Bill's Comment Page

Atkins Low Carbohydrate Diet - Week 26

I moved from 'Ongoing Weight Loss' (OWL) to 'Pre-maintenance' (PRM), the 3rd stage of this 'way of eating' (WOE) during last week, as my weight had dropped to within 7 lb of my target weight. For the week as a whole I had reasonable results, losing a further 0.4kg (0.9lb), and my weight is now (as at Sunday 14th December) 68.0kg, a reduction of 30.0kg since I began (or 66.2lb) - I now have 3.0kg (6.6lb) to reach my target of 65kg. Measurement indicators for the week:
- waist down a further 0.2 inches to 32.1 inches (total reduction so far 12.9 inches);
- hips down 0.3 inches to 39.2 inches (total reduction so far 9.3 inches);
- thighs down 0.1 inches to 22.6 inches (total reduction so far 5.9 inches).

Between moving from OWL to PRM during last week, and last Sunday, my weight hardly changed. Because the changes are now so minor it is difficult to tell over only a few days what precisely is occurring - and I am trying not to become too agitated about the matter. In the last couple of days I am pretty certain my weight has begun to edge down again a little (perhaps by 0.2kg, o.4lb) and if I could achieve this very gradual loss consistently between now and end-March 2004 I would reach my target at roughly the correct pace, but in reality I expect that I will lose more weight some weeks, and little or nothing in other weeks. If the worst happens and I notice a slight increase over a few weeks, I am pretty confident I will be able to make the necessary dietary adjustments to put me back on track. One of the marvellous things about this WOE is that I am now, for the first time in my life, in control of my appetite. So the likelihood that I will start to 'binge' on food again, ever, is pretty remote. Even over the coming Christmas period I do not anticipate major problems in this regard, even though I shall be doing a lot of entertaining over this time. In practice I have found it quite easy to modify menus to suit both the requirements of 'Atkins' and those not on a carbohydrate-contolled diet. In practice, I think I shall be eating somewhere between 45g and 50g carb a day in order to do PRM successfully, but I shall not know exactly until I have spent several weeks at this level.

Because I am now on PRM I do not plan to do a regular weekly report from now on, but will instead post a report here only once every two or three weeks.