Hi all,

Gloomy day. My weight average for the week is up 1.7 pounds. This was for the fifth week.

My eye caught so many posts today from discouraged people, people who swear they walked the walk. People who have found that no matter what they did, insidious pounds of fat pursued 'em and pounced on 'em. I thought for a failing heart-beat minute than even mObster had jumped ship. He hadn't, but he had no good news to report.

Even the success stories fail to inspire today. Someone says they lost 27 pounds in a week, and instead of wanting to congratulate them, out of envy I want to pelt 'em with pork rinds.

If there were any magic alternative . . . Here's what I ain't gonna do: I am not going to have half a grapefruit and a cup of black coffee for breakfast. I am not going to eat my meals with a fork in one hand and a calculator in the other to count calories. I am not going to drink a can of chemicals and pretend this magic shake is food. I am NOT going to eat breakfast.

Here's a true story, based on my impeccable scientific research --

Millions of years ago, two proto-humans awoke to the dawn of a beautiful day. Bird song greeted the dawn. The air was crystal clear.

Then Uggh handed Ooog a bowl of Froot Loops.

"What's this ?" Ooog asked, and Uggh said, "Breakfast. It is the most impotant meal of the day."

"Oh, yeah? Who says?"

Uggh pushed the bowl forward. "Great Big Giant General Foods, that's who. And they finance all the nutritional studies, so when they say breakfast is the most important meal of the day, they out'ta know. When we evolve enough to invent a government, even the government will agree with GBGGF."

Ooog smackded Uggh upside the head with his club. This delayed any further progress in human evolution for one million years.

I don't care. I agree with Ooog, and I say, tha' hell with all of it.

I'll be right over. Not despondent at all, just want steak for breakfast!

Hang in there, Arrow. If you found truly no value to the low carb way of eating I say it's time to move on (I'm ducking the pork rinds from the rest of the forum). But! Before you go, I hope you have entered everything into fitday and have an accurate read on the last 5 weeks. I have never experienced that massive, sudden loss of weight that the other liars have (lol) but I do feel better eating lc.

It's your choice. Best wishes!

Hi,
I am in a spot where I am questioning what I am doing and I am beginning to think the simpler the better. This morning I had 3 eggs cooked in butter coffee/heavy cream. I feel so much better through the day if I eat more protein and fat at breakfast and no sweetener's it seems at least for me I am not so hungry or needing large snack breaks through the day. Now if I can lose some weight I will be a happy woman. Pat S

This really cracked me up. LOL

On this issue, I could not agree with you more. General Mills asserting that breakfast is essential is sort of like the Bordeaux Wine Association impressing upon us that drinking red wine will make us live longer.

Hi Arrow,
I SO feel your pain!! I have been l'carbing since 2/10/03. I am starting my 5th week. I weighed Saturday b/c I couldn't wait. (i admit it - i am slave to the scale) I had gained 6.5 of my 7lbs!! I about died! I almost started to cry.

The old me would have given up and started to binge right then and there. However, I didn't. I don't know what's going on w/ my body and why I am not losing pounds. However, I know I have lost 2 inches off my tummy, 1 from my bust, and 1 off my hips. This what keeps me going. Besides, as much I believe I am following Induction like I should be, I realized last weekend I probably need to change some things. A couple of changes could ultimately be the difference. (ex. drinking Atkins shakes, eating too many nuts, not drinking all my water.) So, I am not having any nuts or shakes this week. I am going to exercise and I am going to drink all my H2O!! Hopefully I will see a positive difference when I weigh in again!

Arrow, all I can say is - don't give up. You can do this! Yes, its hard, but its hard for all of us! This is the beauty of these type of boards. You are not alone. We all need support! Hang in there and I hope you have a good week!

THIS IS NOT A FAST WEIGHTLOSS DIET!

This is a healthy way to eat to satisfaction everyday of your life and slowly get to and stay at your goal weight.

This all has to do with how you wish to spend your life and the priority that losing weight and being healthy has for you.

We can't motivate you?!?!

I can only say that for 10 years after my initial 80lb weightloss I personally never lost another pound (other then a 5-10lb yo yo) doing a low calorie and low fat diet. I was always hungry and always felt deprived.

I weigh less now then I ever did as an adult and I am healthy, I eat whenever I am hungry and I will get to my goal eventually.

Also, knowing that the body takes stalls of weightloss I have added exercise to continue to change my body no matter what the scale says.

This is my choice.

I hope your choice leaves you happy and content. All the best to you...

