If you're starting Ongoing Weight Loss (OWL), I know that you've succeeded doing Induction. Congratulations on reaching the first stage of your goal! OWL is where you'll start tailoring Atkins to fit your special tastes; it's what makes Atkins so unique and such a pleasure.

Although more lenient than Induction, OWL will continue to reveal the wonders of dissolving fat. Expect a gradual decrease in the rate at which the pounds and inches disappearthis is a deliberate part of the plan. I have to repeat one caveat: Allowing a few more carbs in at this phase is not a license to return to your old habits of dining on foods full of sugar, white flour and other "junk" carbs. The quality of the carbohydrate foods you eat continues to be as important as the quantity.

Focus on the positive changes you have already begun to enjoyl Now you-not that nameless, food-obsessed demon—are the one in charge of your appetite. And what delicious things you can have on your plate! In all likelihood, the crispy duck in Chinese restaurants or cheese omelettes garnished with thick slices of avocado were among the luxuries you had to do without when you were watching your fat intake. And you're on a nutritional plan that's healthier than any other you've tried before.

But I know that what initially brought you to this book was probably your concern with being overweight. So let's look at the big weight loss picture, and, as the chapter uafolds, you'll understand how OWL is the key to becoming a former fat person.

Make Your Goal Specific

You've set a goal now, and that's great! But make sure your goal is specific. Planning to lose 35 pounds, for examplef, is far better than planning to lose "some" weight. You will likely lose some weight, but you probably won't lose the full 35 unless you hold it in your mind as the destination of your journey.

The journey metaphor is apt. Imagine getting in the car to go on a family vacation without a clear idea of where you wanted to go. You'd drive around aimlessly, and you would certainly get somewhere, but it probably wouldn't be the same place you'd end up if you'd chosen a destination at the start, it's the same thing with weight loss. Any behavioral psychologist will tell you that you are more likely to achieve change in your life if you have a specific picture in your mind of how you want to change.

Visualize!

In other words, once you've said, "Okay, I will lose 35 pounds and I will weigh 140 pounds again," go even further. Instead, imagine how your body will look, think about the clothes you hid in the back of the closet that you'll be able to wear again and the admiring looks from your friends and family. Imagine actually being comfortable in shorts or a bathing suit or feeling confident on the ski slopes or going for a jog! if you are like many people, over the years that you've gained weight your world got a bit smaller. When you went to a pool party, you came up with some excuse to avoid going in the water. When your kids wanted to play, you just weren't up for it. When your friends hiked up a hill with ease, you had to lag behind, huffing nmi puffing—or just had to call it quits. At work, you may have had a -great idea at a meeting but been too self-conscious about getting up in front of the group to express yourself. Imagine all the things that you will be doing with ease and pleasure with your friends, family and co-workers. Visualize, visualize and visualize. Then go out and make it happen!

Having n specific goal also helps you keep tabs on your progress as week after week you get to see the pounds vanishing. So when you've sent 15 of those 35 pounds reeling into oblivion, you know you're almost halfway there. After so many years as the enemy, the bathroom scale and the measuring tape are about to become some of your best friends. The mirror, too. You know that mirror, the one you could barely look at? And when you did, some overweight person you barely recognized stared back.

I'd like to remind you yet again that there are people who don't ultimately succeed doing Atkins because they can't get past the notion that a diet is something they get on and then get off, as you would a bus. But a true "diet" is not an excursion. Such individuals—who get on and then off Arkins-are often the people who need to lose 40 pounds but lose interest at 28. Then they go back to their old way of eating, and four or five months later they're back where they were to begin with. Typically. each "excursion" and retreat leaves them with a few more pounds than the last time. Don't be that kind of per,n!

A Second Chance

I'd like to introduce you to someone who did get cdt the Arkins bus. Fortunately—in the long nm anyway——he got back on the bus and has committed to being a permanent passenger. Back in 1979, Gary Rizzio, a computer programmer from Colorado who is now 45, lost 60 pounds doing Atkins. But while recuperating in bed from a broken ankle, he alleviated his boredom with all-ont indulgence in the junk foods he used to eat. That broke the spell, and before long his weight was back up to 250, and there it stayed for the next eighteen years, when he had a mild heart attack. His family history in heart disease and diabetes ran deep. His doctor was blunt: "Diet and exercise" he said, "or you'll have a short life."

Gary tried a low-fat diet and lost 1 pound in three weeks. So he came back to me. It took him six months to lose 50 pounds, during which time he became a creative cook. He says he might make an omelette with turkey, avocado, sour cream and cheese, or he'll saute red onions and add them to scrambled eggs. He also eats a lot of chef's salads and seafood and chicken salads. And he now exercises forty minutes a day, five days a week.

Gary had been on his way to becoming diabetic, but Atkins improved his blood-sugar levels so much that his primary-care physician took him off one medication and decreased another. His total cholesterol has dropped from 212 to 178. With all these changes, it's no surprise that he now feels great. It's just too bad that it took a mild heart attack for Gary to get back on board. I hope you will heed the roessage before getting such a wake-up call.

What OWL Does. for You

Your goal—-for a large percentage of you, your destinyof reaching your desired weight and staying there for life is best met by realistically considering which levels of carbohydrate intake apply to you. in OWL, you will take the physical and emotional well-being promoted by fat burning and combine that with the gustatory pleasure of an increasingly varied diet. Specifically, on OWL you will:

·continue to burn and dissolve fat.

