I am struggling
 

I regained 5 pounds so I have been back on a stricter plan for the last three weeks. Last Friday dh finally decided to eat clean as well. He is a diabetic. We went to Costco Friday and he brought home a very wide variety of cheeses and nuts. I have been indulging in them as well. So today the scales are right back to where they were three weeks ago even though its all lc legal food. I am also having a major issue with peanut butter so I put it in the freezer today so I cann,t just walk by and grab a spoonful. I have to make the commitment to no snacking again and I don,t want to but I will. I hate that after 11 months of lc dieting maintaining is so hard. I have been eating clean but for me I have come to the realization that cals will always count just as much as carbs.

Hi. I know it's frustrating, but... is your goal weight perhaps a bit unrealistic for you? Are you basing it on your weight when you were much younger? Being too harsh comparing yourself to others? How are your other health markers?

Maintaining a healthy weight via LC is easy.

Maintaining below where your body wants to be is a relentless struggle.

We ladies are supposed to have a good layer of fat. Maybe your body is trying to tell you something?

I have also read that when you go back to eating carbs you will gain 8-10 pounds of water weight, perhaps you should see if that is the case and your weight levels off after gaining a bit.

I recommend that you ditch the nuts, peanut butter and cheese for a while, hard as that may seem, and see if it makes a difference. What's lc legal isn't always so benign for everyone. I snack on olives and baby dills now. It works for me. See what works for you. Good luck!

I used a measuring spoon to measure the amount of peanut butter I have been indulging in. Each time I walk by and grab a heaping spoonful I have been averaging two tablespoons and doing that probly four or five times a day. So carb and cal creep got me. I was estimating teaspoons not tablespoons. I cann,t believe this far in I have been doing something that stupid and thoughless. Oh well live and learn I guess.

Nuts are definitely a problem for me. I have to restrict them.

I find unsalted nuts are not a problem for me when eaten whole (I don't think I digest them fully).

But nut butter is a problem -- I have read your body absorbs every last bit of nutrition from it because it is "pre-digested" (sorry) by being ground up.

It took me a while to get used to the unsalted kind, but now i can a have handful without a problem. Maybe this would be an option?

I need to find a better peanut butter for sure. I have been just getting into the kids and justifying it because my diet tends to be low in fat and protein. I also tested extremely low in vitamin b a few months ago . I was going to start a thread about it but was waiting until I could find my paperwork with the numbers on it but it looks like that just isn,t going to happen. The 5 pound regain is a key 5 pounds looks wise. It seems like the whole 5 pounds sits directly on my gut and the area just below my bra in the back. so the 5 pound regain looks more like 15. The plus is that its a instant huge reward when I lose it. I did lose a bunch about 5 years ago then stayed at the higher weight for a few years just because it was where my bodie wanted to be. This year I went for it and hit my final goal. I am a short small boned female going threw the big M. and I really think being untra lowcarb this entire year helped ease me threw it. But its been extremely difficult to maintain. Since I hit goal I spent a month upping my cals while maintaining my carb level and gained a tiny bit. Then I spent a month low cal with higher carbs and gained a little bit. I spent another month with cals at around 1400 and carbs around 30 and stayed level weight wise but don,t think that's a healthy level of food intake to live at long term.

When I looked at the ingredients of so-called "natural" peanut butter almost every brand had sugar added. Then I looked at the cheap store brand. Ingredients: "Just peanuts"...

https://www.fooducate.com/app#!page=product&id=6A040A0C-0CF1-11E0-BF92-FEFD45A4D471

Good Morning, I read your post about the peanut butter and I have been trying to find a way to answer you without sounding like I'm preaching, 'cause I'm not....I totally hear ya on this. Years ago I was at an all day horse exposition with a friend and the highlight was the evening horse show, starting at 7PM. By 6 or 6:30 people are making their way into the coliseum for the show, lots of people have their dinner with them as do my friend and I. She had a Sub, me my salad, I glanced to the aisle beside us and there was a lady taking her seat, she put all her stuff down and proceeded to take out a jar of peanut butter and a spoon.... OMG, I could so do that....OK, so I tend to babble a bit, but my point is that is something that I just simply can not handle, I can't control it, if I have a little, I will inevitably have a LOT, I just have to accept it and because being in control is essential for me, I just can not have peanut butter, you don't even want to hear my ice cream story...lol. Forgive me if this is none of my business, but maybe, having peanut butter is not going to be acceptable for you. We have a member here on the forum and she describes it as being an Abstainer...I love that.

Anyway, nice to meet you, please drop by sometime, I love company, have a positive day, ttyl

Zoo girl I will give the sugar free stuff a try but your right pbutter just might be one of those things that I have to abstain from. Its the only high fat high protein thing I like. I have to force myself to eat meat. I didn,t even read the lables on the store brand I will give that a try.Thanks for the tip.

Same here. I can't have a little without having a lot, and if it doesn't make me gain weight, it definitely keeps me from losing any. It's on my "abstain" list.

Same here; I find that most of my tastebud-loving trigger foods are also problematic for me. Peanuts are not nuts, but legumes, and the proteins in them cause me joint inflammation and pain that I start feeling as ganglia pop up on some finger, wrist & ankle joints as little as 30 minutes after having a tablespoon or two.

I've learned there are certain things I have to count calories for when I eat them. Cheese and nuts are included in that, and I think that lines up with what Atkins says, if I remember right.

If I eat just meat and vegetables I don't have to watch calories, but eating the things I want (which also includes sugar-free sweets and other products) has helped me stay on the diet (and thus maintain my weight and blood sugar), so I decided to count calories. I think that works for some people, but for others it works better to stick to the basic foods. I hope that helps and you find what works for you.