The Ongoing Weight Loss (OWL) is the second phase of the Atkins diet, immediately following the induction phase. During this phase, you will find that the weight loss is decelerating by a marginal amount. This is an easier phase than the induction phase because during this phase, some select carbohydrates will be reintroduced into the diet. The weight loss will occur, but not as rapidly as in the induction phase. But the weight loss will be steady.

The OWL phase is the period when the body’s ability to metabolize the fats increases. Though there are some carbohydrates that will be reintroduced into the diet, the ketosis will still occur. The extra fats will be used to provide energy to the body and that will help to reduce the extra weight of the body.

Not only do you reenter carbohydrates into your diet during the OWL phase, but you will also learn to make some choices. There are some rules set up for the recipes that can be consumed during OWL, and that will permit you to have some delicious food. During this phase, you will make some better carbohydrate choices, replacing the poor ones you used to consume before.

One of the important things people learn when they are in the OWL phase is that they can consume some carbohydrates and still lose weight. This is what you will be doing; finding out the optimum level where your body can consume carbohydrates without gaining weight. During the induction, the allowable carbohydrate amount is 20 grams; during the OWL phase you will learn to gradually increase from that level.

The program following the OWL phase is the maintenance phase. This is when you continue the habits you inculcate during the OWL. The maintenance phase is what maintains the lifetime healthy condition in your body, but you need to understand that the OWL phase is the real test.

When you are in the OWL phase, most of your carbohydrates will be consumed through vegetables. It is certainly important to consume a variety of vegetables which is good for intestinal health apart from assisting in the weight loss. As the program continues, you can add to the amount of carbohydrates in the Atkins diet. Gradually, you will also be able to incorporate nuts, seeds and some berries. Despite all these additions, the main focus of the diet will still be on proteins.
It is not wrong to say that the induction phase is far simpler than other phases in the Atkins diet. Though a bit strict, it is easy to follow and you can actually see the weight loss occurring from your body. There is laxity in the OWL phase, but that means you will have to be more cautious about the number of carbohydrates you are taking in. You will have to make judicious choices of food or there could be a weight gain instead of a weight loss.

One of the important things you will need to do is to count the carbohydrate grams in your diet. Without measuring these, you might be introducing more carbohydrates into your body than necessary. There are many methods in which you can count your carbohydrates. You can do it through books that mention the amount of carbohydrates in each food. This is a method of learning; with time, you will know these counts by-heart.

Counting carbohydrates is a method of finding the optimal level of carbohydrates your body can take in. The first week of OWL sees an improvement of your carbohydrate level from 20 grams to 25 grams and later to 30 grams per day even. These can come through vegetables.
You will have to constantly monitor your weight. If your weight loss becomes too slow, you will have to lessen the amount of carbohydrates you take in. Investigate your own acceptable carbohydrate level this way.

The pre-maintenance phase of the Atkins diet comes after the induction and the OWL phases. This is the phase that prepares you for a lifetime of healthy eating. The right time to enter this phase is when you only 5 to 10 pounds away from the body weight you seek. During this phase, your weight loss will occur slowly, but you are inculcating habits and practices that ensure a prolonged effect of the Atkins diet for you.

During the OWL phase, you are adding 5 grams of carbohydrates to your diet each week. But when you are preparing for the pre-maintenance phase, you are adding to the carbohydrate intake up to 10 grams a week. The indicator that the diet is working is that you are still losing weight. You must be losing weight at least at the rate of 1 pound per week.

The Atkins book suggests that the pre-maintenance phase should be continued till the desired weight is reached, and then it must be continued for a month after that. The duration of the whole process could be as much as 1 to 3 months. After this period, a state of carbohydrate equilibrium is reached. When you reach this stage, the amount of carbohydrates you are consuming is your ideal carbohydrate amount.

You can also try a wider choice of foods in the pre-maintenance phase. But if you are reintroducing new foods into the diet, you have to take care you do it slowly. You can increase the amounts of carbohydrates you are putting in your body, but that must be done slowly. Increments of 10 grams a week are ideal, and that will also help you to monitor your carbohydrate count.

Use a carbohydrate count book to understand how much carbohydrates you are putting into your body. They have measures like a 1/3 cup of legumes contain 10 carbohydrate grams, which is the same as in ½ an apple, ¼ cup of potatoes or ½ cup of plain oatmeal. You can have such foods everyday too, provided you are not jumping too high over the carbohydrate fence.

