Ive been keeping my caloried around 1700 give or take but Im starting to think thats too many.

At 186lb how many calories should I shoot for for weight loss.

Im keeping my carbs at 20-And Ive been doing this for about 10 weeks.

And I try and add fats where I can.

According to the usual rule of 10-12 calories per pound, you should be between 1860 and 2232. Maybe you aren't too high. Add some fat and see if that helps.
Don't be afraid of fat. This is a way of eating that turned my whole way of thinking about food upside down and inside out.
And it works!
So don't be starving yourself because that's the way you always tried to lose weight before. If that worked, you wouldn't be here.
And you don't want your body to get the idea that there's a food shortage going on. Then it will hang onto the fat.

Well, I guess I can say that Ive lost about 5 lb give or take but I take that as mostly water.
And YES I am trying so very hard.
I have been using fit day on and off. I do find it very helpful for tracking hidden carbs. But I also find it prtty time consuming with toddler twins so I do it when I can. Otherwise, I just try and make really wise LC food choices on my own.
Ive heard conflicting information about calories. And I found that when I DID start concerning myself with carbs AND calories is when the scale began to budge ever so slightly.
What is DANDR? Ive not heard of this before.
And finally-congrats on grandbaby Kaylin Marie!!! Did she get here on her due date??? What a JOY!!!!

Ok-so it looks like Im in the ballpark anyway-I will again try adding some fats-

It IS so hard to retrain our thinking that fats are our FRIENDS now-no the enemy!

Off to find some fats! Thanks, L

DANDR - Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution

oh-duh-yes readit.

Lory.. keep your head up... eat an Avacado

Metabolism is a quirky thing. There are times when you can consume a lot and lose weight, and other times where you don't eat much and the scale won't budge.

My personal formula is to go on fitday.com, figure out what my average maintenance calories are, and try to stay under that, ideally 500 calories below that, combined with 20 - 30 net g of carbs. Although technically this diet doesn't require calorie control, I know that I have portion control issues and that I have problems recognizing true hunger vs. the munchies, so it helps to keep me honest.

I've lost weight regularly eating between 1800 and 2200 calories. I've read that other people on this site have struggled at 1300 calories. I think that's too low and could be an indicator of a sluggish metabolism and/or not enough physical activity.

I think that regular exercise (at least 30" a day) helps to rev up the metabolism best for me.

Our bodies don't like to diet. Even with the "body fooling" that goes on with low carb where we eat generous fats and proteins, sooner or later our body figures out what's going on.

Some people have found that by briefly increasing carbohydrates by a small amount temporarily, this helps to get weight loss started again.

I find that using lipostrips (or ketostrips) helps to keep me encouraged when I'm on that plateau.