*sigh* Six weeks I haven't weighed myself - and I finally caved and did so last night because I THOUGHT my clothes were fitting better. NO change at all (weight OR inches). And that's after already having stalled for about a month. BLAH. I've been doing pretty well (not perfect) and walking a LOT (or a lot more than I used to, anyway. 5.4 Km last night, as opposed to from the couch to the fridge or the front porch to the car...). Nada. BUT...I'm not quite as discouraged as I thought I would be. I read someone here a while ago who said that a lengthy plateau is good practice for maintenance.. (you know, since so many people STOP "dieting" as soon as they lose and then start to gain back). But I'm beginning to feel like my body just flat out wants to be at 215.

Awwww try not to feel so bad. I did notice that you said "I've been doing pretty well (not perfect) and walking a LOT (or a lot more than I used to, anyway. 5.4 Km last night, as opposed to from the couch to the fridge or the front porch to the car...)" I wonder what would happen if you were "PERFECT" on your eating for a week or two, you know back to the basics, dare I say it.....INDUCTION. I also wonder what would happen if you incorporated another form of excersize along with your walking maybe 2 or 3 times a week, you know to shake things up a bit?

I am definately not an excersize person, but have found a newfounded passion for yoga. I purchased Barbara Benagh "yoga for beginners & beyond" and its so amazing, not only for the body but the soul as well. I have since learned this past week that this video is totally for beginners. There are several of her videos on youtube by her....take a look....its totally do-able, dare I say "easy"?

http://www.youtube.com/results?sear...a+for+beginners

Youtube has so many videos! Some you can do while just sitting in a chair. Find something YOU like and DO it! Shake things up some. Onederland is right around the corner my dear~

Are you getting enough fat in your diet? Sometimes upping that a little will help.
You have done awesome so far!

Plateau's are good maintenance practice But, going back to induction and slowly moving back up the carb ladder might just get things going again for you.

Plateauing with you, been bouncing the same 5 pounds since mid February. But I'm not currently motivated enough to go back to induction for the last few pounds.

Or do the Atkins Fat Fast.

Well, I'm not sure if that is really safe or effective. Atkins said it was only for people who are extremely metabolic resistant and can't get 'started' losing weight. He says it is actually dangerous for those who aren't. I'm not sure I care about that part - if it is dangerous to lose to fast, I'll live dangerously - but asking around on this board the answer from those who've tried it seems to be that a fat fast can help deepen ketosis but will NOT actually lead to weight loss. If someone can tell me they had good results with it, I may give it a try!

Take a look at what you're eating. I lost 40 lbs, then stalled for six weeks and then gave up. It turns out the dairy stalled me. Now I have to be careful of dairy, nuts, and trigger foods. Not to mention other food sensitivities.

And I do weigh myself every day. Some days I go down and some days I go up. If I go up several days in a row I look at what I've eaten to cause it. It keeps me honest and on plan.

Hope this helps.

eeem ok .... so what will you do? You have all the tools...which way will you go? induction....excersize.....fat fast.....take a pick....

Fat fasts work for me - I've done them for 3-4 days usually every 3 or 4 months, they usually knock off several pounds and then my weight usually stabilizes about a pound or two more than the lowest.

The main reason I turn to fat fasts is that when I get really frustrated at seeing the same weight for many days I start to think about either crazy things I can do (like fat fast) or I find I have more and more thoughts about carby foods that I usually don't even think about. Given a choice between going off my plan and a couple of days of extreme crash dieting, I think the fat fast is better for me.

And I'm post-40 and sedentary, have been obese all my life - I'm pretty sure I'm "metabolically resistant!"

ParisMama's Fat Fast History

Weight range.....Days.......Loss........Stable Loss
.............230.............2.........3.2.........3
.............223.............4.........3.8.........4
.............215.............3.........3.4.........2
.............203.............5.........4.6.........4

all my daily weights are copied to my journal month by month, and I note when I've done a fat fast, so feel free to look at my journal for more details...

But actually I think the key is in what you wrote



You've lost an incredible amount of weight, and no doubt have done great things for your health.

But you're now a 215 pound person, and you need to make changes to lose weight as a 215 pound person that are probably quite different from the changes that let you lose from over 300 pounds.

Things like smallish amounts of walking probably helped a ton when you were at your heaviest, and today may not be enough to challenge your metabolism.

And the food is the same - the good news is that it seems like you've found a way of eating that you can comply with long term, imperfections and all, to maintain your weight.

But it's maybe time to start again as this smaller person and figure out what SHE needs to do to lose weight - those "not perfect" things might need to become much rarer, you might need to go back to basics with low carb, tracking, counting, measuring... you know, all the things you're probably not doing right now!

