LC Forum moved this to the Success Section of their website. Am I truly a success? Yes, I’ve successfully lost the weight and a lot of it. But isn’t true success going to be my ability to keep it off? Right now today, I am committed 100% to follow S.E.A.L. Just like the first month or so of staying religiously committed to sticking to this WOE, it is going to take my complete focus, determination and perseverance. I have to remember what the end game is. The end game being that I am an LC WOE Lifer. If I choose not to be, because it is a choice -- “Fat Jo” wins again and, honey I ain’t letting the bio-tch win anything ever again!! Because she made me so miserable and she does NOT have that power over me anymore!! I control what I eat, not her and I will win this!!

1 June 2014 -- Sunday
 

Okay I haven't lost anything since May 14 so that's 18 days of no gains/no losses. So I think I've found my kcal & carb thresholds for maintenance. It seems that I can not do more than 1400 kcals and 14 carbs.

Well it is what it is and since I REFUSE to REGAIN -- those are my daily targets for nourishing my body. :)

YOU are absolutely amazing! And such an inspiration!

You're doing great, Jo! It's interesting that your level is 14g carbs. After so long of thinking that 20g was the point where you'd lose weight, I suspect my own CCL is below that as well. At <10 I'm losing quite nicely, steadily, and only hanging at a particular weight for a couple of days rather than for days on end. At 20-25g I would also pop up and down in weight.

Anyhow, I credit YOU, Jo, with inspiring me with what to do this time around and things are going beautifully!

Thanks Sunny for your kind words!!

You know I write those things to keep myself focused and to remember what's important... my personal LC WOE Journey Journal is full of positive affirmations -- I truly believe in self-fulfilling prophecies because attitude truly is everything.

Awwww shucks, Carole :blush: **hugs** I am so glad things are working out so well for you!!! I keep trying to tell people that A '72 is the way to go...

Here's the deal with higher carb levels like in the newer versions of Atkins:

Too many carbs (even if it is considered a LC WOE) and you negate the entire LC WOE benefits such as weight loss and hunger suppression. The lower the carbs, the faster you shed the pounds and the less hungry you are. The less hungry you are the less kcals you eat, the more weight you lose. It's a pretty remarkable cycle and the reason the LC WOE is so remarkably successful for those who follow the plan w/o cheats.

A lot of people can't handle more carbs, that's why they are frustrated when you go read the threads about other versions of Atkins -- especially those that are experimenting with the recipes and/or using Atkins franken-food processed products. They can't get into ketosis which is what makes us less hungry and what makes A '72 work so brilliantly for those of us that are following it to a T. I'm like preaching to the choir now aren't I, Carole? Sorry!! But can I get an AMEN?? :lol:

That's why Dr. A in his ultimate wisdom back in the 1972 version started everyone at "biologically zero" carbs on Level 1. It detoxed all the carbs from your system and started making over your body into "fat-burning" machines.

:wave: I wanted to congratulate you on your losses -- wow that's really amazing!! Wishing you heartfelt success as you continue your personal LC WOE journey!! :clap:

Yes, AMEN to all you say, and I'm definitely in the choir! I would love to convince everyone here to go the A'72 route and follow it closely, BUT....you have to be "ready" to hear the message, I guess. Took me awhile to fully comprehend exactly what I needed to do, despite the fact that I never bought into the net carb thing, or later versions of Atkins. I've always put my focus on A'72 even if I wasn't doing it correctly.

It takes time for the brain cells to fire and say DO IT & DO IT for REAL or is that S.E.A.L :lol:?

In any case, we are so both ROCKIN' this A '72!!

I love your motto SEAL. I've adopted it for myself!

Jo....another thought. You most definitely ARE a success because you set out to reach a goal, and dang it, you got there! That's more than I have ever managed to do (yet!!), so I view that as real success.

But since you are even below goal now, you just have a new and different goal: maintaining your weight. Since you mentioned that previously you had lost and regained lots of weight, your challenge may be different from some of us, but you just have to be positive with it going forward: You had the power to get lower than ever before this time, so you just take all that strength and apply it to new strategies for maintaining that loss. I suspect that like me, you will always have to be vigilant about what you eat, always watching things, but at least, if you see yourself go up a bit you know how to switch back into a mode to drop a tiny bit of weight quickly. I plan for a margin of weight gain of maybe 3 pounds, and when I see that happen, back to strict induction for me!

