A question to ponder

[CMCM]

Think about a time when you were more or less a good weight.

How long did it take to put on enough weight that you became unhappy about it? Was it quick, or fairly gradual over a period of years?

Why do we expect to lose instantly when we really didn't gain that way?

Weight gain is incremental, over time, and weight loss is too. Except that weight LOSS is probably much slower than weight gain. Unfortunate, but true.

[jschwab]

I have not had this experience at all. When I've gained, I've gained alot very quickly. It hasn't been incremental at all, but more like 50-60 pounds in one year. But it's very true that patience is very necessary when trying lose weight. Sometimes, it's the other benefits that come to the forefront (healthier, better mood, etc.)

[Vpeach]

I was my happiest at 150.

I started feeling very insecure when I got to 175ish (That took about 3 months to put on. I got off my WOE)...but I failed to remedy the gain and ended up ballooning up to 220 with a year and a half. Yikes!

[CMCM]

I have not had this experience at all. When I've gained, I've gained alot very quickly. It hasn't been incremental at all, but more like 50-60 pounds in one year. But it's very true that patience is very necessary when trying lose weight. Sometimes, it's the other benefits that come to the forefront (healthier, better mood, etc.)

I would disagree with you...it IS incremental. We just don't pay enough attention to it as it's happening. But break it down...50 lbs. in a year is 4.2 pounds per month, which is a pound a week, which is about an ounce and a half per day. That could come from an excess of only about 220 extra calories per day that exceeds what you need....maybe a cupcake, or just one donut, or a bunch of chips. 220 calories in carby foods is very quick and easy to pile up. And how many of us would think about the food we eat in that way? That just one 220 calorie item too much could add up to 50 lbs. in a year???

Also, when we are trying to lose we are watching the scales and everything else like a hawk for every tiny bit of loss downwards. If we did the same thing as we were gaining weight, we might put on the brakes sooner. I certainly knew when I was gaining weight, having to buy bigger clothes, etc., but I stuck my head in the sand and ignored what was happening.

[Thomas1492]

I am severely hypothyroid and I looked and felt the best when I was a senior in High school.I was 6ft weighed 185 and had a 34-36 in waist with a 48"chest.I marched in band ,played P.E. and after school would work out with dead weights and a nautilus machine,I could bench 350 and I was doing sets of curls with 100lbs..I also loved to shoot hoops ,ran 2 miles a day and could jump rope like a prize fighter,I even practiced with a Bo staff and Nancuchkas (hope I spelled those right..).My weight came on really slow after graduation,I went to work came home and instead of working out or doing any exercise,I'd be soooo exhausted I'd slump in my chair ,eat supper and go to bed,Well I kept gaining at the rate of around a pound a month,and you don]t feel a pound ...Its not until a year goes by,and you need to loosen your belt another notch or you go up a waist size that you really notice,and then you blow it off and say to yourself "man I really need to cut back on the eating" but life continues on and so does the weight gain..Ten years later I finally go to a doctor and find out about the thyroidism,but Im so low that they start you at 1mcg when you need to be like 4mcg and you have to keep coming back for blood work ,and I was a cross country Truck driver,and I would run out of meds and miss appointments and the weight keeps getting higher,until another 10 years later I'm 38 weighing 480 and have congestive heart failure,so 6 years later and I'm literally in the fight of my life to lose this weight and I'm much better,but I believe that this is the most dangerous aspect of weight gain,is that slow ,slow creep all the time telling you "It's all right honey...It's only water retention..Its not that bad ...you still look good..Don't feel bad, people will still like you for your personality....shhhh ,don't worry, go ahead and have some Ice cream,we'll start exercising tomorrow.."Whispers in your mind like a hissing snake telling you the fruit is fine to eat... :devil:

[*Sheila*]

Before now, I don't know if I was EVER happy in my own skin. I have good days and bad days. When I was at my heaviest, I was miserable and could only dream of where I am now. I know I didn't begin finding success until I began ONLY focusing on 10 pounds at a time. When I lost those 10, I began on the next. I still have about 18ish or so, and guess what, when I hit that 135, I don't know if that will be enough.