You must take the pre-maintenance phase quite seriously. This phase requires a delicate balance between counting carbohydrates and exercise to bring in the weight loss you desire. Monitoring is essential. You have to make sure that the carbohydrates you are including in your body are not drastically adding to your body weight. You have to find out the optimum line of balance.

If you find that you cannot add carbohydrates without diminishing your weight loss significantly, then you might have a metabolic resistance within your body. This can be worked out by making your exercise routine more strenuous, which will allow the metabolism to occur at a faster pace.

For some people, pre-maintenance works even if they have a little binge once a week. They can get away by adding 20 to 30 grams of carbohydrates to their diet a few times a week rather than the stipulated 10 grams. This might come through some fruit or through potatoes, or probably a glass of white wine or a mug of beer. This is good if it works for you; it will encourage you to stay on the program too. Find out what works for you. One suggestion is to reduce the carbohydrate amounts throughout the week whenever you can, so that you can extend the amount some day of the week, when you really need to. But see that the excess carbohydrates you take in do not create cravings in you, or you will be ending up eating much more than the permissible limits.

What the pre-maintenance phase does for you is that it gives you long-term success with the diet. You learn to add to the carbohydrate amount slowly so that you can better control the whole program and make it work for you.

The Whole Nine Months: Low Carb Diets and Pregnancy

It?s very important to watch what you eat. You are eating for two?which doesn?t mean that you eat more (so say goodbye to that second slice of cake), but that you eat smart. You are your baby?s only source of nutrients, and you need the proper balance of proteins, vitamins, minerals, fiber and carbohydrates.

That being said, most prenatal dieticians strongly advise against adhering to a strict no-carb diet. Without sufficient carbs, your body will produce a by-product called ketones during your blood stream, which can put your baby at risk for brain damage.

But what about low carb diets? Aside from the risk of mental retardation, there are some aspects of low carb diets that can worsen the discomforts of pregnancy. For example, low carb diets tend to have low levels of dietary fiber, which exacerbate the constipation that many pregnant moms suffer because of the required iron supplements. Also, most prenatal dieticians recommend taking a lot of fruit because of its rich vitamin content, but most of the items you?ll find in a typical shake are banned by Atkins and South Beach because of the sugars.

But some doctors may recommend taking modified low-carb diets, especially if you are obese, suffer from gestational diabetes or low blood sugar. All three conditions have been proven to have adverse affects on the baby (including prematurity, birth defects, and early rupture of the membranes) so losing weight or controlling intake may actually be the best thing for your baby.

If you are asked to go on a low-carb diet during pregnancy, you will probably be told to go on the maintenance phase of the Atkins Diet, or the second phase of the South Beach Diet. Here, you are allowed a controlled number of carbohydrates, usually from whole grains and fruits, while minimizing white bread, white rice, and pasta. That is fine, as you are still giving your baby the adequate nutrients, while removing processed foods.

If you are not allowed to go low-carb, but still need to control your weight, there are some options open to you. First of all, eat small but frequent meals. If you want a snack, instead of taking junk food or processed meats (which have a lot of calories, but significantly less nutrients), take salads, fruits, nuts and crackers. Choose lean cuts of meat, and minimize salt and rich sauces during cooking. And while you do need carbohydrates, take in moderation. One plate of pasta is good, three servings of it smothered in white sauce is not.

But the most important thing to remember is that before you go on any diet during pregnancy consult your obstetrician-gynaecologist. She or he can properly determine the best course of action given your particular medical history and the condition of your baby. Do not go on any weight management program without the advice and the approval of your doctor. Whether it?s low carb or Zone or the Mediterranean Diet, the point is that there is a proven link between prenatal nutrition and the baby?s health. Complications can include low birth weight, birth defects, and early delivery.

Atkins Induction Rules

The Induction phase of the Atkins diet is one of the most important stepping-stones to successful weight loss. In addition to the list of acceptable foods, there are a few rules that are important to follow during this period of the diet.

During Induction, you need to eat three regular-sized meals per day or four to five smaller meals. If you find yourself jittery and hungry between meals, try breaking down your meals into smaller portions and eat more frequently. In order to stave off carbohydrate cravings, you?ll need to constantly keep your body running on the proteins and vegetables on the plan. Never skip meals and never go more than six waking hours without eating.

You can eat freely from the list of acceptable foods. Do not restrict your fats and proteins. Eat as much of them as you like. Remember, the Atkins diet is not a calorie-restricted diet. The only thing you need to worry about is your level of carbohydrate grams. Make sure to count your carbohydrate grams when you eat vegetables, cheese and beverages with Splenda. At least 12-15 grams of your allowed carbohydrates should be from your vegetable list. While it may be tempting to eat them all in cheese, vegetables are important to your digestive system (especially while on this diet).

