Self-control does feel good. I feel that way when I think of how I used to smoke, and how it gets easier to avoid going off-plan. I just have to keep working on not letting one mistake set me back to square one and have SUCH a negative effect on my emotions... it seems one slip can wipe out a month of feeling good about my choices.

I agree with you about M/E. I feel better succeeding with this WOE. Maybe because my choices are made more simple with less "planning". I have never felt better, or less hungry.

When you sometimes "slip", come back here and look at your stats. Pay attention to how for you have come already! When I felt discouraged, DH would say," OK. But tell me again how much weight you have lost." It would remind me that I HAVE been successful. And you will be, too!

I think people do make lots of mistakes on any eating plan, but I also believe the body can do things that stymy medical science.

I wouldn't say that I had a true stall, but certainly the weightloss waxed and waned. 3-4 weeks would go by with nothing and then I'd lose a few pounds all at once. Sometimes in response to me tightening up what I was eating, other times without any apparent relationship to external factors.

Ultimately, though I think your 'proposal' is flawed because it is based on assumptions of people that you, personally, can't prove.

This, to me, is a flawed way to approach analysis and all too often leads to erroneous judgements and poor action based on those flawed judgements.

Sometimes, people don't fit the norm.

My vein surgeries? My doc couldn't find anything wrong. I perservered and finally saw the specialist and learned I needed surgery. Also, the leg that had a problem was the right. They almost never see the vein issues I had in the right leg.

My wrist surgery? My doc wouldn't give me the referral to the specialist for two years despite the fact I couldn't open jars, hold things, or write. The tests the specialist did to gain objective evidence of my problem all came up negative. They operated anyway and it took almost 3 hours to fix all the damage they found. In fact, there was so much damage, they didn't get to it all and I'll have to go back for more surgery at some point.

Going to docs for 10 years complaining of an inability to lose weight only to be told I just needed to eat less. They even told me to go to Overeaters Anon. or TOPS because they did not believe I was not a closet eater--they made assumptions about me they couldn't prove (sound familiar?) and who knows how that will impact my long term health? If someone would've just stepped outside group think, not made erroneous assumptions about me, and taken the time to sincerely investigate my complaint, maybe I would've had help sooner as opposed to later. Now I know I actually do have a medical condition that makes weight loss on a traditional regime impossible. But everyday I think about the damage those 10 years of low fat/high carb may have done to my body. All because no one could hear me because my message was too different from their expectations.

Going through fertility treatments with doctors treating me as if I was like everyone else with my condition. Guess what? I did not respond to treatment at all like others with my health issues. I started to point it out to them, because it was clear to me, early on, from the data, but they couldn't see past the paradigm of 'majority medicine' where the largest demographic dictates the protocol. Now I work with another specialist who has actually analyzed my personal data and established a protocol that runs counter to the standard protocol for my problem. He's not using a universal paradigm anymore, but a personalized one that doesn't determine my care through the prism of this or that study.

You can try to live in a world of absolutes, where there are no exceptions to the rules you decide to apply, but that's not how reality works. Sometimes, the anomalies are the most interesting parts of theories anyway and being open to different possibilities and solutions allows for so much more learning and knowledge.

F

My weight hasn't really budged since I started this in March. Recently found out I'm gluten and casein intolerant. Dairy was totally screwing me up, and likely hidden gluten. With those gone, the scale seems to be moving, slowly (even with higher carbs than usual, though I am dropping them again for other reasons). I don't have much to shed, so slow is just fine with me.

Sometimes you don't know what's going on with your body so you jump around and try different things, hoping one will stick. I'd encourage anyone who is stuck to try cutting dairy, for example, or soy, or other reactive foods, and see if it makes a difference. Can't hurt.

Ima quit reading.. get off my lazy arse and go walk a few miles while I mull over all this very interesting information !

(and at 200+ calories an ounce nuts is a definite WATCH IT GIRL for me ) Something to consider while I stroll..

Be well all !

Why is it,

that in this day and age it's politically correct for a low carber to critisise Atkins.

Imagine if I started posting negative comments about South Beach? I would be flamed instantly.

The man had more success than any other low carb author and he is the reason why most of us even know about carb control.

whatever...... I'm just tired of the haters!

