Hey everyone...I need a little input from anyone with experience in the OWL portion of Atkins.

In the past, I've only stuck with induction. This time, i would like to add more variety to my food choices. So, I decided to make an attempt at OWL.

I know my initial choices are supposed to be increased veggies and then cheese, followed by nuts. Well, I've gotten to this point eating about 2/3 a cup of almonds each day, along with more cheese than I was supposed to consume.

Because of this, I wonder if it's ok to start on the 3rd rung and add berries.

If I can, how exactly does it work? I know I'm supposed to add an extra 5g of carbs a day and keep it at that level for a week. If I lose, bump it up again for another week. Does it matter the allocation of carbs? I know most is supposed be from veggies.

For example, today I ate 3 chicken tornados and a cup of Asian blend veggies (10g of net carbs). For supper i had around 15 baked wings (0g carbs). I had two cans of diet pop (2g of carbs). About 20 minutes ago I ate 1 cup of mixed berries (10g of carbs) and 1/2 my normal serving of almonds (2g of carbs).

So today's intake of carbs was 24g. Is this ok?

Also, when measuring berries, do I measure it frozen or thawed? I know thawed gets me more! lol

Well, my first week of phase 2 is over and done with. I didn't lose, but didn't gain. I think I messed up 2 days prior to starting, and I'm certain this knocked me out of induction. The Friday evening before starting, I went out with my wife and son to a Chinese buffet...I stuck with meat products, but they were all battered and covered in sauces. Since starting school this semester, I've been neglecting them quite a bit. I had a break in my schedule and couldn't resist the chance to join them at my son's favorite restaurant. Plus, it was kind of a mini-celebration (although wrong) for reaching my goal.

I'm pretty sure that that feed knocked me out of induction, which explains not losing any weight over the last week. I did go up for a couple days immediately after that cheat night, but dropped back.

Also, this Saturday night past I drank 4 low-carb beers...the carbs were included in my daily allowance of 25 grams.

On the upside, while adding a serving of berries or low-carb yoghurt at night, my cravings are stable...so that's a good thing.

The moral of the story? The results of week one are inconclusive!

Hey Sask! I'm sorry I can't help you with OWL as I've never made it there (LOL) but I just wanted to say to keep up the good work. Watching things carefully is key I think and making sure the cravings are kept at bay. You are doing great! I hope you continue to maintain your weight loss

Thanks, Violet! So far, so good...at least i'm not gaining. I'm up to 30g of carbs per day, starting today. It's very difficult to actually eat that many. Today I had a few strips of bacon and a small chunk of cheese for breakfast. For lunch i had two cheese strings and a burger paddy. I had almonds for a snack. For supper I had sausages and oriental veggies...I still have 21 grams left to consume to get to 30! I gotta figure a way to eat more veggies during the day...

Do you like salads? You could eat a very large salad for lunch with maybe some grilled chicken?