Read The New Atkins Made Easy Online
Authors: Colette Heimowitz
The New Atkins Made Easy (21 page)
Q.
Why is my weight loss erratic?
A.
As I've discussed with regard to plateaus, your body has its own schedule and won't share it with anyone. The important thing is to follow the program faithfully and the pounds will come off. Again, adding exercise helps some people lose weight, but not everyone. Be
sure
to take your measurements weekly. If you've lost inches, the scale is bound to catch up.
Q.
Why have I regained some of the weight I lost?
A.
The reason I recommend that you
not
weigh yourself daily is that your weight can vary by as much as 5 pounds even within a day. As long as you're following the program, you should see some weight loss every week or so, unless you're on a plateau. If you stayed on track but gained a pound or two since the previous week, you're probably retaining water or are constipated.
There are two big questions you'll face in the Balancing phase. The first we've alluded to throughout this chapter: “How do I find my personal carb balance, my threshold for consuming carbs while losing weight?” The answer? By trial and error! You'll gradually increase your daily Net Carb count. If weight loss levels off, you'll cut back by 5 grams of Net Carbs to see if it gets going again. When it does, you'll add another 5 grams, and so forth. You'll want to go as high as you can as long as weight loss continues, albeit more slowly than before, and you continue to feel good and in control of cravings. There is no right number, only the one that feels right to you and which you can maintain without too much effort.
The second, and related, question is, “When should I transition to Phase 3?” If you've lost weight steadily and are now only about 10 pounds from your goal weight, the answer is simple: now! Why? Because your long-term goal is to find a sustainable way of eating. And
with 10 pounds to go, you have enough time to try to reintroduce the remaining carb foods. If you aren't yet 10 pounds from your goal, the answer is that it depends, just like when you were deciding when to transition to Phase 2.
In that case, ask yourself which of these three scenarios describes you:
1. You've reached a daily intake of about 50 grams of Net Carbs, have introduced Phase 2 foods, and continue to slim down without experiencing cravings and unreasonable hunger. If so, feel free to transition to Phase 3 now if you're eager for more variety in your meals. If you stall out there, you can always return to Phase 2 to reboot weight loss.
2. You still have more than 10 pounds to shed and are stalled in your weight-loss progress and/or experiencing cravings and extreme hunger before meals. By all means, stay in this phase until the cravings and hunger have vanished.
3. Although you lost weight in Phase 1, your progress in this phase has been frustrating, and some Phase 2 foods are creating cravings and undue hunger. You may have even gained a few pounds. You may be extraordinarily sensitive to carbs and may have reached your carb tolerance at 30 or 35 grams of Net Carbs. Follow the advice above, be patient, and ramp up your activity level if possible.
Now turn the page to meet Troy G., whose life seemed to be falling apart eleven years ago as he faced his excess weight, a serious gastrointestinal problem, and bankruptcy. Today, he's a lean ultra-marathon runner who knows that carb loading is not the only way to run a race. Read his story to get inspired to add fitness to your weight-loss program. In the next chapter, we'll move on to Phase 3, Pre-Maintenance, where you'll achieve your goal weight and begin the dress rehearsal for a lifetime of slimness.
SUCCESS STORY
ON THE RIGHT TRACK FOR GOOD
VITAL STATS
Daily Net Carb intake: 60â70 grams
Age: 50
Height: 5'11"
Before weight: 233 pounds
After weight: 163 pounds
Weight lost: 70 pounds
Troy G.'s life was in free fall. At age thirty-nine, he was an overweight couch potato confronting his own health issues, and concerned about his wife, who had become partially disabled. Troy had lost his job and some business deals had gone wrong. The couple declared bankruptcy and their home was in foreclosure. In the midst of these troubles, Troy started Atkins, shed his excess weight within six months, and started running. Before long,
his health was restored and he could boast a BMI of about 21. A new job took the family to College Station, Texas. Eleven years later, Troy remains committed to the Atkins lifestyle. Let's hear how he turned his life around.
I was always a skinny kid. When I played baseball in high school, I worked out and took supplements to bulk up. But in college I started living on pizza and beer, and after graduation I continued to live on junk food and my job as a software developer and programmer was a sedentary one. That skinny kid had become a heavy man. With everything out of control, I decided that the only things that I
could
control were my weight and my health.
I had lost weight before. After surgery to deal with diverticulitis, I was put on a liquid diet. I lost weight, but of course I regained it when I went back to eating solid food. One day when I was at my heaviest, I was playing peewee tackle football with my younger son, who was about six at the time. I caught a pass and all I had to do was run a few yards to make the touchdown. Instead, I fell down. My son said, “Dad, would you play on the other team now?” That was my inspiration to be a role model for him by showing that you shouldn't give up on your goals.
