Hi all:

I'm 2 days away from finishing the Induction Phase. I have felt fantastic eating this way and staying under 20 carbs, so I was wondering if I could just keep doing the same thing for another two weeks. I weighed myself after one week and lost 5 lbs. I won't weigh myself again until after two weeks, but "feel" like I lost a few more (hopefully)!!!

Thanks for any input.

Hi lapnjusa!

You could stay on induction for another week or two, but with only 20 pounds to lose (I know it seems like a lot to you), I'd recommend going into the ongoing weight loss phase (OWL) fairly soon so you have plenty of time to get used to your new way of eating (WOE) before you get to your goal. You need a bit of time to experiment with different foods and slowly increasing your carbs so that you will know how to maintain your weight loss once you get to your goal.
If you stay on induction until you get to your goal weight, you may find it more difficult keeping the weight off and finding the right carb level at which you can maintain.

Hi Lapnjusa

I have almost the same goal as you. I weigh around 155, I also got my TOM three days ago, so I don't know if I've lost weight. I'm at 7 days. My goal is 130. I plan to do induction until 145, then I will move on to OWL. Dr. Atkins says in his book that its fine to repeat induction if you want. But I agree that if you do it to your goal it may be a sever transition. Anyways its nice to know that somebody is kind of in the same boat as myself....B

Hi Lisa N and Bellaluna:

Thanks for the reply. Lisa N, your point is well taken. I guess I'm so caught up in losing so quickly that I'm not looking at the big picture. 135 lbs. is my first goal, actually I would like to go to 130 so I think I'm going to repeat induction (with my fingers crossed) and hope I can ease into OWL without any problems.

Bellaluna, we can encourage each other as we do have similar goals. Go Girl!!

Just so you're not disappointed if this happens, it's very common for weight loss to slow down or stop completely after the first 2 weeks of induction as your body adjusts to the sudden weight loss and burning fat for energy instead of glucose. A brief pause of a week or two is very normal, so don't panic if you see the scales stuck for a week or two even if you repeat the induction phase.

Don't forget, Dr. Atkins says you can lose inches even if you're not losing weight. He also states one of his patients stayed on induction for a long time due to the amount of weight he needed to lose.

I can't wait for my jeans to fit again. I refuse to buy a bigger size and give in to this weight problem.

Magic