stopped losing weight, then backed off by 5 net carbs---the usual way to find your CCLL.

That's why I'm not a big fan of staying artificially below your CCLL for extended periods of time. I think your body gets used to that artificially low level of carbs and learns how to function on that amount so efficiently that you stop losing. You'll see this too on the folks who stay on Induction hoping that they will lose 'faster'. They hit a plateau that's broken by moving to OWL.

[Alexa]

Re: What is your CCLL? And some questions...

Thanks for all the info guys!

Megs, it was interesting that you felt hungry and stopped losing - that's exactly how I've been feeling and I've been exercising a lot more. Perhaps I should go up too. Scary, but worth a try.

Thanks again

[not2late]

Re: What is your CCLL? And some questions...

julirama, I don't think it will screw you up. I'm a carb junkie---my carbs of choice were potatoes, pasta and rice. So initially, I was hesistant to even go that far up the ladder until I knew I could limit myself to 5 net carb servings of those foods.

baarb, shortly after I began Atkins, I began reading Dr. Atkins' other books and reading books published by his former colleagues. One of his former colleagues, Dr. Fred Pescatore, had an online article that essentially said in his experience ketosis stops working and, in his experience, once the person liberalizes the diet, weight loss resumes.

In a way, I agree with him. However, I think that if you keep your carbs well below your CCLL, your bod will 'get used' to that carb level and begin to function so efficiently that you won't lose weight. People who hang around "extended Induction" hoping to lose weight faster, sometimes experience this: they stay at Induction level carbs, lose weight, but then hit a plateau. If you ask what their 14 day loss was and cross-reference the charts in the book, they are typically "average" metabolically resistant to weight loss. In other words, their CCLLs are above 20 net carbs daily.

For the ones who don't get frustrated and quit because "Atkins stopped working", they begin to lose weight again when they move to OWL. That's why I'm not a big fan of "extending" Induction. I think the most you should stay on it is 4-6 months, then move on.

[Alexa]

Re: What is your CCLL? And some questions...

Thanks Megs,

The science behind it is really interesting. I'll be moving up then and I'll be back to let you know how it goes.

Baarb