Does Ketosis stop working after a while?

[jsj0305]

Re: Does Ketosis stop working after a while?

NTW, he was selling btose ketostix! LOL

[atkinsagain]

Re: Does Ketosis stop working after a while?

Count me in as one of those people who *used* to be carbophobic. I was losing slowly (still am for my liking, lol). Maybe .5 a pound a week and I was doing extended induction because I was afraid if I moved on, the weight loss would be even slower. Anyway, I decided to go ahead and move on and two weeks later, I had lost 4 pounds, most of it in one week. I'm still moving along and not only am I still losing but I find I have even more energy, fewer headaches and just generally more enjoyable to be around. I'm committed this time to stick to this as a way of life and I figured if I don't master the plan by following it as it was written, I'm just setting myself up for failure in the long run. I'm not willing to do that again.

Carbophobia: the fear of carbs, lol. Perry said once that the rapid weight loss of Induction is a blessing and a curse. People are overjoyed because that initial "whoosh" is probably the largest amount of weight they have lost in the shortest period. It gives you the confidence that you are a weight loser, that all hope of losing weight is not lost and that the diet works. On the other hand, it can bring on a fear of the inability to lose weight if you add an additional 5 net carbs of vegetables. So they become scared of carbs. I blame Dr. Atkins for this because he wrote in the OWL chapter that OWL can slow weight loss, but he didn't explain that the "slow down" can mean losing 3.5 pounds per week instead of 4.

Among the posts I read, the most heartbreaking are the ones that say "I lost 40 pounds on Atkins. Then I fell off because I couldn't keep up with the diet." Most of the time, if you inquire how they did during OWL, they will say they stayed on Induction the whole time and they either got tired of the limited food selection or they stopped losing weight. The second most heartbreaking posts are the ones that say "This is month 5 of Induction for me and I cheated because I ate 3 strawberries last night." If they move on to OWL, 3 strawberries aren't a cheat.

Like I said, only a small percentage of us are so metabolically resistant to weight loss that we have to keep our carbs to 20 net or below in order to lose weight. And even those people aren't banished to the Induction phase until Maintenance. They can move up the OWL carb ladder, swapping 5 net carbs of the OWL foods for the "extra" Induction carbs like the artificial sweetner and heavy cream allotments. The rest of us can eat at higher levels and still lose weight.

[Kent]

Re: Does Ketosis stop working after a while?

Just one small word of support to those who are still eating below their CCLL because they want to. There is nothing within the Diet that says you have to eat at your CCLL every day. My CCLL is much higher than the 30 net I usually eat per day, but it comes down to taste. You don't have to eat at a higher carb level because you leave a certain phase anymore than you have to dring alcohol because you reach that rung. Eat at the level that you have the highest performance level while satiating your diet. If that means 100 net carbs per day or 20, figure it out and change when it no longer fits your lifestyle or your activity levels.

Timidity about carb levels is not healthy, but that is not the same as chosing to eat at 20 or 30 because that is what your tastes are.

[obese_one_kenobe]

Re: Does Ketosis stop working after a while?

Even though your body does not burn protein for fuel it can convert the protein to glucose, and then burn the glucose. Notice that he doesn't say "ONLY" carbs break down to glucose. This is the problem with low cal diets that limit protein and go in and out of ketosis. When the stored glucose is gone and before there are enough ketones to fuel the body it converts protein to glucose as a stop gap measure.

Kent,
Is it true that Atkins causes loss of facial hair ? (how do I get a smiley face in here ?)

danny

[Piasabird]

Re: Does Ketosis stop working after a while?

Kent,
Is it true that Atkins causes loss of facial hair ? (how do I get a smiley face in here ?)

danny

Kent lost his and so did Higgies. Hmm, maybe you're right.

[MotherOfGizmo]

Re: Does Ketosis stop working after a while?

LOL P-bird!

Megs, great posts!

Another thing that should be mentioned that is not mentioned enough on this board IMO, is that it is not always all about the carbs! A lot of us find that we get so stuck in eating the high fats of induction that we don't realize that we really need to cut back on them more as we move along the rungs!

There are several of us on this board who have been on Atkins for a long period of time who stop losing and even begin gaining weight after keeping carbs very low and fats too high for an extended period.

[not2late]

Re: Does Ketosis stop working after a while?

Re: eating below CCLL.

My CCLL is 40. I eat anywhere between 30-40 net carbs daily, depending on my appetite for the day, what I've planned to eat for the day (which depends on what I have in the frig and what I feel like eating). etc. Nothing wrong with that. But if I were to consistently eat 10 net carbs or more below my CCLL, I run into the problems I did when my CCLL changed, namely appetite return/hunger, fatigue and no weight loss.