I think when we get that initial big whoosh ~ emotinally we want to feel that success ALL the time. If more of us could lower our expectations, but not effort we would way more satisfied. ~JMO

[PilotGal]

Think about a time when you were more or less a good weight.
How long did it take to put on enough weight that you became unhappy about it? Was it quick, or fairly gradual over a period of years?believe it or not, i think of this often. i never had a weight problem until i got involved in a relationship and ate and drank everything in site. i was in that relationship for 6 yrs.

it took me 3 yrs to gain it, and it took 2 yrs to lose it.
it's a constant struggle now because my body must've liked that size....

[Citruskiss]

I went through a particularly rough time in my life (some really bad things happened to me) and gained a whole bunch of weight in the process. I gained over a hundred pounds in about a year. It took a good three+ years to lose most of it. That said, I haven't always been perfectly 'on plan' - there's been plenty of periods in there where I just sort of coasted along, "doing low carb" but not really following plan as well as I could. Lots of 'maintenance breaks' in there for me.

So for me, the weight gain was very quick. I was binge-eating as a way of coping.

[Sandollar]

So for me, the weight gain was very quick. I was binge-eating as a way of coping.
Same. From the age of 13 or so....so I've never been a normal weight as an adult. Have no idea what it would look/feel like.

[madeyna]

Each time I,ve gained I have gained it 15 to 20 pounds per month for a two to three months. My mom gains in the same way. With me its always centered around something that involves me being unable to be active and at the same time depressed. Which seems to translate into me starting to bake and not stopping uptil I have gained a huge amount of weight. I feel my best in the 110 mark.I have fat on my at that point but no big deal . Lots of energy to do lead my active lifestye. I probly look my best right around the 100 mark. The 120s is where I find it easiest to maintain or used to be anyway. I,m in my mid fourtys though so I don,t want to be slim I just want to get to the point where I,m comfortable and hopfully the acid refluz goes away.

[hysteria]

OK - my best as an adult was about 156 - I got pregnant at that weight and by the end was tipping the scales again at 220. My true post-pregnacy weight ended up falling right about 198.
The lowest I got since 2005 was 178.
Last summer, I lost about 20 #'s between May - August. The week before Labor Day, we went on vacation - I was 191. By January, I was 212. Your observation about the extra 220 or so calories is probably about spot on (the evening small bowl of cereal, cupcake, brownie, etc...).

This go around with LC has seemed painfully slow - but then I remind myself I lost 60#'s over the course of a year the first time (but lost like 8#'s the first week, as opposed to this time) which truthfully boils down to a little over 1# per week...

[CMCM]

OK - my best as an adult was about 156 - I got pregnant at that weight and by the end was tipping the scales again at 220. My true post-pregnacy weight ended up falling right about 198.
The lowest I got since 2005 was 178.
Last summer, I lost about 20 #'s between May - August. The week before Labor Day, we went on vacation - I was 191. By January, I was 212. Your observation about the extra 220 or so calories is probably about spot on (the evening small bowl of cereal, cupcake, brownie, etc...).

This go around with LC has seemed painfully slow - but then I remind myself I lost 60#'s over the course of a year the first time (but lost like 8#'s the first week, as opposed to this time) which truthfully boils down to a little over 1# per week...

I don't know that I've ever lost weight fast at any age. I do know that this time around I've been eating so clean and haven't cheated once in 11 weeks, totally unusual for me. I lose in spurts, and get hung up at a weight for ages. All in all, it averages out to a bit over 1 lb. per week and I don't know there's anything I could do to speed that up. I think only those with a lot of weight to lose can ever achieve 2 lbs. a week...or perhaps men can do it, but not me.

[krystalr]

I remember vividly being around 180 my senior year of high school. 9-10 years is how long it took me to get to 245. I've been following Atkins for nearly 7 months now, and am 10lbs less than what I remember being a "good" weight for me (so down 75lbs). I'm the smallest I've been in my adult life right now.

