by Westman, Dr. Eric C. ; Phinney, Dr. Stephen D. ; Volek, Dr. Jeff S.
As you can see, there is a tremendous variation in how individuals respond to increases in carb intake and to different foods. Your own scenario will undoubtedly differ. Also remember that your weight can vary by a few pounds from day to day, independent of increments in carb intake and different foods. That’s why it’s important to continue to use the weight-averaging method described on page 77.
YOUR CARB TOLERANCE
Like it or not, you may find that there are some foods you simply cannot handle or must eat very carefully in order to not regain weight and stimulate cravings. Likewise, if elevated blood sugar or metabolic syndrome has been an issue for you, it’s likely that you’ll need to be very careful about introducing higher-carb foods. (For more on metabolic syndrome, see chapter 13.) Knowing your limits will enable you to have a realistic approach to meal planning once you’re in Lifetime Maintenance. Anxious as you may be to reach your goal weight, achieving it in a way that’s close to the way that you’ll be eating to sustain that new weight makes it more likely you’ll succeed long term.
Once you’ve achieved your goal weight but before you move to Lifetime Maintenance, you’ll have to find your Atkins Carbohydrate Equilibrium (ACE). In contrast to your CLL, which relates to weight loss, your ACE is the number of grams of Net Carbs you can eat each day, while neither losing nor gaining weight. Many people wind up with an ACE of 65 to 100 grams of Net Carbs, but some people have a considerably lower ACE and a very few people an even higher one.
It’s important to understand that looking merely at weight loss can oversimplify the issue of carb tolerance. Your energy level, ability to concentrate, tendency to retain fluid, and, of course, the old signals of unreasonable hunger and carb cravings must also be considered. For example, even if you’re losing weight at a CLL of say, 50 grams of Net Carbs a day, you might still be reawakening food cravings or blood sugar swings or experiencing low energy, which could make maintaining that level of carb intake problematic long term. Why are we bringing this up? Because some people, for a variety of reasons, find that they do best at 25 to 50 grams of Net Carbs in either the weight loss or weight maintenance phases. Your objective is not to push your carb intake to the absolute limit but to advance to the point where you’re comfortable and don’t stimulate the return of any of the old symptoms that originally got you into trouble. Bottom line: finding your ACE is not just a matter of getting to the right weight; if you’re pushing your ACE too high, it is probably not sustainable.
What’s unique about the low-carb way of eating compared to other diets is that adhering first to your CLL and later your ACE results in profound changes in your metabolism, enabling you to better control your intake of calories. The flip side is that if you exceed your ACE, you’re forcing your body to burn more glucose while inhibiting fat breakdown and utilization. This makes it harder to control appetite and feel satiated, with the result that you’ll almost certainly regain lost pounds. You’ll lose the Atkins Edge and the metabolic bully will rear its ugly head again, blocking fat burning.
CUSTOMIZING PRE-MAINTENANCE
We generally recommend that you introduce carbohydrate foods in the sequence shown by the carb ladder in both OWL and Pre-Maintenance. But if you’re continuing to lose weight at a reasonably regular pace and the foods you’ve reintroduced recently haven’t sparked uncontrollable hunger or other symptoms, you may be able to change the order. If you’d rather have a small serving of brown rice with your chicken curry than sink your teeth into a crisp apple, that’s your choice. But be alert to the dangers. The desire for a certain food, particularly one higher in carbs, may be a sign that you’ll have trouble handling it in moderation. As always, count carbs to make sure you’re not exceeding your revised CLL and watch for those familiar warning signals.
GETTING (THE FAT) UP THERE
From everything we’ve told you so far, you’d think that it’s the carbs in your diet that stop weight loss at your goal. That’s partially true, because carbs do exert a strong control over your metabolism—the bully thing. But when you move from losing weight to maintaining weight, you need to increase your consumption of healthy, natural fats slightly to meet your maintenance energy needs. No, you don’t need to measure or count your intake of fatty foods. With your appetite as your guide, you just need to let it happen. We’ll tell you how in the next chapter. All you need to know for now is that as you approach your goal weight, you may become aware of something that hunting peoples have known about for centuries: “fat hunger.” It’s a different and subtler feeling than having the bottom drop out on you after a sugar rush. But if you find yourself staring into the fridge and eyeing the butter, cheese, or salad dressing, you’ve probably been skimping on fat. Learning to recognize and respond appropriately to fat hunger is an important skill for success in Lifetime Maintenance.
