A big, heartfelt congratulations to you!

And..just because a lot of people tend to ask me what 'worked'...yep, I did numbers 1 through 6...and even at the 12 years maintenance mark, I still do them ALL.

CONGRATS!!! That is amazing!!!!!!!!!!

I am so impressed! Congratulations!

What does CCL stand for?

In DANDR Dr Atkins called the level of carbs at which you could lose weight but if you went over that number you were likely to gain weight the Critical Carb Level for Losing (CCLL) and nowadays many people shorten it to Carb Level for Losing (CLL) or Critical Carb Level (CCL)

The other number we hopefully eventually discover is our Critical Carb Level for Maintaining (CCLM)

Thanks Elizellen! Right now I think mine is 12 total carbs! :-(

Thanks so much for your kind words of support -- it's hard for people that aren't into this WOE to understand. Most times when I have to explain why I eat what I eat, I tend to wimp out and say... "er...hmmm I have a lot of food allergies!" Cause you know how a lot of people want to tell you how BAD low carb WOE is and I just don't want to prove them WRONG. And Holy Hannah, I really am ALLERGIC to carbs -- they kill the best parts of me, my self-esteem and my health.

Congratulations Jo. All the best in maintaining the weight you have lost.

Your story should also be posted under the Success stories section in this forum for others looking for inspiration.

I do have a ton of severe allergies - but have never found it helped me to tell people that.

I have been called neurotic, "a little bit won't hurt", "there must be something you can eat", and people who want to go out of their way to make me something special, that don't understand anything about allergies - so I still could not take the risk of eating it.

Lately I have just been trying, "no thank you, I am not hungry" - I wish people wouldn't focus so much on whether or not I eat!

Can you imagine if I focused so much on what they were eating... and shouldn't??

That's worked for me too CWatt, telling people "no thanks, I'm not hungry." If I have to attend something that revolves around food (especially later in the day around the time I normally eat), I'll eat before hand so that I am not tempted to make poor food choices and then "no thanks, I'm not hungry" is the truth!

Thanks itisme!! Honestly, I really don't think its a Success story yet because I've done this before (lost lots of weight). I think it will be a success story when I have successfully kept the weight off a year or more down the road. Does that make sense?

Congratulations Just Jo!

Hey Cuddledud and Thank you!!

Brilliant and well done!! Thats the easy bit done, now you've gotta keep it off lol !!!!

Jo xxxxx

You are so correct, Jo. This is the hardest part, but I have my plan and I have my "head screwed" on correctly this time. I KNOW I will not be a normal "carb-eating" person. So, thinking I can go back to eating those killer, toxic carbs is literally NOT on the menu.

Sometimes I talk about how 'lucky' I am to have the rare defect (autoimmune) that I have..lol. I have something called 'Hyper IgE Syndrome' or HIE for short. In a nutshell..my disease makes it possible for me to become anaphylactic and stop breathing (even with things I've been around for YEARS). Most of the things are chemical vapor or perfume (same thing) or things that can be inhaled...but some are foods.

Everyone had the same reaction to ME..until the day I was helping out during a fish fry (for a local charity). They were using a huge kettle and poured oil into it to fry the fish in the kitchen area. I was in the dining area and setting up plates, and placing desserts, etc....and that's when the vapor from the PEANUT and SOY oil drifted into the dining room.

I hit the floor and started turning blue, choking and gasping and throat swelling with hives all over me...the ambulance got there in record time, thank goodness. I spent four DAYS in intensive care and then two WEEKS in regular med/surg.

If I even say 'Eww that stinks'...I get the 'bum's rush' out the door.

BTW..corn and corn starch also 'shut me down' fast...so even meds have to be compounded carefully for me. But no one gives me any flak about the 'way I eat' anymore.

Actually, wouldn't you think they would have stopped after seeing me lose all this weight AND keep it off for over 12 years? Hmmm...people!