When traveling through OWL, how do recognize a food that will stall your weight loss? Do the scales come to a grinding halt? Or is it trickier than that?

I went through a re-induction last week and my plan is to add new foods in carefully and methodically (and in my own order.) My reasoning is that I went through the better part of six months without dropping any weight at all. I never found my carb limit level because I wasn't losing. I am thinking I was regularly consuming something that was stalling me so the re-induction was just to set a minimum baseline to determine and eliminate the culprit.

I am starting out with things that I think could be stalling me, so right out of the re-induction gate, I started with wine. I had a glass of wine on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. My plan is to continue on tonight, tomorrow, Saturday, etc. until I can FOR SURE call it Yay or Nay.

My baseline is VLC (induction-level carbs and veg), at a 1200-1700 calorie range with a consistent minimum of 4 hours of exercise per week.

I had a bit of a whoosh -like 6 pounds!- doing the re-induction and even since adding wine, I am seeing a slow, but steady 4-pound loss this week. At what point should I call the wine approved and move on to the next food? If it were a problem food for me, would it likely bring the scales to a grinding halt? Or could the effects of the wine consumption be delayed by days/weeks?

I am guessing it varies from person to person, so what was your experience through OWL? Was it obvious when determining which foods stalled you? Or was it complicated?

For me, it wasn't just weight. It was mental as well - did it cause cravings/was I constantly wanting it? Did I tend to overeat it? How did I FEEL after eating it?

When you worked through OWL previously, did you go in order, or did you do it your own way? It is possible to have a CCL that is at induction level carbs, which could be why you weren't losing.

Since you aren't going in order this time, it might be that wine is ok when you are eating a very low level of carbs, but won't be ok when you are having more. You won't know until you get to that point. I'd think that, in my opinion, wine might be an issue for you since you decided to go out of order and start straight away with it. Sounds like a craving for it to me, but I could be wrong. The other thing to keep in mind is that some things might work for you now, but not as you approach or ar at goal. Eaxmple - I could drink diet soda starting out, but can't touch it now. It's a constant learning process, and I was constantly re-evaluating as I went along.

For me I found out that coffee, even just one cup in the morning seemed to stall me out for days on end. I dropped the coffee and pushed my net carbs a little over 25grams with healthy greens and the weight loss has picked back up.

You could use the Blood Sugar Symptoms listed in DANDR as a guide as to whether new foods are affecting you in the absence of continuing weightloss.

I am in OWL and have not lost much weight, but I raised carbs steadily to see how I feel (I wasn't feeling great on VLC). My weight definitely fluctuates more, which makes it impossible to sort things out. It bounces between 157.5 and a high one day of 160.

Because I have upped carbs, I feel like my body is not yet in a steady state. It would be less complicated if I was just adding food and not changing my carb level at the same time. As well I have had a UTI and some stomach trouble, which is not helping.

I am having the odd craving, and a couple of times have ALMOST cheated - I had a piece of my mom's real cheesecake on a plate last night, and at the last minute put it up and had something else. I think this symptomatic of not eating enough fat more than a craving for sugar...

So for me, I would say OWL is a time to be patient, continue eating clean, and give my bod some time to adjust. THEN I can always cycle carbs down or eliminate certain foods after I get into a more steady state. 155 is my goal, but I could get to 150 and be a good, healthy weight at 5'9".

Otherwise, I really like the food selection in OWL, and I do feel better in terms of brain fog on the higher carb level (I am allowing myself 50 daily carbs).

So yeah for me: it's complicated.

If you aren't, you should check out Fitday.com. They have a calorie tracking program (free) that you can plug all the food you eat into. It gives you total calories and a breakdown of carb/fat/protein percentages.

You should try to keep your percentages in line with your diet plan, ie. 10% carbs, 25% protein, and 65% fat. I know I was way overdoing the protein and underdoing fat. When I balanced it out I got a good woosh!

I think most people aren't getting enough fat to do Atkins properly. You need to add fat without adding too much protein. The only way to do it is to add some straight oil to your diet. (Olive oil, coconut oil, etc..). I think the tendency on Atkins and other low carb diets is to overload on lean protein. Fitday is an awesome way to keep it in balance. As you add your daily food items, you will quickly see when you've had enough protein and if you need some fat, you can add some olive oil to whatever you are eating or grab a scoop of peanut butter.

Maybe some pros can chime in on the correct ratios of carb/fat/protein.

Later guys! I love reading your posts.

Krystalr: When I went through OWL the first time, I went in order. Only one food item gave me cravings, and that was cocoa-dusted almonds. (I swiftly gave them away and haven't bought any since.) I really didn't have any issues with anything else; if I had cravings, either they were mild or I have difficulty recognizing them.

I wanted to start out with the foods I enjoy the most so that I don't feel rushed to get to a certain rung, if that makes sense. Wine isn't something that I crave, but I do enjoy it. I've had ~10 ounces since Saturday while testing it out without setting any particular limit for myself.

I've considered that my CCL is low; during my stall I tried weeks with <20 carbs and saw no change. Maybe it's even lower than that?

TX-gym-rat: When the coffee stalled you, did you get intense cravings after drinking it? Or did your weight loss just stop when you added it in?

Elizellen: I either didn't have any of those symptoms, or was unable to recognize when I did.

FowlFriend: I wasn't losing eating 20-30 net carbs. Once I dropped down to VLC - 10-15 or so, I feel great. I have very little appetite, I feel energetic, etc. I am afraid to raise my carbs right now because I feel so great. Maybe I was at maintenance levels eating 20-30. Wouldn't it be easier if we came with a personal body manual??! Good luck to your on your trip through OWL!

Akman: Thanks! I've actually been using My P.L.A.N. on this site. Even prior to my re-induction, I've managed 60%+ fat intake. The induction ideal is 60% fat, 30% protein and 5% carbs. I add coconut oil to my coffee, marinate chicken in oil, cook eggs in butter, buy the fattiest ground meats and never eat carbs without a fat component. But you are right, lots of people have a difficult time accepting that Atkins is a high-fat diet. Even the media can't get that little factoid wrapped around their heads. Every time I see something about Atkins in print it's always about the dangers of high-protein diets. Gah!

I appreciate the input guys! Thank you all for taking the time to respond to me!