Atkins diet pre-maintenance begins when you are 5 to 10 pounds away from your target weight and lasts for two to three months, during which you'll experience slow weight loss until you reach your target. You must increase your daily carb intake by 10 grams per week until you're experiencing weight loss of less than 1 pound per week. As you continue to add 10 gram additions, you'll quickly reach a point at which you will find that you are no longer losing. If you are at your goal weight, stay at that level for a month or so before you increase your daily carb consumption by another 10 grams to see if you can consume that level without gaining. Once you do begin to gain, drop back 10 grams. Using the same concept that helped you find your Atkins diet Critical Carbohydrate Level for Losing (CCLL), now you will determine your Atkins diet Critical Carbohydrate Level for Maintaining (CCLM).
The purpose of slowing down the weight loss even further is to ensure life-long success in weight loss and maintaining your goal weight. During this Atkins diet phase, you must pay careful attention to how different foods affect your weight loss and determine a diet that will work for you indefinitely. Not only do you want to experience weight loss and reach your target weight, but just as much you want to maintain it. Otherwise the weight loss was all for nothing! In this Atkins diet phase, you may vary the amount of carbs you eat daily, once you have determined your Atkins diet CCLM. If you only eat 40 grams one day, you can eat 60 the next day, as long as your weekly intake remains balanced (to guarantee continued weight loss).
Dr. Atkins recommends that you lose no more than a lb a week at this time. You may be able to add some of the forbidden carbs back into your diet once a week. In this phase your body is beginning to lose the protection of ketosis. You are preparing for the last phase which is maintenance
