I have been at or below goal for sometime, but I still seem to be having a hard time with the maintenance concept. I either gain, or I lose. I can't seem to find a constant. How much fluctuation is okay? I don't have a TOM (hysterectomy at VERY early age), so that isn't a consideration.

I guess I also have to be honest and say that I DON'T WEIGH OR MEASURE MY FOOD. I decided that if I wanted this to be a way of life, it had to something I could do for the long haul. Measuring and keeping track isn't something I can do for the long haul. I also don't worry about calories. I eat until I'm full...sometimes I eat ALOT, sometimes not so much, but I'd guess I'm between 1800 and 2000 calories a day.

I eat lots of veggies, plenty of meat, eggs and cheese, lots of cream and nuts. But the minute I add something that isn't induction food (homemade split pea soup...the whole bag is like 10g carbs, and I can get 6 servings out of a bag, fruit other than berries, a serving of potato, etc.), I gain. However, if I eat just induction foods, I lose...and I really don't want to lose any more.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Hi Bert - are you looking at your weight changes on a daily or weekly basis? The reason I ask is that for me, personally, if I look at my weight daily (which I do) then I see some changes but looking at it for the week, it all balances out. Does that make sense?

For me, maintaining my weight has been a small up and down thing, depending upon what I eat the day before. But I contribute it to salt, etc.

HTH.

My weight can fluctuate 2-3 lbs in any given week.

On the split pea soup.....I think that you are mistaken with that carb count. I eat it regulary as it is a starchy veggie and I have to be mindful of portion control. I am allowed 2-3 starch servings a day on my SBD plan. Its much higher than the 10 grams that you wrote, I think!

I eat 2-3 fruits servings a day along with 2-3 starch servings...this is in addition to my protein, veggies, dairy, nuts and legumes...portion control is key on calorie dense foods for me. My average carb intake per day is about 100 grams. Being that I ate at this level as I lost my weight, my body is used to handling them and I am not gaining. I still avoid flour 95% of the time.

To add the any of the carbs on the OWL carb ladder(meaning unprocessed) into a plan, it must be done very slowly so that your body can adjust to burning them...like 1 item a week.

HTH!

Bert, the key is to add one rung of the carb ladder at a time, in a 5g serving at a time, for no less than a week--just like Dr A instructed us to do.

You can begin to climb the ladder at any time...but in order to find out what you really can handle, you are going to have to spend at least some time measuring and counting and recording your response to those foods you add. I don't see any way around that. Or else you're going to continue wondering what you can and can't eat and why you gain or lose.

Once you've done that for how ever many weeks it takes you to progress through the foods you want to try, then you'll know how much and what you foods you can add to your "all you can eat" induction foods and you can back to eyeballing, if you're good at eyeballing your 'additional foods.' If you're not good at it, then measuring is a must to prevent carb-creep. Spending a little time being analytical about it isn't going to alter the "lifestyle" aspect of it, as long as you learn from what you're doing.

Good luck!

Your not alone in this struggle. Although I have not had trouble in losing to much, I would like to drop just a few more pounds.
I have found that I can even gain eating to much induction foods. I also see a gain when I add in to many carbs of certain foods.
Like leslieam, I'm up and down on a daily basis depending what I have ate the day before.
I weigh daily and have found that I have keep a close eye on my weight.
I am another one that does not and will not weigh my food. There is no way I would be able to make this a WOL if I had to weigh, count, measure, ect. each food item. I don't worry about percentages of fat, carbs, ect.
I keep a mental count of carbs. Some days I have more than others.
I have found that we all have to do maintenance "our way".
What is good for one, may not be good for another.
I don't let myself get 5lbs above my lowest weight.
I feel this will always be an issue with us now that we have lost and are trying just to maintain.
Good luck.

I fluctuate quite a bit, but it seems to have nothing to do with what or how much I eat. Just me, I guess.

Dr. Atkins wrote that we should weigh daily and at any time if our weight gets to 3 lbs above our goal, it's back to Induction-style eating until those 3 lbs are gone.

Personally, I eat pretty much the same food and the same amounts every day -- due to a brutal schedule the past few months, I don't vary my diet much because I don't have time to do much experimenting. I continue to exercise the same amount weekly. Yet my weight's been up by several pounds over the past couple of months. Seems that some of it may be due to a medication I tried for a month and some of it may be due to my current adrenal problems (I may be having surgery next month at Christmas time). Hard to tell at this point.

So I would say that, all things considered, one should try and follow Dr. Atkins' advice. He was right about so many things. I believe my body's just a little screwed up right now and so I'm going to be satisfied where I am and not stress about it.

Generally if I am good all week my weight stays at around 135-136 lbs, if I eat anything off plan or have a couple of glasses of wine it goes up to around 138 lbs. My absolute goal is 133, so, as Atkins suggests, I have a weight range of 5 lbs i.e. 133 - 138 lbs. I have managed to keep this for nearly 4 years. Before Christmas I try to get down to 133 (or lower)