You're going to stall eventually, no matter what you do.. Might as well go with increasing your carbs in the times/increments that you should. There really are no benefits to staying at induction level longer, and it can even sabatoge you when you finally do increase your carbs by not allowing you to without gaining weight.. You want to try to get your CCL as high as possible - that will make things much easier.

(296/226.5/135) 04/01/03
The Downward Spiral Begins

Keep up the good work. I'm back to LC after over a year off. First time I lost over 80lbs in less than a year. I gained 70 back and now am kicking myself. Oh well, the past is the past. Now I'm back on and finding it a struggle to stick with not because of the food, because how can you go wrong with chicken kiev, its the fact that it is not coming off as quickly and that is sooooo frustrating. I'm sure it is going to happen and I'm really glad there is this website to help with my questions and bad days.

Fantastic news about the 14 days and the 10 lbs. The first time around I was on the induction for most of a year and there was no harm done. In fact the weight loss and feeling so much better was great encouragement. So I think you have to do what you are comfortable with and only stick with it as long as you are not going nuts wanting more.

How are you getting the sauce in chicken kiev to stay inside the chicken breast without breading?

(296/226.5/135) 04/01/03
The Downward Spiral Begins

There are several good reasons not to stay in induction for longer than 2 weeks.

It is very difficult to make this a way of life if one stays at the most restrictive phase of a four phase program. The extended period of induction often leads people to feel bored and deprived, because of the narrow spectrum of food choices. IMHO, that is crash dieting, and no matter what kind of crash diet one does, the weight will return when the "diet" is over.

Moving into OWL is the real "educational" part of the program and what makes it a lifestyle change, as opposed to a crash diet. During this phase one learns a lot about one's own metabolism and how it reacts to various foods in different amounts. One also starts to realize just how MANY different foods one can eat and continue to lose and, ultimately, to maintain.

People who stay at induction levels for an extended period of time may lose large amounts of weight, but they're just "dieting." When they get at or close to goal, they have learned absolutely nothing about how to really (really!) enjoy this way of eating for the rest of their lives. In other words, they just don't know what to eat. Having failed to discover all the interesting and diversified they can eat, they make all the wrong choices (because they haven't learned any others) and regain all their lost weight.

Just my opinion, based on experience and observation. Everyone is different, but I don't know anyone who got to goal on induction and stayed there.

Maggie
5'1" ~~ Atkins since '98 (160)/Maintaining nicely (110) ~~ Redhead until further notice!

Maggie
Extremely well put!

Rob