Hi Arrow! Thanks for the laugh. I feel like crap today, this helped. Not because of weight I had a physical and I hate going and I went and its over. It could be because Aunt Flo is coming in a couple days. Or because I started BFL today and I hope I can complete it but I don't know if I can.

red

lkonzelman, I find your reply rude, and aggressive. Is it really necessary to yell at someone who has hit a low spot?

Arrow,

I'm not sure I understand. Has your average weight gone up every week for the five weeks, or is it up for this week only? Or has it been up and down? Is your weight lower now than when you started? (Sorry, I should have checked your stats before I started typing here.)

You see, my average goes up as well as down, too. In fact, about every third week I have an "up" week. I wrote once before about how I lost twelve pounds in the first week and a half, and then gained it back steadily over the next two weeks without having cheated. It's in my journal, if you want to see it. It took me another two weeks to drop to my previous level and then a little below it, but immediately on hitting that new low I climbed again - 8 pounds this time, instead of 12. Held at the top of that gain for three days, and then a glorious two and a half week drop (15 pounds this time, including the ones that came back) to another new low. And now I'm in another climbing phase. My weight chart looks like the Bush stock market graph -- big drops followed by big gains, but with the overall trend inexorably downward.

I also hoped that because of my weight I would have a steady series of big losses - at least at first. That's what all the case stories for people my size in the books look like -- but my body obviously doesn't work that way. And apparently neither does yours, unfortunately. What I have found, though, is a discernable pattern in my body's madness -- and while I've re-gained eight pounds in the last two days, this time it's a brand new eight pounds. I've never regained this lot before!

So I guess what I'm saying at great length is what everyone else said much more succinctly -- hang in there, let us help if we can, and ultimately, you'll get there.

--Ruth

Alternatives? Arrow, I can tell you the alternatives. The alternatives are NOT doing anything and staying unhealthy and continuing this way for the rest of your life. It is either a traditional "diet" or our way of life. Slim fast? Give me a break. Low fat diet? Give me a BIGGER break! Starving yourself? yeah, RIGHT! Throwing up on purpose? Terrible aftertaste.

The fact is, you are doing just FINE, Arrow. You have no reason to NOT do this WOE/WOL. You have lost 10 pounds from what I can tell. So you went up a pound or two, then you lose that back, then maybe go up another pound and lose two. Either way, you LOSE and you WIN!

This is a lifestyle change...a LIFESTYLE change. Ya gotta remember that. You are doing SO well. You are also not experiencing anything that everyone else hasnt. God knows, I have. I have been in a stall for over two weeks now. It, along with other factors in my life, drove me to the point that I almost gave up. I DID cheat last Saturday and it almost drove me batty because of it. I felt like I had let my Wife down, my family down, and the people on this forum down. Most of all, I let MYSELF down. If you give up now, I promise you that you will feel the same way!

So the alternatives are really not alternatives at ALL. I mean, you arent going to starve yourself, become bulemic, go on Slim Fast (YECCCH), etc. You have to ask yourself a question..."do I want to be healthy and slim and be that way for LIFE? Or do I want to be hungry all of the time on low fat diets" I'll bet that when you do ask yourself that, you will already know the answer.

Stay the course Arrow. you CAN do this!

After reading the Atkins book, i was under the impression that i would loss the excess weight in 3 months. Its not been the case. I am coming to the realization that that it does take time, effort and patience. The best thing about this WOE is being strong and healthy and for me it makes up for not losing the weight faster. Please do be extremely patient. This is what i tell myself when i get on the scale...every morning.

Let's see you lost 10 lbs. in five weeks. That seems like a good number to me. The first week goes down fast but then it levels to a slow steady loss. Sometimes up but sometimes down is the way it goes.

Ageekott, the same thing happened to me. I read the Atkins book & got an overly optimistic impression of how fast I would lose. I remember thinking I maybe could get rid of all my excess weight by Christmas. Yeah right! I was disappointed at first at my losses, (which were actually pretty good if only I had had a more reasonable expectation), then to make matters worse I stalled for several weeks right after the first two weeks. I was really tempted to give up, but my diet buddy convinced me to stick it out for 3 months, by which time the stall was long gone. Since then I have sometimes stalled out for a week or two, but then I usually lose faster the week after. It averages out to about 1.5# a week for me.

I think the Atkins book is very misleading about the rate of loss. He makes it sounds like this miracle diet which will have the pounds falling off you faster than you can count them. More realistic information is in there, but you really have to hunt for it. That is the only quarrel I have with Dr. Atkins. (Well, that and I wish he would be more up-front about the problems some people have with sugar alcohols.)