I have an OWL question

[barbiedoll4j]

Hi there. My 15th day of induction will be May 28th. Since I've lost 13lbs already on induction and I've only got 22 to go, I thought it would be best to move on to OWL. I've read the posts and questions and have many of mine answered already. I think I have the basic idea and am looking forward to adding more veggies. Here's my question. I like lots of different veggies (and fruits) so should I stay on those rungs longer and experiment with a variety of veggies? I'm allergic to nuts, so I wont be doing much there ... but I eat almost every veggie there is (except peppers ... yuck!). I was planning on 2 weeks at each rung unless I should try more kinds of veggies ... and say longer, especially since it's summer and there's so many fresh ones to be had.

[not2late]

Originally Posted by barbiedoll4j

Hi there. My 15th day of induction will be May 28th. Since I've lost 13lbs already on induction and I've only got 22 to go, I thought it would be best to move on to OWL. I've read the posts and questions and have many of mine answered already. I think I have the basic idea and am looking forward to adding more veggies.

Congrats on your loss!

Here's my question. I like lots of different veggies (and fruits) so should I stay on those rungs longer and experiment with a variety of veggies?

I stayed on Rung 1 a very long time, because I like vegetables and I wanted to have my Atkins Diet as vegetable varied as my pre-Atkins Diet was. Since I liked most of the Induction veggies, that wasn't a problem I also like ethnic vegetables, like Chinese broccoli, seaweed, etc. So I added these low carb ethnic veggies during Rung 1 as well.

I'm allergic to nuts, so I wont be doing much there ...

If you are allergic to the foods on an entire Rung or you choose not to have a Rung, like the alcohol rung, by all means skip it. But we don't suggest skipping Rung 1, since more vegetables are healthful and the fiber amount you'll be eating will eliminate the need for fiber laxatives. Plus Rung 1 foods are lower glycemic and not as allergenic so they'll interfere less with your weight loss than the higher glycemic and allergenic foods like grains.

but I eat almost every veggie there is (except peppers ... yuck!). I was planning on 2 weeks at each rung unless I should try more kinds of veggies ... and say longer, especially since it's summer and there's so many fresh ones to be had.

That's fine. Take advantage of the summer and the produce. It's the best time of the year for eating fresh veg. If you don't make it to the "other fruits rung" or even the berry rung, you can still purchase those fruits and freeze them for later use. I don't have anything to prove it, but I really think that veg and fruits picked at the height of the growing season are far more nutritious (and delicious!) than the ones grown in the dead of winter in a hot house or flown in 1000 miles + from South America.

Enjoy your OWL. It's the time when you get to individualize Atkins to suit your tastes and needs.

[mitzimarie]

Here is another good reason to enjoy those veggies - in addition to moving up the rungs to see which foods we can tolerate, in OWL we also have the task of finding our CCLL (Critical Carbohydrate Level for Losing). That is the number of net carbs that we can eat, and still lose weight. This was my strategy: since most veggies are "safe", I stayed at Rung 1 for a while, increasing my number of carbs by 5 each week with veggies. That way, if my losses stopped, I would know that it was the number of net carbs that was tripping me up, and not the type of carbs.

When moving up the rungs to try new foods and increasing your number of carbs to find your CCLL, you have to be very careful not to add a new food and increase your number in the same week. If losses are affected, you want to keep a single variable, so you will know what the culprit is. By using veggies to test my numbers, within 3 weeks I was able to find out that I could have at least 35g of net carbs and still lose at the same rate that I was losing at 20g. Then I had more carbs to "spend" when trying new foods, without sacrificing veggies to do it.

OWL is SO important! Kudos to you for taking the plunge!!

[barbiedoll4j]

Thanks Megs and Mitzi. Yes, I did read about staying on rung one and finding my CCLL. I really like the idea and think this will be my plan.The only thing missing will be the berries that will be ripe before I'm ready to eat them. Frozen are good ... but just not the same. I look forward to the day when I know my ACE and can eat all food types and maintain my weight. In the mean time ... I'm looking forward to veggie heaven!

[not2late]

Frozen aren't the same as fresh, but it's better than nothing.

I froze plenty of berries and used them when I moved to the Berry Rung. They were good, because there's only so much frozen berries you can eat before you freeze your mouth. lol.