Nutritionist's Blog

What phase are you in? We have a NEW course for that!

Atkins is pleased to announce four NEW phase-specific courses covering everything from Induction to Lifetime Maintenance. In addition, five NEW interactive FAQs take you through common myths about Atkins, nutrition, Induction and more!

Once you know how readily you lose excess weight, you can plot your strategy on how to take it all off.

Now that you've enjoyed some success following the Atkins Nutritional Approach™, let's talk about sustaining that weight loss. You undoubtedly know exactly how much weight you lost during the first 14 days of Induction. That number will help give you a general understanding of your personal degree of metabolic resistance. As you can see on the metabolic resistance table below, a woman who has 40 pounds to lose and sheds three pounds in two weeks during Induction has a high degree of metabolic resistance as compared to a woman with similar weight-loss goals who drops eight pounds.
Weight Loss During the First Two Weeks on a Fat-Burning Program for Patients at Three Levels of Obesity
Degree of Metabolic Resistance for Men

Pounds Lost in First 14 Days
Pounds to Lose
High
Average
Low
Less than 20
4
6
8
20-50
6
9
12
More than 50
8
12
16

Degree of Metabolic Resistance for Women

Pounds Lost in First 14 Days
Pounds to Lose
High
Average
Low
Less than 20
2
4
6
20-50
3
6
9
More than 50
4
8
12

 
As you've undoubtedly guessed, the degree of resistance to weight loss that your body shows corresponds to your degree of difficulty in getting well into fat burning. By definition, resistance to weight loss is resistance to lipolysis (fat burning).
During Induction you were consuming about 20 grams of carbs per day. The carbohydrate level was extremely low to demonstrate that it's possible for virtually everybody to experience lipolysis—from the person who can lose weight quite easily on almost any program to the hardest case, the person who, until doing Atkins, thought that losing weight was almost impossible.
Almost all of you found that you were losing weight. Many of you, however, are now looking forward to liberalizing your menu. But before you automatically move from Induction to Ongoing Weight Loss, read Are You Ready to Move Beyond Induction?
 

Disclaimer: The instructions and advice presented on this site are in no way intended as medical advice or as a substitute for medical counseling. The information should be used in conjunction with the guidance and care of your physician. Consult your physician before beginning this program as you would any weight-loss or weight-maintenance program. Your physician should be aware of all medical conditions that you may have, as well as any medication and supplements you are taking. Those of you on diuretics or diabetes medication should proceed only under a doctor's supervision. As with any plan, the weight-loss phases of this nutritional plan should not be used by patients on dialysis or by pregnant or nursing women. As with any weight loss plan we recommend that anyone under the age of 18 follows the program under the guidance of their physician.