low carb and weight gain later on

[possysmith]

Hi
I read a post a while back advising someone to move from induction onto owl because they may have trouble with weight maintenance later on if their body gets too used to eating less than 20g carb a day. The advisor told us of the story about a woman who stayed on induction all the way to her goal weight and then was only able to eat meat and salad or else she started to put weight on if she added other carbs. Is this possible? I am so carb sensitive that I have had to reduce my carb intake on induction down to 10 g to reach ketosis and lose weight and inches. Even on 10g carb I'm still only on trace to small (rose). I only eat a cup of veg and take a multi and cascara.

Am I going to put weight on when I am nearing my goal (within 20 pounds) of it and change to owl? Is my body going to be used to eating low carb and put weight on if I begin to eat more veg? How is this scientifically possible? I have been on Atkins for a month and was only able to get into ketosis and lose inches when I did the 10 carb a day. In one week I lost 2 pounds and 5 inches. I am 77kg or 169 pounds. I want to stay in ketosis until I am 70 kg or 154 pounds and then change to owl.

I won't be eating 10 g carb with 1 cup salad forever. Is it too dangerous to do this for say 5 weeks? Will I suffer from the lack of veg in 5 weeks?

Please advise me as it has taken me ages to work out my carb threshold for fat loss and am stressed that it means eating only about a cup of veg plus tea and some cheese. I do wish it is o.k to eat like this for 5 weeks and then add veg which will then really slow down my weight to possibly 1 - 2 pounds a month.
Sue

[LuckyD]

Re: low carb and weight gain later on

Okay a couple of things here. One is that the color of ketostix has no relation to being in ketosis other than they should at least turn a bit pink. The amount of water you drink and other factors play into the color of them and dark doesnt always equal good. The other thing is how long have you been on Atkins? What are your expectations? If you are looking for dramatic loss quickly you will need to re-adjust your thinking. Some people lose a lot right off the bat, others dont lose any up front but lose more during OWL. While you are on OWL you will still be in ketosis. Ketosis is the key to this WOE. I would suggest that you do the rungs - all of them before you go on maintenance. Maybe you could let us know how far along you are, what your menu is like, and what your goal is.

[possysmith]

Re: low carb and weight gain later on

Sorry for not making myself clear. I have been on Atkins for about 6 weeks. The first 5 weeks I did inducion by the book and lost nothing. Last week I read the bit in DANDR about some people being very carb sensitive and decided to go down to 10 g carb a day to see if this helped. In the last 7 days I have lost 1kg or 2 pounds and about 5 inches.

I am 169 pounds and would like to go down to 132 pounds. I intend to stay on induction until I lose about 15 pounds and then do owl and lose the rest of the 22 pounds. I would be happy with a 1 pound loss a week. However I was unable as I wrote above to lose any inches or pounds on the 20 g carb a day induction limit which I was on for 5 weeks.

Sue

[LuckyD]

Re: low carb and weight gain later on

I have never encountered this problem on this board but I am sure some of the 'experts' on here can give you some good advice. Maybe you can incorporate new carbs from the rungs, but just keep them at low levels so you dont burn yourself out on the same type of meals. As far as this being healthy I dont see why not as long as you are taking vitamins and drinking your water. But then again someone might have some better information for you.

[Bren]

Re: low carb and weight gain later on

Sorry, I have not read any of your other posts to know the answers to these uestions........
Are you drinking your water?
Are you exercising?
Are you on any medications?
Have you read the chapters on yeast yet? Might check that out also?

[sallyseachange]

Re: low carb and weight gain later on

Ditto Bren's questions, and... do you have thyroid issues?

[*Emma*]

Re: low carb and weight gain later on

Ditto them two plus....

The more a person exercises the more carbs they can eat, so i would want to say, exercise more if you want to do this WOE properly...

[possysmith]

Re: low carb and weight gain later on

I had my thyroid checked. The doctor took my pulse and looked at my eyes and said I was fine. I might go back and get a blood test. I'm losing weight on 10 carbs a day and I am happy with that.

I didn't actually want diet advice as such. I just wanted to know if this "story" about a woman who did induction all the way to her goal weight was unable to increase her carbs when she finished as her body got used to low carb and put weight on when she added veg etc. It seems a bit of a weird story. I read it here on a post. I will have to go back and find it and ask the author personally. Just because I am on 10 carbs a day for 5 weeks doesn't mean my body will put on weight when I start adding more veg in. My naturopath also told me that eating no to low veg would make me put on weight later when I add more veg back.