The calorie counting Weight Watchers is still an ever bigger business than Atkins ever was! What little critisisms I have made about that on this board, I have been reprimanded by many a WW apologist.

You see one is PC, the other is despised by everyone because he spoke the truth.

LC Dave,

My theory is that everyone is trying to maintain the appearance of an open mind. If we say, "It isn't for everyone," it shows how open we are to other viewpoints.

The thing is, he did show us there were fallacies with the low fat way of thinking. We discovered reasons why the government supports low fat eating that doesn't have to do with scientific research. And-- the biggie-- that there are healthy reasons to eat low carb whether you find it easy or not. I do think low carb is for everyone. At least to some extent. When is it ever good for us to eat a lot of sugar and white flour?

The original post really hit me where I live - I've been stuck in the low 180s (after losing 80 lbs) for about a month now. And the reason is probably because I'm just eating too much calorie-rich yet still low-carb food - i.e. nuts and cheese, which are my big addictions.

I was really religious about what I ate at first and the weight just FELL off, sometimes as fast as 4 or 5 lbs a week at first.

But I've gotten sloppy and kind of lazy, and have been having bouts of the "just a little more nuts this time won't be a problem". While that last may be true for just one nut bender, daily or weekly nut benders are going to stop me from losing, and that's what I've been doing.

I also low-carb for blood sugar problems, and since my BS has been rock solid I've been tending to eat more, at least until it goes up. At first any little deviation from the diet would make it rise, now my tolerance is better so the BS doesn't move at all, which makes me a lot less rigid about what I eat. But I still have 10 - 15 lbs to go and need to get back on the program and actually start measuring things again or it's not going to come off.

I got a chuckle from someone above who said "well, at least I know how to maintain" . That's very true - even with the recent nut and cheese extravaganzas I haven't actually gained any weight back. I need to hold out more frequent nut benders as something to look forward to as part of maintenance once I hit my goal.

My stalls are no mystery - they're purely my fault (and maybe that of Blue Diamond? ).

Thanks for the thought-provoking thread.

LQ

I have lost ten more pounds since october first, after really slow loss all summer, I have cut way down on cheese and I think that was the problem, too bad though, I love cheese!

Some herbalism practitioners believe that cheese and mushrooms both sort of prevent clean flow-through in the body (slowing down body processing in some way; I can't remember how to put it accurately, sorry, but I'm sure it could be googled).

I set up a plan that has 'induction cycling' for just a few days every month where I specifically can't eat those foods and a few other things, to make sure my body can de-tox from 'em.

Maybe for some people it is more the ongoing nature of always having the stuff and not having enough detox phases to deal with it. I mean many people say they lose with cheese and then later stall with it. Maybe a little more cyclical detox would be good for lowcarbers.

I think will power has everything to do with it. I am losing my wieght my force of WILL and for no other reason. I am ENRAGED with myself. Yes sometimes my body and my "neurotransmitters" decide i will HAVE to eat something. But you know what? for the most part i am so angry at being fat that i can and DO refuse to put the stuff in my mouth and on my body that my brain is screaming for.. because there is the human in me screaming.. SCREAMING at me not to do it. i count carbs.. and i count calories. i refuse to believe in "starvation mode" there is no way this body is going to let itself starve. This fact remains for me: carbs in equals carbs out AND calories in equals calories out. I spent a lot of time last year doing exactly what the OP suggested many people are doing. It took me a long time to come to grips with it and get a handle on it and DECIDE that i am not going to climb the mountain.. i am just going to push it out of the way with sheer will. Low and BEHOLD>.... it is WORKING. I will not give up, i will not give in, and if someone gets mad and tries to say (which many do) that "its not my fault i cant lose" For the most part.. i say YES IT IS! You can get angry with me for saying that. You can deny it. Heck.. i denied it for a while. It is STILL TRUE. So stop whining.. get mad. Get mad enough. Do i have an eating disorder now? Heck yeah i do. Did i have one at almost 300lbs? Heck yeah i did. Just a different kind. I like this one much better.

Bren

Way to go Bren!!! I like the way you speak!!!

I second that!! with a speech like that, you could lead the masses, very inspirational!! almost like that speech in "Independance Day" who didnt want to yell "hell yeah!!" after that speech!! good for you Bren!

Maybe I missed something but when did having an eating disorder of any kind become something to be cheered and applauded?