Julie,
I know how you feel. I have to watch my calories as I eat to much. I love to eat. I had a bad day yesterday as I had a funeral and ate things I wasn't sure of the carb count so I ate all day. I ate a bag and half of pork rinds to finish the day off last night. Today is better. I count everything I eat everyday. I got the book by Laura Richards and read it in 2 days. There were a few things I learned. I have really been frustrated with my weight loss as i have only lost 4# since Jan. I have to keep my calories below 1500 and even then I don't lose very fast if any. I like low carbing but I do get discourage when I see so many who have to increase their calories and do lose. I have increased my carbs and that seemed to help me a little.
hang in there.
sallyd

Hats off to you all! I thought I had been an a long stall...It is soo awesome you're all still sticking with this new WOL!!! And I intend to do the same!! Let's stay in it together!
Well, I also got my book and read, and read until I practically needed some matches to help keep my eyes pried open. And what an insight it gave me!!! Since the book got here, my weight loss immediately resumed. I don't want to praise the day before it is over, but so far, the pounds are dropping like flies...4 more just in the past few days. I also have to monitor my cals very, very closely, and also LOVE to eat. But I went real heavy on the pure fats (olive oil, Butter, mayo) and now cut off the fat on meats instead. They say that's where all the toxins of the animals are stored anyway, like antibiotics and such. I also quit pan frying my meats and boil or nuke them instead. THEN add fats and spices. The foods feel so pure now somehow! (for lack of a better word...) Another thing I took to heart is the water. I had been drinkink 80+ oz~day and went to 130+oz!!! I do work out a lot, so I thought I'd give it a try! And WOW!!! Went into full blown Ketosis (according to the stix at least...) and I also got rid of 'the taste' in my mouth. I honestly believe that I had been mistaken thirst for hunger. It seems as though I finally got to experience what the feeling of true satiation really is. I am full, all the time...the slightest twitch, and I eat something, preferably fatty, and - bingo - twitch gone!! And with it , my obsession about food, weight, scale... is diminishing. I am also half afraid to talk about all this, because I am scared it won't last....that had happened before... But this is the 4th day in a row, so far so good! I am going to keep going just the way I am for now.
A big pat on the back for us all for being able to stick with it, even when the road gets rough at times. WE CAN DO THIS!! I hope my experiences will help one of you as well, and keep in mind - it's the turtle that will win the race in the end!!!

tiggerlou.
good for you. I wish my obsession with the scale would go away!!!!!!!!!!
I enjoy reading how everyone is doing as it keeps me hanging in there
sallyd

That's fabulous, Tiggerlou! Keep going! It sounds like you're headed right out of the Turtle Club. I know what you mean about being afraid to say that something is finally working. I've had that same experience, multiple times, of thinking I found what was causing all of my problems, only to find that four or five days later, it seemed to quit working and I was back to square one (sometimes minus one, or two or three). But you really sound like you're well on your way on the road to success. I really believe that one way or another, each of us has a way that low carbing will work for us. We just need to figure out how to tweak it to fit us individually.

Sallyd, just keep trying. Gosh, I know just what you mean about a bad day. I have many days with cravings that I can't explain since I eat nothing that should produce them. That was one of the hard lessons I learned with AS, along with a few added pounds. But even when I have no cravings that are driving me buggy, I'm still obsessed with food. I have had a few blessed moments when I felt totally liberated from food obsessions, but they've been few, far between, and short lived. I refuse to give up, though. I know that low carbing is the only way to keep myself from falling back into eating sugar like nothing else exists, and even though I don't always eat the healthiest low carb diet, it's far healthier than I was eating either as a low cal/low fat dieter or when I wasn't dieting at all.

