Has anyone figured out their CCLL [Critical Carb Level for Losing] or even maintaining? What OWL foods have you added, if any?

I am in OWL and have been eating 30-40 net grams [60-70 total grams] of carbs all from the Induction foods list. Thank you JerseyGyrl for reminding me to look at the OWL carb food ladder. This is the OWL carb food ladder:

1. More Induction foods
2. Fresh cheese
3. Seeds & nuts
4. Berries
5. Wine & spirits
6. Legumes
7. Fruits other than berries & melons
8. Starchy veggies
9. Whole grains

What foods have you added successfully and which foods cause problems for you? For me, cheese is definitely out of the question. Berries and melons are not in season. I only eat fruit in season because otherwise it taste kind of unripened/green and makes my stomach hurt. I know I am not ready for any "whole grains" or starchy veggies.

And for those who do use the keto-strips, I don't, Atkins states the following about finding your CCLL: "...once you are consuming 50 or more grams of carbs a day, the LTS will no longer register a change in color."

Its good to hear that you are eating more carbs from the induction list and still losing.
I haven't realy figured mine out yet. I'm able to add a few more veggies and still lose but haven't tried adding many other things. I'm afraid to add anything more to soon. Yogourt seems to be OK for me. I have to be realy careful with nuts.

Nuts are such a hand-to-mouth and easily out of control food. I just don't trust myself right now with them. I am waiting until I am about 10lbs away from goal before adding those.

And I don't do any dairy. As of last week, I've even given up my tablespoon of half and half in my coffee.

Mine is just around 100grams/day. BTW, the ketostix still turns pink at this level for me! I eat nuts, fruits, etc. sooooo.....I guess it depends upon how your body processes carbs, activity level and BMR.

My CCLL is 40-45. My ACE is yet to be determined!!!!

I'm early in the game, but I've been going up to the legumes on the food ladder without negative impact. I don't eat all the foods from the ladder daily - but mix them in once or twice a week.

Nuts are a bugger, aren't they? I have to actually measure/count them out or leave them alone. 11 macadamia nuts in the afternoon really hold me over until dinner time though! (plus they keep me 'regular' and keep my fat level up)

At this point (a month in at this carb level) I'm still keeping my net carbs to 25-30 per day, most days. I've removed 4kg/9pounds in the last 30 days.

I guess I'm one of those who doesn't really know what a CCLL is.

Well not really. I know what it is supposed to be in theory, I've just never figured out how to determine it. I hate "counting" anything. So even when I'm on induction I don't really know how many carbs a day I'm consuming. Usually I know it is low, because I mostly eat meat, some cheese and salad/veggys. I eliminate starchy veggys, (most of them, I do eat artichokes), and after that when trying to think about increasing carbs to a ccll level, I'm confused.

So how DO you figure it out? I never quite understood what Atkins was suggesting when you change to a higher level of the game. You start with 20 a day. Well I think I'm usually lower than 20 a day when I'm doing it. Probably way lower. So what? You increase to 25 grams a day? For how long? A week? Two weeks? How do you know when you've "stopped losing?"

Sometimes even if I don't change anything I stop losing, how do I know it is because I've increased carbs? To me that whole part of the diet never made sense. Maybe if I actually was into writing down and looking up and weighing and measuring every bit of food and determining carb count of everything, then it would be easier to do it "by the book". But those things are exactly why I don't do calorie counting. I hate the hassle.

I mean it SOUNDED so logical when he wrote it out, but for me doing Atkins means sticking to mostly meat and low carb veggys. Knowing the exact carb count of meat is easy. zero. The veggys? low. As long as they are green and not starchy. but precisely? I don't know.

SherryA, you are still losing so that is good. I do understand what you mean about not liking to count and track but when doing low-carb you have to be careful about getting enough calories and carbs. For me using FitDay.com, even the inconsistent way that I do, has been great for helping me to see that I don't eat enough. Usually that is a problem for me because I get all my carbs from Induction foods, which, combined with fats, are very bulky and filling.

How much cheese are you eating? Each ounce of cheese has a gram of carb. The daily max for cheese on Induction is 4 ounces of cheese. Also, you are probably getting more carbs than you think. There are carbs in eggs and half&half for coffee.

So I would suggest using FitDay.com for a few days and looking at the numbers it provides. Remember that when Atkins say 20 carbs he means net carbs, total carb grams minus fiber grams. If you are not getting at least 20 net grams, you should just work on getting up to 20.

Even if you don't see the scale move every week, if you get those 2-3 pound drops every other week, you are losing. As for going into OWL, every day for the first week or two you would add an additional 5 net grams of carb in the form of salad or Induction acceptable veggies. If you still loose, you can add another 5 grams of either veggies or fresh cheeses, like cottage cheese or more hard/aged cheese.

Those were great questions. We all can help each other get to goal!

I've been reading through old threads on the forum (I know the books is essential but this to me is irreplaceable!) and I have to say I love this thread! I'm still on induction but when I eventually move to OWL I now have a much better idea of what I'll need to do.

Like SherryA i'm not a big counter, mainly because it makes me want more! I would guestimate that my net carbs each day are between 15 and 20 - I hope I guess it's really trial and error to find my CCLL when I get to that point!