I think the missing element might be an underlying health issue. And from eating the SAD for decades, is it any wonder?

I lost my excess weight in six months, 70 pounds of it. But three years ago I began struggling with exhaustion, gained some weight back, been wrestling with doctors being baffled until recently, when I'm about to see a specialist.

If my diagnosis is right, this can be fixed... and then we'll see about this last 15. Ironically, trying too hard to lose these last pounds might have contributed to my illness... but who knows.

Fortunately, I think I have a path to fix it.

My point is that few of us (our children might be luckier) ate the way we should all along. Many of us need to heal before we can finish losing our weight, and healing might not be compatible with losing weight!

(Hat tip to PJ who has been exploring these very issues, and has informed my own journey.)

It just occurred to me that trying to grow fat and stay fat intentionally is just as hard.

Sigh - the mundane truth. Aren't kids great? They impact our lives in so many ways!

Hello, Everyone. Although I've been wandering around out there in Non-LC Land for much too long, I'm thrilled to find that the conversation here goes on swimmingly without me. Because, the truth is, I need you.

Yes, in the couple of years I've not been paying enough attention to my Lowcarbness, I've let the Weight Creep overtake me. But I STILL consider myself an LC success story. And I will always be grateful to you, my companions along the way.

Although at present, I am at a former "peak" weight and working to change that, I know (as I have always known) that LC is about health as much as anything.

At 67, I'm never again going to be that 135lb marathoner I once was, when I had the grit to go against type for a couple of years.

But I will never again be the 192lb. fast-food junkie that I once was either.

Somewhere in the middle, LC helps me feel good and reasonably in control of my health destiny.

What is success? Falling down three times and getting up four?

I guess this thread started out with an article about weight loss failure. I won't be a weight loss failure until the day I die, no matter what I happen to weigh.

Carry on.

I joined the NWLR in about 2001, after maintaining a 50 lb. weight loss for five years. I had achieved that loss with the traditional low cal/low fat regime, plus intense aerobic exercise (running) and weight training.

In 2003, with the difficulty of weight management becoming greater and greater, I turned to Atkins--a convert for life, if not always a faithful adherent. I have mostly maintained at least 30 lbs. of the original loss via low-carb.

I continued to respond to a few annual questionnaires from NWLR. However, they now have me registered forever as a low cal/low fat story--which is not at all the case. They never requested (or permitted) a revised dietary profile. So at least in my case, the statistics are false.

I tried signing up again a month or so ago, this forum reminded me about it again. No paperwork in the mail, again. I MORE than qualify, guess I'll try again in a couple years. Someday they might actually sign me up. I suspect I'm on the NWLR 'blacklist' being low-carb.

I've said all along, the #1 cause of my slipping up and gaining 20-30 pounds over the past decade+? Weight loss. It makes me feel too normal, like I don't have to be careful anymore. Hahaha.