TeriDoodle, it's been a long, rough road that's brought me to eating like this. Belive me, I know that when I cut my carbs below 10, I'm not getting enough nutrients from vegetables. I know I'm not getting enough protein, especially since I work out so much. But I just don't seem to be able to lose any other way. Like I said, I only do it for a few days, and then I add back some vegetables and protein and cut back the fat to control the calories. I do that for a few days, and then switch back again. I've only been doing this for a couple of weeks now, but it seems to be working (hope I don't jinx this like everything else). I don't know what else to do. When I tried eating the way you suggested, I gained. I don't think I have unrealistic expectations. At this time last year, when I was living the low cal/low fat life, I weighed a pretty stable 123. I think I looked great. Most of my cellulite was gone for the first time since I was probably a teenager, and my upper arms actually stopped looking like wings. Problem was, I was eating way too much low fat candy, and I was doing it at the expense of eating enough protein, and that was how I was controlling my weight. Eventually, my house of cards began to collapse, and my weight began to creep up because I couldn't keep my sugar consumption under control. At 126, I started low carbing, and I made every mistake I could have possibly made. I've gone as high as 133 (I'm 129 right now) since I started this WOE, and I've cut out more things from my diet than I ever thought I'd be able to. But every time I manage to lose a few pounds, either what I'm doing quits working, or I start having terrible food cravings and I eat too much. I always eat too much of legal foods, but too much is still too much, and I start gaining again. The truth? I think the only thing that keeps me from giving up is that I feel like I've reached the end of the line. If I gain back all of the weight I lost on low cal, I'll never be able to lose it again. If I can't take off 6 or 7 pounds just to get back where I started, and keep it off, much less the few extra I wanted to drop, I'll never be able to get rid of 25. I am so grateful that low carbing has released me from uncontrollable food cravings that drove me to eat all of the high carb foods that dominated my life. That is reason enough to stay with this WOE. I might still overeat and still want to eat "bad" foods sometimes, but I can keep myself from doing it, which I didn't used to be able to do. Wow! I sure can prattle on.

Well, well, well!!!!! Wow, I am reading about your results, and am SOOOOOOOO Happy for you both!!!

Wasn't the book great?!! So glad you learned from it. I was a bit scared when I recommended it, as I didn't want to go on and on, and people put out there money, and then didn't learn a thing......so I sit here with much relief!!

I've struggled for the last several days. Bless my assistant at work, she has been bringing Krispy Kreme donuts to work for everyone the past two days!! I normally are not tempted by donuts in the least..........but now.......I could just inhale the whole thing! Funny how you can do so well for so many days, then your willpower slips over something you don't even particularly care for!

Tiggerlou, glad to see you have put the scale away for awhile. I haven't been on mine for 2 weeks, and feel a bit liberated actually!

Once again, so glad you liked the book, and congratulations to you both

Brit

Get off the scale, becuse our weight fluxates so much because we are women, I only check my weight once a week, and I even forgot today.....

You need to concentrate on losing inches, toning muscles and most of all, How you feel....if you feel in control and not helpless like most diets that is a good thing.

You are responsible for your feelings and changing your attitude is something you have control over.

This diet offers something I have never had before, No more hunger, no starvation and it works...stick with it and it WILL happen

Julie,
I know what you mean I eat to much of the low carb food. Today I ate all low carb but why to much of it. I couldn't quit eating. I am finally full. There are days I never feel full. I always think about food but I wish I could be like others who forget to eat. I never do. I agree low carb is the best and I am going to keep working at it.
Brit
thanks for recommending the book. I read it from cover to cover.
It is really nice to have everyone to vent with or get advise from.
Thanks everyone,
sallyd

Brit, you should never hesitate to offer up anything that helped you that might help someone else, even if they have to shell out a few bucks to buy a book. It seems to me that that's what this forum is about. It doesn't matter that you're new. There are so many people reading this that are struggling, trying to make this WOE work. If you help just one person (and you already know you did more than that), even if you don't hear from that person, you still did a great thing. Congratulations on your progress and keep with it! Don't let the Krispy Kremes get you down (or maybe up???)!

Sallyd, at least we fill up on low carb food. If I was eating high carb stuff the way I sometimes eat low carb, I'd be back where I started a couple of years ago with more on top of it. A LOT more. I consider cheating eating a low carb candy bar with AS. Now if that isn't a vast improvement over the way I used to eat, I don't know what is. When I get down on myself for overeating, I try to remember that I could be stuffing myself with sugar and starches, and so could you. Lately, I've been tracking everything I eat and calculating the protein and fat grams along with the calories and carbs. I know I could do it on fitday.com, but I prefer to keep a running tally through the day. It's obsessive, I know, and I don't have fun doing it, but it's forcing me to be aware of what I'm eating. It seems to be helping. I'm sorry to say that it's forcing me into a diet mentality, which was one of the things I was trying to get away from when I started low-carbing, but so be it. I've been controlling my eating pretty strictly, and I'm actually losing some weight fairly steadily now. I feel more positive than I have in a very long time.

Julie
You are so right if I was eating all that sugar I would have gain so much. I have found you can eat a lot of low carb calories without gaining. I just have to cut down to lose what I want and then continue eating low carb forever. I went to an in-service today and passed up all the good desserts and bread they had. I took a low carb bar while everyone was eating danishes.
Brit
I appreciate all the advise and support anyone can give me.
I love this forum.
sallyd