Thanks for that, Carole, about me being a success -- but true success is still keeping it off.

You know I'm here cheering you onward and more importantly DOWNWARD. Cause dang it, we're LOSERS, not Quitters!



Wow that's amazing you should say that, because I wrote some of that in my journal this morning. I've added it below:

Journal Entry for 3 June 2014
 

Okay I am back on track, yesterday, I had less than 1400 kcals and only 10.5 carbs. I did not have any pork rinds and that helps keep the kcal levels way down. I ate a little more than what I wanted too but I kept it down below 1400 kcals so I am not going to beat myself up about that.

I know in A '72 we eat when we are hungry -- which makes it really amazing when you are on any type of WOE plan -- sure beats WW. But I'm probably eating less kcals then I would if I were actually doing WW. I guess it's the idea that if I want to pig-out on pork rinds, I can because they have ZERO carbs - since carbs count on a LC WOE lifestyle. So for me, it's a head game I am playing with myself.

No that’s not really true. Since eating LC purges your body of those toxic, poisonous, insidious crappy killer carbs makes you less hungry, that’s why I can get away with eating less than 1400 kcals and not feel like I am starving all the time. That’s why A ’72 works so brilliantly for me -- always has!

Constant vigilance, determination and perseverance will keep me doing this LC WOE successfully. I have already made my personal goal weight. Actually, I have exceeded my personal goal weight. Originally my goal was to weigh 150 lbs, since 155 lbs (Nov 2007) was the lowest I have ever been since goodness knows when and 296 lbs was the highest.

I don’t know what made me check the BMI charts. I know they are “guidelines” but I didn’t want to be “overweight” as indicated by the charts at 150 lbs for my height. I was determined to be at the “normal” range. According to the chart, that meant anywhere from 108-144lbs. That’s a huge gap, a 36 lbs gap. I settled on weighing 130 lbs, it had a nice ring to it. When I hit 130, since I was going to do this for a lifetime, I decided that I needed “wiggle room” to experiment with amount of kcals and carbs I can have daily. It’s been 20 days without any losses -- so it seems that <14 carbs and no more than 1400 kcals are my "magic numbers."

Holy Hannah, do you realize this is the first time EVER, that I am not mentally beating myself up and saying, “Yep, ‘Fat Jo’, you gotta do something before school starts because you will be so disappointed and miserable with yourself if you are as large as a house when it does.” Oh my gosh, this is HUGE! First summer ever that I have not had to get my proverbial “Fat” act together and lose some tonnage!

Yes....isn't that wonderful about not having to think about dumping weight this summer! What a "weight" off your shoulders! :lol:

I've been thinking about shopping for pants soon, but not yet. I have a few things I bought a couple of years ago when I was in my low 140's (and which I can't comfortably wear right now). So I'm close to getting back into those pants, but what I'm really looking towards is NEW pants in an even smaller size.

Clothes: When I lost my weight a couple of summers ago, I made a conscious decision to throw out ALL my fat clothes, I wanted no option to eat myself back into them. That was a good move, because one thing that really motivated me to get serious now is that I tried on all those "smaller" pants and some other summer things, and to my horror I found could no longer zip them up, and therefore didn't have a lot of things to wear for summer and the heat. I wasn't about to go out and buy larger ones, so I figured my only option was to get busy and lose that regained weight...and MORE!

Thinking about weight, so many weight charts I see put me at my height at a higher weight than I believe will look good for me. BUT....I was looking at the weight chart in Atkins '72 and HIS chart is different from what I see elsewhere these days. He put 120-135 for me, a 15 lb range. So that tells me that my goal of 130 is just fine, and perhaps I'll want to go lower when I get to 130, and that's not excessive. I think the modern weight charts have conditioned everyone to think they should be heavier than they really should be!

Holy Hannah, Carole, at least you tossed your bigger clothes out -- guess what I would do time and time again?? I'd lose the weight, as the clothes got too big I'd box up FAT clothes and store them.

