Bawdy

8 year LC anniversary coming up on Father's Day for me. I've been on and I've been off, I've been workn' plan so hard I was red hot and have fallen off the wagon so hard it took me over a year to find my way back but thru the past 8 years I have been more on than off, have reached some goal at least 3 times (I'm on the third presently), lost 35 gained 20 lost 30 and have morphed thru a hysterectomy, Seasonal Affective Disorder, peri-menopuse, bio-identical sublingual hormone replacement to name a few of the challenges of life of the past 8 years. I have done LC with tons of frankenfoods and now minimal to no frankenfoods. I have battled cravings, fake flours, sugar alcohols, etc. You name it I've probably experienced from one degree or another (maybe all except KimKims ). I've been around the LC block. This isn't my first rodeo. I know the ropes. Right now with IF, the carb ladder (Atkins), and the principles of Protein Power I am stable. I have found my groove for now but know that at any time my homeostasis may unbalance.


There is no perfect.
There is no failure unless you stop trying.
There is temptation around every corner.
You must be prepared.
You must have a plan.
You make the best choice you can at any given moment.
Everyday is day 1.
Keeping it off takes as much vigilence as taking it off.
No one can guilt you into unwise choices.

I could go on and on (as you all well know) I will suffice to say that goal or not, those who have been around the block once or twice or thrice have the imparted such valuable information--whether it's regarding diabetes, VitD, supplementation, menopause, thyroid, gluten and wheat sensitivities, veganism/vegetarianism, LC, VLC, IF, carb cycling, Primal, Paleo, not so primal, not so plaeo...YOU guys have made me a better healthcare provider.

I appreciate everything that you have brought and will bring to the LC table.

Progress not perfection.

Lisa

Bawdy, maybe you just need some more time to settle into menopause (and keep tweaking) before losing weight. My success came ~5 years after my last period. I was reading and tweaking the entire time. None of the mainstream medicine ideas worked for me, but things I learned on this board did: more calories & more fat, more paleo, focus on health - not weightloss. Curiously, when I gave up hoping to get below 150 and just decided to be happy that I was at the high end of the "normal" range at 150, is when the last 15 lbs started coming off.

" Within 3 months I was 20 pounds heavier, and after going to umpteen million doctors and other health professionals, I gained ANOTHER 20+ pounds. Even though I do bio-identical hormones (Bi-Est, progesterone, and testosterone), the weight is still not coming off"

You know, I've only been at this since 2007, but that has been the hardest lesson. That I can do EVERYTHING and not drop an ounce and I can do NOTHING and lose huge. The body is constantly in hormonal flux and it just sucks that we don't have more direct control.

I think Glendarc said it best just recently...

Unfortunately the rate of our loss is controlled by our bodies, not our mind nor will.





Funny. Same thing for me. I had an original goal of 150. I hit it for about 30 seconds but it was impossible to maintain. This time around I bumped it to 155 which was fairly maintainable. I hit 155 and didn't worry--then over the span of about 4-5 months the weight slowly just slipped down. Now I hover around 140-143. 145 is my danger weight to re-group and get back to business. The problem last time is I although I weighed daily (which I think is important) I just kept letting the weight push higher and higher. I won;t let that happen again (I hope). Hopefully I've learned my lesson.

Progress not perfection.

Lisa

That is why I never liked weightloss challenge threads or cringe when newbies say their goal is to lose 35 lbs before a wedding next month - one's weight on a given day is the thing you have little control of (unless you are using wrestling team tactics to completely dehydrate yourself, and even that has a finite limit), and fatloss, not waterloss is the healthy goal and you need to let your body do it on its own (unknown) schedule.

Did I feel my ears burning?

I first "did" Atkins in 1975 when I was in my late 30's (migawd, that's nearly half my lifetime ago!!) and it worked great. I lost the weight I wanted to lose (can't remember how much it was) and, while I still ate low-carbish, I allowed a certain amount of carb creep too. Haven't read my DADR for some time and can't remember if he had much advice for maintaining back then.

Anyway, life happened, menopause happened (I shouldn't put that in the past tense - it ain't over 'til it's over!), and I quit smoking. We all know the story - the weight started creeping on, then just ballooned until I was waddling when I walked - yechhh.

A friend who had just discovered Atkins reminded me how well it worked, so back on the wagon in 2004. I found this forum in 2005 which has been lifesaver - well, a diet saver anyway! My worst stall was at 10 lbs from goal which lasted almost a full year. I was in total denial about the effect of maltitol on me - I thought I was one of the lucky ones who didn't have any digestive issues with it so I presumed I was good to go! NOT!! I finally clued in when my fasting BGG came back in the diabetic range. Before I went for the HbA1C, for about 4 days I quit the maltitol sweetened chocolate bars I'd been enjoying so much. My A1C came back in the barely pre-diabetic range - hopefully the next one will be even lower.

Anyway, My lipid ranges are excellent, my BGs appear to be improving, my BP is still high and I still have asthma ... oh well, 2 out of 4 is not bad.

I don't think I could have stuck with this WOE if it hadn't been for the experienced people who were willing to share their stories -- thanks to all of you!

This is just fabulous.

You know what? I feel like I'm in very good hands here at this forum.

I feel the same way - I wasn't entirely convinced that dairy was maybe an issue for me, but I got some very good encouragement to just 'try' without it for a short while (thank you to NancyLC). The encouragement came from someone who had "been there and done that" - that maybe it was not nearly as big a deal as I was making it out to be, and a couple of weeks without dairy was worth trying out.