THE RIGHT WEIGHT FOR YOU
When you began your journey on Atkins, we advised you to establish your goals, including a target weight. Undoubtedly, you’ve kept this number and the image of yourself at that size in your mind’s eye. You may be zeroing in on that figure (pun definitely intended) at this very moment. But setting a goal weight is more of an art than science. Following the Atkins Diet seems to allow people to find their natural healthy weight, which might be higher or lower than the one you’d originally envisioned.
It’s not uncommon at this point for people to find themselves shy of their initial goal. So what do you do if you work your way through Pre-Maintenance and reach a point where you’re able to stabilize your weight but it’s slightly higher than the number you were targeting? If it’s merely a matter of a few pounds and you’re pleased with how you look and feel, this is the right weight for you. After all, wouldn’t you rather be at a weight that you can maintain relatively easily instead of waging an ongoing struggle to be three or four pounds thinner?
But what if it’s more than a few pounds? If you haven’t already jumped onto the activity wagon, one option is to finally climb aboard. Do keep in mind that not everyone is genetically programmed to lose a lot of weight by exercising. Nonetheless, even if you don’t shed a few more pounds, you may be able to shape your body with weight-bearing exercise. The other option is to be patient, hone your maintenance skills, and give your mind and body a break for six months or so. If you find that you’re unduly stressing yourself by trying to lose 50 pounds in one fell swoop, sometimes it’s better to lose say, 30 pounds, and then move to Lifetime Maintenance to stabilize your weight by practicing your new habits. After at least six months—your body is likely to resist further weight loss before that rest period—you can return to OWL to lose some or much of the remaining excess pounds, before returning to Pre-Maintenance to shed the last 10.
What about the opposite scenario? You’ve lost the 25 pounds you set as your goal but now realize that you could probably pare off another 5. Just stay at the same level of carb intake you’re presently at, and the rest of the pounds should drop off slowly.
PRE-MAINTENANCE FOR SPECIAL GROUPS
Whole grains usually loom large for vegetarians and vegans, and starchy vegetables are often important components of their meals. However, they’re among the very foods that may have gotten you in trouble in the past. Follow the general guidelines for reintroduction and think of these foods, as well as legumes, as side dishes, rather than the mainstays of a meal. You may find that over time you can tolerate larger portions as long as you steer clear of refined grains and most processed foods. Both vegetarians and vegans should add back starchy vegetables followed by whole grains before higher-carb fruits (other than the berries and melon acceptable in OWL).
Likewise, legumes, starchy vegetables, grains, and tropical fruits are key components of all Hispanic cuisines. Again, it is this very combination of foods (often in the context of the American junk-food culture) that’s likely led to weight gain and other metabolic danger signals. If you’re able to reintroduce all these foods, we recommend the following ways to minimize weight regain a
nd elevated blood sugar and insulin levels.
• Continue to season protein dishes with traditional seasonings, but avoid carb-laden sauces.
• Continue to focus on foundation vegetables such as garlic, sweet and chili peppers, chayote, jicama, nopales, tomatillos, pumpkin, cauliflower, and white turnips—along with that delicious source of fat: avocado.
• Reintroduce such starchy vegetables and tubers as calabaza, yuca (cassava root or manioc), potatoes, taro, arracache, yams (ñame), and yautia, in small amounts and one by one. Have them rarely, and be on the alert for signals that you cannot tolerate the carb load. Gram for gram, they’re among the highest-carbohydrate foods.
• Use brown rice instead of white rice, and keep serving sizes small. Do the same with corn (maize).
