I just got a reply from Atkins Nutritional Center, so I'll post it here too, in the hopes that it will help other newbies. I've also spoken to one of their customer service reps today about the ketostix, and they told me that the ketostix will register higher ketosis after a fatty meal but that doesn't necessarily mean that you're burning stored fat. Your body needs to burn the fat that you ate before it starts up on the stored fat. For me, cutting down on my fat intake to about 60-65% and increasing the protein to about 35-40% seems to work best. I'm keeping under 20g gross carbs and have cut out cheese, processed meats, soy sauce, and salt completely. I've also cut down on eggs, mayonnaise, and Splenda.
Subj: RE:{Consumer Question}: Gaining weight on Induction???
Date: 05/16/2002 1:08:05 PM Central Daylight Time
From: support~atkinssupport.com (Atkins Support)
Thank you for your inquiry.
Firstly, do your best to be patient with your weight loss. You have nothing to be concerned about. While some lose weight consistently on Atkins, others lose in stages. You are in ketosis so you are burning stored fat for fuel.
You could be eating too much fat. While fat is necessary while following Atkins, eating too much fat can delay weight loss. Your body burns the fat you eat first, then the stored fat. If you're eating too much fat, you will not give your metabolism a change to burn the stored fat in the body. Try reducing your fat intake slightly and see if that helps.
You could be eating too much. EvenThe Wrong Way to Do Atkins
All too often, people devise ways to abuse the Atkins Nutritional Approach™ by doing it their own way. Here’s what not to do and why:
*Misconception: Atkins can be used as a short-term or crash diet.
Reality: If you do Induction for two weeks to drop 10 pounds and then go back to your old way of eating, you will be treating it as a crash diet. But that goes against everything Dr. Atkins recommends, and will lead to problems in the long run.
*Misconception: You can lose weight doing Atkins, then return to your old way of eating.
Reality: Do this and, as with your past attempts to slim down, you will neglect to change those eating habits that ensure you always regain lost weight.
*Misconception: You can focus solely on losing weight and minimize the maintenance aspects.
Reality: Any weight-loss program that does not segue into weight maintenance is doomed to failure. The eating plan you will follow during Lifetime Maintenance is likely to be somewhere between your menu during the Induction phase and the way you ate before you started Atkins.
*Misconception: You can eat any food so long as you do not exceed 20 grams of carbs a day.
Reality: If you eat junk foods or other nutrient-deficient carbohydrate foods instead of vegetables and other nutrient-dense foods, you will miss most of the health benefits of the Atkins approach and you certainly will not be fostering long-term health.
*Misconception: You can use Atkins for weight loss, but you don’t have to bother with exercise and supplements if you don’t have any health problems.
Reality: If you don’t supplement with vitanutrients and exercise regularly, you may take off pounds, but you will miss out on important health benefits. And everyone needs exercise: It is not related solely to weight loss.
*Misconception: You can just continue to do Induction until you lose all of your weight.
Reality: You will lose weight more quickly if you continue doing Induction, but you won’t learn how to keep that weight off permanently if you don’t move through the four phases. More important, you will miss out on the benefits of the phytochemicals present in health-promoting carbohydrate foods that you incorporate into your diet in the phases after Induction.
*Misconception: You can go back to eating your favorite foods after you lose weight. >
Reality: Your favorite foods may well be your problem foods. Unless you acknowledge and learn how to deal with your addictions, you are doomed to regain your weight and fall back into the dangerous cycle of high blood sugar and overproduction of insulin.
*Misconception: You can do Induction during the week and binge on weekends and still lose or maintain weight.
Reality: When you do Atkins during the week and then cheat on the weekends, for several days after your binge you are no longer burning fat. At most, you could be in the fat-burning state for only three days each week. In addition, you may have overstimulated your insulin response, increasing the metabolic risk factors underlying your weight problem. Remember that when you burn fat, dietary fat is also being burned. However, if you combine high carbs with high fat—the typical American diet—you can be increasing your cardiovascular risks.