I'd done what I thought was Atkins a couple of times before, but I was just cutting carbs without knowing what I was doing. This time I read
The New Atkins for a New You,
and my wife and I did Atkins together. We started with Induction and followed it to the letter. Although I've never been much for vegetables, I ate as much as I could, but can't say that I
ever developed a taste for broccoli! I lost a pound and sometimes even two each day and never hit a plateau.
After three or four months I'd found how many carbs I could consume and keep losing weight, and within six months I was down 70 pounds. I was feeling so much better and more energetic that I decided to take up running. After a few months I began to enter 5-kilometer races and then worked up to half marathons and finally marathons. This was all within a year of starting Atkins. Now I'm proud to call myself an ultra-marathon runner, having completed twenty-one marathons, as well as a dozen ultra-marathons (thirty-one miles or greater). I've even run seventy miles in a twenty-four-hour period to match my weight loss of 70 pounds.
For many years I followed my low-carb lifestyle, but I was taking the conventional path of carb loading before a race. I did okay, but I was always hitting the wall. After a marathon, I would feel like I had the ultimate hangover, but I continued to train that way. Then I did some research on how dietary fat provides more sustained energy than carbs and found that I could run on a low-carb regimen. I'd been training that way for a couple of months and decided to try it on a seventy-mile celebratory run. I was able to do it by drinking Atkins shakes and taking breaks to rest or walk.
I was still not totally convinced that fat loading was the way to go, but in the next marathon I tried it, and it was the easiest one I'd ever run. I usually hit the wall at the twenty-mile point, but this time I was able to actually run faster after that point than during the earlier part of the race.
My lucky number is now 70. It's my proof that you can take control of your life, that you can feel good about yourself and endure anything that is thrown at you. And 70 is also my personal proof that the Atkins lifestyle does work, not only for losing weight, but also for successfully preparing for endurance events.
I have to say that I've developed a totally different outlook on life. At forty years old, I finally learned to distinguish between what I could control and focus on that, and to let go of what I couldn't control. The Atkins lifestyle helped me gain control of my life. And as far as football goes, when my kids began their next peewee tackle season after I'd lost the 70 pounds, the coach didn't recognize me. And no one was suggesting I play for the other team!
Note:
Troy has written a Nook ebook,
Endurance 70
, dedicated to the late Dr. Atkins, about his experience as an endurance athlete. It is available at bn.com.
THE FINISH LINE IS IN SIGHT
Y
ou're probably now just 10 pounds from your goal weight, which you'll achieve in Phase 3, Pre-Maintenance (Fine-Tuning). Bravo! You've worked hard, been patient, and deserve the reward you're closing in on: a slim, healthy new you. I won't say the end is near, because reaching your goal weight is actually just the beginning of your new lifestyle. And if you've opted to begin this phase with more than 10 pounds to go, you can still begin to broaden your food choices, although it may take you a bit longer to reach your goal weight.
When you transitioned to Phase 2 (Balancing), the trick was to go as slow as molasses (yes, I know it's an added sugar)âthat is, gradually and deliberately. You'll do the same again as you see how much you can raise your daily Net Carb intake while exploring the final three rungs of the Carb Ladder (see
page 151
) in Phase 3 (Fine-Tuning). They include foods with the highest carb counts: fruits other than
berries, cherries, and melon; starchy vegetables; and whole grains, building on the foods lower on the Carb Ladder that you've already been eating. You might be able to eat all these “new” foods; another possibility, however, is that your metabolism may be able to handle only some of themâor small amounts. Or you may find that you can eat them rarely or not at all.
In this phase you'll come to understand how your body reacts to these foods in terms of slowing weight loss, halting it altogether, or prompting cravings or unreasonable hunger. All this is part of continuing to explore your tolerance for carbs while continuing to
lose
weight (what we call your personal carb balance) and then ultimately finding your slightly higher tolerance for carbs as you
maintain
weight loss.
As you've already learned, the last thing you want to do is rush to add back all the Phase 3 foods that you've been missing. After all, fruit, bread, potatoes, cereals, and grains are probably among the culprits that got you in trouble to begin with. Add them back all at once and you'll almost certainly stall your fat-burning engine. But that's no reason to hang out in Phase 2. To stay in control, inch forward until you discover how far you can go, and you'll know exactly what you can and cannot eat. Then make it your permanent way of eating to eliminate the struggles with weight you've experienced in the past. Much of the advice on how to succeed in Phase 3 will sound familiar, because it's the natural extension of Phase 2.
â¢Â Continue to consume a minimum of 12â15 grams of Net Carbs in the form of foundation vegetables, avoid foods with added sugar, have eight glasses of water or other acceptable fluids each day, and go no longer than three or four waking hours without eating, spreading out your carb intake across meals and snacks.