Avoid all fruit, bread, pasta, grains and starchy vegetables (like cauliflower or squash) during this initial period. These foods will be slowly introduced throughout the course of the pre-maintenance phase. Although beans are high in protein, they also include carbohydrates and should be avoided during this phase. If you feel that you must have some grain products, you should limit yourself to high fiber low-carbohydrate products. However, this may slow down your weight loss process.

Anything that isn?t on the acceptable food list is forbidden during the Induction phase. Don?t be tempted to just have ?one bite.? Your one bite may turn into two, and then before you know it you?ll end up ruining your diet.

Remember to adjust the quantity of acceptable foods to suit your appetite. At the beginning of the Induction phase, you may find yourself eating much, much more than you will toward the end of the phase. As your body breaks its addiction to sugar and carbohydrates, you will be less hungry throughout the day. When this starts to happen, make sure to eat only what you need. Eat until you are satisfied and not overly stuffed.

Always read the labels of packaged products, even if they claim they are ?carb free.? You may find that some products have hidden carbohydrates. The law allows manufacturers to round off to zero if a product has fewer than .5 grams of carbohydrates. Look at the list of ingredients for manufactured products to determine if there are hidden carbs. You?ll also need to watch out for hidden carbohydrates when you eat out. There are small carbohydrate amounts in gravies, sauces and salad dressings. The best bet is to eat your meat without sauce and eat your salad with olive oil and vinegar dressing.

Remember to drink 8 eight-ounce glasses of water, in addition to anything else you might drink. This will keep your body hydrated and help you avoid constipation. You?ll also be able to flush out the by-products created by fat burning.

Keep all of these guidelines in mind when you start the induction phase and you?ll be setting yourself up for long-term success with the Atkins diet.

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When you are following the Atkins diet, one of your prime interests should be in how you will maintain this diet for your whole life so that you can continue eating at an optimal level and also get the best benefits of the plan. Your Atkins diet must inculcate in your food habits that should remain for an entire lifetime. The pre-maintenance phase reveals the amount of carbohydrates that your body can take in without adverse effects. In the final maintenance phase, you find out how you can live your remaining life keeping track of your carbohydrate intake at all times.

While considering lifetime maintenance with your Atkins diet, you will need to increase the selections of your food, and even include more carbohydrate amounts in the food. This will enable you to reintroduce the foods that you were used to before the dietary regiment. But, of course, these foods must be used in moderation.

The best way to maintain the effects that the Atkins diet has produced for the long run is to keep the daily carbohydrate count around the ideal carbohydrate count. There might be minor differences in weight of a few pounds, but that’s nothing to be alarmed of. Hormonal changes in the body can bring around these fluctuations.

Another thing that you can learn during your dietary maintenance is how to overcome the bad eating habits you had developed in the past. This will include dealing with situations like binging on holidays, eating to overcome emotional issues, eating due to stress, etc. Also, you will be able to deal with your craving for restaurant eating. People learn how to overcome these challenges during the maintenance period of their Atkins diet.

You need to be prepared. When you followed the Atkins diet, you got a good picture of how many grams of carbohydrates you can handle per day. You also come to know what foods you tend to overeat. This is what you learn to tackle in the previous periods of your Atkins diet, but in the maintenance phase, you will use some of the same tactics.

One of the main things that people on a lifetime maintenance must do is to vow to themselves that they will never ever return to their previous body mass. Always keep a check on your body. When your body weight starts threatening, you know that you have to put in some more effort. Even psyching yourself about the benefits of the right body mass works. If you can write down the benefits of being slimmer, you are sure to want staying slim for your entire life.

Make a goal for your lifetime maintenance weight. This is the range within which you must work. Suppose that your weight before the diet was 160 pounds. In that case, your lifetime goal must be to remain between 155 pounds to 165 pounds. Setting this goal will help you know when you are tending to get overweight. 5 pounds more than your usual body weight means you need to literally tighten your belt.

Keep a weekly ritual of weighing yourself. This will give you a stark picture of how you are faring with your lifetime maintenance. Sometimes, you will need to alter your diet looking at your weight, or probably combine the diet with a little more exercise. Exercise is extremely important because that’s the main factor influencing the bodily changes.

These guidelines will help to make the lifetime maintenance a bit more realistic. Use them to make the difference in your life… for the better!

Darren Williger is a guitar playing, tea drinking, meditating, low carbohydrate eating, wine making sales maker who writes for MyLowCarbPages.com, and MindSatori.com.