How do I determine if I'm at CCLL or in a stall? I am into my 4th week and I'm taking in about 25gms of carbs. I know my weight will stall after the initial "whoosh", but I'm wondering if I should move on and add another 5gms or stay at 25 for another week. I'd appreciate you guys points of view.

Cherub
304/284/160
5'9"
Started Atkins 01/04/04

I doubt very much you are at your CCLL at 25 grams. You are just experiencing a normal stall. Keep going in the program, work through it, and you will begin losing again.

Barb - 30 lbs gone FOREVER!
www.iwsgroupinc.com - website design and development


Atkins-3/14/03
174/144/135 5'2"
"A little knowledge is a dangerous thing."
Knowledge is POWER

I agree with Barb, A CCLL of 25 is rare. I might up my carbs by 5 every 2 weeks instead of every week if I were you. Have you used a food tracker like www.fitday.com ? It can help pinpoint a problem in your menus. I've used it faithfully for going on a year. But that's not for everyone. But you could try it out for a few days. Put in the last 2 days and the next 3 and see if there are any clues like too much protein or carbs.

Rob
310/232/180

Me, a skeptic? I trust you have proof.

Thanks Rob and Barb. i am trying now to put my "sorta oatmeal" into the fitday food tracker and it gives me an enormous carb count!! Please tell me I'm doing something wrong!! I'm using the recipe on this site: 1/4 cup wheat bran, 1/4 flaxseed meal, 2 packets splenda, heavy cream and a pat of butter. Fitday says I'm off the charts with carbs. HELP!!
I just wanted to add breakfast cereal to my menu, should I eliminate it??

Cherub
304/284/160
5'9"
Started Atkins 01/04/04

Cherub,
Make a custom food and inter the ingredients off of your packages. I find I do that a lot rather then rely on fitday to tell me. I use their counts for cream and eggs and butter, but for Maggies Cereal, I use the info off of the box. Be sure you subtract the fiber! It is really important that every day you take the total carb count and minus out the fiber count for your real carb counts.

HTH

Jen

Atkins since 11/11/03

5'3" 140/129/115


I used to be indecisive...But now I'm not so sure!

I think you need to get yourself some Ketostix. Test yourself and find out if you're in ketosis. If you are, then you're doing fine and might be able to even increase your carbs. As far as ending the stall... it will end when it is ready to end. Just doing the program and not worrying about it is often the best remedy. Stalls are frequent and normal.

**************
"Sometimes I think you have to march right in and demand your rights, even if you don't know what your rights are, or who the person is you're talking to. Then on the way out, slam the door."

I also increased my carbs by 5 but only increased them every 2 weeks, and used ketone testing to determine my CCLL.

Here's what DANDR says:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>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. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>



Always eat your veggies first!
LCE member since March 2002