CCLL, Here I come

[BigRunner]

This is my third time on Atkins.

The first time got down to 192. Stayed on induction the entire time. Ate TONS of frankenfoods (bars, shakes, candy bars, etc.) Lost interest, put all the weight back on.

Second time around. Got down to 173. Moved on to OWL, but only to add a few foods here and there. Never "tried out" different foods in each rung. Never really increased my carb level above the 15 to 30 range most days. The carb levels were never consistent. It would be 12 one day, 26 the next, then 22 the next day. Not really following the OWL phase. Pretty hard to find CCLL when you're not increasing in 5 gram increments or even keeping a "close" carb count each day.

Now, third and final time around. I just got my head around this a week ago. I have basically been doing the "second time around" plan again. I have tried multiple things on the rungs up to Legumes. I am going to continue from here up the carb ladder.

This week I decided to "start" my daily net carbs at 35. I was scared to death, but actually kept the carb counts between 33 and 37 every day.


Today's weigh in: Down 4 pounds!!!
I almost fell off the scales. My losses had slowed down to about a pound a week. Good, I know. But, with the amount of running I'm doing I though it should be closer to two.

Plan for this coming week is to go up to 40 carbs. Food wise, I'm going to pick up a food from the Dairy rung. I've never tried ricotta cheese (other than in pre-Atkins lasagna). The following week, I'll start trying a food from the Legumes rung.


Rich

[julirama723]

Re: CCLL, Here I come

Rich, best of luck with this! You are doing such a smart thing!

I am on my 2nd time around, the first time failing miserably because I basically stayed on induction the whole time but ate lots of frankenfoods and soda. I gradually allowed myself "treats" and fell of the wagon entirely when stress got the better of me. Sound familiar!?

I'm in the process of finding my CCLL. I too started at 35g as my first "leap" into finding it. I think I was on Rung 5 or 6 when I started. I am now up to 65g and still losing (this week I lost 3 pounds!?!? What?!) but it's getting harder to eat so many carbs in a day...So I think I'll have to introduce new foods. It was terrifying to add 5g each week, but it's important to realize that the weight loss will SLOW before it stops, so if you do it consistently, as you get closer to your CCLL, you should have an estimate of where it will be. I'm guessing mine is in the 80s or 90s. But I'm still nervous to go up to 70g!

One word of advice--DO NOT UP YOUR CARBS THE SAME WEEK YOU MOVE UP A RUNG. This will make it hard to pinpoint the cause of problems. Sometimes more carbs cause a stall, sometimes it's a new food. I would add new foods, THEN move up, stay at that carb intake for a while, then move up another rung, etc.

Keep us posted on how it goes!