LC,
So true.

Bill,
I always appreciate your calmness and succintness. I learn from all of you folks. But I truly appreciate your candor and willingness to admit you human-ness as well. I can read your "rant" with Karen and learn from it all. I am truly glad you did decide to stay. You have been quite an asset to the forum. Victoria

I've been squirming around trying to find the words to portray the thought.

If you look at the posting history of some of people who have spent a long time here, you will see the tone change, you will see what there focus of the moment - or week, or month - is by what and the way they write. They are expressing what they know of themselves.

Down on dairy? - their posts will reflect it by the way they answer. Introspective? - their posts will reflect it by the way they answer. On top of the world? - their posts will reflect it by the way they answer. Fighting with carbs? - their posts will reflect it by the way they answer.

I look at this forum as a really big thing that goes beyond just what happens in these posts. There are literally thousands of people who can and do read them. One group will have an "aha moment of enlightenment". One will think "what a whiny bunch of fat people". Another will think "this is too much for me" or "I'm not ready for this" or "I'm being attacked" or "how thoughtful".

One of the most important things I've learned is that what people say and the way they act has much to do with them, and them only. Getting comfy with this is one of the pieces of the puzzle that is restoring me to sanity.

All is about me and nothing is about me. All is about you and nothing is about you.

Karen

And it's this exact, introspective, self-examination, self-exploration value of this board and ones like this one, that have saved me thousands in shrink fees. ... and probably gave me better quality therapy.

I like all this "food for thought " and debate.
All of great interest. I get a little obsessive about things , too
I was stalled 10 months, if you can call it that, in fact my tweaks put 12 lb back on Not a real stall I guess, moving in the wrong direction.....) but with no cheats, and doing it properly, I felt at times so frustrated and tearful.
at times Ive read things I didnt want to...like...dont worry so much, relax... and I want to shout back 'well, Wouldnt You be worried! '. But its true advice.kindly meant.

Eventually though, I got some 'tweaks', with a lot of support from everyone, that are currently working. Lost 8 lb of the 12. Hope it continues !

In some ways I regret 10 months messing about . But has it been wasted time ? No !! Ive learnt a lot, made some friends, and somewhere along the way, its turned into a WOL without me being aware of it. Im not dieting anymore, or different, or making special efforts, its just what I do.

You beat my record! I was stalled for 8 months. I was following the plan tweaking along the way like yourself, but the weight just wouldn't budge. I too stayed with the plan. It was making me feel great even though the weight wasnt moving. Somewhere within those 8 months it was no longer a "diet" but a way of life. I was following it because I wanted to not because of some magic number floating in space.

We are the war veterans of the stalls. Congrats on sticking with it Plum.

oops, I just called back to add an edit. Wanted to say an extra bit.
now I feel like I got a gold star, thanks agonycat!!Got a on my face !

just goes to show, If Id given up, I would be even fatter, no doubt about it. Now Im all excited cos I can get into my summer shorts.

Its going to be a while yet , logically, to be at my goal , but Ive sorted out some obsessive issues along the way. And will get there

WOW, what a spirited thread!

What more can I possibly add that hasn't already been shared?

I guess all I can do is post my experience for the benefit of those people who may be new here...

...I totally obsessed about LCing when I started. No doubt about it. And I wouldn't go back and change that behavior if I could. It was totally important and necessary for me to obsess about my new WOE because I knew if I didn't immerse myself I would fail and would most likely cut my life seriously short. I'm not being dramatic here, just honest.

Did I obsess about my ketostix? Yes, for 2 weeks during Induction. Did I bother with them ever again after that? No. Never.

But I had (have) a great deal of weight to lose, and I remained at Induction levels for several months before I finally allowed myself to even consider adding in just a few extra carbs. When I finally did eat 2 LC tortillas, I did so with great caution. I stared at them on my plate and contemplated whether I was about to throw away all the progress I had made. I recalled my father telling me that when "dieting" as he had done, it was important to never take that first bite of the forbidden foods, for to do so would mean total failure.

I ate the totillas, and they were great. My weight loss continued. But I still add in extra carbs or little bits of this and that with caution and consideration.

If that's obsessing, so be it. TO EACH HIS/HER OWN!

I THINK WE SHOULD ALL DO WHAT WORKS FOR US.

Bottom line for newbies: Staying focused and learning all you can about your new WOE is good. It may be hard to imagine right now, but you probably will relax as you get more and more comfortable with this WOE as a lifetime thing. It becomes second nature. Educate yourselves now in LC cooking and prep and you'll find you have time to relax and enjoy life later.

For any of the new members who have read and posted here, I hope you will continue to explore every question that you have. My journal is always open...

Good luck & good health to all...

Donald

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I sure will go and check out your journal...and learn from your experience...

Have all a lovely day! Remember, its not so much what happens to us that matters, but how we react and act about it...

This is why I love being here.....the open ended discussions we can have regarding what got us here, what we are doing about it and living it the rest of our lives. This is a very spirited thread with many varying opinions, each opinion coming from a different personality. Things can be misconstrued in writing, which has been proven here. There is no tone, no facial expression and no movements to set the tone. So, we make up the tone ourselves. This can cause a lot of different reactions.

