Hi sandylee,

My name is Sandi Lee and I was born in Chicago -- so, when I first saw a post of yours, I was immediately drawn to it :-)

Now, you're facing a problem that I have experience with!
I'm now on low carb for diabetes -- likely caused by my years on low fat.

Despite what people say, most people CAN lose weight on a strict low fat diet (just like, most people can lose weight on low carb!). HOWEVER, there are caveats, which I'll get to if you can bear with me.

About 8-9 years ago -- with no health problems other than uterine fibroids -- I went from about 175 to 108 on the Ornish extremely low fat (avg about 10 grams a day) diet. I did this in 5 months, during which time I was also going to the gym 3-4 times a week.

Then I had surgery (hysterectomy, kept ovaries). The doc told me afterwards that I had a severe lack of collagen and my organs and tissues appeared extremely protein deficient.

Basically, I just got demoralized, went off the diet and just ate what I wanted. A few years later, back to about 160, I quit smoking (yay), then learned I was hypothyroid (TSH of 104) and diabetic -- not to mention going through menopause. Weight then pushing 180.

Because of the diabetes, went low carb for five months -- after losing only 7 pounds near the beginning, weight loss stopped, then started climbing, but blood glucose was doing much better. Thyroid still was underactive.

Reasoning that if I could lose weight, I'd also have good blood glucose control, I decided to go back to the low fat diet for a short while. It worked for weight loss, I got down to about 152. BUT, my BG soared into the mid-200s and I began spilling glucose into my urine.

That scared me big time, and I immediately went back to low carb. This was about 2 months ago. And of course, it was no better weight-wise, I even gained a couple of pounds, but my BG dropped dramatically -- to near normal numbers.

What to do????
Well, I got mad -- something had to work.
I remembered Dr. Stillman's Quick Weightloss Diet from the '60s and decided to try it -- it's stricter than Atkins' induction. Unbelievably, after a week, I went from 154 to 147. I was thrilled, but I knew I couldn't keep it up. Dairy is low carb's saving grace for me :-)

I added back dairy after that week, and a mere 4 days later -- back to 152.

So, next step was to look at the original Atkins Diet Revolution from 1972 where he limited dairy to certain amounts daily. I started that 3 days ago with the hope that by allowing at least a small amount of cream and cheese, I'd be able to stick to it.

So far, so good, and I'm down 2 pounds. Even if limiting dairy works, it may only be a temporary fix. As others mentioned, your body adapts. I may need to juggle things around when the next plateau hits, but, to me, the health benefits of low carb are nothing short of staggering.

I hope something in this long-winded account sparks an idea in you (and/or someone else) that helps. I wish you the best!

Sandi