How many following OWL using the carb ladder?
 

I tried following the carb ladder, I didn't really get the whole concept of it and maybe I rushed through it to fast, I wasn't really sure how long I was suppose to stay with each group before adding a new one, etc... So, yes I guess I followed the ladder and made it to the top! :)
Sorry I have been of no real help have I? :D

I remember reading all of that, but I must have missed the every 2 week part. I just added every week, it didn't seem to bother me, I just started with the grains this week. I think I'll be okay!
Thanks for the info! :)

I think I may have missed a few rungs on the carb ladder. Started with more veggies, then added some fruit and nuts, then a slice of whole grain bread now and again. I'm supposedly allowed up to 40g of carbs now but rarely eat over 30.

You are not getting much of a response becuase it seems that the majority of people on this board stay at 20g, and almost everybody below 30g, for the majority of their weight loss. People are afraid of 'slowing there weight loss' (I can't help noticing that many of these same people stall for long periods). I am interested in the poll results!

I stopped adding when I reached grains even though I was only at 50g or so and could have pushed it more, and stayed there for the majority of my weight loss just becuase it was easier. I have been doing pre-maintence (I started a little early maybe, but wanted to start taking sandwiches to work) and upped to about 100g in the last 6 weeks.

Following the plan almost exactly as written has given me fantastic results, and I think it is a worry that so many people here laugh at those on 'asskins' and becuase there induction-permancy diets are 'allowed' by Atkins they are therefore great. From the maintence board I know that those who follow OWL maintain better. And although Atkins said you could stay on Induction longer, I think many people do so unneccessarily. And they learn less becuase of it - Doing OWL has taught me a lot. For example, I know that sugars (lactose, fruit sugar) cause me more problems then starches.

The biggest lesson I learnt in OWL is that the carb ladder is just a guide. It is also important to remember that as you 'move up a rung' you shouldn't just substitute all earlier rungs. IE - don't eat less vegies becuase you are getting too many carbs from strawberries.

I am glad that you are doing OWL and I wish you luck!

mb99 - your answer is certainly interesting. I suppose I have also been guilty of not following the diet properly, even though I have increased my carbs.

The one thing I am not sure about is grains. I don't really want to re-introduce them, due to the fatc, that they are not a natural food for us. And I am allergic to Potatoes. So I am struggling to eat more than 30 carbs a day, most day it is below that, but I don't work hard on keeping them there.

I wonder, if I should go back to induction level and start from there following the book to a T, or if I should switch over to PP, where there is more emphasis on adding carbs rather than adding carbs in a specific way....

Great question Freckles. I too have noticed that many of the people on the board here seem to stay around 20 carbs or less and seem to do a "modified" induction where they add in some other foods but don't go up the carb ladder.

I stayed on induction for about a month and then slowly started climbing the carb ladder. I have gone very slowly with the additions, taking at least 2 weeks per addition just to see how my body would react. The nuts, berries, and extra veggies were the easiest. I just introduced some dairy (sugar free and lc yogurt) in over the last 3 weeks. This is definately a time when YMMV. I find that time of day and what foods I am combining has a lot to do with how a new addition works for me. Hopefully, by going slowly with this and still losing weight slowly, when I get closer to goal I will be ready to transition into premaintenance.

Congrats on your great success!
Marie

One more question though, being a woman, adding carbs and seeing what happens for a week or 2, will not necessarily tell me, if a certain food has an affect on my weight or not. I only actually have a 2week window per month in which I lose weight. The other 2 weeks are spent on TOM which means either stalling or putting weight back on.....

I also like to eat a variety of food. It sounds a bit boring to me, to just add one food at a time ?

Compared to induction, the only food I have added is nuts and they don't seem to stall me.

I did not follow the ladder.. After induction I added back in nuts, higher carb veggies, LC yogurt, and just recently berries. No particular order, I just added them when I felt like them. :lol: I have noticed that the dairy causes cravings, so I really have to watch that, but none of the new foods caused me to stall.

Freckles, I'm starting to think that you're right. I may need to go back to Induction and do the proper steps of OWL too. I stick to 25-30 grams a day, but I admit that probably only 30% of it comes from veggies, and maybe another 10-20% from fruit. I probably eat more low-carb bread and tortillas than I should. You've really given me something to think about. The carb ladder would move very slowly for me, though, because like another poster said, there's only a 1 or 2-week window per month when I can lose weight. Good thing I'm in this for the long haul, because that's how long it's taking!

>One more question though, being a woman, adding >carbs and seeing what happens for a week or 2, will >not necessarily tell me, if a certain food has an affect >on my weight or not. I only actually have a 2week >window per month in which I lose weight.

