Why I don't want to go to OWL....

[zoewmu]

alright I admit it. I should move on to OWL and I don't want to. Because.....I don't want to eat more veggies. I feel like I already eat a ton of them and can't stomach the thought of having more.

[chinadoll]

Well, try using some of the higher carb veggies from rung one in place of the ones you are eating now and raise your daily carbs by five grams that way. Then you can at least have some more variety. Maybe that would then allow you to springboard to the dairy rung too.

[zoewmu]

I think the other thing is that I haven't been fanatical about counting my veggies now, so I guess I can't say that I've only been eating 3 cups. Maybe I should be more diligent about counting them first before I move on.

[chinadoll]

If that's the case, you may already have done rung one. LOL

[zoewmu]

Originally Posted by chinadoll

If that's the case, you may already have done rung one. LOL

I'm thinking that might be the case. I'm well over my second week. I know that for lunch today I had about half a cut up cucumber, 6 cherry tomatoes, and 3 green pepper slices. For a snack I had a handful of celery. And I still have dinner where I'll probably eat some zucchini just because we have it and I love it so much.

When I get back from vacation, I may have to start weighing my veggies. It's just so odd to me to do that. Veggies aren't what made me fat. It was more like the lack of veggies made me fat.

[not2late]

Originally Posted by zoewmu

I'm thinking that might be the case. I'm well over my second week. I know that for lunch today I had about half a cut up cucumber, 6 cherry tomatoes, and 3 green pepper slices. For a snack I had a handful of celery. And I still have dinner where I'll probably eat some zucchini just because we have it and I love it so much.

When I get back from vacation, I may have to start weighing my veggies. It's just so odd to me to do that. Veggies aren't what made me fat. It was more like the lack of veggies made me fat.

That's why Dr. Atkins wrote that once you reach Maintenance Phase, you'll be eating more vegetables than those who follow the "Standard American Diet".

Depending on how large that cucumber was, that may have been 1 cup sliced cucumber and the cherry tomatoes was probably a cup as well. As for your handful of celery....again, it could be anything from 1/2 cup to 1 cup (you'd be surprized how much can fit into a handful!)

So begin to measure those vegetables! Use a standard cooking measuring cup if you don't have a food scale. And start counting those carbs, because during OWL, you have to count your carbs---guessing or estimating them isn't going to help you through this phase or the rest of the phases of this diet.

[studyinscarlet]

When i moved to OWL I thought it was going to be hard to add more veggies too but then I decided that I would add them in as dessert and that way it would be easier to incorporate into my routine. Now I eat pumpkin all the time and I love it (I just add some cinnamon or pumpkin spice, stevia, and butter and stick it in the microwave.) I also make Linda's "jicama apples" which are also really good. Anyway, good luck!

[carbless_in_seattle]

one day i just noticed that i was in rung 1 also, rather than extended induction like planned. I realized that i wasn't counting my veggies at all, and there was no need to move to rung 1, i was already there at my 5+ cups/day!

[zoewmu]

Originally Posted by not2late

So begin to measure those vegetables! Use a standard cooking measuring cup if you don't have a food scale. And start counting those carbs, because during OWL, you have to count your carbs---guessing or estimating them isn't going to help you through this phase or the rest of the phases of this diet.

Yes, ma'am! I guess I just needed someone to tell me to do it.

[not2late]

Zoe, the more you measure the veggies, the better you'll get at estimating what a cup of chopped tomatoes looks like. This is helpful when you eat out and don't have a measuring cup handy.

Years ago, I used to watch a cooking show on PBS called "Justin Wilson's Cajun Cooking". Justin Wilson used to be able to measure out a 1/2 teaspoon, 1 teaspoon and 1 tablespoon of salt, pepper, etc. just by pouring it into his hand. When the audience used to "ahhh" and "ooooh", he used to say, "Y'all don't believe it's a teaspoon?" Then he used to take the amount he measured in his hand and pour it into a teaspoon----of course it was a teaspoon. Wilson had measured enough times that he knew what a teaspoon of whatever looked like.

So start measuring!