A lot of us have come to stalls and tweeked our diets and started monitoring our percentages and changes our calorie counts to move the scales again.... myself included.

What i'm wondering is how many of us have done the Atkins WOE true to the book (counting carbs) ONLY, moving to OWL and what kind of experiences/successes/stalls have you had???

Thanks all.

I only watch carbs -- I never count calories, percentage fat, or anything else other than carbs. I have never used Fitday. I have lost over 75 pounds in nine months. However, I had a lot to lose and therefore things may be easier for me than for people with less to lose.

I am on ongoing weight loss and I basically follow Atkin's advice. I eat lots of vegetables (both salads and cooked vegetables), a little lowcarb fruit (berries or melon), lots of protein foods (meat, chicken, fish, eggs), limited quantities of nuts, and limited quantities of cheese. I use lots of olive oil in my cooking and on my salads. The one area in which my diet differs from the book is that I stay completely away from fake foods (bars, shakes, etc.) and mostly away from artificial sugars (except for an occasional diet Coke -- an addiction I am trying to overcome). I exercise five days a week and I make sure I eat at least every six hours when I am awake. I eat when I am hungry and stop eating when I am full.

I have lost weight slowly but steadily. For the past couple of months, my average loss has been about 7 pounds a month. In terms of percentage of body weight lost, that is the equivalent of a person who weighs 150 losing about 3.5 pounds a month. There are certainly people losing faster than I am, but most of them are younger than I am or are male. I am generally happy with my progress.

That is great Liz!! Thank you for sharing!

Great idea!
Liz, very good answer, thank you!

OK, I do it by the book and I don't feel I have to change anything because I'm comfortable. I count carbs (fitday) and make sure I get minimum 10x current weight in calories, I also have av. 70% fat intake every day.
The only thing I do "my way" is drinking coffee, nobody can take this away from me.

I'm not counting every single leaf of sallad or every single blueberry - just make sure I don't overdo. I eat no bars, shakes, LC or SF products of any kind. Had splenda for the first and so far last time a week ago. I have no sugar cravings and if I ever get them I'll just try to remember how miserable I felt eating sugar.

So far I have no stall to report. No weight loss for 4 weeks now, but losing inches, which is great. I'm fully prepared to reach my goal in a slow tempo, but I don't want to push anything because I fell so much better eating this way.

I feel this is "a beginning of a wonderfull friendship" between me and my body and I want it to continue.
Alina

I followed the book strickly during induction which I extended to 3 weeks except for continuing to drink coffee. I lost weight steadily but slowly and have been maintaining since early January. I don't count fat, calories or carbs -- I have learned what low carb food is and that's what I eat. I tried the bars and shakes briefly but they tasted too metalic to me and weren't worth the expense. I don't miss sweets,bread, or pasta so I don't need the substitute products. Now most of my food is meat, veggies, and eggs supplemented with some cheese, nuts, olives, lower carb fruits, beans (in chili) and the occasional splurge on cream (yep, the heavy stuff!). For fats I rely on olive oil and butter. I drink well over 100oz of water everyday.
Hey, I'm no low-carb saint. I have fallen off the wagon for popcorn and I drink beer and wine now and then. I'm very happy with my current WOE. I exercise almost every day and feel great.

Cindy

Great responses. I find this so interesting.

I still try and follow this WOL true to form. This past week I've started paying more attention to my calorie intake as well as my usual carb count. Counting CALs is something completely new to me (I've never followed a low-cal diet) so I'm floored at the change from one day to the next. Lamb chops are sooooo high in calories! whoa (just HAD to add that). As for stalls... I find the only times I really see a stall lately is over the weekend when I'm less active (no long walks, no gym). But I'm starting to change that, and with summer just around the corner it'll just get easier.

I should have added to my post that I drink two cups of black coffee every morning and Atkins recommends against that. However, it doesn't cause me any problems and it is an addiction I have no interest in giving up right now.