*Misconception: You can do Atkins while following a low-fat regimen.
Reality: To encourage your body to burn its own stores of fat, you need to reduce the amount of carbohydrates you eat, meaning you need to primarily eat foods rich in protein and fat. Remember that essential fatty acids play a role in normal metabolic function. Fat also plays a role in stabilizing blood sugar and increasing satiety. If fat intake is too low, you will not burn fat aggressively. Moreover, excess protein converts to glucose and can keep fat from becoming the primary fuel. protein will turn to glucose if consumed in large amounts. We recommend no more that 6-8 oz of protein per meal.
Are you exercising? Exercise will not only help with fat burning, but the more you exercise, the more carbohydrates the body can tolerate. If you are not exercising, start as soon as you can.
To be sure you are following Atkins correctly, here is a list of common mistakes to avoid:
1. NO CAFFEINE- Caffeine can cause an insulin response leaving you craving sweets, and throwing you out of ketosis.
2. NO ASPARTAME-Aspartame impacts blood sugar levels and can cause an impasse in your weight loss. Watch for items such as diet soda and sugar free Jell-O.
3. CHEESE-4 oz per day maximum.
4. VEGETABLES-Remember, the 20 grams of carbohydrates that you consume per day should mostly come from vegetables. You can have 3-4 cups of salad or 2 cups salad, 1 cup cooked vegetables per day using only the vegetables on the permitted food list in The New Diet Revolution. <
http://atkinscenter.com/dev/shop/pr...02_Edition.html>This is very important. Eliminating the vegetables can shut down your metabolism and your weight loss will stall.
The following list of common mistakes to avoid during Induction will be helpful:
1. Do not skip meals or go more than six waking hours without eating. If you are not hungry, eat four or five smaller meals (or healthy snacks) instead of three larger ones.
2. Do not omit natural fats. Butter, mayonnaise, olive oil, safflower, sunflower and other vegetable oils, and the fat in meat and fish will actually help you lose weight.
3. Do not eat more than 20 grams a day of carbohydrate, at least most of which must come in the form of salad greens and other acceptable vegetables.
4. Eat absolutely no fruit, bread, grains, starchy vegetables or dairy products other than cheese, cream or butter. Do not eat nuts in the first two weeks. Foods that combine protein and carbohydrates, such as chickpeas, kidney beans, and other legumes, are not permitted at this time.
5. Eat nothing that is not on the acceptable food list. And that means absolutely nothing! Your "just this one taste won’t hurt" rationalization is the kiss of failure during this phase of Atkins.
6. Adjust the quantity you eat to suit your appetite, especially as it decreases. When hungry, eat the amount that makes you feel satisfied but not stuffed. When not hungry, eat a small controlled carbohydrate snack to accompany your nutritional supplements.
7. Don’t assume any food is low in carbohydrate; instead read labels to check the carb count (it’s on every package) or use the carbohydrate gram counter in this book.
8. Watch out for hidden carbs in gravies, sauces and dressings.
9. Avoid foods or drinks sweetened with aspartame. Instead, use sucralose, saccharin or the herb stevia. Be sure to count each packet of any of these as one gram of carbs.
10. Avoid coffee, tea and soft drinks that contain caffeine. Excessive caffeine has been shown to cause low blood sugar, which can make you crave sugar.
11. Drink at least eight 8-ounce glasses of water each day to hydrate your body, avoid constipation, and flush out the by-products of burning fat.
We hope this information will be helpful to you. If you still need further assistance, please feel free to e-mail us again, or contact our Customer Support Department by phone at 1-800-2-ATKINS, Monday - Thursday 8 am to 7pm EST and Friday 8am to 6 pm EST. If you are calling from outside the U.S. and Canada, please reach us at 631.738.7370
Sincerely,
Lisa Candido
Customer Support
Atkins Nutritionals, Inc.
1-800-2-ATKINS
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