After experiencing the Induction and OWL phases of the Atkins diet, your next step is to enter the pre-maintenance phase. This phase will set you up for a lifetime of healthy and balanced eating and living. You should begin this phase as you come within 5 to 10 pounds of your target weight goal. Your weight loss will be slowed down even further but it is for a purpose. You want to learn the practices and habits that will determine your long-term success.

In the OWL phase, you will be adding carbohydrate grams to your daily count in the increment of 5 grams per week. During pre-maintenance you will increase that to 10 grams per week. As long as you are continuing to shed weight (no matter how slowly it is coming off) you will continue to add grams. Ideally, toward the end of the pre-maintenance phase you will be losing less than one pound per week.

According to the Atkins book, you should continue this phase until you get to your goal weight and can maintain it for a month. This process may take anywhere from 1 to 3 months. Your goal is to reach a state called carbohydrate equilibrium. This is your ideal carbohydrate intake and it will cause you to maintain your weight perfectly.

During pre-maintenance youll get to try a wider variety of foods. Make sure to introduce new foods slowly and increase your carbohydrate intake at a measured pace. Dont add 20 or 30 carb grams a week. Measuring out the increases in increments of 10 will give you a better idea of your personal carbohydrate count. Knowing this number will help set you up for long term weight management.

Make sure to check with a carbohydrate counter resource book or a trusted website before you add a new food to your diet. Some examples of 10 carbohydrate gram foods include 1/3 of a cup of legumes, an apple, cup of potatoes and cup of plain oatmeal. These foods can be included on a daily basis, and then increased the next week.

Pre-maintenance is not a perfect process. It takes a delicate balance of carbohydrate counting and exercise to slow weight loss yet still move it forward. Youll need to pay even closer attention than you have before to make sure that your carb gram increase is not resulting in an increase in weight. There is a fine line between gaining, maintaining and losing, and during pre-maintenance you are trying to find out just exactly where that line is.

If you arent able to add carbohydrates without stalling your weight loss, you may have a high metabolic resistance. You will benefit from increasing your exercise regimen to get your metabolism burning at a higher level. For you, the pre-maintenance phase will resemble OWL more closely.

Some people do a variation on pre-maintenance that allows them to have a treat once a week. Instead of adding 10 grams per day, they allow themselves a 20 to 30-carbohydrate gram treat a few times a week. Examples of the treat could be a piece of a fruit or a serving of sweet potatoes. A glass of white wine or beer also qualifies for this treat. This is a fun way to reward yourself and still be on the plan.
Yet another way to do pre-maintenance is to average out your carbohydrate intake for the week. Since life is sometimes unpredictable, it can be helpful to have a bit of flexibility in your eating plan. For example, if your current carbohydrate level is at 70 grams, you can limit yourself to 50 grams one day. Then the next day, you can splurge a bit on a meal and have 90 grams for that day. However, only follow this method if it doesnt create carbohydrate cravings. Sometimes excess carb grams on one day can make you crave them even more the next day.

The pre-maintenance phase will give you the tools for long-term success. By learning to slowly increase your carbohydrate grams, youll have a better hold on the amount of carbohydrates that is right for you.

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Being overweight is a growing epidemic. That’s why there are so many people looking for various ways of losing weight. It also explains why fad diets are so popular. After all, they promise to help people shed those extra pounds, and to do it in a way that’s supposed to be easy and effective. Unfortunately, the reality rarely holds up to the bold claims made by the sellers of such diets.

Of course it only makes sense that you would want to lose weight quickly, but you have to be careful. That’s because those who lose weight fast tend to be the ones who go off their diets and regain all of the pounds that they lost–sometimes more. However, those who are more methodical in their approach, and lose weight in a more reasonable manner not only reach their target weight, but are more likely to stay there. It can be done. Here are a few tips about diets and weight loss that will help you lose weight and keep it off.

Weight Loss Tip #1 – Set a goal for how much weight you want to lose and when you want to lose it by. The more weight you wish to get rid of, the longer it should take. The most important thing is to be specific, otherwise you won’t lose nearly as much weight. For example, it’s much better to have a goal to lose 20 pounds in the next 3 months than to simply say you want to lose some weight. Your goal could be a number of pounds to lose, a target weight to hit, or even a clothing size you would like to fit into.

Weight Loss Tip #2 – Get rid of the idea of instant results. It’s not just that it’s unhealthy to diet this way, it’s also that you are likely to stop trying if your expectations aren’t met. Losing 1 to 3 pounds a week is attainable for most people. Anything more than that will be harder to achieve. You can still have a big goal, you just need to be realistic about how long it will take.

Weight Loss Tip #3 – Be prepared. Whenever possible, you should geared up to on a diet. The more ready you are, emotionally and mentally, the better you’ll be able to handle any problems when you encounter them. Also, you should get rid of the junk food in your house and stock up on the foods that your diet calls for. This will get you started on the right foot and help you build momentum toward your diets and weight loss goals.

Weight Loss Tip #4 – Get support. Trying to lose weight is hard enough; trying to do it alone is next to impossible. You can get help from a counselor, your doctor, or family and friends. Each will be able to help in their own way. However, they can’t lose your weight for you, so any failures and successes along the way are your responsibility. But having help will greatly increase your chances of losing weight.

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Well, you did it. You lost the weight but now you find you have all this excess skin hanging all over the place. So what do you do? You talk to a reputable plastic surgeon about body contouring. Your doctor will tell you that if you are at your target weight and still have sagging skin that you probably can go no further without help from them. And they are right, no matter what you do from here on out will do nothing to help reduce the sagging skin.

Body contouring surgery is major surgery so do not enter into the decision lightly. Do your due diligence and research what you need to have done so you have the knowledge and can, with the help of your doctor, make an informed decision regarding how you wish your body to look.

There are several different techniques used to accomplish the specific looks you want. One of these techniques is ‘fat transfer’. What this technique consists of is removing fat from certain areas like your hips, thighs, and belly and injecting it into your buttocks. So basically you get the best of both worlds, nice slim hips, thighs or belly and lots of junk in your trunk to boot.

You could research using implants to improve how you look. Places can be implanted that you may not even think of. Did you know that you can get chin and cheek implants? Yup. Implants are not just for breasts anymore. Chin, cheeks, butt, calves, breasts for women or pecs for men. Yes I said men. Plastic surgery is not just for women either, guys, we know you want to look good, too.

So go ahead and call to make that appointment with a qualified, reputable plastic surgeon and with their help, figure out what you want to make yourself look and feel like you have never looked and felt before.

If cellulite is your biggest problem and you just can’t seem to find a solution to the problem, then maybe talking to a plastic surgeon is the next step you should take. When talking to your surgeon, they may recommend a procedure called Thermage. Done on an outpatient basis and completed in about an hour, Thermage heats the collagen in the skin and when the collagen contracts the skin tightens and reduces the appearance of cellulite.

You could opt for the old standby, liposuction. Liposuction quickly and easily removes unwanted fat from beneath the skin and the skin is then stretched over the area to make things look tight and toned. This is a more involved technique and does require a significant recovery period but when all is said and done you will look younger and more fit than you did before.

The younger and more fit you look then the younger and more fit you feel. The biggest part of being healthy is to look and feel healthy. Body contouring is one great way to look and feel your best.

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