Hey Gang

Still going strong I am trying to settle for long term weight loss of 1.56 kg / week and so far I am a little above that so things are looking good.

so far I have lost almost 21 kg ( roughly 44 pounds )

I also want to share one experience and to ask a few questions

Is there a benefit to staying around 20 g carbs / day even after several months?

Also in Sweden where I live we do not get light beers, I am looking for some alternative for alcoholic drinks/mixes that are not high on carbs or sugar, anyone have any ideas?

rgds

Matt

Hi Matt

Sounds as though you are having tremendous success. You may want to slowly increase your carb intake by 5 grams at a time as per Dr. Atkin's recommendations and see how it affects your weight loss. The 20 gm induction level is really just to get folks 'kick started' into fat burning mode. Adding carbs will also increase the variety of foods that you eat...more veggies, fruit, and nuts.

As far as the alcoholic beverages...I've avoided them for the most part, but have enjoyed a vanilla rum mixed with diet coke, and a rare glass of red wine.

Hope that helps a little...keep up the great work!!

About the beverage recipes...I have used the ones found on:

http://www.hfbexecutive.com/members/...LowCarbBar.pdf

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matt- some people choose to stay on induction for extended periods, hoping to speed their losses. dr. atkins said that was ok if you have a lot to lose...i personally encourage people to move on after the initial 2 weeks because i'd rather see them add more variety into their diets, gradually normalize their eating, and learn to incorporate the changes into their lifestyle than losing a couple pounds a few days sooner...everyone likes to lose fast, but letting your body adjust to your losses and learning to maintain your losses are more important, in my opinion, than the rate.

congrats on your success, and best wishes for more of the same!

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EatSmart Nutritional Scale Review

Matt, Congradulations on your losses to date. If you think of low/controlled carb eating as a lifestyle change rather than as a diet, then weight loss keyed to a timeframe becomes less important. I see from your earlier posts that you began your low carb journey about 2 months ago. Everyone loses weight at different rates so one person's experience does not necessarily relate to anothers. However, one characteristic of weight loss is that it does not happen at a uniform rate. Some weeks you lose more and other weeks you lose none. I stayed at induction level carbs for 9 months before moving on to OWL. I did so because I had a lot of weight to lose. However, it is important to move into OWL so you have time to develop the eating habits that will carry you through a lifetime of healthy eating. After being on induction for so long, it is amazing how many more choices you have when you get up even to 30 grams per day. You are not in a race. It is more important that you develop the habits to keep the weight off than losing more weight quickly.
HTH

Henry

Matt - Congratulations on your success! You've done very well indeed!

Ditto the above advice about slowly increasing the level of carbs you consume and incorporating more variety into your daily diet.

In DANR, Dr. Atkins said that if one is going to drink, small amounts of hard liquors such as vodka, gin or whiskey were LC options. Any of the many diet sodas or plain club soda would be good for mixers. Baja Bobs has a good line of LC mixers for tropical drinks like margaritas and pina coladas. You can buy Baha Bobs at www.netrition.com, which has a very low flat rate for domestic shipping. I do not know what they might charge for international shipping.

Although hard liquors don't have many carbs, any alcohol could interfer a bit with weight loss because the body burns calories from alcohol first. Then, too, it's good to be on guard about the risk that alcohol could interfer with one's good judgement about eating non-lc foods (just because alcohol does that kind of thing).

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~~~Teelbee
Back to GOAL!!!
start weight: 176/goal range: 137-134/now: 138
Reached goal in Aug. 2003 - 4rd year of maintenance.