• Use legumes that are relatively low in carbs, such as black soybeans, pinto beans, and red kidney beans.
• Treat all fruits, but particularly bananas, plantains, cherimoya, and mangos, as garnishes, rather than major components of a meal.
• Continue to eat low-carb or corn (maize) tortillas in moderation. (A conventional 6-inch corn tortilla contains about 11 grams of Net Carbs compared to 3 or 4 grams for a low-carb one; a low-carb 6-inch “flour” tortilla is comparable in carb count, in contrast to the roughly 15 grams of Net Carbs in a conventional flour tortilla.)
Your long-term objective is to honor your culinary heritage without falling back into the same eating patterns that got you into trouble in the first place. This juggling act will inevitably involve some compromises.
WOULDN’T YOU RATHER?
Paradoxically, the closer you get to your weight goal, sometimes the harder it is to stick to your resolve. This slowdown can leave you vulnerable to instant gratification. “I’m not losing much anyway, so why not have that chocolate cupcake?” you say to yourself. For a moment, that momentary pleasure seems more important than how you’ll look in that new bathing suit or expensive suit. Assuming that you’re continuing to eat enough fat, protein, and fiber to remain satiated, often the ability to stay the course is a matter of having a list of reasons to remind yourself why it’s worth resisting temptation. These may reside in your head, on an index card, in your diet journal, or even on your PDA. Here are some ideas that should stimulate you to come up with your own list. Say to yourself, I love to:
• Be able to see my feet when I look down.
• Slide easily into my pants instead of waging a tug-of-war.
• Get admiring looks.
• Have a social life.
• Feel pleasantly full but not stuffed after a meal.
• Feel at ease in the buff.
• Feel sexually desirable.
• Wear clothes that show off, rather than hide, my body.
• No longer have to avoid mirrors.
• Feel full of energy.
• Participate in activities with my family.
• Know my size no longer embarrasses my spouse or children.
• Feel healthy and comfortable with myself.
• Know that I’m in control of my destiny.
READY TO MOVE ON TO LIFETIME MAINTENANCE?
Of all the phases, the whether-to-move-on question is easiest in Pre-Maintenance. It’s a simple black-and-white issue.
Have you reached your goal weight and maintained it for a month?
If so, it’s time to move on to the rest of your life in Lifetime Maintenance.
Have you not yet reached your goal weight? Have you not maintained it for a month? Have some newly reintroduced foods triggered cravings that are making it hard for you to stay in control and provoked other symptoms?
If the answer to any of the above questions is yes, you’re clearly not ready to move on. (The exception is the decision to take a vacation from weight loss and go to Lifetime Maintenance, resuming weight loss after at least six months, described above.) Review this chapter, and proceed slowly. Yo-yo dieting can make you resistant to weight loss. You may need to reduce your ACE to lose and then maintain your goal weight.
Have you reached your goal weight and your ACE is somewhere between 25 and 50? Did you have type 2 diabetes or did you have any signs of metabolic syndrome before you began Atkins?
If many of the foods considered acceptable for Pre-Maintenance give you trouble and/or your ACE is close to the number of grams of Net Carbs (50 or less) that you were consuming in OWL, you should consider the lower-carb version of the Lifetime Maintenance program described in the next chapter. This is particularly the case if you still have metabolic syndrome (see chapter 13) or type 2 diabetes (see chapter 14).
In the next chapter, we’ll look at how Lifetime Maintenance—which you can customize to your individual circumstances—will enable you to make your new weight permanent as you continue to retain your health and vitality. But first, read how Jennifer Kingsley finally adopted Atkins as her lifestyle after using it twice as a quickie diet.
SUCCESS STORY 9
THE THIRD TIME’S A CHARM
After two experiences with Atkins and the loss of more than 100 pounds, Jennifer Kingsley gained much of it back during pregnancy. Once she “got it” that Atkins is more than a weight loss diet, she was able to finally say good-bye to foods that made her heavy, depressed, and subject to ailments.
