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How do you maintain? That is a great question. I think with many diets where you restrict stuff, you can lose if you follow them but you cannot really keep doing it for ever. One of the things with how Atkins set up his system was that a person would gradually move towards a phase called maintenance and while doing so acquired all the tools needed to be able to maintain the weight. OWL is very important because that is the phase where you will actually lose most weight - maybe not as fast as in induction but you will lose it while gaining more wisdom because you try out foods and you try to find your carb limit. Atkins believed that once we found the carb limit we would know how to maintain our weight for the rest of our lives. Is it easy? Nope. But it is possible.
Did you do OWL last time?
I understand what you mean by all or nothing. And I am trying to hold on to all or nothing as long as possible. Thin people always show restraint. I just have to learn to be like them.