I've seen folks do Extended Induction to lose the majority or all of their weight. In fact we had a mod here about 2 1/2 years ago who used to advise the Extenders to up their protein alittle if they found themselves slowing down because this is how this particular mod dealt with slowing down on Extended Induction. It makes sense in a way because 58% of the protein we eat is converted to glucose. So by increasing the protein intake, the body makes enough extra glucose from the protein to mimic increasing carbs. The problem with this is that 1. you don't get the benefits of vitamins, minerals, and fiber from carb foods like veggies, fruits, legumes, grains, 2. you don't learn your body's tolerance to other carb foods, 3. if you don't eat a variety of the Induction veggies, you can become deficient in certain vitamins and minerals, and 4. there's a possibility that eating the same proteins over and over can sensitize your body to them so that you develop a food intolerance to those foods.

Another thing that should be mentioned that is not mentioned enough on this board IMO, is that it is not always all about the carbs! A lot of us find that we get so stuck in eating the high fats of induction that we don't realize that we really need to cut back on them more as we move along the rungs!

There are several of us on this board who have been on Atkins for a long period of time who stop losing and even begin gaining weight after keeping carbs very low and fats too high for an extended period.

Very true. It takes very little added fat to make the fat percentages during Induction, OWL and Pre-Maintenance. Using 1 tablespoon of olive oil on your salad or 1 tablespoon of mayo in your tuna salad can make that dish 50-75% fat. A hard-boiled egg is about 75% fat on its own, adding mayo to it is a more a matter of taste than it is a matter of making "percentages".

[Elizellen]

Re: Does Ketosis stop working after a while?

And as MoG suggested, as we move through OWL and add carbs we also lower our fat intake naturally as we keep our protein intake roughly to the same 30% throughout our Atkins Way of Life.

[2big4mysize]

Re: Does Ketosis stop working after a while?

one big thing folkwho don't feed their hunger miss is that as we get smaller we need less fuel to preform the same activities so we eather need to eat less or up or exercise.

[MotherOfGizmo]

Re: Does Ketosis stop working after a while?

Problem is Elizellen, the fat lowering naturally doesn't happen for a lot of us! After getting used to eating the skin on the chicken and the butterfat on my Ribeyes and the cream sauces and butter and etc etc, its hard to get into the mind set that you need to start giving up some of these things! Actually its kind of a bummer. But that's the way it has to be!


2big, very good point!

[not2late]

Re: Does Ketosis stop working after a while?

Problem is Elizellen, the fat lowering naturally doesn't happen for a lot of us! After getting used to eating the skin on the chicken and the butterfat on my Ribeyes and the cream sauces and butter and etc etc, its hard to get into the mind set that you need to start giving up some of these things! Actually its kind of a bummer. But that's the way it has to be!


2big, very good point!

I see your point MOG. During Induction we learn to add fat. So we carry over that habit by adding more fat (ie: 3 tablespoons of salad dressing instead of 1 tablespoon) during OWL. That's where portion control comes into play. If, during Induction, we learn what a proper portion is and eat those proper portions, then the transition might be easier.

Some of us (me included!) ate huge portions of food, like eating seconds or third helpings, but we most likely ate huge portions without even realizing they were huge. Pre-Atkins, I used to eat those large bagels (about 3-4 inches across). 1 or 2 for breakfast, 1 for a snack later in the day. I was so used to thinking "1 bagel" = "1 serving" that I was shocked to learn that one of those bagels were really 4 servings! So those 3 bagels satisfied the USDA's 9-11 servings of grains, but I also ate potatoes, rice and pasta daily! I don't even want to think how many servings of those I ate, but I'm pretty certain it was more than "1 serving"!

I'm very sure this eating habit carries over to our Atkins as well. Dr. Atkins tells us it's okay to eat butter. So what do we do? Do we eat 1 teaspoon on our veggies? Do we use 1 tablespoon on our veggies? Probably not. We probably use 2 or 3 tablespoons, because 1. we are finally able to eat a 'forbidden' food so we overdo it and/or 2. we don't realize that 3 tablespoons of butter is not "1 serving". Ditto with the protein amounts. Sure you can technically eat 3 chickens a day, but does 1 chicken = "1 serving"??? That's where Dr. Atkins warning "does not give you a license to gorge" comes into play.

One pitfall of DANDR 2002 is that Dr. Atkins didn't include the portion size chart, that was in Atkins For Life. It's too bad he didn't live long enough to write DANDR 2006.

[higgies]

Re: Does Ketosis stop working after a while?

LOL! I just saw this...funny...I thought it was making me lose some hair at first, but I think it was just my imagination.

[apopson]

Re: Does Ketosis stop working after a while?

Well ... I hope it DOES make ME lose some facial hair! ;-) Just messin'. This thread was a bit too complicated for me but ... I'm just starting to read the section about OWL so ... maybe then, I'll have more of a clue. At least the thread will be here.

[Feelin' Peachy]

Re: Does Ketosis stop working after a while?

I just checked out his web site and the Hampton Diet is low carb with probably a few more veggies start of with and the Macadamia nut oil he is pushing. The oil sounds like a good thing. Also his products line has almonds -- which we use in the form of almond flour in some of our recipes, Doesn't look to me like he's changed anything " earth shaking" except to eat the right kind of fat as he calls it. I think he's just trying to bring Low Carbing back to the spotlight after Atkins died. I know I'm sticking with the proven Atkins plan we all know to be a success. I might pick up some macadamia nut oil though.