I lurk more than I respond but now have a question to put out there. I've been seeing reports of some who have gone off this WOE for just a week or a couple of days and had gains of 5-10 lbs. I'm really hoping that most of their gain is water but just get really paranoid about cheating which as I'm in wt loss mode is good. But what happens when you get to maintenance? Not that I'm thinking that I will ever go back to my previous way of eating, and I have read the last Atkins book on lifetime Atkins. Which really helped explain this ongoing WOE.

What do others think, what has been your experience. I have really mostly kept to the plan with only small cheats in the last couple of weeks. I did gain 1# and I have really slowed down in wt loss but have slowly moved down even with the odd wk of slight gain.

The key word is maintanance. If you go through all the stages of the diet adn not try to do induction the full way, you should of learned healthy eating habits by the time you've reached maintanance. That is why OWL and premaintanance are so important. You learn what your body can and can't handle.

It's not just about number of carbs either. For some people certain foods act as triggers for cravings, or cause weight gain and bloat. It also teaches you to tell the difference between water weight and real weight.

If you go back to eating mostly carbs, transfats, and junk food you would gain weight back no matter how you lost it. Stickign with whole foods such as plenty of veggies, fresh meats, fruits, fresh dairy (as long as you aren't sensative to dairy) then maintaining shouldn't be to much of a problem. I'd say still check your weight once a week or once a month. If you have gained a little, then eat a bit lower carb or cal for a bit to shed it again.

If you don't let yourself get out of control and you watch eating habits and weight, then maintaining should be alot easier then losing. For many though it can be the hardest part. Not only from getting lax, but deciding to go back to old ways of eating, not exercising as much, or not being as motivated when you no longer are striving for a goal and seeing reults to that goal.

Hi Lise. Wow, you're really closing in on that 199. WTG!

I'll second what Ladybelle said. When I start sliding off the wagon, yes, the pounds come back, and so do my crappy sugar symptoms. So that's definitely a deterrent.

You might want to stop by the Maintenance forum - there are some threads about transition there that you might find interesting.

Yeah, I gained 6 pounds in one day.

I still have 4 pounds to go, but I hope to see it drift off in the next week, if it really is water.

The only consolation is that I know I can lose the weight, I just hope it does not take 6 weeks to lose weight gained in one day. That would really suck.

brobin

The main difference as I see it between going totally off plan for a day or two and maintainance is that with going off plan, you are (usually) drastically increasing your carb amount from one day to the next. That's a big shock to your system that has gotten accustomed to much less carbs and part of that is water weight gain as your glycogen stores are replenished all in one huge shot of carbs.
With maintainance, you work your way towards it gradually increasing your carbs a you go instead of making one big jump all at once. This allows your body to gradually readapt to the higher carb levels and also allows you to find out what your maximum level without gaining is as well as discovering what higher carb foods trigger cravings and which don't.
All that is one very good reason to not stay on induction until you get to your goal weight; if you do, you won't have any idea how to maintain that loss once you get there or it will certainly be more of a struggle than if you had worked through all 3 phases before you got to goal.

I have definitely found slips and splurges to be easier to deal with now that I'm in maintenance. Whether I go off the plan for a day or a week, I gain a pound or two, which is gone within a couple of days of getting back on track.

Maybe it's emotionally easier: since I'm not trying to lose weight anymore, I don't feel the need to berate myself for the slightest step off the plan. It's just not a big deal.

Thank you Lisa and et all

That makes me feel much more secure. I have stayed on Induction carb count but have added the OWL foods. what you said about slowly increasing your carbs makes sense (I know I read it in the book). I will stop fretting. I won't be quite so compulsive about staying away from even a bite... but will continue to weight the consequences over the "slip". which has assisted me in staying away from many temptations.