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.