Colette's Blog

What Is Your Degree of Metabolic Resistance?

November 21, 2014

Once you know how readily you lose excess weight, you can plot your strategy on how to take it all off.

Now that you’ve enjoyed some success following the Atkins Nutritional Approach™, let’s talk about sustaining that weight loss. You undoubtedly know exactly how much weight you lost during the first 14 days of Induction. That number will help give you a general understanding of your personal degree of metabolic resistance. As you can see on the metabolic resistance table below, a woman who has 40 pounds to lose and sheds three pounds in two weeks during Induction has a high degree of metabolic resistance as compared to a woman with similar weight-loss goals who drops eight pounds.

Weight Loss During the First Two Weeks on a Fat-Burning Program for Patients at Three Levels of Obesity

Degree of Metabolic Resistance for Men

Pounds Lost in First 14 Days
Pounds Lost in First 14 Days
Pounds to Lose High Average Low
Less than 20 2 4 6
20-50 3 6 9
More than 50 4 8 12

As you’ve undoubtedly guessed, the degree of resistance to weight loss that your body shows corresponds to your degree of difficulty in getting well into fat burning. By definition, resistance to weight loss is resistance to lipolysis (fat burning).

During Induction you were consuming about 20 grams of carbs per day. The carbohydrate level was extremely low to demonstrate that it’s possible for virtually everybody to experience lipolysis—from the person who can lose weight quite easily on almost any program to the hardest case, the person who, until doing Atkins, thought that losing weight was almost impossible.

Almost all of you found that you were losing weight. Many of you, however, are now looking forward to liberalizing your menu. But before you automatically move from Induction to Ongoing Weight Loss, read Are You Ready to Move Beyond Induction?

More From Colette

12 Stress-Free Thanksgiving Dinner Prep Tips for a Low Carb Holiday Feast

Plus, new recipes for comforting low carb side dishes and dessert. It’s time to talk turkey and all the trimmings. Let’s start with some tips for stress-free Thanksgiving prep, followed by some delicious new recipes for comforting side dishes that will have you giving thanks because they are low in carbs. From creamy spinach gratin

Read More »

On-the-Go: Low Carb Travel Hacks

If you’re hitting the friendly skies or taking a road trip during the busy holiday travel season, sticking with your low carb lifestyle might seem challenging. Still, with the right hacks, you can navigate holiday travels effortlessly without returning home with a few extra pounds. 11 Low Carb Travel Hacks Remember, preparation is key. By

Read More »

Breaking Barriers: Reignite Your Low Carb Weight Loss Journey Beyond the Plateau

11 tips to jumpstart your weight loss. When you think your weight loss is cruising, the scale sometimes plays hard to get. While plateaus are a natural part of any weight-loss journey, they can be frustrating, but they are also opportunities to re-evaluate, adjust and come back even stronger. What Is a Low Carb Weight

Read More »