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Old Tue, Apr-21-09, 19:44
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awriter awriter is offline
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Posts: 1,096
 
Plan: Kwasniewski Ratios
Stats: 225/158/145 Female 65
BF:53%/24%/20%
Progress: 84%
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Merpig
What a detailed post Lisa! I admire you for sticking to the program and finding something that seems to be working, as I hope it will for me too.

I hope it works for you, too, Debbie. Besides, what choice did I have? Go back to a low fat, low calorie diet - knowing how that kills you? Couldn't do it.

Quote:
I know the frustration of a stall as I've been there done that - back in the 1997-2001 time frame when I first did low carb. I lost 80 pounds and then hit a brick wall with still an additional 80 to got based on my *own* goal, and actually still about 100 if I were to base it now on JK's ideal weight. Yet I never lost another ounce over the next 2 1/2 years.

Aside from the personal disappointment, what was so difficult for me was the intellectual wall. I could not understand how, doing one thing, I could lose so much weight - and then doing exactly the same thing, not lose even one pound more. It's crazy-making. I sometimes muttered "why? why? why?" under my breath. And what I really like about this is it's not magic. There's a real biological reason for this that I simply didn't see at the time. And there are still many people on this forum who are reading this thread and shaking their heads in disbelief. It can't be the protein - it has to be the carbs!

Quote:
I do enjoy my protein. Even today I'm sitting already near my max for protein even though I'm still a little low on the fat side and fairly low on the carb side.

As someone who has now done this for over six weeks, I'm going to share something with you. Because of our metabolic problem with protein, the very thing that's harming us is addictive to us. I felt exactly like you did six weeks ago. And five weeks ago. And even four weeks ago. I too fudged around with my protein numbers so I could let myself eat more of it. But I was just kidding myself, as I believe you're doing now. I only lost 1/2 pound the first two weeks because of it. Yes, you lost more, but you have a lot more to lose, so I believe it's equal.

It wasn't until I truly understood that protein was harmful to me that I went to my real protein number, and grasped that whether or not I ever get to weigh 125 pounds is beside the point. Irrelevant. There's a substance that is killing me, and allowing myself to eat more of it than I absolutely must have to live is self-destructive.

And then two things happened: the weight started dropping off, and within another ten days the addictive nature of it was gone for me. I could eat under my limit -- well under -- with no problem. Eating fat became easier. And the more fat and calories I ate with the lower protein, the more the weight came off. And the less I felt I need to eat protein.

Quote:
Per JK my ideal weight is 140 pounds. I'm going with the 150 number.

Of course it's your choice, and if that works for you, great. But please consider if it doesn't that as long as you continue to eat more protein than your body can deal with - the excess will continue to harm your metabolism, which will then take longer to heal. There's a reason you couldn't lose any weight for 2.5 years, and that reason is protein. And remember too that by using inflated protein numbers, you are also then artificially inflating your fat and carb numbers too -- putting you right back where you were when you couldn't lose weight. This isn't about believing your ideal weight is 'unrealistic' to ultimately acheive. It's a biological problem. If you truly have the metabolic BPAA defect -- it only manifests itself in the presence of too much fat with excess protein. And here you are, eating more protein than you need or should eat, and increasing your fat allowance. I'm just saying. And genuinely supporting your decision as well. I hope it works for you.

Lisa
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