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Okay, I heard back from my friend who used to work for the Atkins Institute about the carb cycling. Here is what he said:
As far as the issue of carb cycling goes, I have mixed feelings. You described to me your own issues of slow weight loss. Although I know that slow weight loss is a good thing, I also understand the need to see consistent results. This is something that is very important to people who are trying to lose weight. Therefore, it is always important to work with people who are more resistant and find ways to keep the weight coming off.
If I were your Atkins doctor, I would first ask you the following questions:
1. Are you following induction again? If you have moved on to include other foods, I would recommend that you go back to induction and following it strictly.
2. Are you drinking coffee or other caffeinated beverages? Insulin levels can be drastically elevated by caffeine. This causes decreased insulin sensitivity and compromises weight loss. It can easily cause stalls. This is a big culprit. I cannot tell you how many people came to me in the past saying that caffeine doesn’t hurt them. When they finally cut it out of their diet, they started losing again.
3. Are you eating too much protein and not enough fats? Many people on Atkins assume that it is a “high protein” diet. This is not true and it is an oversimplified description of the nutritional plan proposed by Dr. Atkins. Too much protein can result in various kidney problems. Cut the protein back and fill in with some healthy unsaturated fats and vegetables. Also, fats take longer to digest than other food groups, so they help you stay full for longer. Research has shown us that fattier meals result in more fat burning when your body is resting.
4. Have you measured yourself? Because of the food combination you are eating, you are most likely losing fat and building muscle. Because muscle weighs more than fat, your weight may stay the same when in fact you are actually losing fat.
If none of these situations are true for you, then I would recommend the fat fast. On the fat fast, you consume 90% fat and 10% protein and try to keep your calories under 1000.
If none of the above things works for you and gets your loss going again, then I may try the carb cycling. It is something that has been used before at my own clinic. However, I am cautious with it because it sometimes does knock you out of ketosis and therefore you lose the all the positive aspects of being in ketosis (which we have already discussed before). On the other hand, I think you could say that I used this method that year that I traveled. There were many times I couldn’t eat like I would like, but I just tried to concentrate on making good choices. If done like you described, it may work. But, there is no medical evidence to back that up. In fact, the medical evidence, in my opinion, would most likely say that it wouldn’t work. But the Atkins approach had to prove itself, as well. Who knows?
I guess, after saying all of that, my advice would be to check the first four things I talked about. In my experience, it most likely is the overload on protein that is halting your weight loss. This is the most common problem with stalls. I also would say that if you are devoted, and promise you won’t quit if it doesn’t work, to try the cycling. Cautiously.
Sara, I had to laugh about the measuring thing!!! You have been on my case relentlessly (and lovingly!) about measuring myself and here he says it!!! ha!! I know, I know!!!
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