I began Atkins officially on 11/18/02, didn't have a good day on Thanksgiving, was really good up until a 2 day business trip to NY, where I drank and ate some carbs. No binging or anything, but polite eating at a business dinner. I also had one Pepsi last week because I was at a closing and started coughing from a cold I caught. they only had Pepsi to offer me, and I took it.

Anyway, I'm down 5 pounds in 5 weeks. I know I stalled after each miss, and each one took about a week before I saw a loss again.

I suspect that inspite of the oopses, I am a slow loser anyway. So, how long is induction the way to go. should I have a goal during induction and then go to OWL? I still have about 39 lbs to lose. At a pound a week, that's a long time, and if I slow the weight loss, that seems excessive.

I'm eating well with these 20 allowed carbs, and sometimes a little over but more likely just under.

Any thoughts?

I have a lot of weight to lose on top of what I already have, so I stay at Induction levels (have for almost a year)...

You might consult the book again, but I think you're to add carbs back in after Induction slowly and watch carefully to see when your weight loss stalls. This indicates that you need to stay below that amount of carbs to continue losing.

Did you have a clean Induction? If not, I'd suggest trying it again by the book and then evaluate your next step. Induction is all important. I don't think you're getting the full benefit of the program if you had a shaky start.

But again, check out your book. I re-read mine all the time!

Donald

I don't have any intention of stopping until sometime after Christmas anyway. Just in case...

I reread Atkins often, and have the tapes so I can listen during my commute. Each time, you pick up something that got overlooked and I find it encouraging.

I've tried using those testing strips to see if I was in ketosis from the beginning, but they apparently don't work well for me. If I look real close, I can imagine I see a pink tinge.

This is my second attempt at Atkins, and last year, I also barely lost weight during induction, and fell into the category of metabolically resistant.

I guess I've got my mind set this time, and am during quite well.

Well, thanks for the advise, and by the way, I love your Christmas Smurfs?

I'm doing Atkins too, and finished Induction about 2 weeks ago. But all I did was relax a bit on my carbs. I don't want to count 5 more, because I think it's too hard to be exact. Since Protein Power uses 30, I just decided to make that my max, and try to eat under it. So basically I can alternate between high and low carbs depending on the day. In the end it all averages out I guess. So it's working for me. I just know not to go over 30, and some days eat lower. I'm losing quite fine.

Annette, thanks for your POV on "staying under 30" as your method of OWL. This is something that has bothered me from the beginning. I'm intimidated by adding back carbs in increments and trying to determine where the stall occurs. Seems like this could make it take forever to reach goal. I like your method, and it's actually pretty close to what I'm already doing.

Then, when I reach goal I'll gradually add back until I stop losing. Makes sense to me.

Tami

Me, too. On my fitday journal, I specified between 10 & 30 carbs/day. It works for me. Although, lately, I've noticed that when I overdo a little, I lose weight. So, I'm beginning to think that maybe I need to up my carbs a little.

I have days where all I eat the entire day is one large salad with fixings and 12 hot wings. To some people, that's going to sound like a lot. But, I used to down 12 hot wings as a SNACK. Life sure changes when you're doing low-carb!