OWL question from someone who should know better

[chinadoll]

This is for the long timers-- I have read the stickies on percentages as you owl, etc. but I wanted to ask you specifically about veggies (my book is in the US) and carbs as you OWL. I honestly don't think I have ever seen this question addressed specifically.

DO most of your carb grams continue to come from veggies as you go up the ladder? I am finding it difficult to do so as I move up the rungs since there are other carbs available. But that made me think---my diet would be healthier and cravings easier to control if I was upping my veggies along with other carbs. I would end up with a self limiting number of extra carbs if I still shoot for the majority to come from veggies. So is that how it should work?

[Georgiana]

Re: OWL question from someone who should know better

This is from Ch. 13:

Ongoing Weight Loss has a couple of fundamental differences from Induction, which I will explain in Chapter 14, but it is also very similar to Induction in that you will continue to derive the majority of your carbohydrates from vegetables low in carbs. You will add more portions of vegetables, and most people are later able to add nuts, seeds and even some berries.

DO most of your carb grams continue to come from veggies as you go up the ladder?

If by "most" you mean "over half", that is what I do. I lose better this way and I prefer veggies rather than say, beans or cottage cheese. The only non-Induction foods that I eat almost daily are yogurt (150 g) and nuts (1 ounce).

I am finding it difficult to do so as I move up the rungs

For me, there are always Brussels sprouts.

[d33na]

Re: OWL question from someone who should know better

Brussels sprouts are the best!!!!!!!!

[not2late]

Re: OWL question from someone who should know better

This is for the long timers-- I have read the stickies on percentages as you owl, etc. but I wanted to ask you specifically about veggies (my book is in the US) and carbs as you OWL. I honestly don't think I have ever seen this question addressed specifically.

DO most of your carb grams continue to come from veggies as you go up the ladder? I am finding it difficult to do so as I move up the rungs since there are other carbs available. But that made me think---my diet would be healthier and cravings easier to control if I was upping my veggies along with other carbs. I would end up with a self limiting number of extra carbs if I still shoot for the majority to come from veggies. So is that how it should work?

Theorethically, it might: in practice it might not. While you continue eating the 3 cups of Induction vegetable, you have an additional 5 net carbs of those induction veggies. But you continue adding 5 net carbs of non-veg foods, like fruits, starchy veg, grains.

For example, your OWL Rung 9 menu might look like this:

Breakfast:
1 egg omelette with 1 cup mushrooms (about 2 net carbs) and 1 cup jicama hash browns (about 5 net carbs),

Lunch:
1 chicken leg
1 cup turnip fries (about 5 net carbs)
5 net carbs carrot (Rung 8 ) salad with 5 net carbs raisins (Rung 7)

Snack:
1 ounce madacamia nuts (Rung 3)

Dinner:
Pork chop
Veggie medley of 5 net carbs cauliflower (Rung 1) and 5 net carbs lima beans (Rung 6)
Cranachan: Scottish dessert made of 5 net carbs heavy cream (Rung 2), 5 net carbs berries (rung 4), 5 net carbs toasted oatmeal (Rung 9) and a shot of whiskey (rung 5).

So the carbs from your OWL rungs = 38 , 12 net carbs from your Induction veggie minimum. For a total of 40 net carbs from the rungs and Induction veg.

Of the 38 only 10 are from veggies (the cauliflower and the carrots), therefore you have a total of 22 from veggies alone. That is a "most" of you carbs coming from the veggies---but only for that menu above. See if you add in the carbs from eggs, sweeteners, sauces/dressings, protein powders, etc. etc., the 22 veggie carbs can dip below "most" of you carbs.

So it boils down to how you plan your menu and the foods you choose to eat.

[chinadoll]

Re: OWL question from someone who should know better

Thanks to everyone. I definitely see how continuing to keep the majority of my carb grams from veggies will serve me well for maintenance and health, but I am finding it dipping below half as you said, megs. I feel like I stumbled onto a big secret for maintenance success in figuring this out. The key to success is the veggies. I guess this will be my new mantra. I do well with the veg but now I have another reason to pay attention.

[liv]

Re: OWL question from someone who should know better

Do you know how many carbs you can eat per day Jill?
If your CCLL is low like mine most carbs should come from veggies because you should be eating your induction carbs 12 and your Owl rung one carbs 5 which is 17 carbs of veggies per day so if your CCLL is 35 that means half of your carbs comes from veggies automatically.
I am happy when I have a day where a lot carbs come from vegetables. But some days carbs come from other places because if I eat a grain or fruit carbs pile up.

[atkinsgal08]

Re: OWL question from someone who should know better

>> DO most of your carb grams continue to come from veggies as you go up the ladder?>>

This is quite true for most of the people I know who have been on maintenance for a while.

As has been noted, some "day" this might not be true, but it should be true more days than not.

[chinadoll]

Re: OWL question from someone who should know better

J - I think my body is like yours and I am going to have to keep the veggies up no matter what my CCLL.

liv- thats tricky. I wasn't happy with the scale last month and set it aside for one month to measure instead. In the past I could comfortably go to 50 gr a day but always sort of lost track beyond that. After I weigh in next week I will still have no true picture since I have climbed a couple of rungs this month and may have stopped losing regardless of what the scale says when I step on. And I will be home for the holidays. I am going to keep on keeping on until January and when I get back to China I will drop back to rung three and re climb the rungs watching closely what happens.

[liv]

Re: OWL question from someone who should know better

That sounds like a good plan to me. OWL can be a bit hard. It think it is hard if your CCLL is low if you have a higher threshold there are more things you can do.
To me it is easier to find out what will make you gain than what will make you still lose. I think this is related to the fact that the carbs are so different and do different things to our bodies. So that number is not going to be set in stone. But yeah veggies are very safe stuff.

[Fancy1952]

Re: OWL question from someone who should know better

I wasn't happy with the scale last month and set it aside for one month to measure instead. In the past I could comfortably go to 50 gr a day but always sort of lost track beyond that. After I weigh in next week I will still have no true picture since I have climbed a couple of rungs this month and may have stopped losing regardless of what the scale says when I step on.

After reading these posts, I definitely need to go back to more vegies. We are on OWL rung 4, but I rarely have fruit now, since it isn't in season. I get frozen blueberries when they are on sale, and may have 1/4 cup with some plain yogurt, but I give them mostly to my DH

I generally do nuts (1 oz) 2 or 3 times a week. I think I'm going to go back to eating big salads at lunch, with a hot vegie at supper, and if I can ever find those darn (delicious) little white turnips again, I'll eat my fav "pancake" for breakie. I don't usually get tired of eating the same things all the time, but I vary the menu for my DH. I appear to be plateauing right now, (actually I haven't lost for some time) so I'm upping the exercise and as I said before, I'll go back to my "summer" salads. Maybe that will do the trick. When I was doing Induction, I only lost 4 lbs in the 2 weeks, so...I would think that tells me to stick to vegies.

But yeah veggies are very safe stuff.

Thanks for doing this thread Jill, at least I'm not alone

Suzanne

[chinadoll]

Re: OWL question from someone who should know better

You're welcome Suzanne.

Liv, I think you are so right about it being harder to figure out how to keep losing as opposed to stopping gains. And when I go back to Rung three in January I am going to be a real stickler for the power of 5. I have been losing inches but I know I could be better with my record keeping.