extended induction Vs OWL

[djc1979]

Sorry for my ignroance here, this is the 2nd time i'm doing atkins, the first time was 5 years ago. I have the 2002 version of the Atkins book on the way, i really want to re-read everything. I have been keeping my carbs under 20 a day and i've lost 10 pounds during induction, and i had afew hidden carbs that i cut out, the first week i was having coffee with 3 splenda and having 2 of them a day, i was also haveing SF jello. so i cut these things out thanks to this forum. which i love by the way great support and great info. so i started at 302 and i'm down to 292 i would like to stay doing induction, but i don't know which is better extended induction or OWL, i've read a bunch of posts on the sides to both. but i'm thinking to lose weight faster wouldn't extended induction be the best? thanks for any advice you can give me. this site is amazing

thanks


SW-302
CW-292
GW-200

[IrishIrish]

First disclaimer ... I did extended induction for a long time ... I had a lot of weight to lose. There is a chapter preceeding the OWL Chapter in DANDR. Dr. Atkins asks some questions and you need to examine your responses. For me, Induction did not bore me. I was not hungry. I did not feel tempted. I had energy. I was motivated. For me, staying on induction for another two weeks and then another and then another ... was the right one. Even now, while I have gone up the rungs of OWL, I have identified foods that are triggers, either physically or emotionally and I stay away from them. Now I'm on OWL, but with the exception of some berries, nuts and increased amound of veggies, occasionally, I'm still eating the way I learned here on early Atkins and tracking my Critical Carb Level and weight loss.

[Elizellen]

Like IrishIrish I too followed induction for a long time, but during that time didnt find I felt deprived or frustrated by the limited food choices of the allowed list. I found the strictness of knowing what I could and could not eat reassuring and 'safe'.

However I did decide to move to OWL after losing my first 100 pounds and am now much more comfortable with my way of eating, not considering myself as being 'on a diet' at all now!!

Having said that I have seen many people on these forums who seem to stall and get bored/frustrated on induction after a while, and decide to 'cheat' and maybe give up completely.

Also I have seen many returners to Atkins who did stay on induction for their entire weightloss journey and who then had problems keeping at their goal weight once they reached it. Having not had any experience of how their bodies react to the foods they have given up for so long they often have difficulty in coping with the widere choices of maintenance eating and ended up getting back to the way they used to eat before Atkins - getting the same old weight gain results that eating that way in the past had resulted in!!

So I have come to believe that there is no real advantage in having a hard time sticking to the allowed list for induction for long periods of time when it is much easier to move on up the OWL ladder and start expanding your choices as well as discovering your CCLL and seeing how to incorporate a wider variety of foods into your life and still lose weight.

[djc1979]

Thanks for the responces. definately makes my decision alot easier. I am very satisfied with the food allowed on induction. I think i'm going to stay on induction untill i've lost atleast 60 percent of the weight i'm looking to lose. and i'm then gom gto start OWL and go from there. thanks again for the responces, very helpful

[*Emma*]

You dont lose weight any quicker being on induction, just in case that thought is crossing your mind, your best option would be to stick at rung one rather than induction until you had lost 60% of your weight, veggies are good for you.

[julirama723]

I agree with Emma! There is no need to stay on induction (though many choose to do so) unless you have NOT lost weight and are metabolically resistant. My downfall was staying on induction--I did it not because I was satisfied with the food choices, but because I thought I would lose weight faster. Instead, I fell off the wagon after 4 months, slowly gained back the weight, and here I am on my 2nd (and hopefully LAST) time.

Many people continue to lose, but many more "stall out"--usually what helps them "jumpstart" their losses again is moving up to Rung 1 of OWL, which is just another serving of induction veggies. I lost 3.5 pounds my first week of OWL after my weightloss had stalled from extending induction. I wish I'd moved to OWL sooner...it truly is the main weightloss phase of Atkins. I lost about 25 pounds on Induction/extended induction, but have lost over 70 pounds on OWL.

[ValidRouge]

And, if most of us get REALLY honest with ourselves....most of the time, even during induction, we are eating MORE than the 3 cups of allowed vegetables. I'm not saying everyone does this, but A LOT of people I've experienced do.

Consider this: ONE fast food or restaurant salad is most times the entire daily veggie allowance! I'd say, a good portion of the people on extended induction are REALLY on rung 1 if they were completely honest with themselves.

[*Emma*]

Guilty as charged.

[ValidRouge]

Emma, ME TOO! lol

why do ya think I knew to point it out??

Do you know how many times I've told myself I'm going "back to induction" only I never TRULY get back to induction...it's RUNG 1?????

[gonnabskinny]

OK, here is my two cents.

First time that I did Atkins I stayed on induction and failed. I had a ton of weight to lose and thought If I stayed on induction, I would just lose it faster. I did lose a lot of weight, but I did not LEARN how to really eat, and eventually got bored and the weight poured back on.

This time, I started my journey with 156 pounds to lose. I stayed on induction for a few months, but with more than 100 pounds still to lose, I nervously switched over to OWL. It was the best decision that I could have made. It is on OWL that YOU REALLY LEARN how to live this way of life! You learn how foods effect you. You learn how many carbs your body can tolerate without gaining weight. And on the issue of losing weight faster, just like Julie, I found that OWL actually helped me to start losing even more weight. Don't do yourself a disservice by staying on induction longer.

That being said, I did take it slow. I spent a couple or as many as four weeks on each rung of the ladder, and climbed it ever so slowly to really figure out what foods were effecting me. Sometimes I would even go back and try foods with another combination to see what happened. For example, when I got to the fruit rung, I had some difficulty with eating apples. I found that even 1/2 of a small apple would drive my blood sugar through the roof and it would drive my appetite, by making it seem like I was starving to death about an hour after consumption. However, if I ate the same apple with an ounce of almonds or an ounce of cream cheese, I had no reaction whatsoever.

Anyway. I am almost there. I lost over 100 lbs on OWL, and I am now just 5 lbs away from my goal weight and when I get there, I now have the confidence that I can stay there. I would not have that same confidence if I hadn't learned how to live this way on OWL.

I hope this helps.