I think we all hate those people!

kiwi

P.S. - thanks for your thoughts on my goal weight...

Kiwi ... I was never 105 (except when I was about 12!) I think that your goal weight sounds very reasonable - especially looked at in light of Teri's "formula".

I struggled with my weight throughout my teen years ... even though I was always athletic ... on all the school teams, a cheerleader, etc. Going away to University and living in a dorm was a complete disaster, and I quickly gained the "freshman 10". During my 20's I worked as a waitress, and, since I didn't have a car, rode my bike everywhere. My weight then was around 130 - occasionally, I would get it down below 125, but not for long ... and sometimes it would get as high as 135. In my 30's, after my kids were born, my weight got up as high as 150 - I joined Weight Watchers, and got it down to as low as 129 - which is too low (my periods stopped), then stabilized for years at about 135. Over the last 5-10 years, my weight gradually increased to about 150, topping at 153 last spring, which is when I started LCing. I dropped to 146 within 2 weeks, and since then, I have been as low as 139, but spent most of the time bouncing between 143-145. I'm not ready to give up on my goal of 135 yet, but I am starting to wonder if it's a trifle unrealistic given my age (48), height (5ft 6 1/22 in), and fitness level.

Slimmin, I waitressed during my 20s too! I always called it free aerobics. I walked to work, and then spent the next 7 hours on my feet, then walked home. Too busy most days to eat (the money was great though). No wonder I only weighed 105 pounds.

I am guessing that since you've always been athletic, you probably have a lot of muscle, and look thinner than I would at your height and weight (i'm kind of "smushy"). The 30s really did it for me - I stopped waitressing, got a job where I sit all day, and time caught up with me. Loving to cook didn't help. I do think we have to remember that at our ages (i'm 42) we're not going to be tiny little things. Did you try that BMI index? That was kind helpful, I thought.

I remember reading back in the 80s that the equation should basically be 100 pounds for 5 feet tall, and an additional 5 pounds per inch. That seems incredibly unrealistic to me for women in their 40s.

kiwi

Check list:

Cheerleader

20's wt around 130

gave birth to a 10 lb. baby still blame him for my stomach)

wt. went up to around 150...tried low fat diet....lost a few lbs....

first set my goal at 130 but since I exercise on a regular basis can carry a little extra weight...when I was at my lowest weight everyone thought I was ten lbs. lighter so adjusted goal to 140...also find with LC you have a completely different profile...much better in every way

am amazed most of us here are in the same ht. range

5' 6"

now age ..have to slowly slide this out as I have been having a hard time getting used to this...just turned the big 50...

IMHO goal wt. is where your body will be content at...mine seems to not want to stay under 140....B

We must all be clones ... or part of a set of quints or something separated at birth

I am amazed at how similar so many stories are - for what it's worth, my kids were 8 lb 9 oz and 9lb 6 oz.

Ewwwwwwwwww...weird!!!!

My kids were and 8 lb. 9 oz. and 9lb. 5 oz.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok, well, I was never a cheerleader and since my 20's I've always had a desk job! Talk about a rear end!! I've lost all hope of ever having buns of steel!!

Bonnie....I'm sure you look marvelous at 140!!

Actually my son weighed 9lb. 5oz. exactly but just rounded it off to ten....this is really X-Files Stuff ...B

Bonnie: you look simply terrific. 50 is supposed to be the age when women start really having fun and getting what they want.

My check list:
-Age 42

-5'5"

-bartended in my 20s

-have watched my weight since I was 14.

-four major weight losses during the past decades. "Dieting" methods ranged from low fat to pure starvation
Thin (123-135 lb. range) at ages 19, 32, 37 and now.
The rest of the time, I ate everything in sight and blew up to between 140-165 lbs. Can you say yo-yo?! This past year on LC has been the very first time in my life when I haven't had to count calories or fat grams in every bite of food I ingest. What a relief. For that alone, I am happy to be where I am.

-no kids

-love to cook

-ten extra pounds on me looks like 25 extra pounds on a normal person

-didn't make the cheerleading squad After school activities included school plays and musicals, boys, and partying

Halloouuuuuuuuu!
Thanks, Slimmin'.....
Ok, I will join you guys as well, although I have a little more than 10 lbs to go (due to my own faltering.....) I had already been as low as 141 lbs, back up to about 154.5, which is also the weight I started LC'ing at, in March of 2002. Always, always heavy all my life, I began my weight loss with low-fat/low-cal in February of 2001 and have come down from 214 lbs.... When I hit the middle 150's, I started 'losing it', my mind that is, AND control. THAT'S when I found our WOE!!!!! Been bouncing between the mid 150's and low 140's for a year now, and I think it is time to shake thinks up a little and seriously re-evaluate. On the flip side, I am very happy, that I DID NOT gain much weight back, considering......
As a matter of fact, I just spent several hours in my old food diaries yesterday, trying to find some common denominator to the times I did lose weight vs. the times I didn't or gained - nothing as of yet!
I hear you about the belly flab - I delivered two 6 lb babies at once 7 years ago!!Was it worth it? Most of the time!! LOL!!! But I find since I am LC'ing, or, Carb Controlling, as I call it, my skin in its entirety has healed tremendously! Even the stretchmarks. I don't think they will ever completely go away, but I am proud to say that I did wear a tankini on the beach last summer!! (the occasional pulling and tugging on it was just a mental thing....)
So, off we go together!!!! Let's make this fun and try to get rid of our returning frustrations! (at least we won't be having them all at the same time....) Looking forward to be part of this support group!

