and stay on OWL until you ' ve reached your goal weight again, at which time you should ease back into Lifetime Maintenance. Exercising more vigorously after going overboard will also help get you back on the straight and narrow.
Remember, going straight back to the Induction phase is as simple as beginning Atkins in the first place. Do not go back to Lifetime Maintenance without first losing all you have regained. It ' s simple. A salad a day, a portion of veggies, plenty of protein and fat and, voila!, you ' ve slashed your weight back in as little as six to eight days, or two or three weeks, depending upon your degree of metabolic resistance.
It ' s no news to anyone that as we get older, our metabolism tends to slow down a bit, making it harder to maintain the slim body many of us were blessed with in our youth. This means that the CCLM you had in your thirties may not be the CCLM you will be dealing with in your forties, and it is almost definitely not the CCLM you ' ll have in the decades after that. As you age, you may eventually have to control your carb intake a little more or increase your activity level-or perhaps even both-to maintain your goal weight.
Your strategy here should be very much like the base runner who allows himself to take a lead off first base, but never so far that he cannot scurry back to touch the base should the pitcher suddenly turn to pick him off. Your goal weight is the base you must touch between deviations, and the deviation must never be more than five pounds. Going back briefly to Induction allows you to get back to that number. Experience has taught me that people who regain weight after reaching their goal by doing Atkins-and then don ' t lose the weight-are the ones who don ' t go back to Induction at a sign of trouble. The Lifetime Maintenance level they stick to isn ' t enough to get them back on track.
For consistent success, you must interpose the strict Induction phase between your weight gain and the eventual return to Lifetime Maintenance. This allows you to re-stabilize your blood chemistry and moderate cravings so you can be in control again.
===================================================================== Uses and Abuses of Induction
Induction not only jump-starts your weight loss, it is also a convenient refuge to which you can retreat whenever you need to get off a weight loss plateau or to get back on the program after a lapse. So if you ' ve fallen off your Lifetime Maintenance program for whatever reason, you can return to Induction, and, like the ignition of an automobile, it will get your engine to turn over and start you down the road again.
If you reached your goal weight before slipping off the wagon for a brief period, you won ' t have to do Induction for long-just until you get back into lipolysis and the secondary process of ketosis. You ' ll know that has happened when you once again experience the ability to be in control of your appetite-the feeling that was such a revelation after the first forty-eight hours doing Induction.
These are perfectly appropriate uses of Induction. However, Induction can be abused and that abuse can ultimately threaten your ability to maintain a healthy weight. First of all, if you retreat to Induction every time you stray, you may begin to reinforce a dangerous pattern of behavior. By knowing Induction is there as a refuge, it may keep you from following the guidelines of the stage you are in. For a minor infraction or even a day of cheating, there is no need to go back to Induction. Simply drop down 5 or 10 grams for a couple of days, or go back to the previous phase. It is important that you learn how to eat properly as a way of life. Zigzagging back and forth between Induction and Lifetime Maintenance means you have not integrated this new, healthy eating pattern into your life.
Another more serious concern I have is the impact this back-and-forthing can have on your metabolism.( See " The Wrong Way to Do Atkins " on pages 223-225.) 1 have heard people say, " I love
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