I can't say that if I never lost another pound, I'd be happy....I think a more accurate statement would be that if I never lost another pound, I wouldn't be unhappy. In a perfect dream world, I'd love to see about 150-155. I think that would be a nice balance of a healthy weight (I'm 5'9) and a good body fat percentage. Last time I got that measured, I was 34.4 and I was at 175lbs. Right now, my main focus is not weight, but toning and lowering my body fat percentage by weight training and gaining more lean mass. Knowing my BF% is still "up there", I know I have more I can lose...so I think my finishing point will be somewhere around that weight range. If it's not, no biggie.

[CMCM]

I remember vividly being around 180 my senior year of high school. 9-10 years is how long it took me to get to 245. I've been following Atkins for nearly 7 months now, and am 10lbs less than what I remember being a "good" weight for me (so down 75lbs). I'm the smallest I've been in my adult life right now.

I can't say that if I never lost another pound, I'd be happy....I think a more accurate statement would be that if I never lost another pound, I wouldn't be unhappy. In a perfect dream world, I'd love to see about 150-155. I think that would be a nice balance of a healthy weight (I'm 5'9) and a good body fat percentage. Last time I got that measured, I was 34.4 and I was at 175lbs. Right now, my main focus is not weight, but toning and lowering my body fat percentage by weight training and gaining more lean mass. Knowing my BF% is still "up there", I know I have more I can lose...so I think my finishing point will be somewhere around that weight range. If it's not, no biggie.

I think you're so right about the importance of losing body fat as opposed to "pound weight". I'd rather have a pound of muscle than a pound of fat....the muscle pound occupies about 1/3 the space of the fat pound. Fat is dangerous to us because it is metabolically active and produces bad hormones. When I started this diet March 1, my body fat pretty consistently measured 39-40%, which seems terribly high considering I'm 5'7" and started at 163. I must be one of those "skinny fat" people....not that I looked in the least bit skinny, but I obviously carry much more fat than you'd think. I believe my high fat level is behind my high blood pressure, among other things. So not only do I want to build muscle and lose fat, I want to get off my BP meds, have a respectable cholesterol reading, and improve all the other problems that go with excess body fat. What I end up weighing is not important, I'm looking at how I look in the mirror AND my eventual fat levels. That said, I've read that putting on an extra 5 lbs. of muscle is extremely hard for women, and a women probably won't exceed that. So I figure my ideal weight will probably be 5 lbs or so more than what was my best weight 20 years ago.

[krystalr]

My first measurement was about 45%, and that was AFTER I lost 40lbs. I was right at 200 when I got that test done, and it was the middle of January. I wish I would've had one done when I started, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I just want things to keep moving in the right direction, and to get to a "healthy" range. I haven't had to go on any types of medication yet, but most people in my family have high blood pressure, high cholestrol, and diabetes. I'm hoping that my reality check came early enough to help me dodge those bullets.

[Carne!]

Was always between 120 and 130 all of my adult life (with a brief stint in the high 130s as a senior in HS. Ahem. Muchies).

When I was married 2 years ago, I was around 120-122, so it took around 1.5 years to get to my highest weight. A lot of ice cream was ingested during those 1.5 years...Gosh I miss the days when hubby and I could order a pizza and have 8 (yes 8) fudge bars while watching The Sopranos marathons..... :D

[CMCM]

Was always between 120 and 130 all of my adult life (with a brief stint in the high 130s as a senior in HS. Ahem. Muchies).

When I was married 2 years ago, I was around 120-122, so it took around 1.5 years to get to my highest weight. A lot of ice cream was ingested during those 1.5 years...Gosh I miss the days when hubby and I could order a pizza and have 8 (yes 8) fudge bars while watching The Sopranos marathons..... :D

Ice cream is deadly, it gets out of control. I was very very good friends with Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia. I could eat the whole pint in one sitting. Oddly enough, right now at least, I don't really miss it at all. Thank goodness.