Hi All,
I hope its ok if I join in here. I actually have 14 pounds to go, really a lot more if I was going for flabless. I lose weight so slowly I just thought back to the most I remembered weighing and still feeling good about myself and took that as my goal weight.

twiggy I have most of my weight in my back and abs too. I just got a trainer to help me with only the upper body. If I learn anything new I'll let you know.

Unlike most of you I have not been knocking myself out trying to lose lately. So hopefully this thread will get me motivated to start working at it again.

Hey you guys!! Glad to have you!!!!

I read through an great thread at the CAD/CALP board last night re: successfully switching from Atkins to CAD. I have never followed a strict LC plan; mine is something of an Atkins/Schwarzbein hybrid, but closer to Atkins.

Anyhow, that thread got me thinking: When did I lose most of my weight? Within the first 6-8 weeks of LCing! I did not follow a traditional induction, in fact, last year at this time, I spent the first few days of my 'diet' eating steamed veggies, lean meats and little to no fat, then I switched over to LC. Maybe it was the shocking switch from eating everything in sight to low fat and then to low carb that helped my weight come off so nicely at the beginning.

There MUST be something to the theory that to jump start weight loss, one must shake up the diet. But, I am so afraid of going back to eating bagels and brownies by the truckload that I am not sure I am a good candidate for the reward meal offered in the CAD plan. I wonder if there is another way to go about the shake up without going back to danger foods?

Hi all,

In my journal, Nancy made the following comment:



It got me thinking ... according to the height/weight charts, and the BMI index, I'm not overweight. I'm solidly within the range, well, actually near the top. However, my goal weight is also within the range, and I don't (yet) think that it's unrealistic.

Thinking some more, I thought about why I avoid telling people that I'm trying to lose weight - the typical response is to tell me that I don't need to lose any, and then to offer me something to eat. In other words, people, in general, aren't very supportive. And they're always offering you things you don't want.

It's also easy to get complacent ... and at times the temptation to give up and change my goal is almost overwhelming. I know that losing 10 more pounds isn't going to change my life, or radically affect my appearance, but somehow, right now, giving up would feel like failing. On the other hand, maybe my goal weight is unrealistic for someone who is as old as me (48) and as active as I am- I need to stop comparing myself to the 25-yr olds that I see at the gym! But it is a weight that I maintained for several years in my mid-to-late 30s, so I'm not quite ready to give up on it yet.

Enough of my rambling ... like Twiggy, I'm also trying to think of ways to "shake up" my metabolism ... if the scale doesn't move by Valentines Day, I think that I will do 2 weeks of Induction. Then go back to CAD. I really don't want to go back on Induction, so if anyone has any more palatable ideas, please post them.

Twiggy - When I first tried CALP, it was fine and I felt in control... but then I grew uncomfortable with the wild way in which the scale was fluctuating and with my growing daytime fantasies about which delectible carb I would indulge in that evening! I knew within a short time I didn't have the discipline to keep my RM's balanced. What I did take away from CALP that I personally find useful are the timing issues they focus on. It's a good plan for some people and they do well on it....but for others it's pretty scary....or they end up like me, without very many "rewards" at their reward meal!

If you're interested, you may want to take a look through Natrushka's monster journal.... she had success in shaking things up by following a lower fat, higher carb plan....I think she stuck to the BFL plan (not sure) and did well. She's always tweaking.

Atkins also discusses the Reversal Diet in his first book, but never mentions it again...not even on his website. But there's summaries of it on this board if you do a search for it. It basically talks about going to a complete opposite diet (low-cal, low-fat) for a couple of weeks and then going back on LC to shake things up. Personally, I can't dream of doing that because of my blood sugar issues. And you're nervous about carb triggers.... I don't know. It's a personal decision I guess. The other alternative, of course, is strict induction.... and I'd suggest keeping it lower fat and higher protein as much as possible.

Gotta run........shower time!

This is all getting REALLY interesting, and I think it could be very helpful to all of us.

Like Slimmin, I looked at the BMI chart and found that I'm within the normal range, and I had the exact feelings she's put down here. I'm near the higher end of it, and would like to be more toward the middle; I feel uncomfortable telling people that I'm watching my weight (esp. anyone who is bigger than me); I lately sometimes wonder if I should just be happy where I am... But I really would like very much to drop that extra 10 pounds. As I mentioned before, this isn't even asking to be what I was when I was younger. At my current goal weight, I'd still feel nervous about putting on a bathing suit

Like Teri, I really don't think I want to chance CAD and having the lure of those once a day carbs. I don't think I have enough discipline (anyone doubting this hasn't read about my constant losing battles with wine temptations!). I am wondering if I need to be more careful with the fats. I use a lot of mayo and butter in things, and maybe I am one of those people who needs to watch calories in order to get over this hump.

anyway, enough babbling from me for now. I just really hope we all get there, and it seems like having this particular support group could help a lot. so thanks!

kiwi