I can't believe it! This morning I got on the scale and I was down 5 pounds! Yesterday, I made a concerted effort to eat and drink more and it must have triggered something because WHAM! I just love it when stuff like this happens. You struggle and struggle and this makes it all worthwhile. Anyone out there who is stalled, keep in mind that if you stick with it it will turn around for you. Stalls don't last forever.

But, my frustration with the stall brought me to this Low Carber site and I am so happy to have found you all. Support is so important. Thanks for all your helpful suggestions!

PS: I also stayed away from the Atkins bars yesterday on the advice that they have hidden carbs. I don't know if that played a part or not, but I just thought I'd let you know.

This is great news! Congrats! I'll add some comments on the "PS." part when I get back from work.

Wa'il

hi Patti,

Way to go with the wt. loss ... ... You're so right about sticking with it.

As I stated in my previous post to you in the Daily Lowcarber Forum, the Atkins and other lowcarb protein bars can be a staller for a lot of folks. Everyone is different though, you have to find the balance for yourself. For many lowcarbers, the problem is that some manufacturers of these bars don't include the sweetener they use in the carb count on the label. So folks end up eating way more carbs than they think they are. And also, the sweetener itself, even if you do count the full carbs, may cause ketosis to stop for some people, even though it does NOT cause insulin to rise.

As long as you count the true, full carb value of the bars, and if you find they don't stop ketosis, you could probably use 'em occasionally as meal-replacement or snack. You have to see what works for you.

If you're interested, here's a recipe for making your OWN homemade protein bars. I'm sorry I don't recall the source; it was another lowcarb recipe site, possibly Lowcarb Luxury.

1 square unsweetened baking chocolate
2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp heavy cream
3 scoops (1 cup) lowcarb whey protein powder, flavour of choice
1 cup chopped peanuts, or other nut
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut
2 Tbsp sugar-free syrup (I didn't have this, just used water)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- melt chocolate and butter together, then mix in everything else. It will be stiff. Press into plastic lined loaf pan, chill till firm. Cut into 6 bars, and wrap tightly in plastic wrap; they store in the fridge. They do get soft and a bit gooey in yer purse, but if you wrap them like a tootsie roll, you can sort of peel down the plastic wrap and eat them that way without getting your fingers messy!
- 6 bars, at 4.5 gm carbs and 15 gm protein each.
- at least you know what is and ISN"T in them.

Just be aware that chocolate, and the nuts can be a stall problem for some folks. So, if you're indulging more than occasionally, and you're stalled and out of ketosis, my suggestion would be to nix even these for a while, till things are back on track ..

Doreen

addendum - I checked, Lowcarb Luxury is NOT where this recipe came from. If anyone recognises it, please let me know. Thanx

O.k. here's what I promised to elaborate on

We need to discover what works for us and what doesn't, see if dairy is fine or not, salt, artificial sweetners, etc.

Take measurements (arms, waist thighs, hips, chest, neck etc.) weekly and chart them along with weight, and comment on the chart, or write in a journal what you did differently each day of that week. How much exercise, heart rate, how much water. Introduce experemental things once a week to see how things change. I have a few years worth of charts, and they helped discover many things, such as how often I stall and for how long (12 days every 3 months when I don't use my asthma inhalers). And lots of other curious discoveries.