Good news here ... end of week 5
I upped my calories and carbs (inspite of the fear) and watched very closely expecting weight gain ... instead my weight has dropped since then.

On the 3rd I had climbed back up to 156.5 and was expecting the pattern I'd developed of seeing the scale climb up to a 3lb gain during the week and then struggling to "diet" that gain away by Sunday morning's official weigh in.

Its been like this ... lowest weight on Monday sometimes Tuesday and then a climb of up to 3 pounds by the end of the week.

This week with my calories increased and my carbs up by 5g I showed lowest weight on Mon. and Tues. again then 1.5lb jump on Wed. but its gone down steadily since.

Whew. This morning the scale read 154. I'm really pleased with how things are going ... and not that I don't want to lose more weight and possibly reach my goal weight but honestly, I feel good and even if I didn't lose another pound I'd be happy with the LC because I really realize how toxic all that sugar, white flour, preservatives, nitrates ... etc has been to me.

I'm going to crank my workouts up a little in intensity and see if I can get some of the "looks" results that I want.

Thanks to everyone who really helped with suggestions and "hand holding". It really helps to have the support. You guys have been great.
Lori