Geeze, I went from an apple shape back into an hourglass shape, just from ditching dairy, even though I was still working on losing the weight.

I would not have even tried this if not for someone who'd already been there and done that taking the time to explain that it might be 4 or 5 days (at most) of missing the cream in the coffee, and that it really wasn't that bad.

She was 100% right. Thing is? I wouldn't have done it if it weren't for someone who had already been through this and who took the time to share their experience.

I really helps when someone steps in and says, "Yeah, I've tried that, and here's how it went for me...."

NancyLC & Citruskiss got me to finally try going dairy-free after about a year of denial. Later Nancy went back to the dark side (cheese) and we had to talk her down. What is funny is to re-read things I wrote 3-5 years ago that were so sensible and true, yet I deviated from my own good plan. Bumped up old threads along with new ones got me back on track.

[QUOTE=rodmick]Ruth what do you consider fairly low carb?

Sorry I was not clearer. I stay at about 15 gm. carbs most days. I will admit that I don't exercise as I should. I have a problem with my Rt. knee, so walking is hard at times. I also have the "Dawn Phenomenon" described by Dr. Bernstein and others. I can get my FBS down to just under 130, but not much less. During the day, my BG comes down, and my A1C is at 6.2, so the doctor is satisfied. I just would like to do better.
Thx. Ruth

Geezum crow, menopause has had its hold on me for 5 years now. How much longer?!?!?!!?!

Someone else mentioned the importance of having a plan. I just don't know what I should do anymore. I try to concentrate on fat and protein and only a few carbs ... like around 75-80% fat, 20-25% protein, and 0-5% carbs. My problem seems to be that when I'm eating like this, I'm probably not getting enough calories. The fat and protein really fill me up, so I'm not hungry and end up eating only around 1200 calories a day. I know a lot of people aren't able to lose unless their calories are up there around 2000 a day (as counter-intuitive as that may seem).

To get the fat up there, I rely on heavy cream and butter. When I get a little hungry, I go take a glug or two of heavy cream. But what if, like someone said, dairy is troublesome and only by ridding their diet of dairy did they begin losing. How in the world can I get enough fat without hitting the heavy cream?

The other thing is that food doesn't seem to have any appeal to me right now. I made myself a nice big salad yesterday with Romaine lettuce, leftover chicken (maybe 3 oz), and Parm cheese, topped with Caesar dressing. I had to force myself to eat it. It tasted awful, and usually this type of salad tastes great to me.

I don't know. Maybe I'm ready to try IF again. Maybe I'll poke around some journals and see what looks like it might be a good fit.

Thanks, everyone, for the wisdom and support you've shown me and others in this thread!

noinwi, i will be 59 in october....wow, can't believe i even lived this long!! i agree, that topical treatment is da bomb....changed my life!!

i finally went through menopause at 55. what a curse!! periods started at 10!!
i had the most horrible PMS starting in my 30's (thanks vegetarian/vegan diet), and it snowballed until menopause. what a relief. i'll take those hot flashes. i know how to layer.

LC starting in the mid/late 90's relieved some of the symptoms but i was still working like a dog and much of those 12 hr shifts, coffee was my only 'meal'.

funny thing is; i never had success w atkins and figured out that my protein needed lowering.
now i look at my atkins book and think that it is a great plan and certainly not restrictive. heck, i could be eating all meat or some other really restrictive plan. i have tried most of the plans that cross these forums and always come back w/in a week or so.
of course, i still eat moderate protein...

fat is self limiting since too much gives me heartburn but i am able to eat full fat everything.

i have learned so much on the forums but have also been lead into obsession.
then i check myself.
that is also why i love atkins. it really is not at all restrictive. that ladder includes almost everything and does not include my nemisis, sugar.

i agree, that as the years pass, tweaking may be in order. but we are all sticking to lc since the other improvements are obvious. and we learn from one anothers experiences.

oh, and bawdy, dairy is not always the magic bullet.
when i finally dumped the final 10-15, i had added more dairy.
that was five years ago and it is a mainstay.

The first time I gave up dairy I lost alot of weight but felt horrible trying to replace the fat and calories. This time around I gave it up but upped the carbs as a tweak (by an embarrassing amount, actually - mostly fruit), but it's working. I've lost ten pounds in four weeks, whereas I was just gaining and gaining over the winter on eating similarly to what you are trying to do right now. I also added IF a few days ago (was already losing).

Jem51, so what was it that finally clicked for you?

How in the world did you keep your fat intake up if you didn't have dairy (cream, Philly cheese, etc) to fall back on?

You talked about restrictive diets. That would be me. Although I used to love cooking, I hate it now. If a recipe has more than 3 ingredients (namely, meat, butter, salt), I'm not interested. I'm also not interested in veggies; I think they're way overrated. A salad for me is Romaine lettuce and full-fat dressing.

All in all, I'm actually tired of having to eat. Nothing ever seems good to me anymore. This is why I'm thinking maybe IFing might be good for a while.

A typical day for me would go something like this:

Breakfast: black coffee, maybe a couple fried or scrambled eggs; or a combination of 3 oz philly, 1 egg, 1 Tbsp cream, some sweetener nuked for a couple minutes (my own version of Mock Danish)
Lunch: protein shake or a bit of leftover meat from last night's dinner
Dinner: meat (sometimes I have maybe 1/4 cup of mashed potatoes or rice since I make it for hubby)

Pretty boring, huh?

Any advice or ideas you can share with a fellow veteran?