In the books it says that ideally Induction should be for two weeks. If you are losing weight during that time then you move into OWL (phase 2) permanently and stay with it until you are 5-10 pounds from goal, at which time you switch to Pre-Maintenance (phase 3). Dr. Atkins actually says that anyone staying in Induction for long periods is 'not doing Atkins'. LOL.
However many of us prolong Induction and for some that can be a bad thing. Atkins is designed to remove most carbs from the system and then, gradually and in carefully-chosen categories, add them back. You go into OWL by adding 5 extra carbs per day for a week or two. You then add another 5 a day, and so on, until you stop losing weight for four weeks or more. At that point you scale the carbs back to where you were still losing, and stick with that.
Since everyone is different it is impossible to generalise. The important thing is that extra carbs are added back slowly. On The Atkins Community site, and in the books, you will find the Atkins pyramid which shows the foods that should be added back at the different stages. We are cautioned to follow the advice and only eat from the correct 'rung' of the pyramid, working our way up.
Whether anyone actually does this to the letter I am not sure but the Americans are very firm on this point! Also most of us stay on 20g carbs a day cos we are scared to go higher and possibly stop losing weight.
You can stay on Induction indefinitely but Atkins experts would advise against it because, surprisingly, it can slow down losses! ha ha. Hope this helps a bit.