Maybe you're not ready, and you want to coast a while where you are? You've lost a tremendous amount of weight already! That's fine too, but then you need to adjust your expectations so you don't end up frustrated and going off the deep end. For what it's worth, I'm currently in another full-effort period until the end of June, but will take July & August off from intensive weight loss effort, enjoy my vacation low-carb-maintenance, and make another push for loss in September. I think the break will be good for both my brain & my body!

Wow, 2Thin you've lost 100 lbs, that is AMAZING!! Huge CONGRATS on that!!

But I agree with Sunny on this, try to follow the plan as written without any cheats -- try to be PERFECT, it's amazing what the results will be -- if you want it badly enough...

I Atkins '72 -- it's so basic and works miracles if followed religiously!

I'm over here cheering you onward and downward!!!

Wishing you heartfelt success on your LC WOE journey!

Well, I'm experienced enough to know what all the tips and tweaks are, and none have really made a difference at this point. I think sometimes stalls are just inevitable and we have to wait them out while our bodies adjust.

I agree with this as well and applaud you for having the determination to wait it out. I've been on LC boards for almost 4 years and more often than not, those that have lost a huge amount of weight (such as yourself) reach a point where they stall. I don't know how many calories you are eating, it may be that at some point you have to lower them (your body has probably lowered your metabolism at some point). You say you eat 20 or fewer grams of carbohydrate per day - is that net or total?

JEY posted a nice list from Dr Eric Westman of things to try for stalls. It surfaced here this morning - let me see if I can find it and link it. http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=460202

It's net carbs, but it's sometimes much less than 20. And my calories really vary - 2 days ago I only ate about 500, and yesterday (I didn't try to count) was a lot more - probably close to 2000. I figure that's probably safer than being 1200 for a sustained period of time like I was for a while; but on average my calories are about 1200-1500 a day, so cutting calories clearly isn't a reasonable option. Some have said to INCREASE them, but when I do I gain. I've also tried increasing fat - specifically with bullet proof coffee - but while it didn't make me gain, it didn't make me lose, either. The major flow in my eating is that I'm NOT getting enough veggies, but I know many here would argue that doesn't make any difference anyway. But that has been my goal for the past week - LOTS of salad, because then I'm getting veggies without (hardly any) carbs.

I'm one of the ones that would argue that veggies will make a difference for you.
I also think that you need to figure out why you gain when adding in carbs...is it the particular carb, quantity or an inflammatory response to that food?
Those who do follow the OWL phase, by the book, have good success long term.

I think Judy is absolutely correct in recommending you move to OWL. One of two things will happen: your stall will break or you will actually gain. If you gain, you will know that that you've exceeded Carbohydrate Level for Losing (CLL) and that you should back down again. I'd say give it several weeks, maybe a month adding 5 g (net) per day every couple of weeks (in other words, a couple of weeks at 25; a couple of weeks at 30). Even it you go slightly up in weight, sometimes the extra carbs are enough to let your body relax again and shed additional weight when carbs are once again restricted.

I was at the Atkins site for a long time and the best advice I heard re: OWL was to add 5 grams of carbs one week and to introduce one new food the next. Week one of OWL: add 5 grams of carbs per day eating only induction foods. Week number two: stay at 25 grams of carbs, and add one food - let's say blueberries. Eat them 3x on alternate days, making note if they make you hungrier, cause cravings, etc. If you're good with them, keep eating them as you wish. Week 3: raise grams of carbs to 30, keep eating only induction foods + blueberries (assuming they passed muster). Week 4: Keep carbs at 30, add another food, let's say raspberries. Again, keep notes on how you react. Week 5: add another 5 grams, etc etc etc. Also, feel free to stay at 25 grams (or any level) longer than 2 weeks and just keep trying one new food a week (from the lower rungs of the carb ladder) until you are ready to advance to more carbs.

At some point you will stall because you've exceeded your CLL and you'll want to back down to the level where you stopped losing, or maybe another 5 grams down.

Now, I will also say that I tried this and it worked fine for me till I hit 35 grams net. Boom. All weight loss stopped and I backed down. I have found through much trial and error that I do best (and feel best) if I keep my carbs at 30-40 total (15-25 net). But I was really glad to go through the process to learn what I can tolerate, what I can't. Many years later I know I can occasionally indulge with a small amount of fruit in the summer without disastrous consequences, but I also know I can't eat it every single day without gaining.

I don't remember if you are diabetic or not (I'm thinking not) - if you are, you probably want to stay at 30 total carbs per day, per Dr Bernstein.