I have had to totally give up dairy for a week so far ( and another 10 days to cone) because of another medical condition. I don't know if there is a causal relationship, but in the last few days my weight lost has sped up to new low -carber levels... 4 pounds in less that a week. Don't know if it's sustainable but I am at that slow close-to-goal stage so I will take it. I'm posting here in case anyone is interested. I wasn't eating tpns of dairy, But I did have a fair amount of coffee and cream every day, and I always had at least a couple of ounces of cheese. I guess we'll see what happens when I add them back in.

I've heard others say this as well! If I ever stall for more than a month, I suppose I'll give it a try. Right now, I can't imagine giving up cheese once I hit maintenance mode, so the thought of giving up dairy is a thought that lurks only in the darkest corners of my mind.

Yes, i don't plan to give up cheese either once I get done with this medical procedure. But in the meantime it's nice to have the weight liss benefits!

Yeah, sorry, but it is the cheese that is most likely helping the weight loss.
When I was near goal, I was blessed to be able to speak with Jackie Eberstein for tips. There were a few issues unique to my medical history, but her best advice was to eliminate all cheese and nuts. Keep 2T cream and a bit of butter if you wish, but the cheese goes The reason could be as simple as they are both calorie dense, but whatever, it has worked for thousands of patients over 40 years.

I was never able to lose the last 15 lbs until I gave up dairy proteins (I still can tolerate up to 2 Tbsp/day of ghee, butter or HWC), but they fell off effortlessly when I went cold turkey for 30 days with no dairy. I started back with just some ghee, then butter, then HWC to see how much I could tolerate. But cheese, yogurt or milk piled the pounds back on. Eliminating cheese, yogurt & milk took them back off again. These foods also cause me cravings and increase rather than decrease my hunger, so I avoid them 99% of the time.

YMMV, but for some people (like me) casein & whey are highly inflammatory and insulinogenic. The only way to tell how they affect you is to carefully add them back when your trial is up and see what and how much YOU can tolerate. I suspect the 4 lbs you lost in just a week were mainly water/fluid as the inflammation subsided. I've noticed among my relatives that the milk/cheese-lovers are all puffy looking all over (like baby-fat, with rounded forearms & lower legs, not just the usual fat-storage spots). My 15 lbs of puffy disappeared with the elimination of dairy.

Well, I'd been having mostly "reasonable" amounts of cheese (not more than averaging a couple of ounces a day) for the whole of my low carb journey. Some cauliflower-and-cheese days or eggplant lasagna days notwithstanding! I did notice that those were days when weight loss seemed to stall.

I started LC around the end of March 2016, and immediately lost about 14 pounds in the first two weeks (all the water weight), then shifted to slow but steady weight loss, starting with about 1.5 - 2 pounds a week, then slowing to about 1 pounds a week, but never stalling for more than a few days. So even with the cheese, I was doing really well -- slow but steady. I lost 65 pounds (70 as of today). So I'm not sure how much "puffy cheese-eaters" extra water-weight I had to get rid of when I started my no iodine, no salt diet last week.... but the sharp weight loss this week has been noticeable on the scale.

I will be interested to see what happens once I can have dairy again (in 12 days)... I will certainly treat it carefully and pay attention now that I suspect it is an issue! I am pretty close to goal weight, and I should be there in a couple of months .. so I guess I'll figure out the maintenance phase then.

But I've been happily losing weight with cheese this whole time.... just, not a whole lot of cheese... and not as fast as this cheeseless week!

Interesting to hear that dairy has been a factor for others.

Andante, you are very level-headed and relaxed in your approach. I love it! The attitude of "We'll see when we get there" helps me too. In 12 days your may find out that you can live without cheese, add back in certain amounts or return to your previous level of eating it. Why worry about that now.

Enjoy the change for now and see what happens (for some reason your post made me feel really hopeful and happy, thank you)

What kind comments, Thud! Nice to "know" you on here.

A year ago I developed a truly horrible skin condition on my face and neck. Dermatologists say "allergic dermatitis." Vague, right? I'm still doing my own research to control it.

Frustration led me to drop cow's milk dairy in November. ALL. After the toxins cleared my system (it takes time), my face got better and I started losing ounces. I had been plateaued for a very long time. I use tiny bits of butter and ghee for cooking, and not every day.

I use goat's milk cheese sometime, specifically chevre.

I'm not sure I could give up butter, but then I don't have a health issue. As for other dairy, I've cut out cottage cheese and yogurt. I think they were stalling me and I was hungry. I was doing a diet that's called Trim Healthy Mama, and they call for carb meals. I just could not stick to it, although I'm using some of their low carb meals and drinks. With low carb, high fat I'm not all that hungry.

Judy

Hi andante!
Thank you so much for sharing! I decided this week to cut down on cheese - to see if it makes a difference. I don't "need" cheese in everything - even if I would like. :-)

I'm not ready to give up my half and half in coffee...but I could give up cheese!

I carry a certain amount of dairy "poof" weight, too. The times I've given it up, I've visibly leaned out. That was the only particular difference I noticed - I didn't have any other health issues to clear up, knock wood.

The problem for me is that giving up dairy takes this WOE from "love it"/"satisfying"/"not that much effort" to "this is dieting"/"not satisfying"/"takes too much effort." My SO isn't that fond of a lot of what would be my staple paleo dinners. At work, most of the best choices have at least some dairy. And there are just too many foods I have to give up because I don't like the non-dairy alternative, such as coffee. Nope. Not worth it for me for a bit of poof weight. YYMV, of course.

Kristine... I agree. And both my partner and I managed to lose a ton of weight last year with dairy.... So when I can go back to having cream in my coffee and the occasional mock-Italian splurge, I am going to. But it's good to know that my weight issues are sensitive to it. But given that I have lost successfully while having it, I see no need to change that when I get to maintenance.

One last comment (for those who must give up cow's milk dairy): Most health food stores and Trader Joe's now carry a non-dairy, LC creamer made from coconut milk. I've also used it to cream up sauces and the cost is on par with HWC in my area. TJs has it's own brand and So Delicious Dairy Free is in Sprouts.

Hi Bluesinger, Thanks for that! Do you happen to have any on hand to check ingredients? If so could you tell me if salt us listed as sn ingredient? Thx so much.

Edited.... never mind... i found it online. No salt. Goong out to look for it today!