so here's the scoop, i need some adivce. I will have been doing OWL for a month now, up to forty carbs per day and am finding that i have to add more and more food to get to that 40 mark. I just don't have the appetite to eat it all, so i was wondering A. would it be ok to add in something from the power of 10 next week, like a starchy vegetable or something, and thereby jump to 50 carbs? Also how long did you guys go before you went into pre-maint? I know that because of my lack of appetite portion control wont be a problem. So do you guys think i'm ready to move on or is one month not long enough for the OWL stage? Oh yeah and im at my goal weight BTW.

I was about 10-15 lbs from goal when entering OWL and 5 lbs from goal when I went into pre-maintenance.

You've done well with bumping up your carbs, your menus look wonderful and I don't see a problem with going up to the 10's.

Don't be surprised that the appetite suppression starts to go away as you add in more carbs. It's something that I have to work at constantly.

so i should go into pre-maint based on how close i am to goal? also why does it go away? because you're eating less fat but higher carb? I plan on sticking w/ eggs and stuff for b-fast and burgers for lunch, it's just for now i want to play with my carb levels to see what i'm capable of, that way i dont have to worry about counting as much!

I think Atkins said move to premaintenance when you have 5 - 10 pounds left to lose.

What diminishes your appetite is being in lipolysis/ketosis. Once you are not in that state all the time, you can feel more hungry. As you get a few carbs under your level for maintaining, your body will go back and forth between burning fat and burning glucose, rather than being in ketosis all the time.

Ketosis is a secondary stage of Lypolisis. Ketosis is what causes appetite suppresion, not lipolysis on it's own.

So, basically yes, you lose the appetite suppresion because you are raising your carb intake. Keeping your proteins at a good level tho will still stop you from being hungry constantly.

just out of curiosity is spinnach high in protein? I think someone told me it was but im not sure.

Looking at fitday pc version, 1 cup raw spinach has 1 g protein...1 cup cooked, 6g.

I'd suggest you introduce some brown rice 1-2 times a week, or oatmeal for breakie, I did that long before reaching goal, just remember small servings though.
Also read some of the older threads here, lots of good pre-main advise.

Kathy
Cheers Kathy

Well you see, im at college so its not that easy for me. I'm going to have to rely on the starchier veggies and fruits dont seem to bother me so far and i like them alot. I also have LC cereal when in a bind. But school's out in 3 weeks so when i get home i'll add that stuff. I think its better to wait to add the grains in till later. Like i said portion size really isn't an issue for me, lol!! so we'll c how it goes. i'm going to wait one more week of 40 a day and then go into pre-maintanence! I'm really looking forward to it.

during OWL didnt you guys find it annoying meticulously weighing out everything and making sure you hit your carb limit everyday(ex i make sure to hit 40 every day even if i dont want to)? Do you have to hit your max number everyday? if not is this the same trend for pre-maintanence? Sometimes i'm just not interested in doing all the math to get to 40 nor eat the amount of food neccessary but i do it anyways. Oh well, this is the last week of OWL and then as of 4/21 im in pre-maintanence. I'm just tired of all the counting but if thats what i gotta do, then thats what i gotta do. BTW i take measuring spoons to meals at the cafeteria, ect... i make sure i get exact amounts which is really a pain.