Then it dawned on me this time around. What in the heck was I doing? Was I subconsciencely giving myself permission to fail and regain the weight? Did I have that little faith in my ability to not regain the tonngage? I mentioned that something "fired in the ole brain cells" this time around, something really "clicked" and so every time I would outgrow something, off it went to the box of clothes I was giving to the charity thrift store. So I broke the self-destructive cycle on this issue!

"Past relevant behavior predicts future behavior." (Dr. Phil-ism) Well I wasn't going to let my past eating behavior predict my future eating behavior!


The chart in the back of A '72 was the standard weight chart for those times, it was generated by the health insurance companies. If I am not mistaken, didn't they have a break down for male/female as well as large, medium and small frame? I'm not really sure if I like the some what newer BMI charts for the simple fact it doesn't take those factors into account. Let's face it, to me, personal weight is something the individual has to be comfortable with -- I think we know when we're "overweight" and as long as our doctors are good with our weight -- who cares, it's a number on a scale! (It's not like we wear our weight "number" on a t-shirt for the world to see!! Wow wonder if that would change some of our eating behaviors if we had to?)

My doctor was never overly concerned about my weight even at 265 lbs. All my medical test, bp etc was normal even my cholesterol levels (below 100) and I was not pre-diabetic -- I am/was TEXTBOOK healthy. I'm the atypical fat person. :D

Today = 11 Months 100% Committed and down 142 lbs!
 

Wow, today is exactly 11 months since I seriously started this WOE and had a complete life-style change. Granted, I tried and failed to really commit from 24 May to 4 July 2013 when I weighed in at 265. I’d do really well for 4 or 5 days eating to plan and then reward myself with really bad food (those toxic, poisonous, insidious killer crappy carbs). Then I’d feel guilty and go back to eating clean. And the cycle repeated like it’s always done my entire adult life. That worked like a charm -- NOT.

But I did manage to lose 15 lbs yo-yoing for 6 weeks before 5 July --my personal Independence Day from being morbidly obese. On that day, I was determined not to continue to be morbidly obese anymore. I really wanted to start the school year healthier and a somewhat thinner me. And I knew in my heart of hearts that by continuing to yo-yo I would not accomplish that ever.

Sometime after 5 July, 2014, something fired in the old brain cells, something really “clicked” about what my true goal was and how eating carbs would never ever allow me to stay at my personal weight goal when I reached it. I wish I knew when that occurred and why I was finally figuring this out after so many years of weight loss, 100s of pounds lost and regained. I am not going to dwell on that because I finally got it! I have to take ownership for the fact that I am a recovering morbidly obese carb-addict. There’s no other way to describe me.

Holy Hannah -- a total of 11 months without cheating except for the Thanksgiving Fiasco of 2013. I have never been this completely committed to this WOE before. Actually before it was a means to an end -- truly only a diet. That once I met my weight goal, I’d go back to eating those crappy carbs and the weight would come back on with a vengeance plus some. Why did I think I could eat crappy carbs and stay within my personal weight goal? On what planet does that make any logical sense?

But this time it’s totally different -- I have made a 180 mind shift to what I need to do to continue being successful in keeping off the weight. This has been an interesting 11 month journey so far. I’ve learned a lot about myself: my portion control issues, how I like to feel really full when I eat, how many kcals and carbs I can safely eat without gaining or losing weight (<1400 kcals & <14 carbs daily).

I also learned that those toxic, poisonous, insidious killer crappy carbs are so NOT worth eating. A few nanoseconds of pleasure eating some crappy carb and I’d be so disappointed in myself for letting “Fat Jo” take over. Actually, thinking about purposefully eating some crappy carb makes me ill. I don’t ever intend to eat those especially dangerous carbs (flour, sugar, sugar in a skin veggies etc.) Remember I have the power to decide what I eat and don’t eat. No one puts a gun to my head and says “Eat those CARBS or you die!” Eating those carbs will however, kill me.

It has always been my decision to make good or poor food choices and I shall continue to make the proper food choices as I continue on my A ’72 LC WOE journey. This journey is far from over. Actually this is chapter 2 because it has only now truly began since this part of the journey is the most difficult -- maintaining the weight loss. I have never ever successfully accomplished this part of the journey. But I shall this time and I will be successful -- I take full responsibility for all my actions especially those that concern my WOE.

