Should I stay on Induction?

[Matt_VA]

I started the Atkins diet a little over 6 weeks ago and have lost about 22 lbs. I did this by staying in the "induction phase" of eating less than 20 carb grams per day. Is this ok or should I begin adding cabs as Atkins recommends? I find that I have no craving for cabs now, but fear I will develop them if I add carbs. I am a carb-aholic and am affraid that adding cabs will throw me off of the wagon.

I ask this because over the last 2 weeks I have stalled in my weight loss. I have only lost a couple of lbs.

Any advice would be appreciated.

[TeriDoodle]

First of all, you really NEED to add the carbs....but in the form of more fresh vegetables or bigger salads. These should not cause carb cravings, so you don't have to worry about that. It's also important to start adding variety to your menu so that you don't get bored (and discouraged). The added veggies will provide essential micronutrients that your body needs to function at peak levels (and burn more fat!) and added fiber for good intestinal health. Eat up!!

As for your "stall".... It's not really a "stall" unless you've seen zero weight loss for 6 weeks or more. Your body seems to be behaving quite normally.... it's VERY common to hit a little plateau in week 3 or 4. Your body has been making some major adjustments and is in a "wait and see" mode as to what will happen next. Once it realizes that all is well, the food is still coming, you will begin to experience additional losses. These plateaus from time to time are very common and something you need to learn to live with, y'know? Don't want to get into a panic or start feeling like the diet has failed you, because that isn't so. I just came off a 6 week stall myself and suddenly lost 4 lbs. last 10 days or so. It's dropping steadily now. :D

Hang tight.... you're doing great. Just keep visiting and posting!!! I look forward to following your progress. :thup:

[DWRolfe]

I know exactly what you're referring to...

...I also stayed on Induction levels of carbs for about 3 months and had a nice, steady weight loss. When it came time to try to add in some additional foods because I was growing bored, it was not easy. My instincts told me to avoid any more carbs for fear of sabotaging my progress.

When I sat down to eat my first 2 lowcarb tortillas, I was scared. But I ate them, loved them, and they did not stop or stall my weight loss. Since then, I've added in more tortillas, Atkins Blueberry Muffins (maybe 2 or 3 a week) and lots more veggies.

My menus are far more interesting now, and my body is getting what it needs while still losing weght.

You're right to be cautious. Proceed slowly and with care.

You can handle this.

Good luck!

Donald :wave:

[Voyajer]

From Atkins site:

Are You Ready to Move Beyond Induction?
Before you even think about stepping up from Induction, consider the possibility of staying with it for awhile longer.

A lot of people think of Induction as lasting only two weeks, but it can be followed for a longer time. If you have a lot of weight to lose or have difficulty losing weight, you might want to do Induction for quite a while. That way you'll see dramatic progress before moving on to the more moderate phases of the program.

Although Induction offers plenty of advantages, there are lots of valid reasons for progressing: boredom with the food choices, modest weight-loss goals (say, 20 or 30 pounds) and perhaps the chance to avoid becoming dependent on a crash-diet mentality. When people learn that they can lose weight quickly, as they do during Induction, they sometimes take their ability to lose weight for granted. They don't think in terms of a lifetime commitment to the Atkins Nutritional Approach™—just a quick fix for overindulgence. The result of this faulty thinking is yo-yo dieting and a metabolic resistance to weight loss. While the next phase—Ongoing Weight Loss (OWL)—may likely slow your rate of weight loss, this is not a bad thing. The slower the progress, the more chance you have to permanently change bad habits over the long term.

In order to decide if this is the right time for you to move on, ask yourself the following four questions:

Are you bored with Induction?
How much weight do you have to lose?
How metabolically resistant are you to weight loss?
Are you willing to slow down the pace of weight loss in exchange for more food choices?

If you are bored, and this boredom could lead to not complying with the rules of Induction, by all means move on to OWL after two weeks. However, if you are comfortable staying in this phase, and you still have a lot of weight to lose, you can do Induction safely for six months or more. If you do not have much more weight to lose, it is advisable for you to advance to OWL so you can cycle through all the phases of the program.

If you are metabolically resistant to weight loss—which you will know by how much weight you lost in the first two weeks and by comparing your results with the categories in the metabolic resistance tables (See What Is Your Degree of Metabolic Resistance?)—you will lose weight relatively slowly. People with high metabolic resistance can benefit from doing Induction longer because it gives them time to correct metabolic imbalances they may have developed over time. These include insulin resistance, blood-sugar imbalances, carbohydrate addictions and allergies. Once the metabolic imbalances are corrected, weight loss may speed up.

But after all is said and done, to a large degree, your decision to continue Induction or move to OWL will depend on your personality and lifestyle. If you are the type to just go for it and can easily make your life work around the Induction eating program, you may decide to stick with it until you drop some more weight. Another person, who perhaps is under a lot of stress and wants to relax a bit about food choices, might choose to move to the more liberal phase of OWL. This brings us to the last, and ultimately the only, answer that matters. Is a longer period of time until you get to your goal weight the trade-off you're willing to make to have more food choices? It's up to you. A young, active man who loses weight easily may chose to move to OWL after two weeks, while a menopausal woman who has high metabolic resistance may chose to stay on the strictest phase until she gets close to her goal weight. The decision is yours alone and is another example of how much individualization is possible on Atkins.