I still haven't seemed to recover from Thanksgiving. I haven't cheated once since then but I am yet to register a single once of a loss on the scale. After Thanksgiving I jumped right back into what I was doing prior but nothing has come about yet. Before Thanksgving I was averaging 1.5 to 2 pound drop a week. According to the strips i have finally gotten back into ketosis.

Is my expectation level high? How is everyone else doing who cheated on Thanksgiving?

Jim

Revise your menu and make sure you don't have a dent somewhere and keep up with the water and exercise.

I cheated on Thanksgiving too but it only took 2 days to hit Ketosis again. Since then I've lost 4 more pounds.

Good luck,

Lily

Judging from your profile, which says you started low carbing in July, and your stats, which indicate that you have lost 50 pounds, you've lost a lot of weight very rapidly. Some people are able to continue losing at a brisk pace indefinitely, but many people find their bodies get to the point where they stop losing for a while while they adjust to the new weight, before resuming losing again (often at a slower pace). The cheat at Thanksgiving may have purely coincidentally occurred right when your body was ready to take a break. Or perhaps, it wasn't pure coincidence, it could have been your body wanting a break that drove you to cheat.

While it is certainly a good idea to examine carefully everything you are eating -- hidden carbs often sneak in without us realizing it, so you might want to use FitDay or post some menus for other people to look at -- your expectations that you will continue losing at the same pace you were at the beginning may also be too high and need some re-examination. Thanksgiving was less than two weeks ago. It is not uncommon for long term low carbers to go two weeks without a weight loss. I am certain that if you continue low carbing, you will start losing again.

I'm sure that someone is going to post and say that they have lost weight continuously every week for a year. There are people like that and we all want to be like that. However, most of us are not, and I don't think it is realistic to expect to be that way. If nothing else, by expecting your weight loss to slow down at some point, you are opening yourself to being pleasantly surprised if it does not, rather than disappointed when it does!

Just a thought: what's your salt intake like? After my Thanksgiving cheat, I realized not only had I gone overboard on carbs but I'd also taken in an awful lot of sodium. I was compensating for the lack of sugar by eating a lot of salty things....cheese, deli meats, olives.

On an upnote, congratulations on those 50 pounds!

Hi Aragorn

I had a low carb thanksgiving, although I did splurge on cals (2200) and carbs (45) ... and other than splenda (maltodextrin has a high gi) abuse, it was all low carb food.

I stalled for like a few days before and after thanksgiving, thanksgiving fell right in the middle of a 2 week mini-stall.

What worked for me was watching calories very closely (I lowered my caloric intake), being very strict, eating more protein and fat and less carbs. Also I threw in an odd day of semi-fasting (1000 calories). I don't know if one or all of these things did it but I am down 3 pounds since then.

Just keep at it, remember stalls are a part of the process. Even when stalling you probably are losing inches, so pay attention to the tape measurer.

I like consistency. I'm on a 12-14 day stall, but I cheated a bit and was sick during most of it. Once we hit the grind, that hard work will make the difference. I'd continue to do what has worked in the past if I were you and not get caught up in how quickly you lose it so long as the needle continues to go in the right direction...and most importantly, so long as you're feeling good.

I'm sure that you're just in a stall. The woosh fairy will come and visit you soon! Congrats on the 50 pound loss though, that is fantastic! I too cheated on Thanksgiving and have completely refused to weigh in since then! Who knows when I'll finally get the guts to step on a scale.

Keep up the good work!

Looks like I cried too soon. I got on the scale this morning and had lost another pound. I updated my profile to show my current weight. I have 1 more to go to hit the 50 mark.

Thank you all for your kind words and advice. The Support here is wonderful. Better than any Nutritionist I have seen.

Jim

Congratulations, Jim!

BTW, for future reference, when the scale doesn't budge, you might also try adding more exercise/movement to jump start things.

Continued good health to you!

Donald