Sunday, 8 June 2014
 

:wave:

Twenty-five days without a gain or a loss. Weeeeeehooooo! :D

I think I have truly found my maintenance threshold for daily kcals and carbs: <1400 kcals & <14 carbs. Actually my carbs never exceed 12 daily.

I also found out the other day that since I eat only one meal a day that I am doing something called "Intermittent Fasting" it's cool :cool: to be able to put a name to it. So I am not only doing A '72 but I am also doing IF!!

Tuesday, 10 June 2014
 

This was posted on the thread called Refuse to Regain:

http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthre...0&page=22&pp=15



Here's the part of the article that really spoke to me:

In short, if you've had a reasonable weight loss and you find yourself stuck on a plateau for a month or more, consider rewarding yourself for having nailed a month of maintenance.

Hallelujah!!! That's exactly what I have accomplished!

I am on day 27 without a gain or loss -- so I am now in maintenance!! It's really freeing to know that. So my maintenance threshold for daily kcals is <1400 and 10-12 carbs. :cool:

Congratulations! Where you are is a nice place to be and you are right to enjoy it!
Thanks for the link.

Thank you for the kind words Skimo. This is the hardest part, staying on track and maintaining the weight loss, but I am up for the challenge because I feel so amazing -- better than I did in my 30s and 40s. :lol:

Your stats say you are in France? I was born about 50k outside of Paris. My mother was French, my father an American military member. I spent 38 years of my 55 years all over Europe.

Yes I am, I live in Burgundy right now but I have been moving around the East of France and worked in Paris during two years.

I had two military grand fathers and a german grand mother, it seems like moving around is in my genes...

Moving was in my genes too -- I loved it when we did it, but I love being in one place now. Probably has to do with age.

Thursday 12 June 2014
 

Today is day 29 without a gain or loss. So I guess I really have found my threshold for maintenance with <1400 kcals and 10-12 carbs daily.

I know it sounds awfully low, but the numbers don't lie. I am super excited that I am in maintenance without worrying about what my maintenance numbers are. I have not really had to tweak anything or play around by adding more carbs. I kinda just stopped losing the weight.

15 June 2014: -143 lbs
 

Okay this really wasn't supposed to happen, but I lost another pound!

Of course I'm excited. It had been 31 days since my last loss.

Maybe it's a good thing since I am going to Florida on our "Girls Get Away" with eldest DD to meet up with youngest DD who lives in Tampa (as well as my dad and twin bro who live in Central FL). They haven't seen me in 3-4 years, so this is going to be exciting... can't wait to see the looks on their faces... :D

You're doing so well in your maintenance, Jo. :thup:

Have you noticed that you are using your 'success story' as a journal to chronicle your maintenance journey? I use my journal to do that and have been for many years. Journals are the place for this kind of thing. :)

Thanks Judy! Im confused, am I not suppose to post here as a journal? so I should start a journal? Thanks in advance for answering my questions!!

I think that your ongoing posts regarding your maintenance are better placed in a journal.

I've always viewed our success stories as that, a success story. You can see the others that are there and or see mine.
Each time you post to your own success story, it comes up in posts again and again...sort of like you are continuously trumpeting your success. Not that that's a bad thing, but it'd be a good idea for you to have a journal here anyway as that is where we all keep track of many different aspects of our journey. :)

Thanks Judy!! I see what you mean now... So basically, once I had lost the weight I was "done" with the success story? So all along I should have been keeping a journal and that's where I do the entries?

You know I didn't originally have this under "success" -- admin moved it from another section of the website... maybe I should contact them and have them move the entire thing over to journal and continue there?

That's really up to you. But the way I see it is that your original post is your success story. You can start your journal and then ask them (very nicely) if they'd move designated posts from this thread into your journal. :idea: Its extra work for them to do that.

I know that it wasn't started as a success story and that they moved it. They do work hard to keep things in order here so that all aspects of this community have consistency. :)

Thanks Judy! Your explanation makes perfect sense. :agree:
I won't post anymore about maintenance on this thread and I'll start a journal.