Also, at this point I am not counting carbs, I am watching them. I know about what I can eat each day and still lose weight -- induction carbs, plus a little lowcarb fruit and nuts -- so I don't really need to count every strawberry or piece of broccoli. When I have an occasional carb splurge -- like whipped cream -- it temporarily stalls my weight loss but I haver never had a big enough splurge to cause me to gain weight since starting this way of eating. Of course, my weight fluctuates by a couple pounds from day to day, but that is not a gain, it is a fluctuation.

My weight loss has been averaging about 2 lb per week since I started OWL, despite ups & downs and various so-called stalls. I weigh several times a day on a good scale and can usually match small "ups" to meals & water drinking and small "downs" to bathroom visits.

Longest stall was when I introduced cream, berries, and splenda - about 1 week - took me out of Ketosis. Adding high-fat yogurt for breakfast seemed to knock me out of the stall - down 4-5 lbs since then.

I am a serious social drinker but find I am drinking far less than before. I eat more cheese than recommended but the carb counts on the cheese I use seem to allow this. I drink Yerba Mate, an interesting, nutritious South American tea-like beverage the contains Mateine, a Caffeine-like stimulant without some of the bad side effects of Caffeine. More info on Yerba mate at this link.

I am watching only carbs, not calories. I am also watching the fats too as far as trying to have only the better fats but not counting the grams. Based on Fitday though it seems I have about 65% fats, 30% protein, 5% carbs as an average intake.

I also plan on moving up to OWL etc as the book recommends. But I am going to do another 2 weeks on Induction since I only lost 5 lbs the last 2 weeks. Also going to start BFL exercise routine next week, so I will be gauging more my inches lost than pounds lost.

Hey Lisa,

It's probably too early for me to comment. I'm only in week 6, but I'll tell you what I've figured out, anyway.

I just entered all my Fitday stats on a regular calendar: weight, carbs, calories and when new foods were introduced. Here's what conclusions I've come to:

1. Yogurt doensn't hurt me as long as I have it in the morning, and not at night. But I still try to limit it to max 2 or 3 x per week. Ditto berries. Every day and I slow.

2. I lose best when I stick to Induction level carbs, preferably no more than 18 or so, and calories about 10-12x my GOAL weight, not current weight. I occasionally go up higher but as long as it's only for a day or two it doesn't seem to hurt me. Carbs creeping up closer to 25 or 30 slows my weight loss a lot more than calorie creep.

3. Introducing too many new foods at once stalled me a bit I think. I added yogurt, berries, nuts and PB cups right about the same time and really stalled the week I did so. (Though it could also have been the notorious 3rd week stall).

4. Overdoing dairy of any kind slows me: cream, yogurt or cheese.

Not counting Induction losses which are atypical -- the week that I lost the most (4.5 lbs) my carb levels were averaging around 17 net with calories not going over 18/1900 at the very most. Usually around 16/1700.

The week I lost the least (.5 lb) was the one where I was eating a lot of yogurt, cheese, cream and also added berries and PB cups two times per week.

I plan to keep making notes on my big calendar. Helps me see the big picture. I compare weight losses from week to week and try to see what I did differently on those weeks I lost really well and those weeks my loss slowed.

It may be too early for me to make any serious determinations, but those are my results, for what they're worth. Also I haven't really noticed a need for more carbs on the days I work out. Granted my workouts maybe aren't as intense yet as some people's but I find Induction carb levels seem to provide enough fuel. I try to eat shortly after my workout.

K.

Also meant to add that I aim to keep my fat percentage at 70 minimum, carbs at 5 and protein at 25%.

K.

I'm in my 5th week & started OWL on Day 15 because I was willing to trade slower weight loss for more variety. I did not add foods according to the carbohydrate ladder (so far I have added berries & nuts) but have followed the other rules of OWL.

As far as calories, the only reason I'm keeping an eye on them is to make sure I have enough ! I'm scared of going into starvation mode & find I need to eat 4-5 meals a day in order to stay above 1600 calories.

I've also had trouble getting enough carbs in OWL. I keep eating more veggies & have added nuts but, after subtracting the fiber, I'm finding it difficult to get 25 carbs per day, let alone 30.

I'm about the same as Kaillean... fat 70%, carbs 3%, protein 27%

went a bit over today cause of that damn deli-meat. 4% carbs