Nonetheless, this is why I am here. I love being able to open up and be honest about myself and talking to people who care, just make it matter that much more.

Cindy

Obsessing is not necessarily a bad thing. It has its uses - particularly when making a major change. It becomes a problem when we can't move past the obsession phase and into a more balanced phase at some point in the journey.

Yes, words do have certain nuances etc...so how about we are all passionate about our new way of life...doesn't it make it more like an adventure more than an ordeal? I love the word passion...it has go-geter rythm to it...we are all passionate lowcarbers on the look for great recipies and a way of life that is more comfortable for our bodies...our bodies tell us when we are overdoing things...non?

These days I was perhaps obsessively on this site to connect and feel I was not alone in my quest for balance and slimness in my life...here, see, the word slim has a pleasant sound to it...why be skinnies? When we can be slims and eating luxuriously...one day an italian friend of mine replied to my complaint on becoming overweight that I was simply: "voluptuosa"...all of a sudden I felt so sexy about this! and with an italian accent....I imagined this hungry eyed italian lover wispering in my ear that I was so "voluptuosa"...this friend was not an italian lover, but, for that image sounding in my ear, I hugged him....ha! the actions of certain words!!!!...mmmmmm...

well I'm going back to visit DWROLFE from whom I took down the pizza recipy...looks so goooooood!!! Dave your family is a lucky family if you cook like this everyday for them...

Cheers

Taking your new life style seriously and monitoring and tweaking is one thing, which is very healthy.

The obsession I understood from the first posts is minute by minute. To me this describes many of our newbies who give up because they didn't lose any weight between breakfast and lunch, and trust me, many people do that.

If you do a search on this forum, you will see many members who gave up because they gained 1/2 lbs within the day, which is basically due to drinking water alone! This is the obsession that will jeapordize your progress and make you quite.

Deligince and strict observation of your plan is nothing more than sincere commitment. To me that's not obsession, and is nothing to compare with the minute by minute, second by second obsession that LC Sponge is talking about, and which I've seen on display many times on our forum.

I guess obsession is in the eyes of the beholder

Wa'il

Grrreat post LC. Particularly like {LC: My advice is to stick with the program, steadily and totally -- without micro managing and psychoanalysing every step.... and do this until you get to goal. } So easy. Stalls are ok – Gaining means something is going wrong with how I am following the program. I find just going back over my notes, getting back to a daily journal entry, and strict(er) Induction phase brings me back on track. Some of the agggggggonising I read about is just sooo unnecessary – mountains out of molehills, with hindsight (of course). Jenn has a point – it takes a few weeks of micromanaging to get into the rhythm – I was like that to begin with and it was initially focussing on the weight that brought health. Now it must be at least 4 weeks since I even thought of stepping on the scales.

{Karen: You can bring a person who wants to lose weight to the refreshing stream of low-carb knowledge, but you can't make them drink it...especially if they don't like water } Nice one. So true. Eat (LC); drink a lot, enjoy the journey – Simple unless I want to complicate things.

{AC: On a different note but the same obsessive behavior as our stallers is the ketostix. Pink, purple, deepest purple....it's the same thing. Ketosis is ketosis is ketosis .} I was lucky there. My ketostix never changed colour – even during induction when I lost 8 lbs. I just stopped using them after the first month. Carb hangover symptoms tell me immediately if I am out of ketosis.

Doreen love the image that your advice brought to mind. Plateaus are times on the journey up the mountain to take in the scenery – see how beautiful life is, a moment to reflect the difference in view from the bottom of the mountain to wherever it is I am now.

Claudia, I like that word too: passion. It has lots of different meanings for me. Passion for life, passion for LCing; passion for nature - in fact without passion there is no meaning to life. I guess obsession could be construed as passion with the scale tipping a little on the wrong side of a proper balance.

Take care,

Passion is felt with the heart, obsession is framed with the mind. Sometimes we do our best 'work' when we don't think so hard about things, and feel our way along instead.

Doing things "correctly" and doing things "right" are 2 different things, too. Correct is so 'booksmart' and right is so personal.

As a newbie I did everything correctly and found myself very focused. Once I realized that I couldn't continue along that narrow path, that I needed to grow with my diet changes, and new resolves, I was able to make this WOE my very own. It was then that I embraced the possibility of doing it right instead of "correct" and was able to align it in harmony with the rest of my life.

I know this is a bit late but here goes,

I do think that you are all being too harsh especially for beginners who need all the support they can get , talking from personal experience .

When I first started , I was sternly criticised by some people for wanting to loose at a perceptable rate . I found this very patronising . But on the other hand some people were supportive and I appreciated this immensely . They understood my frustration . I was not interested in an eating plan on which I lost 1 lb per month , kidding myself that it was fat , possibly bowel contents ? !

So what did I do ?, I went out and read more and more cos I dont believe that this is about magic and hearsay . It is based on pure scientifc fact .

I have educated myself in the process and manged to fine tweak the WOE so that I know exactly which foods are my friends and which are my foes . Its no longer a hit and miss for me and there is no Whoosh fairy in my life .

I am extremely happy with this WOL and with my progress albeit slow in the beginning cos I needed to know more about how I can remain in control of this thing .

Hope I havent offended anyone



Rob