I started eating low carb in May of 2002. In six months I had lost 110 pounds. In ten months I had lost 185 pounds. I have maintained my current weight (175 pounds) ever since. It was even documented by my doctor that at one point I was losing 12 pounds per week. I was actually getting concerned I was losing weight too fast! So I don't understand the comment "Notice they don't lose much weight". I tell people I am half the man I use to be. LITERALLY

Desabells,

That is incredible weight loss and you should be very proud of yourself!!!! Any secrets that you did, or didn't do, that you might be able to pass along to the rest of us

Wow, that's amazing!! AND in less than two years too!

Any secrets?? ;-)

Another thing to realize is a LOT of people will post when they're having problems or something isn't going well for them, but not nearly as many people will post when everything's going fine - aside from in their sig files where they'll list their "goals met" or what have you. So, while you may see a lot of people posting about "not losing fast enough" or "stalling" this is just because most people post when they have a problem to get support and a possible solution to their problem. The people who have no problems and are losing weight RAPIDLY really have nothing to say aside from "YEP! It's working great!!! I've lost *insert big number here* this week!" So, these people aren't posting because they don't want to further discourage those for whom the weight is not coming off as fast.

Think about it like this: There are 1336 PAGES of members on this Forum - I didn't count the people on a page - but it "looked" like 25 or 30. I *think* I saw something somewhere here that said the board had (roughly) 770,000 members.

Of those - how many are not losing?

Not too many.

I read the first post and thought that the writer had to be a nut, so I just went on. People don't lose much weight on Low Carb diets? I've personally lost 57 lbs and know at least 6 others personally who have lost as much or more. What planet do you live on?

I noticed that this relatively old thread had been revived. I recently started a thread, not in the war zone, but in the triple digit club, that raises the question of why many LCers slow to a crawl after 50 pounds or so. Not everyone, of course, but many. The discussion has been interesting.

I think "perspective" really is an interesting point.
When I was struggling at first, I would think the same thing "geez, it seems like no one is really losing that much weight." It was my attitude.
I had to leave Atkin's & this forum for about 3 months (Fertility Doc had me go on Maintenace level) and when I came back, I couldn't believe how much weight so many people had lost. I want to cry everytime I see folks who weighed 300 400 or even 500 lbs now weighing 250 or 225. What SHEER courage and fortitude it took them to get there! I

'm struggling with a total of 60 lbs to lose and I hope to lose all of it in the next 2 years but if I don't, I really don't care because I am no longer gaining weight and feeling scared that I'm going to go above my all time high of 220 lbs (ok, let me be honest, I think I weighed more than that, I just stopped weighing at about 220 lbs).

I'm sorry this doesn't work for you Koko. I know how you feel about being inpatient about the weight coming off but when I do that, I remember I was 17 years old, not my current 37, so I try to be more patient.

My diabetic friend thought she had no health problems and at 300 lbs and a blood glucose level of over 250 with medication, she was very ill but because she couldn't "feel" it, she only stuck with Atkins plan for 6 weeks (her blood glucose level was around 80 the entire 6 wks). She never gained any weight but never lost. She got discouraged and left. She had bariatric surgery a few weeks ago and guess what her doctor suggested? A LC diet after surgery. She now admits that she was GOBBING down protein big time (it was turning to carbs). She would describe it as: 'Instead of one big steak, I'd have two.' Oh geezuz!

hmmm some things are better left unsaid i think, as for me, the only problems i have had have been created by me. I have never felt better and if it takes me ten years to get to goal, i will be a happier more adjusted person because of it ;0).

I came across Koko's question - here is my 5 ct: I often get impatient. People think a diet should work - like: you have 50 lbs to loose, diet for a month? No, that isn't how it goes. And in contrast to Koko, I have seen at this forum many many here who lost >50 lbs in less than a year - I have lost 25 lbs in 4 month - that is an average of 1.5 lb per week. Considering a one month stall, it was close to the maximum recommended - it is usually considered save to loose 1-2 lbs/week, we should not forget that! If you are asking for more, you are asking for unhealthy miracles.

Stalls happen, and you shouldn't get discouraged - use a search and try some of the many remedies - from oil of oregano to increasing your carb intake!