Thanks for all your help. Let's just leave this post at this.
Suzanne

[possysmith]

Re: low carb and weight gain later on

April 17th, 2007,


Re: When to move to OWL?
I also moved to OWL on day 15.
I read on another Atkins board that a woman lost 100 lbs on Atkins, but stayed in induction the whole time.
Once she hit goal, she could eat nothing but salad and meat, or she started piling the weight back on.
This terrified me, and I keep myself mindful of it. OWL is the way to go.
__________________

This is the post I was talking about. This suggests that if you stay on induction which many people eat 15 carbs on, and my 10 carbs is not that far off, your body can make you put weight on when you increase veg etc later on. I am only going to be on 10g carb for 5 weeks so that I can start a good weight loss phase. I was judt worried that I might end up like the woman in this story because I'm having tiny amounts of veg and somedays no veg. Sounds like a wacky story to me. Surely the body adapts to whatever your eating.
Suzanne

[LuckyD]

Re: low carb and weight gain later on

I know you dont want advice but since you are still posting I am just going to add that you really need to eat those veggies everyday. It is so important. If you want to tweek the plan to your specifications than you are not really doing Atkins, and that is fine, but its hard for us to not put our two cents in when we see a red flag. Good luck with your journey, I hope everything works out the way you are hoping.

[Bren]

Re: low carb and weight gain later on

April 17th, 2007,


Re: When to move to OWL?
I also moved to OWL on day 15.
I read on another Atkins board that a woman lost 100 lbs on Atkins, but stayed in induction the whole time.
Once she hit goal, she could eat nothing but salad and meat, or she started piling the weight back on.
This terrified me, and I keep myself mindful of it. OWL is the way to go.
__________________

This is the post I was talking about. This suggests that if you stay on induction which many people eat 15 carbs on, and my 10 carbs is not that far off, your body can make you put weight on when you increase veg etc later on. I am only going to be on 10g carb for 5 weeks so that I can start a good weight loss phase. I was judt worried that I might end up like the woman in this story because I'm having tiny amounts of veg and somedays no veg. Sounds like a wacky story to me. Surely the body adapts to whatever your eating.
Suzanne

Suzanne,

For all it is worth, I have never heard of such a thing! Honest! I have been around here for awhile and have heard alot in my time, but never that story. Maybe we should chalk it up to low carb legends? I do believe it is just that, someone heard someone said and someone's Uncle's cousin nephew..........yada yada yada. We have had people here that have NOTHING in induction, but preceeded to move up the OWL rungs and lose! OR, those that have lost much weight and never registered on the ketosis sticks. Every one is different!

[Lamby-pie]

Re: low carb and weight gain later on

Hi folks,

That was my post, allow me to explain where it came from.

This was probably 5-6 years ago, on another Atkins list, I think it was called Scott's list. Blue font, white background. People posting there called Boston Kitty, Dobey, David, Tickle Tickle; maybe someone else here remembers it?

It was a very active board although I believe it is no longer in existance...

Anyway, one person had asked another person in maintenance how they were doing, the person replied that they were having a hard time maintaining their loss. They had stayed on strict induction and lost over 100 pounds, but now could not add in any carbs at all in the way of fruit, etc without starting to put weight on again. That's the long or short of it, it stuck in my head all these years because it scared the heck out of me.
I don't know if this woman had metabolism issues or what, if she exercised, I don't know anything about her, her woe, so I'm not even going to speculate on the story behind this woman.
I am not trying to scare people or spread mis-information. I made it extremely clear that this was someone else's experience, from another Atkins board, and I have no first-hand knowledge of the details of it.
I cannot help but have it leap into my mind when I hear of people staying on extended induction, which is why I repeated it. I would hate to see this happen to someone. I guess everyone's body is different.

This is one reason why I moved into OWL!

Sorry for any confusion, I don't know why anyone would make something like this up. It was from an active, long-time member of the board. I don't think she was lying.

I assume her body got used to the low number of carbs and could not adjust to higher carbs?

So that is where the story came from, and that's all I know about it.

[julirama723]

Re: low carb and weight gain later on

This technically isn't related...but...

Many people who stay on induction for an extended period of time DO gain weight when they stop eating that way--usually because they give up atkins altogether, out of boredom, frustration, etc. Staying on induction for an extended period of time does not benefit anyone UNLESS THEY ARE METABOLICALLY RESISTANT TO WEIGHT LOSS. If you lose weight during induction, you are NOT metabolically resistant. Moving to OWL is emphasized because THAT is the phase that lets us incorporate "new" foods and teaches us how to eat healthily for the rest of our lives. I would have quit long ago out of boredom if I had stayed on induction. I'm glad I moved to OWL, and moved up ALL of the rungs. I am STILL losing weight, eating 70g carbs a day, and I eat meat, cheese, nuts, fresh cheeses, veggies, fruit, whole grains, wine, etc. Learning how to eat in a way that is NOT a diet, but a way of life, is the key.