I have been low carbing since April 2001.. I started at 184 and got down to my lowest at 165 around July 2001. I stalled and couldn't get it to budge.. I drink at least 12 glasses of water a day.. take a multivitman daily and walk 30 minutes daily.

I eat the following pretty consistently

egg and bacon , chicken (breakfast)
tuna salad with mayo ( cucumber or celery sticks) 1 cheese slice(lunch)
Chicken salad, or chicken breast/hamburger and spinach/broccili for dinner

But!!! until November I was able to keep the scale at 168. No I find it is creeping up to 174 some days. I admit I slip, the occasional muffin for breakie, dish of ice cream etc. I probably am cheating 2 times a week. I am on track about 95% of the time.. these little slips can cause the weight to go back up?

I know the answer , Yes. I just want some advice from people who have been there. If I go back to "clean living" as I like to call it , can I get the scale to move again?

Any advice would be assuring.

P.s. Love the forum and everyone have a great weekend

Hi pjm --

Those stalls sure can be frustrating. Have you looked in Low Carb Tips above? There are some suggestions for breaking stalls there.

A few other ideas...is your goal weight realistic for you? This is an entirely personal decision that reflects where your life is at as much as how you perceive your ideal self. It could be that you aren't meant to weigh less than that right now.

Definitely try to avoid eating those "cheating" carbs so often. It could be that 95% isn't enough for you. Its individual.

Have you considered ways to increase your exercise? The last two times I lo-carbed I was never able to get below 170. Now with more weight training and aerobic exercise (and I mean the really sweaty kind) I've lot those extra stubborn 20 lbs. If you visit the exercise forum you could get lots of ideas for different workouts you could do.

Good luck pjm...if you are stalling, maybe its time to take a good look at everything, reassess and start tweaking things. The body gets used to routines pretty quickly and it sounds like you may need to shake things up a bit.

Feel free to post in my journal if you want more info on anything.

Lisa

Insulin carries glucose to your cells to be used as fuel. Some of it gets converted to glycogen and is stored in the muscles and liver. What is left over gets turned into fat. The glycogen has to be used up before your body gets back to burning your fat. So, your weight will either go back up because insulin is the fat producing hormone or you'll readdict yourself to carbs through "little slips" and...



I would say that by your menu, you're not eating enough calories. Have a look at Fat and Keeping Calories Up in the Hot Links! thread in the Newbies Questions Forum. Also, So You think You are a Turtle? and The Wrong Way to do Atkins as a reminder!

These are extremely wise words from Doreen. The best I've seen on plateaus.

"Plateaus are good, and necessary. Plateaus mean a levelling off. When you're climbing a mountain, a plateau is a welcome relief, and chance for the body to catch up. Weight loss plateaus should be viewed the same way. The body is just levelling off, giving the mind-set extra time to develop the new lowcarb habits. If we hit a plateau, and cheat or binge with carby foods, it's like going back down the mountain, and the climb back up to where we were is harder than ever.

Pretty much everything we do in life is filled with stops and starts, charging full-steam ahead and then stale periods of immobilization ... our relationships, education, careers ... as well as health issues. We have no way of knowing in advance how long or how often ... It's taken me many years to come to feel this way though ... didn't happen overnight that's for sure! But I guess it's all just part of life's journey.

I posted this elsewhere, but it holds true in this discussion as well ... "You CAN have it all -- you just can't have it all NOW." "

Karen

you are so right. I have slipped so many times that my weight has gone right back up. I have to learn to live without all those chips etc. I guess I was testing myself!

PJM,

Hi there

I noticed that we have almost the same exact stats - and goal weight.

I too have been at a stall, but only for approximately a month. One long frustrating month. I came quickly down from 186 to 170ish. The lowest I've seen is 165.5#, but have been 166 - 168ish forever.

Yesterday I was reading through some journals on this website and other lowcarber sites. People who have been at this for years will tell us one thing - skip the treats (even the allowable ones) and the cheats. Make all of your carbs come from allowed veg and fruit sources. Decrease the cheese to a "condiment" not a "staple."

Guess I was fairly impressed with that and have made up my mind to give up the treating and cheating and stick to the WOE super modified. I'm on this diet for lots of reasons, but also to LOSE WEIGHT! Keeping track in the "Journal" has really helped me. I also have tried plugging everything in to FitDay.com to really know what I've been eating...

I have yet to budge the scale, of course, but I'll let you all know if I do.

mb

Karen,

Sometimes it's the small things people say that have the most impact. For me it's your profound statement which is most motivating, for me:

"You CAN have it all -- you just can't have it all NOW."

Thanks once again for inspiration!

Muse

Thanks Muse, but it is really part of Doreens sig line! Love to take the credit for it, but I can't!

Karen

pjm, my experience is any high carb food--even a couple bites of someone else's baked potato or one Hershey's miniature--will throw me out of ketosis for three days. I can't swear that would happen for you, but if it does 'just two' cheats a week would mean no ketosis ever, which would mean that the only way you could lose weight would be by traditional calorie burning. So if you're eating typical LC calories, sure, the weight could easily go back up.

To run the experiment for yourself, go back to induction and get into ketosis. (a purchase of only ten ketostix should be enough for this.) Wait three days after the start of re-induction to test the first time. Get three days of steady ketosis in place. Then eat just one muffin for breakfast. Go back on induction and keep testing your urine every morning and note when you start showing pink again.

For myself, I find this proof a very convincing argument against having 'just" a taste. Is a half a cookie worth a week's delay in weight loss? You can decide that for yourself, and maybe some days it will be worth the delay.

A piece of good news about your recent experience is that you're discovering something about your maintenance levels of carbs. What you've been eating lately is likely too many carbs (and/or the wrong kind) for you to maintain your loss. Now you have a good idea of what maintenance will look like for you. It's all a learning process.