Yeah, I don't have scales and weigh myself on my friends scales.. it used to be once every 3 weeks early on, but now that things are slowing its the start of each month. I found that this helped me, becuase I'd just keep ploughing through it adding a food a week, going on HOW I FELT, and then every 3 weeks getting confirmation that the number was still going down. I think if I had gone by the scale, weighing at each new food, I could have convinced myself that 'strawberries make me gain' around my TOM! This approach does require a bit of spine though. I mean, when I entered pre-maintence I went up about 30g more carbs in 3 weeks (and feeling great, which is why I did it) before weigh in (oh, and weigh in went VERY WELL!, which has convinced me of the power of adding carbs).

>I have been following the carb ladder and have found >that I am having trouble getting up to 20 carbs, even >with the addition of dairy.
Yeah, ditto that. As a person who did a junk food free 3 cups of vegies induction, I spent week 3 of this diet just trying to get anywhere near 20 with more vegies - I mean, I ate a lot of calliflower and asparagus, but sometimes adding 5 carbs with lower rungs can seem a lot harder then, say, adding 10 with a slice of bread.

>So due to my experience, I firmly believe that it's >important to do OWL - if not adding foods in the >ORDER Dr. Atkins recommends, at least the way he > recommends...adding foods slowly so you can pinpoint > any problems
I agree. Process is the most important thing.

I'm another one whose weight loss only comes in a one week window each month--I really should only weigh myself once a month, but I think I have adjusted psychologically to the "several weeks with no loss" pattern, and I'd be crushed if I weighed after a month and had no loss or a gain!

As far as OWL goes, I am as guilty as anyone of not adding things carefully and not waiting two weeks to see the effect. I'm close to ten months on the WOE, and I don't eat any grains--no LC bread or tortillas, because they don't really interest me. One exception: about once a week I have LC hot cereal (Carbsense). I get carbs from salad, broccoli, cauliflower, green peppers, tomatoes, and onions, as well as cheese, sour cream and nuts. I eat almost no fruit--I am not a big fruit fan and I think you get the same nutritional benefits from vegetables, plus I do take an array of supplements.

option 3 is nearest to what I am doing I have set my limit to around 35 carbs but very rarely get that high am usually around the 25 mark.

I started up the ladder, added more veggies, no problem, when I started the nuts, got cravings, stopped, added berries, got cravings , stopped that too.
I find I can add whole grains but no more than 5 grams at a shot, or I get cravings... wheat is a nono due to intolerance. I really have to listen to my body to make the right choices. Also I find I can raise my carbs to 40 at time but need to be low as 20 at other times.

I'm doing OWL but staying within 20 carbs a day. There are days when I may go up to 25 but not very often. I do eat nuts and other veggies. I haven't ventured to fruit yet, but I do take vitamins and supplements. I miss milk though.

~Becky

Freckles-

I started up the OWL ladder around Halloween, after 3 months in induction. I've added nuts, soft cheeses, fruit, and Carb Countdown milk, one at at time. Very occasionally I have a slice of low carb bread (my sister buys it at her house, and sometimes eating LC there can be a challenge). I'm at 40g a day now. My weight loss has slowed to a trickle (2lb a month) but I'm pretty content with what I'm eating. It's hard to ration out the fruit- 5g is usually 1/2 cup, and I used to eat much more- but I may actually be eating more salads and veggies than I used to.

Mark

I picked the third one. I took longer adding in new foods and upping my carb levels. I sort of followed the carb ladder, but not exactly. I've added things like steel cut oats, all kinds of allowed fruits, natural peanut butter, yams, carrots, lentils, more veggies, higher carb veggies, LC breads, and other goodies. Most of which I've done to increase my energy levels for my workouts. Some days I have 50 carbs others 20-25,trying to shake things up some. :)

Freckles, I hesitated answering you, but here it goes. Hope nobody judges me too harshly.

I've done Atkins for 7-1/2 months. The first two months were strict induction. I did not follow the carb ladder in the proper order. I added in what I missed most. First were the berries, I believe. Then came higher carb veggies. Nuts and seeds came later. Soy milk and LC tortillas as well as LC bread came much later, probably at around the 5 month mark. I now make my own yogurt and mix my own hot cereal with flaxseed meal, whey protein powder, oats, and various brans whenever I feel like it.

I'm 58 and don't have to deal with TOM, fortunately. I do often have limited mobility when it comes to exercise. I workout when and how often I'm physically able, for 70 to 90 min. on the treadmill. Because of the mobility challenge, I'm very careful what I eat because I can't count on burning it off.

Although I lost 50 lbs in 5-1/2 months, I've never bothered to find my CCL. I've also never bothered to eat a single SA or LC treat. It's not because I'm better than those who do, it's because I would rather not go there than worry about limiting and restricting portion control. If I'm going to eat carbs that do not come from veggies and salads, they will come from fruit first, then homemade yogurt and my own hot cereal blend.

I have days where I don't have more than 20 carbs. Other days, I know full well that I've probably eaten 50 or 60 carbs. I used to keep a running total in my head. Then I logged into FitDay. I spent two weeks recording everything I ingested. What I learned was that my fat, protein and calories are generally much too low. When I tried to correct the fat and protein, my calories went way up. I stoped torturing myself over that and am pretty much eating what I want, when I want. Keep in mind that it is still Atkins approved food.

