This thread is timely for me. I started out on Atkins seven months ago, have lost 28 lb, and feel terrific. I'm 12 lb from my original goal but am at the point now where the weight is dribbling off very, very slowly. I get weary sometimes waiting for the scale to drop a pound. I have a tendency to rationalize my way back into bad food choices and insidious weight gain, so I have to stay honest with myself. I concentrate more now on maintaining what I've already lost forever. It's true about keeping on doing basically what you've been doing since the beginning because it works! - with slight deviations. Gotta watch those deviations, though ... if I find I indulge too much (too many calories, too many carbs, too many times in a week) - I dial back to induction for a few days to reset my body as well as my mind.

[QUOTE=.

Over the weeks I have been following this WOE I have been talking to other obese folks and hearing a lot of stories like "ya I lost over 50 pounds once" or "a couple of times I got my weight down to normal" and I'm like "Oh God no! - Don't let me be like that!"

I don't want to do all this work and then flush it down the tubes but at the same time, I don't want to think I can "never ever" eat fruit or have a slice of pie again...[/QUOTE]

I read somewhere, maybe here, that most people regain the weight they lost within 3 years. I am not going to make any declarations about never regaining the weight or following low carb the rest of my life, but ideally, I'd like to be able to eat right most of the time, without having to go back to induction if I have a piece of cake at my daughters wedding.

I think I'm a moderator, as long as I stick with things I can have a little bit of once in a while without ill effect. Even though I do Phase II/OWL, I don't climb any ladders either. In Dr. Atkin's 1972 book, he said it's okay to pick and choose a higher carb item here and there, not in any particular order, if it helps you stay on plan. That's where I'm at and it works for me. I think in the long run it will help me maintain. I need that flexibility.

Good clip.

That seems right.

Thanks for the encouragement. I read that book not long ago, but forgot the quote.

I think I'm one of those who needs to stay off the carb ladder to stay in ketosis.

The basic idea is not mine but the way the words went together came from my head, thru my fingers, over the internet and to your eyes

I strongly believe that carbs are as addictive to me as all my other addictions (congrats on quitting the smokes!!! You are taking on a lot at once)
I have lost weight and regained, for me I know that I need to stay away, for ever, one cigarette would lead me right back to smoking 2packs a day...
This is a hard reality for me...
I do believe in everything in moderation, but I don't do moderation, everything in life for me is all or nothing, I know this now...will I eat an occasional peach or pear or apple, hell ya! If it's natural yes, chocolate cake, probably a lot less often...

There's a lot of good "stuff" in that book that applies to me... The quote below by Dr. Atkins has really resonated with me after all the years I failed at "trying" to do A '72.Now I KNOW I wasn't ready to accept responsibility for my own eating and acknowledging that I was a carb addict with a chronic carb metabolic processing disorder.

It took a lot of soul searching to finally reach that point in my life. To truly say to myself that if I wanted to lose the weight and keep it off, I'd have to give up those "bad" carbs forever! Yeah, it took me a good long while to be able to face those demons and purge them from my life!

Great quote Jo. This is also my understanding of how my body functions and it helps keep me on the straight and narrow along with my understanding of how toxic sugars and grains are to my system. They are toxic, they are poisons, don't eat them. That's something that seems to be true for everyone. It makes no more sense to ingest high carb and/or processed foods than it does to inject heroin. No good will ever come of it.

Jean

I am struggling with finding the right balance in maintaince. I set my regain amount at 5 pounds over goal . I hit goal in july and I am currently in week two of being back on plan because I regained 5 pds. I am doing a thirty day clean eating challenge because that's about the amount of time its going to take to lose the 5 regained pounds. I have learned that for me a 5 pound limit its too high. Next time around I am going to set it up at 3 pounds so I can lose it in two weeks. Mentally I think two weeks back on plan will be easier to deal with than 4. So lesson learned is continue to weigh in every few days and drop cals and carbs. when regain consistently hits two or threw pounds.

Maybe it's because of my advanced age. Or that I'm female. Or that I'm post menopausal. Or that I've "done" dieting of one kind of another over and over and over again.

This I've learned: I have to stay on plan just to maintain my weight loss.

Nobody, I repeat, nobody wants to think of eating OP for the rest of their lives. It's just a fact for many of us. We're addicts. Our bodies just don't process carbs the way some others do.

Sorry. It's a choice. Just don't lie to yourself the way I did for so many years.

Something must be in the air ... or maybe it's just the season, but I, too, have been maintaining for several years now, allowing myself to 'hover' 5 lbs. over or under my target weight of 125, but have been stuck at 129 for so long that I have to admit that I now weigh 129, not 125. I am back on a strict Atkins induction for two weeks and the scale is creeping down.
My plan, like madeyna, is to decrease my 'hover' amount to 3 lbs. and do a very slow climb back up the carb latter when I reach goal again. Basically, doing OWL again with one added food at a time to make sure I don't start another upward trend.
Maintenance is a very fragile and volatile state!

Life would be so much easier if our bodies weight didn,t flux so much even without a fat gain. As of this morning I am almost two weeks back at induction level and the scales say I have gained a few pounds. I have been at it long enough that I am not going to let it mess with my head too much but oh what I would give to see those scales drop down in numbers. I am toying with the idea of a fasting day just to force it down.