Nita,
Don't give up, you can do this.
I got a book Goddess recommended and it is seriously helping me with plateau issues and some of the self defeatist talk that I do.
If I haven't mentioned it before it is Dr. Phil's Ultimate Weight Loss.
You cannot follow his actual food plan but the sections about how to think in a way that is supportive and healing to yourself is awesome. Going to mention it on the 100 forum to help others, but wanted to mention it here too!
Nita, you seriously rock and are awesome, you can do this. It's hard work but you are taking the steps you need to each day, it will come to you.

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Thanks for the kind words, Mab.

I fell off the lc wagon temporarily last night. We were shopping, got hungry, dh wanted Red Lobster, I couldn't resist the fried stuff. So I had a big plate of fried fish, shrimp, scallops & clams. But, I did resist the biscuits, and had mixed vegetables and a salad. (I wish they'd cook the carrots & broccoli just a bit more, though. They'd be easier to eat.)

After 21 days of induction, I gained and lost the same 2 lbs over and over again, and made absolutely no progress; however, I'm back on induction this morning, hoping that eventually I'll see some sort of progress. I'm going to keep at it for a while longer.

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Nita

I overate over the weekend.
It was all "allowable" foods, at least I stayed away from the "goodies" that DH and my son were enjoying. .
Just had too much food.
I am seeing a small weight loss, but I have to tell you, my clothes are getting loose! So you just tell the scale that you are not playing its games.
Do you feel better? Is your skin glowing? More energy?
What are your other benefits beside the scale?

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I am down a total of seven pounds now. I have cheated some but this week I will not cheat. Even though I have only lost seven, people are really noticing the weight loss. I do have a question. Do the supplements (ultra mega vit. and such) hinder the weight loss? I know I need to take them but I am afraid they will slow the weight loss down.

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Good questions, Mab.

I have some niggly little health problems that I'm convinced would be major if I were not doing low carb. It's controlling a major allergic reaction I had to corn several years back. (I broke out in huge hives if I ate anything with corn or corn syrup. Atkins cleared that up fast!) I have minor dermatitis that I'm convinced would be worse with a high carb diet.

My arthritis has improved, although it's still with me and always will be. When we do our major grocery shopping, I don't need to go sit while DH checks out. For years I could not stand there waiting, because my knees and legs hurt so much. Now it's much less painful. And I don't need the chiropractor nearly as often as I used to. My hips and back stay aligned longer, and I have much less pain there, too. I don't take nearly as much ibuprofen as I used to take.

Energy? I guess you could say I have more stamina, but not necessarily more energy. But then, I've never been a very energetic person. Even as a kid, I was the turtle up against a den of hares!

The clothes fit me the same. I've worn the same sizes for a long time. But the really huge sizes are a thing of the past. Even though I have not lost much for the longest time, I've maintained at this general weight and not gained.

Dr. Mary Vernon, who used to be a colleague of Dr. Atkins, says that post menopausal women have problems losing. As we age, our bodies think we need to hang on to all our fat to survive. Well, old body, here's letting you know that I don't need that fat, I want to get rid of it!!!!

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Nita

Oh Bless your heart. I want to give you a hug

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Big hugs for Nita!!
You are doing so well! I know that it is hard to have lots of aches, pains and chronic illness, but you really are conquering them!
What if, just what if, your body was just about to give you five nice big pounds of water weight gain, or what if you for whatever reason were about to gain again and didn't know it? You could actually be staving that off with induction and just not know it.
Not trying to be a pollyanna with this, but I think that you may just be doing more than you think at this point by doing induction.
I also think you are absolutely amazing and am very grateful that I am getting to know you!
What do you think about writing out what you eat while on induction and maybe some of us could look and see if there might be something in your diet that is triggering the stagnation? Maybe one of the moderators could look as well.
Big Hugs to you!

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Hey - I'm back after being gone for the weekend. My induction has also been a little disappointing as far as weight loss, but I'm going to stick with it for awhile longer. I did have about 1/4 cup of sf ice cream on Sunday, but otherwise eating is good. Had OMM with cream cheese for breakfast, slices of roast beef with monterey jack for lunch, chicken and cauli for dinner. Still trying to work on portion control this week and also started some supps that I hope will help. I'll keep posting, everyone have a great LC day tomorrow! Aloha

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Gail :

AARGH!
Day one of Induction for me!
I don't know exactly what happened, but I had FOUR donuts for dinner last night.
Gosh, no excuses, that was terrible. And they weren't even good. Stale and tasteless.
Back on track this morning.
Had LC cheesecake 3 carbs for breakfast.
Having salad for lunch 10 carbs.
I try to avoid sweet items that are permissible because then I start to crave sweets, but decided to make the LC cheesecake because I knew I was getting itchy, too late.
Going to try to figure out why I did what I did to avoid it in the future. I know because this is a woe that this will happen on occassion, but it can't happen again where I just binge on bad foods.