I have no method, I just try to limit carbs to around 30 or 40. When I get to 50 or 60 in one day because I may have had a bowl of hot cereal, yogurt or fruit, all in the same day, I don't worry about it either. I have 60 more lbs to lose. I'm trying to make this a WOE one I can live with the rest of my life. I've tried micro managing, it was not the answer. I tried what I thought was moderation, just to find out it was starvation mode instead. Now I'm eating what I want and should in whatever quantity I enjoy.

I do not drink alcohol. I have never eaten a frankenfood. I use Splenda, or any AS very seldome. The LC bread and tortillas are very seldome eaten, maybe once a month, if that. My dairy comes from homemade yogurt. Graines come from hot cereal which is homemade as well. Fruit is my nemesis. I refuse to restrict myself to 12 grapes or 1/4 of berries, or even 1/2 an apple. So far I've been fortunate that I do not get cravings from anything except grapefruit.

I've had one six week long stall that I've been able to trace back to not enough fat, protein or calories on a daily basis. That was what I thought of as my "moderation" period. I seldom bother with Ketostix now because I allow my carb intake to vary so dramatically. I have begun losing again now that I've upped my carbs. Yesterday I sliced a medium apple and spread PB on each slice. I also enjoyed perhaps 1/3 c of yogurt. These things were in addition to the salads and veggies. The carb count for yesterday had to have been on the high side. This morning, I was down 2-1/2 lbs.

The beauty of this WOE is the amount of leeway it offers and the liberties we may take in finding what works for each of us individually. It takes experimentation, trial and error and a strong stick-to-it committment. These things can be achieved by following the guidelines in the book or by means of trial and error as to what works for us. Those of us who have a great deal of weight to lose have much more time to work these things out. Those with small to moderate amounts to lose would probably fare better by following the book's guidelines.

Speaking just for myself here, I think that the rate of my weight loss is secondary to maintaining it successfully and making this my WOE for the rest of my life.

I hesitated to join in the poll, because while I'm adding in more veges, nuts, etc., I vary between 20 and 30 grams/day in carbs. More than that and I gain back weight. So I don't really fit any of the spots--but I picked #2, anyway.

Mostly I've added in additional vegetables--because they fill me up happily, up my carbs to some extent (love that fiber!) and keep my nutrients where they should be.

Jude

Hi Freckles! and friends!
I did induction for 3 weeks and then went on the ladder, but I only lose an average of a lb a week, so i still haven't got very far up.
I have extra dairy and extra veg every day, and sometimes i have nuts, berries or wine.
I did add coffee, but then I gained weight, so I stopped it again.
I'm supposed to be on 40 carbs per day, but I seldom make it. It's usually around 30.
I use fitday, so that I know what to have for supper each day, to make up the right proportions. This WOE is supposed to involve no counting, but I can't do it that way.
We're all different, and have to try different things, to see what works and what doesn't.
All the best!
med

I semi followed OWL. I used raised my carbs by 5 but I added back foods in a random order (but all off the list for phase 2 foods except for LC breads). I was up to 60 to 75 carbs a day and still losing when I found out I was pregnant and jumped straight to 70 to 90 net carbs a day.

Jenn

I, too, am one of the few people on the boards who are on OWL! I did a "clean" induction (well, except for the white wine) for two weeks, then stayed at 20g for a couple more months. During that two month period I added in nuts. After that I moved up to 25g, basically just adding in more vegetables. I'm now up to 30g per day, eating the occasional strawberries or blueberries in addition to the extra vegetables. I intend to keep upping my carbs but I have decided I am not going to reintroduce grains (bread, rice or pasta) because I just don't miss them at all, and they seem to have the biggest stall potential. I will probably add in legumes (beans at some point as an occasional thing. I don't even like them all that much -- I just think they're good for you.

Interestingly, I had a 5 week stall after induction and did not begin to lose again until I upped my carbs by 5g. Of course, deciding to eliminate my weeknight wine drinking may have had something to do with that as well.

I have this exact problem...I am doing OWL by adding more veggies and raising my carbs that way (I am up to about 30-35). But like you, I can't add nuts, berries, or grains without waking up troublesome cravings. I also had to banish sugar alchohols for the same reason (made me crave).

I lose very eratically, with sudden whooshes, then nothing. Even though I attempted to add the nuts and berries gradually, I admit that it was a bit willy nilly too. I've only added lc yogurt 2 oz a day, mixing it with my berries. Right now, I'm not losing anything, so I may just join you on induction, and then try to do it right.

I try to keep my carbs below 25, and according to Fitday, I do. On the weekend (Easter) I definitely went higher, but only with foods allowed on OWL (a few strawberries and a little melon). Sometimes I have nuts, but only for a treat. I try to get most of my carbs from vegetables, with the occasional low carb tortilla or wrap.
Now if I could only cut out my pre-prandial martini.....