backing off your carbs slightly. Take away the last 5 grams of carbohydrate you permitted yourself. You may have slipped slightly above your CCLL.
If you have not been in lipolysis for a while and are now stuck, you may want to gradually lower your carb level by 5-gram increments until your lipolysis test strips turn purple again. If all else fails, it ' s time to go back to Induction. Three to five days in Induction will usually start weight loss moving again. Sometimes the body just needs a little nudge. Then, when you move beyond Induction again, add on the carbohydrates a little more cautiously than you did before. It ' s quite possible that you have a fairly high degree of metabolic resistance.
If you ' re serious about following Atkins for life, I must reiterate that you have to invest some energy in exercise. Contrary to the messages our society generally sends us, your body was meant to move. Sitting around is unnatural. Working in an office is unnatural. A whole lot of modern life is unnatural. Parking in the far corner of the parking lot is not a mistake. It ' s where you should be, because exercise is not optional. It ' s an integral part of doing Atkins. It ' s often neglected and sometimes quietly scorned, but if you think you ' re doing the program and you ' re not exercising, you ' re not doing the program. This may be the time for you to read Chapter 22. Building exercise into your lifestyle is one of the most intelligent ways of cracking through a plateau.
Discouraging as a plateau may be, you can ' t let it beat you. It may comfort you to hear that some individuals lose weight in a pattern of plateauing for a month, then taking a dip of four or more pounds, plateauing again and so on. If you get discouraged and start to cheat before seeing results, you will sabotage your success. Read this chapter once, twice or three times if you have to, but be convinced. You will win out in the end.
KEY POINTS!
• A plateau is a halt in weight loss that lasts at least a month and has nothing to do with changes in food intake or lifestyle.
• Plateaus are natural and not uncommon in later stages of weight loss.
• Causes for plateaus include adding a new medication, reduction in activity level, yeast and thyroid problems and food intolerances.
• Getting sloppy about counting carbs or not being vigilant about watching for hidden carbs in condiments and other foods is different from being on a plateau.
• If a plateau does not come to an end, it may mean you are truly metabolically resistant and need to read Chapter 20.
A FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTION:
My husband and I are both doing Atkins, but he zips along losing regularly even though he sometimes cheats. I follow the program religiously but have hit several plateaus. Do men have an advantage doing Atkins?
Yes, they do. Unfortunately, weight loss is not an equal opportunity activity. Gender and age play a role. There are at least three reasons that most men-particularly young men-tend to lose more easily than women-particularly older women. First, men generally have greater muscle mass than women so they bum more calories than women do. Second, a woman ' s body is much
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