I've thought for a long time I'm past the point where my metabolism is going to heal on it's own, or through low carb alone.

Yeah, <waves hand>. I listened to the podcast and heard this also. Talk about being totally bummed out. I began to put on serious weight the year I turned 30, so that is almost half a lifetime for me now. And yeah, I do feel like one of those people who may be beyond the point of no return. I mean I'm faithful to my eating plan but have only lost 10 pounds in the 2010 calendar year, and that was back in March, so nothing really lost in 6 months now.

I had a four month stall but since I had decided to stay with what I was doing regardless I stayed with it and then I began to lose size again. I have gained and kept the weight up since 1983. I have wonedered if my body needed to do a lot of healing in eliminating the lean tissue that supported the fat cells. Create new capillaries into fat tissue etc. Then down comes the weight again. The thing I got out of the question and answer session afterwards was that protein could raise insulin if enough fat was not present and that some individuals could have an insulin response with the standard green or low carb vegtables, food for thought.

Certainly that turned out to be the case with me -- I stalled at a high weight for two years' total time on very low carb, and only by ditching the plant matter completely could I restart the weight loss. And a lot of that has gone in fits and starts; overall, it's taken me nearly four years of VLC and ZC combined to lose 70 or so pounds.

There are a couple of people I know of, though, for whom even so-called
"zero-carb" doesn't seem to work; they don't lose weight and remain ravenously hungry, putting away enormous rations of meat at each meal. It's as if the body needs a lot more healing before it's ready to surrender its fat stores (I'm partial to the theory that obesity is actually a protective response, like fever or inflammation, that can, of course, become a threat in its own right if the state of emergency goes on long enough). A great deal more research will need to be done into what the issue(s) is/are for people who can't lose.

Yeah, I know about that. This way of eating doesn't shut down my appetite the way it does for some people. It's definitely better than when I'm shoveling carbs down my throat, but I'm still hungry, no doubt about it. I'm convinced that LC eating has helped me healthwise, so I have no intentions of going back to eating potato chips and Ding Dongs, but right now I feel like I have to come to terms with the fact that I'm going to spend the rest of my life hungry, and fat. Ah well, life's not fair.

Taubes did sound burned out in that interview, almost discouraged. Did you notice that he said high carb low fat dieters were having good results, which he found amazing? He said its because they were eating the 'right carbs'. I thought that was a huge concession coming from him. It was really depressing when he said for some people who've been fat a long time it may be impossible for them to lose the weight and keep it off. I'm afraid I may be one of those people.

I agree with everyone... I'm starting to realize I may be stuck at this weight forever. At nearly 60 years old, my body seems to be fighting more loss. I try something new, lose 5-7 lbs in 2-3 weeks, stop losing for a week or two; then very slowly over several weeks, despite faithfulness, the lost poundage creeps back. This constant yo-yo'ing is depressing, especially with winter coming and the struggle to prevent regain even harder with Michigan's constant cold and gloom. Most probably, low thyroid is to blame, but without insurance and relatively little income, there's little I can do about it.

However, I am well aware that going off low-carb is not an option; this truly is the best lifestyle, but it does seems the most I can hope for anymore is simply to prevent regain.
Depressing thought. I'm really tired of hovering around the 201-205 mark for the last year.

Dramatic low-carb dieting just doesn't work for everyone. I have a friend I've known since I was three or four who switched to a low-gluten, vegan diet and she's never been in better shape in her life. I wasted away (in terms of energy and muscle, not fat) on a vegan diet. Grain- and starch-free is the only thing that works for me.

I agree with AnniMin that he sounds discouraged. He made a few logical fallacies, which I found surprising since he's usually on his toes. Maybe he's taken on too much. I don't think Taubes set out to become the figurehead for an entire movement against the modern food system.

Great thread, everyone.
I too am curious to know how to lower inflammation. I have been stuck at this weight for the last six months, and I would appreciate any help. Thanks.

Fauve, here's an article with lots of suggestions to help reduce inflammation naturally. I'm trying to include as many of these things in my daily routine as I can, as well. all pretty doable for me, really.

http://www.womentowomen.com/inflamm...ammatories.aspx

Switched from what exactly. The SAD diet? Anyone who switch away from that will see improvements, especially since she has cut gluten out of her diet. The problem with a vegan diet is while you see some initial improvements, probably because you are switching away from worse, it catches up with you later. Since she is an old old friend, try to get her to read The Vegetarian Myth. Lierre was a committed Vegan for 20 years before she was forced to give it up for health reasons. She has since realized we aren't meant to eat a vegan diet. She found out too late though. Her health has been permanently altered.

I've scanned rapidly through this link. It seems to give decent advice except for one thing. If you eat a diet high in omega-6 you cannot realistically consume enough omega-3 to balance it out. So you have to cut out as much omega-6 out of your diet as possible. So basically that means cutting out almost all industrial oils (which means cutting out pretty much all processed food, even the low-carb ones). It also means trying to obtain grass fed meat as much as possible and minimize grain fed meat (and that means grain-fed chicken too).

A good way to improve your health is to cut out the 3 horses of the "diseases of civilization” apocalypse. Gluten (especially wheat), sugar (especially HFCS), and omega-6 industrial oils.

And last but not least, Vitamin D and Magnesium. But I'll let Hutchinson do that bit, he's our resident expert.

I don't know if I fit what you are looking for but when I was sleep deprived (baby) I could not lose weight for love or money.

Also, I did have to add in some supplements like Alpha Lipoic Acid and Chromium to help control the insulin resistance--that seemed to help me lose.

F

I already do that. And Hutchinson already has advised me on the D and Magnesium, which I take already. So I should be set to reduce inflammation.

Thank you so much for this, Buttoni! I've been doing most of this already, but I'll do all of it now.