·maintain control of your appetite sufficiently to control cravings.

·learn your threshold level of carbohydrate consumption, which will allow you to continue to lose weight.

·eat a broader range of healthy foods, selecting those that you enjoy most.

·learn to make the most nutrient-rich choices among carbohydrate foods.

·deliberately slow your rate of weight Joss in order to lay the groundwork for permanent weight management

How to Do OWL

There are three key differences between Induction and OWL. The first is obvious: You will consume more carbohydrates. Second, whereas during Induction you ate your protein and fat foods, plus three cups of salad and other veggies (and the special foods such as avocado, olives and sour cream), OWL allows you much more choice. That means now you can craft a weight loss regimen that is uniquely yours. But it also means—and here's the third key ',hat counting grams of carbohydrate is truly your responsibility.

If you don't count, you could get in trouble. Fortunately, counting is easy with the help of the carbohydrate gram counter in this book, which will familiarize you with the number of grams of carbs in common foods. For a more comprehensive guide, refer to www. atkinscenter, com or purchase a copy of Dr. Atkins' New Carbohydrate Gram Counter. After youhave been doing Atkins for a while, you will begin to have a natural feel for the carb counts of your favorite foods, but it is always a good idea to keep your carb counter handy so you can check out new or unfamiliar foods.

Your Own Private, Personal Number

Life in the twenty-first century means lots of numbers to remember, what with cell phone numbers, bank PIN numbers and the like, but I'm going to give you the tools to find out another number that is just as essential for your lifestyle. Remember these two basic principles:

1. When you do Atkins, your rate of weight loss is generally proportional to the amount of carbohydrate you consume.

2. The level of carbohydrate you consume can be measured. By attaching numerical quantifies to the carbohydrate foods you're eating, you know how much you can safely eat.

I refer to your daily threshold of carbohydrate consumption as your Critical Carbohydrate Level for Losing (CCLL). Stay below this number and you will experience ongoing weight loss. Go above it and your weight loss stalls. Here's how you'll determine your CCLL: Each week, you'll incrementally increase the quantity of carbohydrate you eat beyond the salad and one cup serving of vegetables allowed during Induction, These increments should measure roughly five grams of daily carbohydrates, representing what I call one "level:'

During the first week on OWL, increase your daily carb intake from the 20 grams'a day on Induction to 25 grams a day—-going up one level. I recommend you add either another salad, half an avocado, a cup of cauliflower or six to eight stalks of asparagus or another vegetable. Continue eat this way for the rest of the week. As long as your weight loss continues steadily, you can go up another level—to 30 grams daily me following week. If you are a veggie lover, you may be happy continuing to add more salad greens and other vegetables. Or you may choose to add a half-cup of cottage cheese, an ounce of sunflower seeds or a dozen macadamia nuts. If you have been feeling fruit deprived, now is the time to add berries, the fruits lowest on the glycemic index. (Thirteen average-size strawberries contain 5 grams of carbs.)

Look at "The Power of Five" on pages 174-175 for other suggestions of foods you can add to your daily menu. Most people find it best to add back foods in a certain orderwhat I call the Carbohydrate Ladder (see below).

Note that few people will be able to add back all these food groups in OWL. Those on the second half of the list tend to rank higher on the glycemic index and are more commonly introduced in Pre-Maintenance. Following this order tends to minimize blood-sugar surges that could reactivate cravings.

CARBOHYDRATE LADDER

1. More salad and other vegetables on the acceptable foods list

2. Fresh cheeses (as well as more aged cheese)

3. Seeds and nuts

4. Berries

5. Wine and other spirits low in carbs

6. Legumes

7. Fruits other than berries and melons

8. Starchy vegetables

9. Whole grains

Each week you'll go up another level, adding another 5gram increment until eventually you'll reach a number at which you stop losing. That's how you find your CCLL. Above it, you lose no more, or you begin to gain. Below it, you continue to lose. The lower your metabolic resistance to weight loss and the greater your level of physical activity, the higher that number will be.

Once you calculate your CCLL, you'll be able to say to another Atkins follower, "My Critical Cat,hydrate Level for Losing is 45 grams. What's yours?" Or it might be higher—say 50, or as low as 25. To get an idea of the range that is possible, see the "Carbohydrate Cnam Levels and Metabolic Resistance for Losing" table opposite. As I've mentioned before, metabolic resistance is influenced by age, gender, activity level, hormone issues, level of physical activity, prescription medications and other factors, so the range in CCLLs can he great.

If you eat beyond your CCLL, your scale and measuring tape will herald that you've crossed a line and you'll make adjustments accordingly. Most people simply drop back down to the prior level of carl) consumption.

Lipolysis testing strips can also help you ascertain your CCLL in many cases. They generally stop turning color at a point a little bit below your CCLL. When that happens, your CCLL will be only a few carbohydrate grams higher. However, you should be aware that once you are consuming 50 or more grams of carbohydrates a day, the LTS will no longer register a change in color. So long as you continue to lose pounds and inches and experience no recurrence of your pre-Atkins levels of hunger, cravings and other symptoms, rest assured that all is well. You are still functioning on a primarily fat-burning metabolism even though you may not be producing enough ketones to show up in your urine.

You should be aware that everybody hits plateaus——periods during which no weight comes off. We will discuss this oecurrence in depth in the next chapter.

Carbohydrate Gram Levels and Metabolic Resistance for Losing

Mttabolic Resistance

Approximate CCLL Range

High