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I am new to this site, but I have been low carbing for years. I had my youngest child almost 2 years ago (my 3rd) and have used that as an excuse to eat everything. I had just lost 50 lbs on lc before I got pregnant and I was 45lbs from my goal weight. I started induction May 13, and I have lost 9 1/2 lbs. I really feel so much better. My biggest problem is that when night falls, all I can think about is food. I just want to binge. Any advice on how to make it through the evening without falling off the wagon?

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Congratulations on the weight loss. That is terrific!
Also, welcome to the site. It is very nice to "meet" you!
I'm sure you read about my little problem above. Before that I had been doing really well. And I will do really well again by getting right back on track, but I digress...
One thing that helps me not eat at night, and I was an all evening snacker!, is to have the majority of my dinner be protein. That way I feel full, my body is processing the food and not looking for more, and if I want more, I can have it, just protein. A peice of chicken, a hamburger, whatever.
Don't know if you have already given this a try.
The other option is to list your daily menu and have folks look at it to see if there are triggers for you.
I used to have a cup of tea with Splenda after dinner when my family was having dessert. Then I figured out that the cup of tea made me what more sweet things and I would have a problem. I cut out the tea, don't miss it, and other than the occassional slip up, I don't crave sweet all that often.
Hope you find some of this helpful!
Mab

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I have a major sweet tooth, but I have noticed that when I eat steak and organic eggs for breakfast, I don't get as hungry and my sweet tooth isn't so bad. I have taken to eating the whipped heavy cream with a little sugar free pudding and adding a splenda pack for two tablespoons to do the trick. The cheese cake sounded good. I will have to look for a low carb recipe.

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Do any of you drink flavored water? The AQUACAL is no carbs. I am hoping this doesn't stall me. If I drink one bottle with breakfast, it isn't terrible to have water that early in the morning. Any thoughts?

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The recipe was simple:

1 cup heavy cream
1 package of sugar - free jello, any flavor that you like
3/4 cup boiling water
16 0z. cream cheese, softened

In a small bowl, dissolve the jello package in the boiling water. Stirring for 2 - 3 minutes until all of the jello is dissolved. Put in refridgerator until the jello is no longer warm (do not let it solidify).
In a small bowl, whip the heavy cream until stiff.
In a medium bowl, whip the cream cheese until it is fluffly. Once fluffy slowly add the jello liquid into the cream cheese. Do this slowly and whip well after each batch of liquid is added or you will end up with a nasty mess.
Once all of the liquid has been added, carefully fold in the whipped cream.
Put everything into a 9 0r 10 inch pie plate and chill at least two hours.

I used black cherry, sugar free jello. It is not as sweet as I would like so the next time I make it I am going to add two teaspoons of Splenda to the cream while I am whipping it.

Also, it is surprising how appetizing this looks when you are done, it stays in a nice pie formation and does not fall apart!

I also have a recipe for strawberry popsicles that I haven't tried yet. When I do next week I will post to let you know if it was worth it!!

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Welcome, Kerri. It's nice to have seasoned low carbers here.

I find that sometimes when I think I want to snack, just drinking some water helps. Often times you then you're hungry when you are really thirsty. Or doing something else. I think sometimes I feel hungry if I'm bored. So, I try to read, or do something else. And, unlike Mab, I find that a cup of hot tea does the trick for me if I feel like snacking. And if nothing else works, then I find something low carb to eat, and go ahead and have a snack. Just make sure that if there are carbs, you figure them into your daily total.

Winter, if your flavored water doesn't have carbs, go ahead and have it. I like the Talking Rain from Sam's. So does my 20 month old granddaughter. We dilute it for her, and she absolutely loves it. I also use the little individual tubes of drink mix, like Crystal Light and KoolAid, and WalMart's Great Value brand; however, they all have aspartame in them, so I limit how much I drink of those.

I'm doing pretty good on day 2, had most of a OMM for breakfast, couldn't finish it, but then got hungry about 11 this morning. So, that shows me I need to rethink the OMM, or eat the whole thing, or bring the rest to work for a snack.

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Nita