VITAL STATISTICS
Current phase: Lifetime
Maintenance Daily Net Carb intake: 120 grams
Age: 39
Height: 5 feet, 4 inches
Before weight: 230 pounds
Current weight: 117 pounds
Weight lost: 113 pounds
Has your weight always been an issue?
Growing up, I was definitely heavier than most of the other girls. In high school I was dealing with backaches, knee pain from an injury, nearly debilitating PMS symptoms, depression, etc. At 19, I was told I had high cholesterol. I began to slowly gain weight after my first son was born. Eventually, I just stopped weighing myself. I estimate that I was at least 230 pounds.
What motivated you to try Atkins?
Shopping for clothes was the most painful experience. I finally broke down crying in the middle of a department store after weeks of looking for a dress to wear to a special event. After that, I constantly made excuses not to accept invitations. Then in December of 2002, I learned that my boyfriend was to be best man in a wedding in February. I knew just the dress in my closet that I wanted to wear. Problem was, it was several sizes too small. So I started Atkins—and six weeks later I wore that dress to the wedding.
Why didn’t you stay with Atkins?
At the reception, I ate whatever I wanted. That night I felt really sick, and I realized that over the last few months on Atkins, I hadn’t felt the old aches, pains, and bloated stomach. And I wasn’t depressed. But it was really hard to start Atkins again. I didn’t have the wedding to keep me motivated, and I could still fit into my old clothes. At first, that is. When they kept getting tighter and tighter, I realized I didn’t want to be back where I was before—crying in the middle of a department store.
What got you back on track?
A coworker was preparing for her wedding and I wanted to get back to a size 12 again, so we started Atkins together in July of 2003. By June of the following year, I reached what I thought was my goal. Then I wondered, “Maybe I could get into a size 10 again.” When I reached a size 8, I went out and bought a new wardrobe. But it turned out that I was on a plateau. Suddenly I was wearing a size 6 and then a 4, and finally a 2. I weighed 120 pounds and happily stayed there until July of 2006.
What happened then?
I realized I was pregnant. My weight gain was mostly normal at first. But I wasn’t sure how to maintain my low-carb way of eating while pregnant—or even if I could. My doctor told me to get plenty of whole grains. So I did. Almost immediately, I wanted every simple carbohydrate I could get my hands on. My exhaustion returned, along with aches and pain. At one point, my doctor even tested me for gestational diabetes because of
my excessive weight gain. After my son was born, I breast-fed him. People told me nursing helps shed pounds, but I was gaining a pound or two each week until I was back up to 170 pounds. I gained a bit more before I found the Atkins Web site and backed into Lifetime Maintenance, which got me down to 151 pounds. Once my son weaned himself in March of 2008, I decided to return to Induction.
What was different this time?
I spent several months reacquainting myself with the diet on the Atkins Web site and message board. I began to understand there was a lot more to Atkins than dieting. I realized that the only time I truly felt good in my life was while I was on Atkins. There was obviously a nutritional reason for many of those health problems. This time I focused on my nutritional needs—not just my weight loss. By September of that year, I had lost the “baby” weight and was back into my prepregnancy clothes.
What did you learn about yourself in the process?
On Atkins, my depression is gone. My chronic fatigue, yearly urinary tract infections, back and knee pain, and bloating are all gone too. And cholesterol? One doctor called my blood work “stellar.” I also realized that I get ill when I eat gluten. I have two cousins with celiac disease, and once I researched it, I realized that whether or not I actually have celiac disease myself, gluten is a major problem for me. Now I avoid wheat altogether, but I can eat some other whole grains like oats and teff.
What’s your fitness routine?
I do yoga regularly, but haven’t been able to go to the gym as much as I would like. Having a three-year-old around is actually quite a bit of exercise!
What advice can you offer other people?
Visit the Atkins Community message board. The support I’ve received has been incredible, and I hope to return the favor by supporting others. I know that this is still a journey for me. I continue to learn and grow. There is no finish line.
Chapter 10
KEEPING IT OFF: LIFETIME MAINTENANCE