Question About When to Stop Adding Carbs For Weight Loss

[Nutri_Nut]

From reading the book, it's my understanding that when you stop losing weight, you drop back to the previous carb intake so that you can start losing weight again.

The first time I followed the Atkins WOE, I visited another message board (I didn't know about this one). I was told there that you stop adding carbs when you are out of ketosis for one week. That didn't make sense to me. I was ALWAYS in ketosis at some point during the week, but I was not losing weight anymore. I became very frustrated. The person who told me to do it this way was supposedly a well-respected "expert" who told me that Dr. Atkins did not make this concept clear in the book. Dr. Atkins "really" meant that we stop adding carbs when we are out of ketosis for one week.

What do you say about this?

[Brook]

I say the good doctor meant what he said and said what he meant.

When you stop losing, drop back 5 grams.

It doesn't have to be more difficult!

~Brook

[lbrowne]

Each week you'll go up another level, adding another 5 gram increment until eventually you'll reach a number at which you stop losing. That's how you find your CCLL. Above it, you lose no more, or you begin to gain. Below it, you continue to lose. The lower your metabolic resistance to weight loss and the greater your level of physical activity, the higher that number will be.

Lipolysis testing strips can also help you ascertain your CCLL in many cases. They generally stop changing their color at a point a little bit below your CCLL. When that happens, your CCLL will be only a few carbohydrate grams higher. However, you should be aware that once you are consuming 50 or more grams of carbohydrates a day, the lipolysis test will no longer register a change in color. So long as you continue to lose pounds and inches and experience no recurrence of your pre-Atkins levels of hunger, cravings and other symptoms, rest assured that all is well. You are still functioning on a primarily fat-burning metabolism even though you may not be producing enough ketones to show up in your urine. You should be aware that everybody hits plateaus—periods during which no weight comes off
http://atkins.com/Archive/2001/12/15-693999.html
http://atkins.com/Archive/2001/12/15-61563.html
http://atkins.com/Archive/2001/12/15-144924.html

You don't need to move up a rung every week, as is suggested here. I took a lot more time on each rung. After the first big drops in weight, then it came off very slowly on the scale (sometimes non-existant over a month), but comparative photos showed I was still making improvements.

~ Linda

[lbrowne]

ROFL! No, it doesn't need to be more difficult, but I can go there anyway.

~ Linda

[Nutri_Nut]

Well, that makes sense to me! Dr. Atkins seemed pretty clear in his book, so I don't know who this fellow was who claimed to know any "better" or differently. I was so baffled by his insistence that I keep adding carbs even when I'm not losing!! That is one reason I finally gave up. I couldn't lose anymore weight!

[2big4mysize]

LOL your expert was not very understanding of Atkins WOEWe are in keotisi fro the rest of our lives eating Atkins as the good doctor defined it as burning fats for fuel period! We will stop showing levels on stix at about 45-50 net carbs and Dr Atkins talked about that in DANDR but if he wanted us to stop at the loss of color on stix he would have said stop at 45-50 net carbs but he didn't

Happy OLWing. remember you have to test and retest to find your true CCLL cause there are cyclic changes in the body that can effect weight loss too.