I was wondering....when one reaches their goal how could one maintain their weight without ever going back to fruits and grains and potatoes and beans? These have always been major binge inducers for me and I feel so wonderful just not eating them. I also crave fat intensely and lc makes me happy b/c I get to eat fat which majorly helps my moods. I was thinking that I would just eat lots more nuts, cheese, and perhaps some berries or something like that? I like eating just a turkey burger for breakfast with peppers, shrooms, avocados, and coconut oil instead of a lc bagel which I still feel the urger to binge on. I have always had problems with bagels and such even when they are "low carb" or eaten w protein and fat.

The key is moderation.

The last phase of Atkins, is the maintenance phase. By this time you are allowing the "good carbs", veggies, fruit etc... in at a moderate and reasonable pace. You may have a baked potatoe once a week, or rice pilaf once a week, or an ear of corn. Moderation is the key, though.

I haven't reached maintenance yet, so I don't have the expertise that some others who are in maintenance have.

Speaking from personal experience, it is very difficult to reach higher maintenance levels without eating any fruits or starchy veggies (corn, green peas, butterbeans). You simply can't do it from nuts, cheeses, and green leafy veggies, at least not without spending your whole day eating and being miserably overstuffed. Consider the following:

8 c raw broccoli flowerets (12g)
1 head cauliflower (15g)
1/2 head cabbage (15g)
16 oz raw brussels sprouts (20g)

Now, my personal maintenance level seems to be somewhere around 75g carbs, so I could eat ALL of those vegetables in ONE DAY and STILL have ~15g left over for cheese, peanuts, dressings, eggs, etc. I really like veggies, and I generally have a big appetite, but even I couldn't eat much more than half of that in a single day -- it gets to be a simple problem of food volume. It sounds easier to eat, say, 20g of peanut butter, which is only half a cup, but it's so filling (and high-calorie) that you still won't want to eat anything else. Likewise, cottage cheese is 4-5g per half cup, but I have a hard time with eating more than a cup or so a day. So yes, it helps immensely if you can eat some starchy veggies, or some oatmeal, or some lower-GI fruits.

I know you say these are major binge-inducers for you, and I understand how that's a scary thing, but "fruit" and "grains" are awfully broad categories. Berries and melon may not do the same thing to your blood sugar as bananas; likewise, steel-cut oatmeal may not activate wheat sensitivities like pasta or breads will. With some experimentation, perhaps you could find a few foods that work for you? As for the beans and potatoes, I don't eat these myself, and see no problem with never eating them again.

I plan on introducing things slowly. moderation is the key. if you pork out on unhealthy food, no matter what plan you are on you will gain weight. so healthly and moderations

Another thing about low-sugar fruits and oatmeal is that they're physically hard to binge on. It's not too difficult to munch through a pint of ice cream or a loaf of bread -- stuff like that goes down quickly and smoothly and doesn't require a lot of effort to eat, so it's perfect binge food. Steel-cut oats, on the other hand, take half an hour to cook, and your jaws start to get tired sometime during the second apple.

It dependson the person. Soem people h ave to stay at extreamly low carbs just not to gain, while others have to load up more.

Many people haev a hard time finding the right level and kind of yo-yo up and down. That is why following all the phases is important and discovering your carb tolerence level.

Even with those that need a high level of carbs to maintain, there is still an issue with quality of carbs. Junk food and refined sugar probably shouldn't be added by anyone except for rare treats. Some find they can add more starchy veggies and whole grains then others.

Bagles, even the low carb ones may be a trigger food for you and even if your matainance carb level of 200g, you might hae to aovid them.

Eat more of the stuff you like.....

I agree with Atlee.

Also keep in mind that your bodies reactions change. I can eat more fruit now without triggering cravings or blood sugar swings, than I could even two or three months ago. For some of us, our insulin receptivity improves.

I'm also adding in some higher carb veggies with no ill effects. You just have to go slowly.

Wait and see, I think. There have been differences for me at each stage of my journey. Exercise, I am discovering, also plays a big part in which foods you can eat and how they affect you.

Atlee - what's the difference between Broccoli & Broccoli Flowerets? (besides 51 grams of Carbs!)?? 8 c Broccoli = 63grams. Confused..

From Fitday, which is based on the USDA nutrient database:

Broccoli, raw

Amount Per 8 cup, flowerets
Calories 159.04
Calories from Fat 17.89

% Daily Value *
Total Fat 1.99g 3%
Saturated Fat 0.307g 2%
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.949g
Monounsaturated Fat 0.136g
Cholesterol 0mg 0%
Sodium 153.36mg 6%
Potassium 1846mg 53%
Total Carbohydrate 29.76g 10%
Dietary Fiber 17.04g 68%
Protein 16.93g 34%

29g total - 17g fiber = 12g net. Don't know where you're getting the 63g figure from, but I figure the USDA is pretty authoritative . All other figures are also from Fitday's USDA front-end -- I used to use the actual USDA site, but they changed the format and quit printing fiber counts.

I think my first mistake was not subtracting fiber .. so i get 27grams net carbs. I don't like broccoli raw so I choose "Broccoli Cooked" in Fitday.

Aha, that would do it. Generally, it's best to measure vegetables raw, preferably by weight with a kitchen scale, because they cook down to an extent, and how much depends on how much you cook them. If you cook your broccoli to mush, a lot more will fit in a measuring cup than if you lightly steam it! Cooking doesn't change the carb count of the vegetable at all, unless of course you add something else to it in the preparation, so it's fine to enter it in Fitday as raw even if you eat it cooked . Also, you sometimes have to watch Fitday, because the "cooked" foods often assume the addition of fat or some other common ingredient (like milk in scrambled eggs). Enter in the whole raw food, and add any toppings or cooking ingredients separately.

(The exception to this is meats like ground beef, which lose fat and consequently calories when cooked and drained. I measure these raw too, but then use the "raw, yield after cooking" to get the real values. For example, I weigh out 4 oz of raw ground beef, which I enter as "ground beef, lean, cooked", and then choose "oz, raw, yield after cooking" -- the counts are substantially lower than 4 oz of "ground beef, lean, raw", because of all the fat that cooks out of the meat.)

FYI, while many people are skeptical of "net carb" numbers that involve subtracting sugar alcohols, it is always safe to subtract fiber, which is not digested and therefore can have no impact on your blood sugar/fat storage mechanism.