Hmmmmm...geez, guess you must have GAINED all that wieght in one night huh?...now you want it gone in one night as well???? This is the real world - Atkins is NOT a miracle drug or plan - if you fall into that hype, then maybe the solution is to read the research. Did you follow faithfully without cheating???...I gotta say, it is working well for me, and I am losing on average a couple pounds a week....if you read the posts of those stalling, it is typically becuase they have fallen into the junk food habits again.

Good luck, and let us all know when you find the one night miracle diet that will rid you all of all your weight gain.

PLEASE im NOT tryin to interfere!!!
BUT koko has been a VERY good friend to me ever since i started coming on the site!!
YES u can see im struggling daily BUT if u take time to read kokes message tink her 2ND posting.... then u will see she did NOT intend to affend anyone!!! i would urge u too take the time to read through the whole thread
koko is to many of us a VERY warm n wonderful lady who helps in every way she can!!!
NOW PLEASEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE end this thread ty lv/happiness n PEACE xx
good luck to all of us in our weight loss journeys xx

"God brought me to this and he will lead me through it"
DITTO in ALL we do xx

I think that's unfair. There are many reasons for stalls or crawls, and many of them are beyond the control of the individual.

Exactly. It's also not a crime to question things. Some of us don't HAVE all the answers even though we've been at it a long time.

I don't really know what to say. I stand here to day 90lbs short of where I started at 316 lbs almost 2 years ago. I did Atkins for 6 weeks and lost 30lbs, which I kept every pound off for a year on a pretty normal diet of junk food. Then I went on it again, and lost another 40lbs (this time in one 20lb burst of 3 weeks and the other 20 until the 20th of the next month [Nov-Dec 03']). I kept that off without gaining a pound, despite normal i.e. very high carb eating. Finally, I started again 2 weeks ago and I am down nearly another 20lbs. Why does it work for me? Heck if I know. I have been able to lose weight, but not keep it off on the grapefruit diet, the 7-day diet, Slim Fast, Weight Watchers, just by exercising (I was a 316lb black belt in karate, a ball of lard who could still run and destroy punching bags), and by lifting weights. This was the only thing that worked. I find once I move my body to a certain weight with LC WOE, I don't change much at all. I think I am still a pretty high % body fat. I don't know how my cholesterol and other numbers look, but I always feel satisfied and energetic on Atkins. Perhaps the age of the members in general keeps them from losing very well. I have no idea. But I feel and show the benefits of this WOE. I feel sad that my girlfriend, who will likely never agree to eat LC, suffers from such serious psoriasis, which I believe to be aggravated by her high-carb diet (see DANDR and this page). My mom also lost a load of weight, but is now plateauing and discouraged.

Like they say, the more you have to lose, the more you will initially lose. Women in their late 30s trying to get from 140 to 120 aren't going to lose as fast or as easily as me, a (at the time) 19yo male one-time football player. It just won't happen. But I bet that many people can benefit from a LC lifestyle. That having been said, even Dr. Atkins, champion of LC WOL, said that LCing is not for everyone. If you get anything from readin his books, get that people's bodies all differ greatly in their dietary needs and that even the greatest solution will not work for everyone. If you realy have tried LC, if you followed all the rules and still didn't succeed, if you went beyond that even and examined your nutrient intake, pills, vitamins, and drugs, food intolerances, candida intake and made proper changes and still didn't succeed? Assuming that you also can't lose on low-fat or high-carb diets or by exercising, congratulations, you are the only human being alive who is incapable of weight loss.

Other than that, I believe that most people can stand to benefit. We all try too often to apply LC WOE to everyone, when it is such a broad solution to a host of very personal issues and problems. And of course, LC is hardly just about low carb, but a large group of tinier changes in diet (at least on Atkins). A lot of the benefits of LCing come from the nutritional and dietary advice (taking proper vitamins drinking enough water) that most people would only follow if they think it will make them lose weight, but as anyone who has examined the science behind LC knows, it goes far beyond that. I think that anyone who cannot lose wieght and feel better on a LC WOE is either doing something wrong or needs to consult a professional nutritionist to deal with his or her body's unique needs.

It's all just my opinion, don't take it too seriously