Good morning, I'd like to introduce myself and ask for some much needed help. I live in Edmonton, Alberta and would love to meet some LCers here. I am 67yo 5'6" and this morning weigh 191.8lbs. I started this diet again about 1 month ago and weighed 195lbs at that time.
I've tried every diet in the book, believe me, and have had good success in the past but tend to treat dieting as a project and when my goal weight is reached I just go back to unhealhy eating. A few years ago I lost 60lbs on the Dr. Bernstein diet. When I was a lot younger I lost weight on WW and if I was stressed the pounds seemed to melt away. But now it seems nothing is happening. I'm gluten sensitive so bread, pasta, etc is not a big part of my past diet.
I'm sure I would have become discouraged and quit the diet this time except I feel pretty good on it. My arthritis doesn't hurt, no fluid retention, foggy brain better, no bloating/gas and very decreased appetite--good stuff!! I'm tracking my carbs and am keeping them less than 15-20gm/day. However yesterday I was out and about all day and had only 1gm carb from romaine lettuce and then was 2 lbs up on the scale this morning!! What gives??!!
I am retired but still work an average of one shift a week otherwise am pretty sedentary. I have no motivation to exercise but suspect I'll have to have an attitude adjustment if I hope to succeed this time. Help!! What am I doing wrong??

Welcome, Maggie
What gives? Likely nothing you did. There is a four pound "grey zone" of water weight, changes for no reason even the researchers have figured out. Humid weather?, lots of salt?, "out and about" include a drink or restaurant food? or nothing at all. Are you on any meds? BG now under control? Also week 3-4 usually means adjusting to the water weight loss of the first two weeks.

Why the Scales can Lie: http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=365499

Hang in there, you have read many good books, enjoy the health benefits...


Don’t Trust the Bathroom Scale With Your Mental Health

We humans are about 2/3 water. Each of us contains about 40 liters (or quarts) of the stuff, and each liter weighs a bit over 2 pounds. Our bodies effectively regulate fluid balance by adjusting urine output and sense of thirst, but this is done within a 2-liter range. Within this range, your body doesn’t really care if it is up to a liter above or below its ideal fluid level.

What this means is that we all live inside a 4-pound-wide grey zone, so that from day to day we fluctuate up or down (i.e., plus or minus) 2 pounds. This happens more or less at random, so with any one weight reading you don’t know where your body is within that fluid range. Your weight can be the same for 3 days in a row, and the next morning you wake up and the scale says you’ve ‘gained’ 3 pounds for no apparent reason.

For people who weigh themselves frequently, this can be maddening. There are two solutions to this problem. One, just don’t weigh yourself. Or two, defeat this variability by calculating average weights. You can weigh yourself every day, and then on one day per week, calculate your average for that week (i.e., the average or mean of 7 values). If you are really into math, you can weigh yourself every day and then each day calculate a new mean over the last 7 days. Each day you do this, you drop the oldest value and add the newest one to the calculation.

And of course, for [free] there’s an iPhone ‘App’ that will do this for you

Phinney, Stephen; Volek, Jeff (2011-07-08). The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living: An Expert Guide to Making the Life-Saving Benefits of Carbohydrate Restriction Sustainable and Enjoyable (pp. 241-242). Beyond Obesity LLC. Kindle Edition.

Thanks Jey100 for the info. I do weigh every day and get frustrated by the numbers. maybe once a week or less would be better.

Hi, Maggie!

Janet is right: so long as you follow the rules as your plan lays them out, there are changes going on that aren't always evident on that darned scale.

I had NEVER done low carb before, so I had a fairly quick loss, initially. But now every couple of ounces is a victory.

But like you, I feel great, so that's what I focus on. I'm a whopping two years younger than you are, and we both know that feeling awesome in your 60's is a gift, right?

FWIW, this is what I do. I weigh, daily, because it keeps me honest. And I record my lowest weight. I'll bounce around, above it, for anywhere from a few days to three months, but then, it goes down again, and I record that.

Here's the thing: ALL I can control is what goes in my mouth. The scale isn't under my control. So, if I'm sticking to my plan, without cheats, then the scale WILL go down again.

Because of that, darn it, I will claim those .4 lb losses.
I've earned them.

Welcome to the forum, and congratulations on your first losses of many.

Hi Maggie, Welcome aboard!

I, too am from Edmonton. On the northside. Janet is one of the LC guru's on the board and has helped me throught some of my struggles to lose weight.

I find it the slow losing frustrating and have a deep love/hate relationship with my scale. It can be my best friend, but most of the time it is an enemy, sometimes I call it names which I am not proud of. But I keep plugging away one meal at a time.

Have you tried reading Dr. Jason Fung? I am finding him very helpful and insightful.

This is me, too. It's annoying. But seems like Mother Nature often is.

Thanks everyone for your encouraging words. I've decided not to stress over the scale so much and focus on how I feel. Do you think exercise is a factor in weight loss on the LC diet?

Well truth be told I have lost just over 70 pounds in about 8 months and haven't exercised even a little. For me, it is all about controlling the insulin that is helping me lose weight.

Exercise, for me, keeps me healthier and stronger. I don't count on it doing a darned thing for the scale, though.

We were designed to move, and once my body figured out that it felt good, again, to do it, well that was the time to get going!

Exercise is always a factor in maintaining optimum health. However, the old "burning calories" model is insufficient. So, no. Exercise won't help you lose weight faster, or lose fat in those troublesome spots. The more weight you drop on LC, the more energetic you will feel. You might actually feel like moving more, and that will be good. Walking is always helpful and usually pleasurable. I have been "pumping iron" for a couple of decades, and I'm a stronger senior citizen for doing so. So I recommend finding ways to enjoy some resistance exercise, too.

Best wishes.

new to the forum, not new to LC (first time in 1977) Been super stringent, started 4/18/16 and only down about 5 pounds from the day I started- I think years of LC to no LC have broken my metabolism so I'm keeping the faith that by my 60th birthday 8/1 I will be able to show a 10 pound loss. that's 10 weeks/10 pounds. HOWEVER I AM in a full size smaller pants, so I'm pretty sure my cells refuse to give up that water. Horrible leg cramps are making me lose sleep, not a happy camper, and I'm using everything I can find- Lite Salt plus broth plus enough calcium (Unsweetened almond milk) plus magnesium oil (I can't tolerate even the slightest bit or oral magnesium) My doctor started me on B12/Folate two months ago, and I just read where B12 can deplete potassium?? So I'm going to stop that and see what happens. Hidiho and cheers to all!

Welcome to the zoo. Nice people here and helpful. I think you'll like it.

Older women ~ we're our own weight-loss species. It is what it is. Thing is, if we don't keep up the LCHF fight, we'll become sick and immobile.

The fear of immobility is what keeps me walking every morning and doing my other exercise. Not weight loss. I have to be able to run away. Just in case.