Greetings All

[Kiiri]

Hi All ~

I had the good fortune to stumble across these forums, and have already read some great info here - so I just had to join! :D

I'm a 30 year old (ack!) female from Michigan... and while I've never been mistaken for svelte, I had never been more than maybe 15 pounds over the "recommended" weight for my height. Until several years ago... what I am assuming was a combo of job-stress and minor depression sent me careening into a feeding frenzy.. and when I emerged, I was 250 pounds. Ouch.

I'd spent a loooooong time in my teenage years playing with every diet out there, and never with lasting results. I hung at 250 for a while, not sure what to do. Started Sommersizing on a recommendation from a relative - and it has worked great for me. I have to be honest - I go off it allllll the time (ahh, Kiiri has zero willpower... *blush*) - but I have never gained any of it back since beginning in the tail end of 1998.

I have what feels like a measly thirty pounds to go, and I'm kinda stuck... plateau city, and my willpower is not exactly improving. Any advice or encouragement is oh-so-very-welcome!!

~ Kiiri

[wbahn]

Greetings and welcome aboard! :wave:

It sounds like you have done VERY good so far - both in losing a lot of weight and in maintaining it for a number of years. Good job.

As for the remainder, I can think of a couple of thing off the top of my head. First, you might have slowly drifted away from your plan without really realizing it. So go back and re-read your book as though you were new to the plan and you are likely to find a number of things that you don't remember and that you are doing wrong or could be doing better. Another possibility is that you have adapted to your present WOE and you need to shake things up. Probably the best way to do that is to switch plans for a month. Check out the "Which low-carb plan is right for me?" link to the right and pick one of the others. Use that for a month and then decide where to go.

Another possibility is that you are at your proper weight - but your goal of 140 looks pretty reasonable for a woman of your height so that is probably not it.

I would highly recommend starting a journal here - that will allow those with a lot of experience the opportunity to take a look at what you are doing and eating and make suggestions. Plus, it is a great way to get support.

Keep the Faith!

[alto]

Hi, Kiiri! Welcome -- and thank you for such a nice introductory post. It's so hepful to know people's histories (interesting, too :) )

I think wbahn's given you some very good advice. It's time to take stock, rethink, shake things up, either try something new or really examine what you've been doing.

Keeping a journal is very helpful. So many times, we read posts from people who really honestly think they're being 100% on program and when they write down what they're eating they find out they're eating more carbs than they think they are -- or too few calories, which can also produce a stall. Exercise, too, might help get things moving in the right direction again.

Good luck to you -- I hope you'll post often and let us see how you're doing :)

[TeriDoodle]

You've received some wonderful advice from a couple of this forum's finest. I would like to reiterate Wbahn's advise to re-read the book or check out other plans.

You and I are in about the same place weight-wise and I have noticed that my weight has been dropping more rapidly since I've been cycling regularly (every day) for 30 mins at a time. If you're not exercising, I recommend it....and soon you'll be hooked!

Welcome to the forum....we're glad you're here!

[Kiiri]

Thanks for all the responses - and the warm welcomes. *smiles*

Wbahn, you hit the nail on the head in that I have drifted away from my plan - realllllly far away sometimes. :D I am working on re-committing to it, since it seems silly to have come as far as I have and not go the last distance. I have thought of switching over to Atkins to see if that works for me - I'll have to poke through the messages around that plan and see if I can do it, though.. giving up fruits and veggies (even temporarily) may not be easy for me. (Ha, listen to me - like it's easy for anyone else at first!! D'oh!!)

In another posting, some wonderful person mentioned Fitday.com and I checked that out - it's really great! I'm going to use that for a while as a journal and see if that helps.

Thanks for the exercise info as well - I figured that sooner or later I'd have to get some cardio going (noooooooooo! The horror! *winks*) so I have been trying to walk a couple miles after work.. it's just been HARD lately to stick to that as our weather has been so nasty cold and windy. I need to find some indoor alternatives for such days. :D

Thanks again, and I'm sure I will "see" everyone around!!

~Kiiri

[wbahn]

It sounds like you are identifying your probably problems and are formulating a plan of action to address them. You're on the way.

A couple of misconceptions about Atkins - while you give up fruits for a while, you do NOT give up veggies. They are a required part of the program. Even on Induction, you should be eating three cups from the allowed veggies list (which is reasonably long) and that only increases as you get past Induction. Most people (myself included) actually eat more veggies on Atkins then they were when eating "normally". In fact, I have even done something I thought would never happen - developed a taste for green beans! Smothered in butter, of course. ;)

Also, exercise is very important. As Dr. A himself states, if you aren't exercising, you aren't doing Atkins. I suspect that most of the other LC plans are pretty similar.

Yeah, getting an exercise program together, even a simple walking one, is difficult. I know. I've only just succeeded at it by taking the rather drastic step of committing to Body For Life. But it became pretty obvious to me that this was the only way I was actually going to do it.

Keep the Faith!